First, I want to clarify that we do not do “crossover” events. This is [an] important distinction. I was here in the ’90s when “crossover” events were the norm, which is when you make a reader buy four or more different titles in a specific order to get the whole story. “Galactic Storm” is the example that jumps out from my memory banks.
We do line-wide editorial events. These events usually involve a core book like “Civil War,” “Secret Invasion,” “Siege,” etc. that could be read on their own for the complete story. Other books in the line will then use that event to develop “tie-in” stories which could be “in line,” a new miniseries or one-shot. Sorry to go off on a tangent but this is a very important distinction because we are not requiring the fans to buy into three or four other ongoing series to get the main story.
That’s Marvel publisher Dan Buckley, correcting a reference in a CBR interview to “crossover events” while apparently forgetting things like 2007′s Messiah Complex and 2010′s Second Coming, both of which required fans to buy into multiple ongoing series to get the main story, as well as the upcoming “Omega Effect” storyline, which requires fans to buy three ongoing series to get the complete story. But what’s in a term? You say “potato,” I say “starchy tuberous editorial event,” after all.
(More seriously, I look forward to the “very aggressive marketing campaign” for AvX; Buckley describes it as “the biggest marketing campaign in Marvel Comics history and something [that] will, without a doubt, bring new readers to stores,” suggesting that Marvel has learned from the successes DC had with its New 52 mainstream promotion. Here’s hoping Marvel has the same success with its efforts.)
February 10th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
The problem with his definition of “editorial event” is that while you may only need to buy one series to get the whole story, if you only read your regular ongoing titles and DON’T get the main book, you have no idea what’s going on. I didn’t read Civil War, but the Spider-Man title were mostly incomprehensible because developments in Civil War and The Avengers that impacted Spider-Man were only alluded to. I’ve since dropped collecting monthly titles, but when I flip through collections of Fear Itself’s ancillary titles, I get that same feeling: the main book make sense on their own, but the tie-in titles do not.
February 10th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Sounds like a riddle, “When is a crossover not a crossover?”
February 10th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
that is seriously Horsecrap, i don’t even understand why he’d try and sell that (especially with the recent X-events that are EXACTLY what he’s saying they aren’t.
not to mention, from the front page New Avengers preview: “Marvel is calling it one of the “most important chapters in the AVX story.” so apparently one of the “Most Important Chapters” is not in the main book, but i one of the spin offs that “you don’t have to buy”
(all that aside, i think tying the phoenix to the Iron Fist mythos is friggin’ brilliant)
February 10th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Readers who get confused by tie-in books should are amazing to me. And I mean that in a positive way: the fact that they’re able to read AT ALL is some kind of achievement, and deserving of real pride.
February 10th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Corporate hair-splitting of the dumbest, most pedantic kind. Anyone who actually said that to your face would deserve to be slapped. Condescending to your audience only makes you look like a clueless tool.
February 10th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
My point is: they’re comic books, they shouldn’t be too difficult to understand. And if there are details that are, there are plenty of resources on the internet where one can fill in the blanks about a particular story. The complaint about “I HAVE TO BUY ALL THESE BOOKS TO GET A STORY” seems spurious to me, and not a little insincere.
On the flipside? I’m surprised Blog@ hasn’t noticed the weird way that Marvel people have suddenly started avoiding saying the words “Fear Itself” aloud. Personally, I don’t think it means anything, but it’s the sort of thing Blog@ loves to notice and make a big deal out of, which always makes for entertaining reading!
And yes, I realize there’s a “should” in my previous post that shouldn’t be there. Sorry!
February 10th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. For I am the great and powerful OZ!!!”
February 10th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
They aren’t crossovers…they’re CROSSUNDERS!
All I know is that they sure leave me cross.
February 10th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Seriously, he sounds like a date rapist trying to say” it wasn’t rape, it was just a really wild, alcohol fueled party where some people did some things they just might regret later”.
February 10th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
It’s the same freaking thing! You can call something else but still the same thing. Crossovers, events, editorial events or whatever. They are all the same. Marvel you are making me criticism and jokes for me. Just change the name to try to get people not to realize they are doing crossover after crossover like 90s. People realize that and that why there is fatigue again for this stuff.
February 10th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Bwhahahahahaha! Seriously, crossovers are all that Marvel DOES anymore! But hey, kudos for trying, I suppose.
February 10th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
I can’t believe it took two whole hours for someone to compare comic books to rape.
February 10th, 2012 at 5:17 pm
so his definition of crossover is “when you make a reader buy four or more different titles in a specific order to get the whole story”? what’s the big deal when what you normally do is make a reader buy four or more of the same title in a specific order to get the whole story? i mean, it’s not like if you can find a title that is spared from whatever “editorial event” is occurring at that moment it’s going to feature a story that is confined to that issue.
February 10th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
They also don’t:
-raise the cost of popular comics by an extra $1 because they know fans will buy it anyway
-kill characters off every quarter just as a gimmick
-bring dead characters back every quarter just for a gimmick
or
-patronize their readers
February 10th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Then perhaps he can explain why in The Civil War series when it showed the sequence in which the Fantastic Four break up over the Civil War, that the events shown are completely different than what was shown in the Fantastic Four comic itself when the same scenes take place. Civil War clearly didn’t have a single overseer. I also tried reading the Skrull Invasion mini-series without reading any of the other Marvel books involved and it was almost impossible to make heads or tails out of it as there were clearly important events which took place elsewhere which informed the main mini-series. I’ve since ignored all subsequent crossover events as being a waste of time.
February 10th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Where’s the gorgeous art from?!? That’s begging to be my wallpaper.
Otherwise… that’s some corporate BS right there.
February 11th, 2012 at 2:32 am
That’s the House of M promo art, by Olivier Coipiel. From 2005, I believe.
February 11th, 2012 at 10:15 am
I found his whole tone to be condescending, but isn’t that Marvel’s MO these days?
February 12th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
No one? Really? Not one comment about, “but wait! Spidey’s marriage was editorially driven, and a bad thing. “.
But really, such a comment is unneeded this far out from that event. It’s time to move on. And see, they can fix future editorially driven decisions by adding point issues that erase major happenings, like they did with fear itself. so no problem!
February 16th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Just because you can read the main series and get the base story arc there are many other titles with stories that crossover into the main series, well that sounds like a crossover to me. To get the full story of Spider Man revealing his Identity you had to get the Spider Man series also because it crossed over into the other story of Civil War. If it is not a crossover then don’t put the main series title on top of other titles that have to do something with the main series. Wow talk about mis-leading.
February 18th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
Interesting reason. I really like to make out the print Marcy