We always undo what we did. It’s what we do. We do it every 20 pages. We do it every 30 days. Everything resets. But the point of the story was rather than “nine months later, Norman Osborn’s back in prison” was to undo it all as part of a complete thought of the story itself. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn’t work, maybe crossovers need to be punches and explosions and the black guy dies and a woman loses her powers and we all persevere into the next bold morning. I don’t know. I think event comics can be more than that formula.
That’s Matt Fraction, talking about the fact that Fear Itself undid itself in three epilogue issues released the month after its completion in an interview with Albert on the front page last week. Later in the same interview, he said “I am sorry, we did not kill a black guy, and a woman didn’t lose her powers. That did not happen. Guilty as charged,” just in case you missed the dismissal of previous crossovers’ long-lasting effects as “killing a black guy and a woman losing her powers” earlier.
This is a page from Avengers: X-Sanction #1, that came out yesterday, with your pre-requisite spoiler warning if you click through:
Okay, so the Falcon isn’t dead as a result of this page – He’s in one of those glass tubes filled with liquid that have been so popular in comics since The Empire Strikes Back, hanging around near death to act as part of a deathtrap for Captain America – but there’s still three issues left in the series, and still: That’s a really weird coincidence, right? It’s not just me?
And I thought Albert was overreacting when he all-but-predicted the Falcon’s demise on Tuesday…
December 15th, 2011 at 10:20 am
How incredibly cynical. I’m not one to bash creators, but Fraction’s attitude is very smug. The crossover was a poor one. And his argument doesn’t hold water.
December 15th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Was Fraction referring to actual comic events where a black character died and a female lost her powers, or is he just being weirdly specific? I haven’t followed Marvel’s events all that closely, so I’m genuinely curious.
Also, I think his excuse about “we always undo what we did” is pretty much cynical b.s. For one, these events are always marketed as “earth-shattering” and “nothing will be the same.” Is he saying he purposefully subverted that? That’s cool, I guess, or maybe not.
He’s right that things tend to return to status quo for the most popular and marketable characters, but usually it’s gradual and lots of good stories can be told while that happens (see the “deaths” of Bruce Wayne or Steve Rogers recently). It was comical how quickly nearly everything reset after Fear Itself.
December 15th, 2011 at 10:40 am
“We always undo what we did. It’s what we do. We do it every 20 pages. We do it every 30 days. Everything resets.”
And that’s why your stories don’t hold any weight, why they don’t matter, and it doesn’t help (in Fraction’s case) that they aren’t any good.
December 15th, 2011 at 10:57 am
I think the dead black guy in question is Goliath from “Civil War”.
December 15th, 2011 at 11:59 am
What a repulsive attitude. Computers could be programmed to spit out text that does what he writes, and they wouldn’t need to be paid anything.
SRS
December 16th, 2011 at 8:08 am
Fraction’s really burning through all the respect he earned a couple years ago, huh?