Hail and farewell, Hellblazer; with that title’s sad demise in February, Fables becomes the longest-continuously running, un-renumbered title at DC Comics with 126 issues, oddly enough, despite having only launched in the year 2002. In fact, Fables will actually be the longest continuous, un-renumbered run of any book at either of the Big Two; at Marvel, Journey Into Mystery, Dark Avengers and X-Factor all have higher issue numbers, but each one has been relaunched and renumbered at some point to get there (The current run of X-Factor launched with #1 in 2005 and was renumbered with #200; the current Journey Into Mystery launched as a Thor reboot with #1 in 2007, renumbering with #600 in 2009 and being retitled in 2011; and Dark Avengers started life as New Thunderbolts #1 in 2005, getting retitled and renumbered with Thunderbolts #100 in 2006, and then retitled as Dark Avengers with #175, earlier this year).
The longest-running, continuously-numbered title at any of the Big Four publishers come March? Somewhat surreally for those of us who remember it launching, it’ll be Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, which should be soliciting #228 for March with the next round of solicitations.
November 8th, 2012 at 10:40 am
I’ve never understood why anyone would place so much emphasis on the issue numbers (not meaning to say Graeme is here, he’s just pointing things out).
For example, at NYCC (i think), there was a fan who was selected to read Iron Man (or Thor, one or the other) #1. After he finished it, he said it was great, but “did it have to be a new number 1?” That just confuses me to no end. You would have enjoyed the issue more if it had #347 on the cover instead of #1? I only actually collect (read: keep) a few titles, and they’ve been relaunched at 0.1′d and one-shotted, its not like its super hard to keep it all in order.
Who cares what number the book is if the story is good??
November 8th, 2012 at 11:03 am
More than you’d think, but not enough to make a difference to the majors.
#1 There are those who like the numbers. It’s a nice glimpse at the longevity of a series. There are a gazillion “#1s” out there. #347s are a lot harder to come by.
#2 Decisions that are blatantly marketing-based rather than editorial-based are frequently frowned upon by a segment of the audience.
So yeah, content is the most important thing. But the administrative stuff can affect enjoyment as well.
November 8th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
No more Hellblazer? Well, darn it, that’s depressing.
November 9th, 2012 at 12:21 am
Looney Tunes. Up to issue 210 and no signs of stopping.
November 9th, 2012 at 1:10 am
Because years from now, people will ask “Do you remember Iron Man #1?” And the only correct answer will be “Which one?”
November 9th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
*snicker*