Comics VIII - the Crime Syndic8 of America

[red snow]

Weekly Batman comic coming out to celebrate 75th anniversary along with (most likely $8-$10) large issue of Batman.

"“It’s a place for me to be able to work with good friends in terms of shaping Gotham in a bigger, grander and more game-changing way than ever before,” says Snyder, who’s working on the Eternalproject with artist Jason Fabok (Detective Comics) and a revolving crew of Bat-writers including James Tynion IV (Talon), John Layman (Detective Comics), Ray Fawkes (Justice League Dark) and Tim Seeley (Revival)."

I'm sure we'll find out soon that this is the biggest story Snyder has come up with yet and how this is the story he would do if it was his last one.

[Little Valkyrie]

From NYCC news:

Bendis' "Trial" and "Judgement" teasers were up next -- and Lowe revealed "The Trial of Jean Grey," which sees "All-New X-Men" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" will cross over. Lowe confirmed the All-New X-Men will still be around following "Battle of the Atom." The arc will be six parts and three issues each in both "All-New X-Men" and "Guardians of the Galaxy." "In 'AvX,' the Phoenix was a big part of it. When the universe learns there's a Jean Grey, they come to Earth, they take Jean Grey by force back to Shandalar and she goes on trial," said Lowe. "The Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't like people getting too close to Earth. They take it upon themselves to [team-up] with the All-New X-Men to get Jean Grey." There are also some secret characters that Lowe isn't ready to reveal, but the All-New X-Men have connections in space. Stuart Immonen and Sara Pichelli will draw the crossover.

So it's all the Claremont but with none of the fun fetishes and comparatively snappy pace?

At least it will look pretty.

[red snow]

From NYCC news:

Bendis' "Trial" and "Judgement" teasers were up next -- and Lowe revealed "The Trial of Jean Grey," which sees "All-New X-Men" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" will cross over. Lowe confirmed the All-New X-Men will still be around following "Battle of the Atom." The arc will be six parts and three issues each in both "All-New X-Men" and "Guardians of the Galaxy." "In 'AvX,' the Phoenix was a big part of it. When the universe learns there's a Jean Grey, they come to Earth, they take Jean Grey by force back to Shandalar and she goes on trial," said Lowe. "The Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't like people getting too close to Earth. They take it upon themselves to [team-up] with the All-New X-Men to get Jean Grey." There are also some secret characters that Lowe isn't ready to reveal, but the All-New X-Men have connections in space. Stuart Immonen and Sara Pichelli will draw the crossover.

So it's all the Claremont but with none of the fun fetishes and comparatively snappy pace?

At least it will look pretty.

It does sound a bit of a rehash but rather than taking 2-3 issues it will take 6 and will no doubt not be the whole story. I guess Claremont inspired a lot of this back in the day but at least his work wasn't decompressed.

So do TGOTG sit around in orbit of Earth waving their fists at anyone who comes too close?

I'm not sure why they think Sinister being the main foe in Origins II is a big deal? The solicit from a while ago mentioned a sinister geneticist or something along those lines.

HAs anyone tried the Fables game? Newsarama seemed to like it but they often like a lot of things.

[Lady Octarina]

I don't care about anything else today, Peter David is writing the new X-Factor with Gambit, Polaris and Quicksilver in the cast, that's good news to get you through the rest of the year! Sure, that was exactly what I expected, but still incredibly satisfying to hear. Not too sure about the corporate focus, but some good stories could come from it.

But the rest of the Marvel NYCC announcements were pretty underwhelming so far. It's very annoying how little Marvel cares about Uncanny Avengers at this point, and almost funny when you compare to all the publicity it got until UA#5; it's like at that point, when the buying figures started falling more quickly due to all the controversy, they just decided to give up on the title and, instead of trying to fix their mistakes, they just let Remender make it worse. Oh well...

I feel like Marvel wanted us to be excited with the reveal of that cover where X-23 is kissing

Cyclops

but everyone is just "meh"? I'll only be happy with All-New X-Men again when they return to the past, spawning a new timeline and we follow how different things would go on that title. Instead, they give us endless Bendis events... :bang:

[Sci-2]

Wait - Remender's remarks actually hurt sales?

I think the title may have just started falling because it's so out of synch with what people apparently want to read. Which is weird, I'd say it's one of the better books on the stands, and definitely one of the better X-books.

[Lady Octarina]

The title is selling less and less each month, which I find disturbing, as that is, for me, one of the five best books Marvel is publishing right now. I wouldn't say Remender's tweets are responsible for this, as I doubt the amount of readers who followed that discussion is that big, it's more that a good part of the ridiculous number of people who bought this book from the start were X-Men fans drawn to it by AvX. And what did they get? A bigger focus on traditional Avengers characters (except for Havok, but no one likes him) and Rogue, a fan favorite, acting like a bitch since #1. Which was bad enough, but then the writer begins to defend the point of view that "mutant" is a bad word and everyone should just be considered human and be done with it. I don't think assimilationist speech sits well with X-fans... When I said Remender made it worse, I didn't mean his online comments, but returning to that speech and using a character who is part of four, or rather five minorities as his mouthpiece for an ideology she would never defend. Plus, I know many people aren't too fond of that particular Remender obsession with his villains and would rather he focus on his ridiculously large cast.

I see all these problems and I still think it's one of Marvel's best books, which can't be a good sign...

[Ouroboros]

The only two new titles that'll be going on my pull are probably She-Hulk and Loki: Agent of Asgard. I might check out Avengers World since it looks like an anthology book and I dig those, but everything else does nothing for me.

[Little Valkyrie]

The title is selling less and less each month, which I find disturbing, as that is, for me, one of the five best books Marvel is publishing right now. I wouldn't say Remender's tweets are responsible for this, as I doubt the amount of readers who followed that discussion is that big, it's more that a good part of the ridiculous number of people who bought this book from the start were X-Men fans drawn to it by AvX. And what did they get? A bigger focus on traditional Avengers characters (except for Havok, but no one likes him) and Rogue, a fan favorite, acting like a bitch since #1. Which was bad enough, but then the writer begins to defend the point of view that "mutant" is a bad word and everyone should just be considered human and be done with it. I don't think assimilationist speech sits well with X-fans... When I said Remender made it worse, I didn't mean his online comments, but returning to that speech and using a character who is part of four, or rather five minorities as his mouthpiece for an ideology she would never defend. Plus, I know many people aren't too fond of that particular Remender obsession with his villains and would rather he focus on his ridiculously large cast.

I see all these problems and I still think it's one of Marvel's best books, which can't be a good sign...

Pretty much every title slumps in sales over time, barring crossovers, tie-ins, or things like advertising Guardians of the Galaxy with Gaiman's name on it (Gaiman: not actually on the cover when it came out). I haven't looked at the UA numbers, but I wonder how it compares to some sort of normal curve.

I too hope that Avengers World focuses on one-and-dones or short arcs, instead of being part of Prelude to Second Infinity or whatever the hell we're getting next. Since everyone is an Avenger now, there's a lot of characters to play with.

[Winterfell is Burning]

I dropped UA after the first issue in which I saw every problem people complained later there already- Havok as a Mary Sue, Rogue and Wanda being bitches, a complete lack of understanding and respect of the X-men's history and fans, heavy handed portrayals of everyone, etc. From the looks of it, it only got worse, but no one can say it wasn't predictable.

Add to that the delays, Avengers and New Avengers being much better books (subjective, I know), that already feature pretty much the entire cast, and now both being involved in a crossover that has been successful commercially and is also Marvel's most acclaimed one in years, and there you have it.

Also, regarding the NYCC announcements, I like the All New X-factor (ANXF?), and I have absolutely no idea what's going on in the Hickman Avengers titles, how many are there, and why.

[Sci-2]

So they are shifting kid!Loki into secret agent Loki to grab those 6-7 people who watch Thor 2 and then start reading the comics?

And Avenger's World starts off with a planet heading toward's Earth....which I'm guess[ing] is not due to the Incursions?

Hickman needs to hurry up and find a way for Earth to survive. We know the Illuminati isn't going to destroy another inhabitable planet so the close calls are losing their potency. Not to mention it's close to a year and we don't really know much about The Great Destroyer, the Eye Priests, and all that jazz promised in Issue 2.

[red snow]

Besides Hawkeye and Daredevil which have increased in sales (or at least were for a good while) due to the amazing word of mouth, most books drop in sales over time. That's why Marvel have to relaunch every 12 months to give a shock to sales and why MArvel/DC like to have crossovers all the time.

Out of the announcements I have to admit I'm slightly curious about the batman weekly - although if it's more than $3 I won't be getting it.

Avengers World from what Spencer is saying seems like it is trying to address the criticism that the Hickman books don't really focus on the characters so much. Do we really need Secret Avengers and Avengers Assemble anymore though?

The X-men books. X-factor could be fun and i like the uniform designs - if it could mix the fun of X-statix with the big idea of Wildcats v3.0 then it could be really interesting. No offense to David but I've never thought of him as a big idea guy - great characters and fun are what I think of with him. Still more curious about this than any of the other X-books.

Amazing X-men - Don't care

Wolverine and the X-men. I thought the whole point was that it was about the school so not sure why using this book to strengthen ties with SHIELD and the wider marvelverse makes sense.

EDIT: You can put me down for "avengers: undercover" as well. I've really enjoyed Arena and appreciate it was a complete story. Hopeless says this story is also finite so that and the fact it's the same creator team has me on board. Caution reading about it if you don't want Arena spoiled as the cover for the CBR story is the cover for issue 1 with characters from Arena on it.

[Lady Octarina]

Uncanny Avengers is selling less than Hickmanvengers and All-New X-Men, and about as much as Wood's X-Men and the worst run in the history of Uncanny X-Men which shouldn't be the case when it's supposed to aggregate fans from both corners of the MU. Of course, Hickmanvengers and All-New both have had a ridiculous number of variant covers and event-buzz, so part of the sales could be artificially sustained by those stratagems; still, UA has had what was probably the biggest fall in sales, even if you don't count the first issue and those numbers no one expected it to maintain anyway. I agree that the delays also contribute to that, but to say Hickmanvengers is better than it? The one thing in which it's better is the shipping, equivalent, perhaps, in having a cast bigger than they can handle, but in everything else UA is the actual old-school Avengers book (other than Avengers Assemble, but no one really cares about that), and much better structured, narratively speaking.

Of the All-New Marvel Now announcements, I'm only looking forward to Amazing X-Men, All-New X-Factor, and She-Hulk. I'll probably check out the first issues of Avengers Undercover, maybe the Black Widow book, and the Loki book (but only for Al Ewing really). As soon as Amazing is published, I'm dropping WATXM.

So they are shifting kid!Loki into secret agent Loki to grab those 6-7 people who watch Thor 2 and then start reading the comics?

This is so frustrating. They don't even pretend they're not doing this for the hiddlestonians, but, as usual, we'll probably have to deal with these MCU-inspired changes and the actual MCU fans won't even bother reading these comics. Why make him hot anyway? I miss the days Loki looked like an old hag...

[GallowKnight]

(except for Havok, but no one likes him)

I like Havok! Just not Remenders interpretation of him.

[Sci-2]

This is so frustrating. They don't even pretend they're not doing this for the hiddlestonians, but, as usual, we'll probably have to deal with these MCU-inspired changes and the actual MCU fans won't even bother reading these comics. Why make him hot anyway? I miss the days Loki looked like an old hag...

It's that hope against hope that movie fans become single issue readers. Which just seems stupid to me. Release an OGN elseworld tale about Loki that ties into the movie canon and leave MU Loki alone.

At least now we know why Gilleon was being so coy about what comes after YA #15. :-(

[Winterfell is Burning]

Hickman needs to hurry up and find a way for Earth to survive. We know the Illuminati isn't going to destroy another inhabitable planet so the close calls are losing their potency. Not to mention it's close to a year and we don't really know much about The Great Destroyer, the Eye Priests, and all that jazz promised in Issue 2.

I'm not all that sure they won't kill another planet. And I don't think there's a need for every single mystery to be solved in 12 issues- I mean, if Claremont can take years to develop stories, and GRRM has written 100,000 pages and is not even close to solving all the mysteries, I can wait a little longer.

but to say Hickmanvengers is better than it?

Again, this is subjective. But both sales and critical acclaim are in Hickman's favor. You may not be liking it, but the majority is.

As for me, Remender's shock tactics, heavy handed plots, and developments you see coming 100 issues before they happen got old already. Worked fine in the first half of X-force, but less so in the second one, and not at all in Secret Avengers.

[red snow]

Looking at the sales it does look like New Avengers is flagging behind Avengers despite being marketed as sister titles. Maybe the cosmic earth killing thing needs to shake up or resolve at some point? I agree that not everything needs to be wrapped up within a year and I think there could be drama at killing an inhabited earth and then living with the threat of knowing they may have to again. I think it would get tired after 2 earths though.

Claremont usually had long and short stories running together which isn't really the case with New Avengers. You could argue Avengers is handling the short story aspect (with its own long arc).

As long as the sales don't continue to decrease they should let him run with it. His run could make a healthy set of GNs further down the road.

It's that hope against hope that movie fans become single issue readers. Which just seems stupid to me. Release an OGN elseworld tale about Loki that ties into the movie canon and leave MU Loki alone.

At least now we know why Gilleon was being so coy about what comes after YA #15. :-(

It's especially odd given how popular kid loki seems to be. Why change something that is working?

[Winterfell is Burning]

Looking at the sales it does look like New Avengers is flagging behind Avengers despite being marketed as sister titles.

Yeah, but Avengers was from the start a more upbeat title, and it also has Wolverine, Spider-Man, Cap. America, Thor and Hulk.

[Sci-2]

I'm not all that sure they won't kill another planet. And I don't think there's a need for every single mystery to be solved in 12 issues- I mean, if Claremont can take years to develop stories, and GRRM has written 100,000 pages and is not even close to solving all the mysteries, I can wait a little longer.

Oh, they don't need to solve the Incursion problem, but they should find a way to temporarily make it so Earth isn't threatened.

I just don't see Marvel letting Hickman make any of the Illuminati world killers. I'd say they'd be willing to throw Strange under the bus like Bendis did a few times over, but he has a film planned so he's morally untouchable.

The only ones who might end up killing worlds are Namor and Beast since they can't be part of the MCU, though Beast is Bendis's pet so that's not going to happen.

As for me, Remender's shock tactics, heavy handed plots, and developments you see coming 100 issues before they happen got old already. Worked fine in the first half of X-force, but less so in the second one, and not at all in Secret Avengers.

I like what he's doing but UA is a glorious, science fiction mess.

I do understand why people are dropping it.

[red snow]

Mr Fantastic could kill an earth as he belongs to Fox as well. I think Hickman likes him too much to do that which means there's only really Namor (does Fox own him or not?). Of course Strange can do so and they'd just relaunch him for the film or say he was possessed by a demon.

I just had a fun thought. What if the next Earth they have to pick is the Ultimate Earth? I was thinking Galactus would kill them but this could up the stakes in drama. Plus some of the Ultimates could cross-over (mainly Miles Morales) and they Ultimate Earth heroes could sacrifice themselves because maybe after Galactus there won't be much left to save?

[AverageGuy]

I feel like Marvel wanted us to be excited with the reveal of that cover where X-23 is kissing

Cyclops

but everyone is just "meh"? I'll only be happy with All-New X-Men again when they return to the past, spawning a new timeline and we follow how different things would go on that title. Instead, they give us endless Bendis events... :bang:

I don't know, I'm looking forward to it. Especially the part where

Scott leaves the clone for the original.