Well, this post was going to be about how Marvel seems to be soliciting an awful lot of books these days. Then I looked though the Previews for the last four months and Marvel had the same number of pages allotted, and I thought to myself, maybe they aren't putting out more books. 'Course, four months isn't a very large sample size, and I didn't feel like counting actual titles, so maybe they are. OK, so just now, I decided to compare March '09 to June '09, and actually, I counted more books from the March issue (105) than the June (94)*. So that kind of pops that balloon.
I think I could be forgiven for that misjudgment, since it seems like there are more Dark Reign related mini-series all the time. There are three Avengers books**, Wolverine has his usual two ongoings, but his son has one too (that he co-opted from Logan, but he's the star now). Hulk's going to have 2 ongoings, and his son has one too. Heck, Deadpool's going to have two monthly series by mid-summer, which seems nuts to me. I guess this means we can expect Kid Deadpool to reappear in one of them soon, as a starting point for his own ongoing series.
One other solicit-related thought: I have this feeling they're going to try again with Moon Knight soon. There's supposed to be a Moon Knight Saga released in August, which will be free, which sounds like an attempt to get people interested in Moon Knight before they try another monthly series. Slightly different strategy from what they're trying with Iron Fist (where they shut down, have a mini-series, then start up a new(?) ongoing), similar to what they did when they went from Spider-Girl to Amazing Spider-Girl.
If I'm right (big if, I know), I don't really see it working. They're just now ending a Moon Knight series due to low sales, and I don't think waiting three or four months, then trying again, is going to yield much better results. It seems like they might be better served following the path set by Thor, where he was MIA for three, four years or so, then he had a new ongoing (with a big-name comic writer as an added boost). Yeah, it's more of a struggle for Moon Knight (or Iron Fist), because they aren't quite on Thor's level, even with comic fans (to say nothing of the larger public consciousness), but they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, so maybe it would be better to shelve them for a bit, get people to where they're jonesing for the characters again, then try again. And hope the books convince fans to stick around awhile.
I wouldn't mind being wrong, especially if the new series*** is good, because we can always use more good comics, and to have those good comics sell well.
* I wasn't counting trades, hardcovers, comics listed twice because they have a variant, or poster books (I think there were maybe two of those in each month). Just serial comic releases, be they ongoings or mini-series.
** Or four if you count Avengers: The Initiative. Or five, because there's a Young Avengers mini-series too, I think.
*** Again, assuming I'm right and they are planning to start up a new Moon Knight monthly.
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3 comments:
Well, with Moon Knight they could try another strategy (one they tried with Iron Fist), they could make it, you know, good.
I didn't read any of the recent re-launch of Moon Knight, but I haven't heard anything good, despite my love for the character. Just seems like they missed an opportunity there.
Also, a thought occurred to me. With both Wolverine and Hulk getting an ostensible third title for this sons, how long before Deadpool gets one for his child?
I had the same sense that they were soliciting more books, but I think some of that may also have come from the fact that they're renaming or changing some of the books for Dark Regin.
So we've got Dark Wolverine, or the new Ms. Marvel, but they're just replacing existing titles. Plus War of Kings doesn't have nearly as many tie-ins as some of the other crossovers have had, which reduces the count a bit.
And you're right, if they're soliciting a Moon Knight Saga book then there's going to be some sort of Moon Knight series coming out after that (either that, or he'll be featuring in some sort of crossover event).
jason: I think Moon Knight had some potential, but there were all the delays in the first year, with the Hutson (Huston?)/Finch team, and now Benson decompresses things too much. So the good stuff was spread too thinly.
seangreyson: Yeah, ti's probably all the titles changes, or I was just assuming since Dark Reign is the current big thing that Marvel would add a bunch of new books.
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