On Marvel’s new Fear Itself spin-off The Fearless – This is getting ridiculous, isn’t it? A twice-monthly spin-off from a major event book exploring the aftermath, co-written by the writer of said event? I guess someone at Marvel really, really liked Brightest Day (or wants to cement my feeling that Fear Itself is some kind of bizarro Blackest Night). But between this and the Superman: Earth One – Season One similarities from earlier this week, I now feel as if Marvel is just looking over at what works for DC and then ripping it off wholesale. I’m telling you, if this September relaunch works, I fully expect The Fearless to spin-off into a Pete Wisdom mini-series called The Fearless Aftermath: The Search For Man Thing before we get a rehash of Flashpoint (Itself a rehash of Age of Apocalypse, itself a rehash of “Crisis On Earth-A” from Gardner Fox’s Justice League of America run back in the ’60s) and then every series will get relaunched all over again by the end of 2012.
On the plus side, I can’t wait to see the uproar online over whether Thor will be wearing pants or not.
July 22nd, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Again, I have to ask? Why all the HATE towards Marvel?
July 22nd, 2011 at 12:15 pm
And the announcement that Schism, Fear Itself, and Children’s Crusade all come together for what I would imagine is the Next Big Thing doesn’t help.
Say what you will about the insanity of relaunching 52 titles, but I like the fact that they’re all, at least initially, self-contained.
July 22nd, 2011 at 2:24 pm
You forgot to include Bevroot saying how this has never been done before and Bendis saying this was all done by the writers, working together in the same room with meals brought in, but it wasn’t a committee.
July 22nd, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Marvel has been ripping off DC for decades.
July 22nd, 2011 at 3:06 pm
It’s like when Facebook rips off Twitter; strange that #1 is always copying #2, but I guess (from a purely mercenary standpoint) they must know what they’re doing?
July 22nd, 2011 at 3:23 pm
–Again, I have to ask? Why all the HATE towards Marvel?–
Because bringing up good points and questions that should be asked but Marvel seems to continually get a free ride on is never a bad thing.
July 22nd, 2011 at 5:37 pm
I think all publishers should be ripping off good ideas from their competitors way more often than they do now. Sometimes, it feels to me as though DC and Marvel go out of their way to do the opposite of what fans like in the other companies. This is a business. If a business model works well for one company, another should be able to adapt that model to their own stuff, yeah?
July 22nd, 2011 at 9:48 pm
I think it’s the hypocrisy of Marvel; the reason it pisses people off is because Marvel is constantly sh*ting on DC for everything they do (you like how I worked piss and sh*t in the same sentence?), then they go and do everything they just shat on DC for doing.
July 22nd, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Love the Monkees! Saw ‘em do that song last night at Coney Island!
July 22nd, 2011 at 10:04 pm
God, this is getting ridiculous. Next you’ll be complaining that Marvel’s Thor movie was a ripoff of The Asylum’s “Almighty Thor.”
Brightest Day was a DC version of Heroic Age to begin with. In fact, every DC book you mention has an antecedent at Marvel that we could just as easily accuse DC of ripping off.
Marvel Zombies –> Blackest Night
Heroic Age —-> Brightest Day
House of M —-> Flashpoint
Ultimate Universe —-> Earth One
One More Day —-> DCNu
July 23rd, 2011 at 12:20 am
“Again, I have to ask? Why all the HATE towards Marvel?”
- Josh Gold
If it makes you feel better, ALL the event-y comics, from both of the big superhero publishers, are hate-worthy. Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Flashpoint… they’re all terrible.
DCnU (or the New 52, whichever nickname you like better) is the only “event” from either of the Big Two that I’m actually thrilled about and looking forward to for the precise reason that it’s NOT an event. It’s the opposite: a stripping-down of their mega-stories so that they can do cleaner, self-contained arcs unique to each title. That’s what I’ve been asking for for years and I’m not alone. This blog post makes it abundantly clear why this new system is better.
“Say what you will about the insanity of relaunching 52 titles, but I like the fact that they’re all, at least initially, self-contained.”
- Kyle Garret
I agree! I’m hoping it does well so that Marvel will follow suit and return to each title having its own identity and ending this madness of line-wide epics every year. (although if DCnU succeeds, nobody will call it “insanity”)
July 23rd, 2011 at 7:22 am
@Coming Curse:
Never seen a lamer post then this as Blackest Night is a spin-off of Sinestro Corps which at the time was an original event that didn’t sell that well.
Oh and their original Ultimate Universe was All-Star (which was still running at the time) and not Earth One.
July 23rd, 2011 at 10:44 am
Marvel >>> DC. FACT.
July 23rd, 2011 at 12:25 pm
@D. Peace
The New 52 aren’t going to be self contained. Look at the solicit for Stormwatch #2 and it basically says “this is a story spinning out of something that happened in Superman”
@WAT
Blackest Night is extremely similar in premise to Marvel Zombies where you’ve got evil zombie versions of iconic characters going around killing their former comrades and converting them into more evil zombies and trying to take over the world. I’m sure this is why DC went so far out of their way to never officially refer to the DC Zombies as “zombies.”
July 23rd, 2011 at 1:02 pm
@Coming Curse
Even if Stormwatch #2 picks up on something that happened in Superman, it’s not a crossover. It would be pretty easy for Cornell to summarize whatever happened in Superman in Stormwatch. You really wouldn’t have to read that story. It’s an example of being in a shared universe, not a crossover or event.
There’s a big difference there.
July 23rd, 2011 at 2:18 pm
“Marvel has been ripping off DC for decades.”
And DC has been ripping off Marvel for decades.
But welcome to 2011.
July 23rd, 2011 at 9:41 pm
Marvel *RULES*
July 25th, 2011 at 10:53 pm
I have felt for awhile that Marvel benefits from a brand loyalty other companies in any industry would envy. Marvel is able to put out paint-by-numbers hero movies that fans eat up with an uncritical eye for example. Marvel is able to bring a slew of characters back from the dead ala Blackest Night and fanboys say, “Make Mine Marvel!”, never recognizing that Marvel is blatantly mimicking DC initiatives. It happens regularly enough I am convinced marvel holds creative summits to pick the brains of network friends as to what DC has planned then creates their storylines accordingly.
July 26th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
@ghostfly
I’m sure all of the professional film critics who give the Marvel Studios films consistently high ratings are all mindless Marvel fanboys as well, right? By the way, how are you enjoying all the Flashpoint tie-ins?