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I don't recall X-Men selling that great since House of M except Deadpool books.
There is no comic book "selling that great" anymore. Were it not for the movie revenue, most comic books would be extinct. But of those books Marvel still publishes, the X-stuff is still some of the best-seller.
Part of me is sad at the imminent extinction of comic books, because I'm a long-time fan.
But the other part of me realizes the publishers have no one to blame but themselves. They are apparently following the business model of the airline industry: Let's continue to produce a worse and worse product while continually raising our prices, then keep wondering why no one wants what we're selling? At least with the airline industry, people are forced to use the service. No one needs to read comic books.
I'd argue the problem with comics are there are too many of them. DC with Rebirth launched what 10 bi-monthly books and at least 20 books that were connected to another? I started reading Green Arrow, The Flash, Wonder Woman and Titans but gave up, even on the great Boom Mighty Morphing Power Rangers books due to my financial situation changing (a new car and a few other expenses.) I also own Marvel Unlimited membership I rarely use.
There's just too many titles and they are released far too often.
I currently buy only DC and only very occasionally may pick up something by Marvel (except old back issues).
A lot of very good to great stuff going on with Rebirth, but the books that don't sell will get axed and replaced. Wonder Woman, Batman (all titles), Superman (all titles), and Suicide Squad, among others, are doing well right now.
First: Could no longer afford it. Prices too high, and the quality did not warrant the expense.
Two: Both DC and Marvel seem to think it's a good idea to completely blow up their universe and re-invent it every few years. There is no coherency or consistency. This character is dead. Now he's alive. Only he's evil. Only it wasn't really him. So he's good again. And it always ends up at a slightly different status quo, so in the end, none of it really matters. There is no real story. No character development. Just gimmickry.
I'll still read some compilations, mostly from the library, but my days of going to the comic book store once a month and buying a dozen comics are over.
First: Could no longer afford it. Prices too high, and the quality did not warrant the expense.
Two: Both DC and Marvel seem to think it's a good idea to completely blow up their universe and re-invent it every few years. There is no coherency or consistency. This character is dead. Now he's alive. Only he's evil. Only it wasn't really him. So he's good again. And it always ends up at a slightly different status quo, so in the end, none of it really matters. There is no real story. No character development. Just gimmickry.
I'll still read some compilations, mostly from the library, but my days of going to the comic book store once a month and buying a dozen comics are over.
Cheapskate!
I kid. (But not really.)
Reliance on gimmicks isn't a new thing by any means. It goes back to the '60s & '70s, only they weren't called gimmicks, they were called story/plot-ideas/twists.
'60s: Stan Lee creates the Fantastic Four, who were obviously inspired by an issue of DC's Challengers of the Unknown. Then Stan creates the X-Man, who were clearly inspired by (more like ripped off from) DC's Doom Patrol, all the way down to a wheelchair-bound mentor!
In the '80s, Batman was briefly stricken with vampirism, and it was a killer story.
In the '80s, an alien wielded Mjolnir because he was worthy of the Hammer of Thor, which is still the best thing to ever happen to that title.
In the '70s, Diana Prince went from a Themysciran warrior princess to a white-suited secret agent type of babe. ("Groovy, baby!")
In the '90s, the X-Men were led by Magneto after the accidental killing of Professor X (by his son, Legion) via time travel. (Later, the timeline was restored.)
'80s: "Mutant Massacre," a story arc that takes place across various issues of Uncanny X-Men (four issues), New Mutants (one issue), X-Factor (three issues, including one as prologue), Thor (two issues), and Power Pack (one issue), with one issue of Daredevil providing an epilogue of sorts.
'80s, Marvel published Contest of Champions (later retooled and expanded to Secret Wars), and DC published their first (and still best) major overhaul of their multiverse, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Many years later, they rebooted everything (since undone) with the New 52, while Marvel followed suit with the lackluster Marvel NOW! line.
Marvel did these:
a) 1987: The X-Men vs. the Avengers
b) 2012: Avengers vs X-Men aka AvX
DC did these:
a) 1986: The Dark Knight Returns
b) 2001-2002: The Dark Knight Strikes Again
c) 2015-2017: The Dark Knight III: The Master Race (this ended up being nine issues long)
In the '80s, Batman was briefly stricken with vampirism, and it was a killer story.
And then the status quo returned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AFtrEFkt
In the '80s, an alien wielded Mjolnir because he was worthy of the Hammer of Thor, which is still the best thing to ever happen to that title.
And then the status quo returned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AFtrEFkt
In the '70s, Diana Prince went from a Themysciran warrior princess to a white-suited secret agent type of babe. ("Groovy, baby!")
And then the status quo returned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AFtrEFkt
In the '90s, the X-Men were led by Magneto after the accidental killing of Professor X (by his son, Legion) via time travel. (Later, the timeline was restored.)
And then the status quo returned.
Are we sensing a theme?
I get it. Most TV shows were produced on that same model for 40 years. Introduce problem, problem worsens, problem solved, status quo returns. Rinse and repeat every week. Comic books may string that out over several months, but it's the same process, so after a while I just no longer cared.
I get it. Most TV shows were produced on that same model for 40 years. Introduce problem, problem worsens, problem solved, status quo returns. Rinse and repeat every week. Comic books may string that out over several months, but it's the same process, so after a while I just no longer cared.
"The status quo returns" all the time.
We've seen it return in the Star Wars franchise (and it's playing out again) —
— the 007 franchise —
— the Transformers franchise —
— the Bourne franchise —
— and it's happening in the MCU right now. Bucky's Steve's friend again. Peter Parker is (or was) a "friendly neighborhood" Spider-Man again. Ragnarok is going to restore things in Asgard again (it's a given, but the trailer helped blow it, anyway).
It's always about the journey, not the destination.
Hey, Mark. Have you ever used that little icon that looks like a world globe with a chain link in front of it?
Well, if you paste the title of your article in your post and then highlight it, and then click on the little world globe icon with a chain link in front of it, and then paste your URL into the slot and then click OK, you'll get this.
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