With Civil War almost over – all bar the shouting, and accusations that Cap doesn’t know what MySpace is – Millarworld looks at how Marvel’s latest event could revolutionize the industry:
“I enjoyed Civil War but that is for other threads. I have been thinking instead about the potential for new markets. When I was a kid, Spiderman, Captain America, Superman, Fantastic Four and all my other faveoutites were pretty much old school comics. Bad Guy arrives, good guys figure out how to beat him, the end. Sure, Spidey had his problems, Cap was fired, Reed fried his sons mind and lots of other disasters took place but you could be sure that at the end of the year things would be sorted out. For the last 5 years I feel like we’ve been getting some of the best comics of our lives. Avengers Dissasembled, Ultimates, X-Factor, Punisher MAX, Millar on Wolvie and Spidey etc… but the straigh good versus evil stories have been replaced with shades of grey (gray). Now I for one have enjoyed this but it probably doesn’t inspitre the kids in the same way. Is that the point of Civil War? Is Mighty Avengers the one for the kids and the New Avengers for the 20-30 somethings? New Avenger will fight the Mighty Avenger in NA but am I safe in saying that MA will never fight NA in their own title. Too many shades of grey. If so, will the Black and white titles be re introduced to the spinner rack for mass consumption. If not I can’t help but think that an amazing opurtunity has been missed. All the old school titles could be in newsagents, drugstores and the like, never much reffering to the grey titles, meanwhile the grey titles can add more depth and maturity in the direct market.”
“I don’t even think Civil War was good for Marvel during Civil War despite the sales. It seemed alot of momentum was lost for other writers on titles I was really digging. Brubaker’s Cap was pulled to an almost screeching halt. Bendis’ careful team building work was all but obliterated and we’ll have to wait for him to start from scratch. A host of characters will be introduce that noone will care about unless they are handled by top talent. Under Ellis and Deodato I’m sure Thunderbolts will work for a while but waht about the other 50 states worth of crap heroes other writer’s will feel compelled to use and we’ll have to tolerate. Millar, whether he realised it or not has created an environment of hero vs hero crossovers and team ups. They are almost always disappointing.”
“I definitely don’t think that the post-CW status Quo is better for the future of Marvel comics than the pre-CW status quo. It’s too complicated. The status quo should be fairly simple, an open sandbox within which a writer can tell the stories he wants to tell. The current situation is too much of a straight jacket.”
“Just for laughs, I took a look at last month’s sales figures: In the top ten, there were exactly two books (Wolverine #50 and Ultimate Spider-Man #104) that had been around longer than a year and were not overtly tied to Civil War (or any other ‘event’). And of those, only USM can boast a long run by the current creative team—in fact, its sales have jumped recently, and while I’m sure some will say it’s because the Ultimate Clone Saga is the best storyline the book has had in a couple of years, the boost is more likely the result of publicity surrounding their hitting #100, and then breaking the Lee-Kirby record (if not Aragones-Evanier). In other words, the Bendis-Bagley long run is exactly the kind of thing we’re talking about, and only the numbering gimmick pulled its sales back up. From there, it’s mostly 52 and Civil War tie-ins. Popping up at the #17 spot is non-CW Uncanny X-Men… but it’s less than a year into its major creative team change. Same goes for Batman in spot #20 and Superman at #26. Reading on down, the chart is dominated by new series (generally featuring old characters, and few of which will go on to long runs) and reboots. We get what we’re willing to pay for.”
March 1st, 2007 at 11:11 am
I think their argument would have been better served if Marvel had succeeded in actually purchasing “Frontlines.com” per Frontline.
March 10th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Marvel Needed to do this as a publishing company.I’m a serious collector and am tired of my books ending in the dollar bin after about a year.The Civil War series needs to stay and Marvel doesn’t need to change things back,just because fans are complaining.The people who are complaining,probably don’t own the series and have now missed out.Spidey un-masking and Captain America dying,are two of the biggest things to happen in comics in decades.I’ve been waiting at least 20 years for Spider man to show his face,and was very pleased when they did it in Spider-Man 2.This series will end up being a lanmark series for decades to come,if they keep it and don’t try to go back and change things.Collectors have deserved this for a very long time.We’re tired of dollar bin books….