So, February will see the final issues of Black Panther, X-23, Ghost Rider and PunisherMAX, following on from the recent cancellations/endings of Alpha Flight, Herc, Iron Man 2.0, All-Winners Squad, Victor Von Doom and never-solicited Destroyers mini. And, considering that the full Marvel solicitations haven’t been released yet, there may be even more books ending that we don’t know about. It really does look like, as iFanboy have decided to call it, a Cancelpocalypse, but here’s my obvious question:
What is going to replace all of these books?
I can’t be the only one who’s thinking that we’re months (at most) away from a swath of all-new monthlies replacing these titles, New 52-style, in an attempt to regain market share and find new homes for the talents behind the disappeared books, right? We already know that Marjorie Liu is working on something for Marvel, and isn’t Ghost Rider‘s Rob Williams a Marvel exclusive? He’ll need a new book; similarly, I can’t believe that Francesco Francavilla isn’t going to show up elsewhere at the House of Ideas sometime soon. Things are looking amazingly grim for Marvel right now, but I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen next.
November 17th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Why would you think anything is going to replace them? Marvel’s line is extremely bloated and it seems clear orders came down from above to trim the unprofitable books.
November 17th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Did you happen to hear the Word Balloon interview with Liefeld the other day? Interesting comments about Marvel not wanting to produce characters that other companies own the licenses for in other media.
I wonder if such a relaunch, or launching of a bunch of new #1′s, might come around the release of the Avengers movie. Maybe we’ll see a renaming of the current Avengers titles.
This is a small Marvel Implosion.
November 17th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Two books no one’s mentioning: the CrossGen miniseries Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Route 666, announced at Fanboy Expo in late August for release in December and February, respectively. Both almost certainly cancelled.
November 17th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
“Did you happen to hear the Word Balloon interview with Liefeld the other day? Interesting comments about Marvel not wanting to produce characters that other companies own the licenses for in other media.”
Can you provide a more specific quote/paraphrase? Because Marvel obviously isn’t going to stop publishing Spider-Man and X-Men books…
November 17th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
@Barry Convex
Rob mentioned approaching Marvel with ideas for new X-characters and they told him they were avoiding doing that so as not to put more money into Fox’s pocket, as Fox could use said characters in the movies.
That would strike me as a Disney decision, as they probably aren’t too thrilled with Fox making those movies (and Marvel has a bad deal with them).
November 17th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
The timing of all of this seems really strange. It seems like these decisions are being made on the heels of DC’s big relaunch, but is it the reason why? Did Disney look at the landscape and say “we need serious changes?”
November 18th, 2011 at 8:35 am
Yeah, I have a strong feeling that any new series coming in Spring through Fall 2012 are going to be attempting to capitalize on The Avengers movie juggernaut. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Liu come out with another attempt at a Black Widow on-going (and I quite liked her work on the previous series).
November 19th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
I just read on CBRs Axel Alonso column that we can Daken to this list too. Unbelievable. That brings the confirmed cancellation total to 11 books. What percentage of their line is this? At what point can we declare this a total disaster?
I am somewhat blown away, seeing as, when viewed with the firings of the last month or so, this shows a real tearing down of Marvel Publishing. I can only stipulate, but it seems to me that Disney is tearing through their budget, which is nonsensical seeing as how much they made off of the Thor and Cap movies this year. Marvel Publishing should be given leeway comparable to how much they earn on the Marvel Films side, seeing as those movies wouldn’t have been made without the work done in the comics in the last 10 years. Hell, I would reckon, without Civil War and New Avengers, no one would have even considered making films out of any of the properties they have had so much success with.
November 19th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Also, between the cancelations of Daken and X-23, they have lost their one solo female book and their only book with a non-heterosexual lead (if you didn’t know, Daken is bi). So not only are they destroying their line, but reconfirming their lack of character diversity.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:02 am
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