Marvel NOW ... relaunches

[BobBretall]

I'm very tempted to go head and order the 50% off deal for the Marvel NOW titles.

Give in to temptation if the books look good to you!

Marvel needs to juice up their sales #s and if it's something you think you'll like it's a good deal.

[GABE!]

I'm very tempted to go head and order the 50% off deal for the Marvel NOW titles.

Give in to temptation if the books look good to you!

Marvel needs to juice up their sales #s and if it's something you think you'll like it's a good deal.

Are you and John not going to order all the #1's and review them like you did for the DC 52 reboot?

I'm pretty sure John will order all the new #1's, but I was hoping to hear a run down of all the titles.

[BobBretall]

Are you and John not going to order all the #1's and review them like you did for the DC 52 reboot?

I wasn't planning to, but it's certainly something I'll discuss with John. The difference from the New52 is that DC got me excited about the re-launch. Marvel has failed to do that for Marvel NOW.

I'm pretty sure John will order all the new #1's, but I was hoping to hear a run down of all the titles.

I think chances are 100% of John getting all the new Marvel stuff.

[JohnMayo]

I'm very tempted to go head and order the 50% off deal for the Marvel NOW titles.

Give in to temptation if the books look good to you!

Marvel needs to juice up their sales #s and if it's something you think you'll like it's a good deal.

Are you and John not going to order all the #1's and review them like you did for the DC 52 reboot?

I'm pretty sure John will order all the new #1's, but I was hoping to hear a run down of all the titles.

Yes, I'm ordering all of the new #1s so far. For that matter, I'm still getting virtually all of the Marvel Universe titles.

I'm not going to commit to review all of the new Marvel #1s but we'll see what happens.

[abysslord]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=41086

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700
DAN SLOTT (w) • HUMBERTO RAMOS (a)
Plus stories by JM DeMatteis & Giuseppe Camuncoli and Jen Van Meter & Stephanie Buscema
Cover by MR. GARCIN
Steve Ditko (Unused Amazing Fantasy 15 Art) Variant Cover
ASM 50TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT - Marcos Martin
Martin Variant
WRAPAROUND VARIANT - Humberto Ramos
COIPEL VARIANT
QUESADA VARIANT
LAST ISSUE!
All New! 104 PGS./Rated T+ …$7.99

Wow, 104 pages ..... all those variants .... that's a LOT of box space and money.

So I guess this means they're relaunching as #1. Oh well. I thought high numbers were something to be proud of but we all know $$$ talks.

[torchsong]

I'm down with a lot of these "new" Marvel titles, but even with a DCBS discount I'm hard-pressed to order some of these $4 ones twice a month. Giving them a day in court, at any rate.

[comicm]

The double shipping in the solicits has turned my off a lot of Marvel Now titles. I wanted the DCBS bundle but decided not to because of all the double ships. Marvel is helping reduce my monthlies. Soon Marvel will be below my Image, IDW and Dynamite

[Pictor]

I really had to think long and hard on whether to pick up anything from Marvel Now (and actually, from Marvel in general) with this new underwhelmingly relaunched/renumbered relaunch/renumbering.

I'm really unsure what's going on over there with them. Between the horribly dampened "not going to brand it a relaunch to avoid seeming like we're desperate/ following DC" marketing approach, double shipped 3.99 monthly commitments to sample something new (what a high barrier to entry) and their past renumbering shenanigans, they're really becoming hard for me to love.

About 5 years ago, I was 80% marvel, 10% dc, 10% other, and have ended up, as of last non-Marvel-Now DCBS order:
10 issues (including 3 double-ships) Marvel,
62 issues DC
23 other.

Over the last couple of years, I've just been using any renumbering/relaunch of any title that has come out as a jumping off point. A big part of what I love about comics is their collectibility. I really like diving into back issue bins after discovering an ongoing title to pick up reading through everything that has come before it, and then having a complete run of the issues in my collection (or in the case of older, longer, pricier series, slowly working toward a complete collection). Marvel has been really wreaking havoc on the collector side of me with every .1 issue and renumbering.

I was strongly weighing over the option of just letting all of the remaining series' that I still pick up run their course as they get renumbered with the Now relaunch, but finally ended up picking them ALL up instead. It all came down to the perfect storm of subtle marketing, podcasts, and the DCBS bundle. The DCBS bundle got me over the hump of justifying the double shipped 3.99 price point just to sample a new offering, podcast chatter revolving around some of the titles has actually got me excited about some of the issues, and the '001' numbering on the covers has left me expecting a cooling on the renumbering side of things. I know that it's just a subtle marketing hint, and there's no commitment to back it up, but I've read that numbering to mean "We're going to try to keep this thing going for at least a hundred issues". It's not explicitly stated, and I realize they just love playing with numbers at every opportunity to get a bump, but that's the promise (actually made or not) that I'm going to hold them to. 100 issues. Not too much to ask (just over 4 years worth at a double ship publishing rate). This is Marvel's last shot with me. At this point I've gotten to know a large number of their properties in a variety of iterations, and I don't feel like I'm likely to miss much if I stop with any one. So they get one shot. One shot to make me (re) fall in love with their new/refreshed series, creative teams and characters. One last shot to build something I'll be happy to follow with my dollars well into the future. We'll see what happens.

[BobBretall]

You say some of things that really resonate with me.....

A big part of what I love about comics is their collectibility.

Marvel has been really wreaking havoc on the collector side of me with every .1 issue and renumbering.

Every time I skip a .1 issue that seems like a really lame fill-in, I get a twinge of not having a "complete set". But the concept of a "complete set" has pretty much gone in the dumpster anyway with all the re-numberings.

The DCBS bundle got me over the hump of justifying the double shipped 3.99 price point just to sample a new offering

It didn't quite do it for me. There were too many titles in the bundle that I was completely uninterested in to make the 10% extra discount seem worthwhile.

the '001' numbering on the covers has left me expecting a cooling on the renumbering side of things. I know that it's just a subtle marketing hint, and there's no commitment to back it up, but I've read that numbering to mean "We're going to try to keep this thing going for at least a hundred issues". It's not explicitly stated, and I realize they just love playing with numbers at every opportunity to get a bump, but that's the promise (actually made or not) that I'm going to hold them to. 100 issues.

This is an interesting thought, one that hadn't occurred to me.

I'd be completely shocked if any new Marvel NOW made it to 50.

For instance, they are re-numbering Amazing Spider-Man after #700 to #1. I'd be flabbergasted if they didn't go back to the original numbering to take advantage of issue #750.

I don't know what would need to change, but I can't see any title from Marvel/DC making it to #100 without some kind of numbering shenanigans.

[Pictor]

Every time I skip a .1 issue that seems like a really lame fill-in, I get a twinge of not having a "complete set". But the concept of a "complete set" has pretty much gone in the dumpster anyway with all the re-numberings.

Yeah. And in cases where I get all of them regardless of whether they're really just a poor one-shot masquerading as something in-continuity... I still have the collectibility headache of never being sure whether I got them all for certain. For instance, the Deadpool 39.1 issue was listed as 39 on the DCBS spreadsheet due to a typo, and I missed it until I just so happened to go back over my collection. It's got me all paranoid about every .1 lacking gap between issues now, never knowing if there's supposed to be something there or not. Can't imagine how big of a pain in the butt it will be in a few years for someone going through a back issue bin trying to fill holes in their collection.

I'd be completely shocked if any new Marvel NOW made it to 50.

For instance, they are re-numbering Amazing Spider-Man after #700 to #1. I'd be flabbergasted if they didn't go back to the original numbering to take advantage of issue #750.

I don't know what would need to change, but I can't see any title from Marvel/DC making it to #100 without some kind of numbering shenanigans.

Well, however naive it may be, I'm going to cling to those two zeros as long as I can. Hopefully, they'll at least give it a shot. And like I said, I'm going to give them ONE last chance. I wouldn't even mind if some of them don't make it that high, as long as it's because they get cancelled, and not renumbered. I understand that some titles can come to a point in terms of sales of being financially unsustainable, but if that comes to pass, I really hope they can let it die, cool off for a bit, and then start a new volume rather than the month-after renumbers. Maybe one of us needs to nudge Marvel's new overlords, and get them to apply the 'Disney vault' approach to these titles rather than watch them erode from over exploitation.

In the case of Amazing Spider-Man, a big part of me is hoping they do the same kind of renumbering as the last time they did it, where the old numbers stay on the cover as well as the new one, rather than a 'real' renumbering.

[Perry]

While I do understand and empathize with most all of "comicdom" and their hatred for the numbering fiasco, it never really bothered me. I mean if I was still buying Amazing, I would have no problem putting that new AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 right behind AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700 in my comic box.

Just like I had no problem putting FANTASTIC FOUR #1 behind FANTASTIC FOUR #416 ... and then putting FANTASTIC FOUR #1 behind FANTASTIC FOUR #13 ... and then putting FANTASTIC FOUR 42/471 behind that, which of course will be followed by putting a new #1 behind issue #611

See? Simple!

[BobBretall]

The thing is, for people who don't care if it's a new #1, they also would not care if it was just the next number in sequence, right?

The real question is if (in the long run) they gain more long term readers by renumbering time & time again. They get a short term boost, but the numbers show that over time renumbering appears to be hurting overall sales.

[Perry]

The thing is, for people who don't care if it's a new #1, they also would not care if it was just the next number in sequence, right?

Yes, of course, but it is obvious that there are a lot more people that do care that it is a new #1, as sales show

... They get a short term boost, but the numbers show that over time renumbering appears to be hurting overall sales.

I don't buy into that. I know the internet is full of groaners that hate the renumbering and post on boards that they have since dropped titles due to that, but sales also show that the "internet poster" is not a majority of sales in the first place. If it was, AvX would have only sold about 10 copies.


The comic industry has more direct reasons for loss of sales than just renumbering. Price, availability, value, repetitiveness, redundancy and the most damning one, in my eyes, competition by other forms of entertainment. And while I can't prove that renumbering isn't a major factor for loss of sales, I truly don't think it is, because as you stated above, there are people like myself that just don't care enough to stop buying.

On the contrast, people will always "rush to the new" so they will continue to bring out the #1's, bring out the 'new', because they sell. And the drop off on sales after the initial blast is not just limited to comics. Whenever those nasty McRibs show up at those nasty McDonalds the first week is a sales bonanza, but then sales settle back down and that new #1 McRib sells comparable to any of their other menu items. That is why they 'renumber' it every so often.

[BobBretall]

I'm not going to pay big $$ for them, but I like looking at the pretty pictures Marvel commissions for their variant covers.

Here are images of a batch of the Marvel NOW variants.....
http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/7 ... eID=126309

I particularly like Phil Noto's uses of negative space on JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #646:


This Hulk image for the AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #10 DELL’OTTO VARIANT is very cool:


I also like the Acuna THOR: GOD OF THUNDER variants, particularly this one:

[BobBretall]

Marvel lands a spot on Yahoo News talking about MarvelNOW:
http://news.yahoo.com/looking-now-marvels-changes-no-reboot-062939103.html

Brevoort takes his contractually obligated dig at DC:

Tom Brevoort, senior vice president for publishing at Marvel, said the new "NOW!" series aren't about relaunching characters with new origins or back stories but about shaking up the characters with new writers and artists.

I had previously referred to MarvelNOW as a game of Musical Chairs, Marvel embraces that concept:

"Think of it as a game of musical chairs, wherein the best creators in comics all move to a new 'seat' in the form of a new title and character,"