Sunday, August 12, 2012

Marvel Now! Is Nothing New!

There has been some buzz going around about what Marvel will be doing come this October. Dubbed Marvel Now! this new promotional gimmick from Marvel is going to see a new number one once a week for 22 weeks, and these titles will most likely double ship after they are released with a $3.99 price tag so get ready for a pricey Marvel pull list if you feel inclined to jump on at this point.
You have to wonder though where is the catch? There really isn't one. Marvel is not doing anything really special with this re-numbering, and it appears that this is going to just be the next step in the Marvel Universe. How is this suppose to attract people to actually buy Marvel books, and stick with them? It doesn't, because just on the fact that Marvel is yet again using a re-numbering gimmick to pull in new readers there will most likely be a drastic fall in the orders for issues 3 and 4.
The real draw, if there is one, might be the new creative teams, but they aren't really new. From the solicitation announcements it sounds like Marvel just took a deck of cards with writers and artists names on them, and shuffled. Which is just a poor attempt to entice people who follow talent to pick up these new books.
Marvel has been, for some time now, struggling to keep some since of quality in the stories they published, and it just seems like they throw anything to the wall to see if it will stick.
I'm not buying it. The whole of Marvel Now! is just another gimmick, and that is a shame, because there is so much that can be done to the Marvel Universe to give readers quality comics. Marvel will hopefully learn from this, and grow as a company, but I can't get behind the re-numbering, the shuffling of creative teams, the $3.99 price point, and the double shipping of titles. Such a shame because the fact that The Guardians of the Galaxy was coming back might have put a Marvel back on my pull list, but the creative team will most likely not impress me enough to even give it a read. So, sad. Good luck Marvel. You need it Now! more than ever.


  1. A rejigger is a rejigger is a rejigger.

    I think we'll see Marvel's next big thing once DC comes up with the idea.