Insane Speculation about Marvel Legacy

So, did you hear about this new Marvel thing: Marvel Legacy?  

You can read about it here, but it's basically a return to form for Marvel. Classic characters back in their status quo (yay?), a return to legacy numbering (thank fucking God), corner boxes on covers, fan reach out stuff (like FOOM and hopefully bullpen bits); basically it's Marvel's version of DC Rebirth.  Which, hey, I'm all about.

Don't get me wrong, I hate to see the House of Ideas become a recycling center, but I love the basic intent: energize the base, tell good stories, and expand from there.  No joke, DC Rebirth was one of the best comics I read in 2016 and had one of my favorite moments ever in all of comics (I'm a sucker for big, heartfelt returns).  And that's coming from a life-long Marvel zombie!  To think that Marvel might actually pull something off half as good fills me with all kinds of optimism I haven't felt since…  Well, at least a decade.

And just to head you off at the pass, while I'm excited for things like legacy numbering and fan reach out stuff, I'm less excited for the return of the classic status quo.  While I don't read a lot of books right now, I like the idea of JaneThor, Miles, and SamNova and most definitely don't want to see those rolled back.  However, if we could see Sam and Miles develop a strong rogues gallery all their own so they could become their own heroes not living in the shadows of their predecessors, well that'd be just peachy.

Anyway, I'm not here to give you unsolicited opinions about Marvel Legacy.  I'm here to mindlessly speculate about Marvel Legacy.  And everything begins with these quotes:

"Let's just say there's a last-page reveal that's probably gonna break the Internet." - Axel 

Alonzo

"[It's] the return of a central piece of Marvel mythos that readers have been mourning in recent months" - Tom Brevoort

So yeah, at the end of the big relaunch book will be a huge reveal of a Marvel Mythos that will break the internet.  People are already speculating that it's the return of the Fantastic Four (which is the easy money right now) or the first 616 appearance of Miracleman (or Marvelman, if you're a traditionalist), but they're both wrong.

The reveal is totally going to be about Mephisto and the Spider-marriage.

I know, I know, it's totally insane, but hear me out and you'll realize just how sane it sounds.

1- "Readers mourning" = Readers loving Renew your vows

Undoing the Spider-Marriage by way of demonic intervention was always a bitter pill to swallow and it made me (a staunch supporter of the marriage) vow to never buy another Spider-book until it was undone.  And then they launched Renew Your Vows which was the exact book I (and presumably many others) was looking for.  Reading it has reminded me just how great that Peter MJ relationship is and why it was such a shitty idea to get rid of it in the first place.  Which is probably why…

2- Mary Jane is returning to the Spider-books

After being sidelined for years and most recently getting shipped off to Iron Man, MJ makes her triumphant return to the world of webs in Chip Zdarsky's new 'back to basics' Spectacular Spider-Man book.  However, it also said that he's modeling Peter and MJ's relationship after his with his ex-wife, so they could just end up being weirdo pals.  However… 

3- Mephisto has been a plot point in Spider-Man/Deadpool

This, well, let me show you two excerpts from Spider-Man/Deadpool #5 from Joe Kelly and Ed Mcguiness:

Click to embiggen so you can read it!

Sounds like a man (er…  demon) with a plan.  Maybe someone who has the power, ability, and motive to bend reality around a person (or people because it's both him and Mary Jane) to make them experience a vast emptiness and therefore unhappiness with their life.  Which almost sounds like what DC is doing with Dr. Manhattan in Rebirth.  I mean, after all, if you're going to copy something, why not go all out:

4- Mephisto will be the Dr. Manhattan of Marvel Legacy

In Rebirth, the big reveal was that some God-like creature stole time from the universe, rejected happiness, and generally put the heroes onto the path of despair.  In a meta sense, it was a great way to explain away some terrible story decisions and gently reset the world as if they never happened.  Who's to say Mephisto couldn't be the same kind of force for Marvel?  Maybe his deal with Peter and MJ was less "I'll take your marriage for your Aunt's life" and more "I'll take everyone's happiness for your Aunt's life".  Which would explain why fs all of the big company wide crossovers have been increasingly about heroes fighting other heroes as opposed to, you know, bad guys.

I guess we'll find out this Fall what the reveal is.  Oh, which reminds me, there is one big anniversary coming up this November:

5- November is the 10th Anniversary of One More Day

Huh.  Can you believe that.  Ten years since they shoved the Spider-Marriage 'genie' back into the bottle.  It was such a big deal that then-EiC Joe Quesada took time out of his busy schedule to pencil the whole thing and give us that one iconic cover:

Crazy.  And who's doing the big, four-page foldout cover for Marvel Legacy?

Right.  I'm sure that doesn't mean anything.

So…  do you still think I'm totally insane?

The (Possible) Marvel Reboot.

Today Marvel had a big press conference about their latest Earth-Shattering crossover, Secret Wars, and it looks like it might actually live up to the hype.  In said press conference they announced this crossover would be the climax for the story that's been running in Hickman's New Avengers about different Earths smashing into each other.  And, surprising no one, said crossover would involve the Ultimate and 616 Marvel Universe smashing into each other and becoming something new.

To quote Tom Brevoort himself, "The Marvel Universe as you know it is done."

To say I am unhappy with this is an understatement.

I get what they're trying to do.  They (Marvel) wants to make the Marvel Universe a place that's accessible to everyone (and especially the younger set) by doing away with the years and years of awesome, weird, and ugly stories that they've accumulated throughout the years.  They're probably thinking that by streamlining everything they'll get more readers because they won't feel as daunted by the vast history staring them in the face.

It's a noble goal, to be sure, but it's crazy flawed.  Continuity isn't a hold up for kids, it's a hold up for adults.  

Way back when I started reading, I jumped into the middle of the most continuity driven era of X-Men ever and I loved it.  I didn't really know who all the players were or what was really going on, but I was excited to discover it all.  I would pour over manuals, guides, trading cards, you name it so I could learn who all these weird characters were.  And then that expanded to the multiverse, then to other universes and whatever new fun continuity popped up.  It left me with all kinds of weird trivial knowledge that I'll never really need outside of terrible Geek gameshows.

It was my hobby, and like all good hobbies when you're younger, it kinda took all my attention.

But, as I got older and my attention was needed elsewhere - like paying rent, getting a girlfriend, and hanging out with real people - my focus became diffused and I didn't have time to worry about all the ancillary comic stories and continuities.  I knew what I liked (the 616) and I only wanted to read the stories set in that universe and not waste my precious brain resources on anything else(sorry Ultimates, MC2, and 2099).  And that's not to mention my outright refusal to try to learn any new universes (sorry Valiant, I'm sure you're awesome).

Anecdotal?  Maybe.  Just consider this:  When was a last time a kid didn't think they were ready for, say, the latest issue of Avengers because they hadn't read the 50 years of books leading up to it?  You know who does that?  Adults.

If Marvel really wanted to appeal more to a younger set, they ought to refocus their books to be more about the big fights and less about conversations.  Maybe if they stopped doing 6 issue arcs for everything, tightened up the storytelling, and just started having more fun with the stuff they can do they'd get that audience they want.  But as it stands, they're courting an audience who won't care at the expense of the ones who do.

I really hope I'm blowing this announcement out of proportion.  I very much wish that this crossover ends up being like all the rest with minor cosmetic changes to the 616 and maybe a few new characters hanging around (I'm looking at you, Miles.)

Otherwise, it's been a good run Marvel, but I'm too old to learn a whole new history.  

The Bill September 1, 2011

After months of bitching in anticipation, DC's big gamble finally became a real book in my hands. How's it stack up? How am I going to differentiate myself from 95% of the rest of the blogosphere? Join me after the graphic and let's find out.




The Big Story:

Justice League # 1
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Jim Lee

"Are these books always four dollars," the FutureWife asked as I forced her to read the issue in question. After I nodded in the affirmative, she retorted, "seems pretty light for four bucks..."

To me, that about sums up what I expect a new fan to think about this book. It looks nice and it reads okay, but the price is a bit high and the page count seemingly lacking (In reality it's fine, I'm just pointing out what a new reader would thing). That's not a good combination when you're trying to win over new fans.

The substance of the book is less 'Justice League' as it is 'Brave and the Bold'. Instead of trotting out new or lapsed storytelling techniques for this introductory issue of 'The New 52', the powers that be opted instead to rely on that tired old decompressed method that's been the rage for the past few years. So instead of seeing the team come together in this issue, we saw Green Lantern and Batman meeting for the first time and chasing down a lead. It wasn't a bad story, it just wasn't a special one.

Justice League #1 didn't feel like something that needed the entire universe to be reset for and that's a major problem. Where it should have been fresh and new, it instead felt like well-worn territory with a fancy new coat of paint. Sure, the attitudes of the heroes changed a bit - Hal, for better or worse, sounds a lot more like Ryan Reynolds now, for instance - but for the most part it felt like something that could have been told in the pre-Flashpoint Universe with some minor tweaks.

For all my bitching, I really wanted to be blown away by this book. I wanted to totally eat crow while writing this review, feeling embarrassed by over-reaction to the snippets of details I had. Alas, that's not the case. But instead of feeling vindicated, I feel sad for DC's big shakeup and what I see as a big missed opportunity.

That said, I did witness two non-fans coming into my comic store to buy all the new number ones. So regardless of what I - or the rest of the blogosphere, for that matter - thinks, the big relaunch achieved it's goal of getting new faces in the stores. I just hope they're forgiving enough to stick around for next month...

The Reasoning Behind the DC Reboot

That's Dan Didio, as quoted by this article over at Hero Complex, when asked about the decision to go with the new DC Reboot. He makes a great point, and I totally understand his reasoning for trying something drastic. It's no secret that the world of comics is getting smaller everyday (ironically while influence of comics grows greater and greater everyday) and something has to be done to reverse that trend. The only way comics will get out of this reported tail spin is by attracting new, and lapsed, readers back to the confines of those stapled (or whatever the digital equivalent of staples are). For all of my criticisms of what DC is doing, Didio makes a great case for a major shakeup and I respect him for just going for it.

But.

Because you knew there had to be a but, right? Later in the article, Rob Liefeld (of all people) was quoted saying this about the reboot:



I totally agree with the first part of that quote. Yes things have been getting a bit stagnant and that now is the perfect time to do something crazy to attract new readers. Hitting the reset button, however, is not the answer to anything.

I get it. Take things back to a simpler time, when things were at their most iconic. Eschew all the strange bits of canon (I'm looking at you Continuity Punches) and rebuild the universe in a more organic way that makes sense for what you're trying to do. At the same time, take a few years off your leads to make them more relatable to your incoming audience. It seems to work on paper, but in reality I think it'll just muck things up more than it helps.

Suddenly, you'll have to explain to people how certain stories fit into the new universe, or why other stories don't exist at all. A fan who's excited about the new Teen Titans might go back to check out an copy a few months old, only to find that nothing makes any sense. It's this huge can of caveat worms that's going to be openned, and will only make things more confusing when you try to explain that Superman and Lois used to be married in a Post-crisis, Pre-Flashpoint Universe. Makes you sound like a crazy person. And no one wants to listen to crazy people.

Personally, I think the answer would have been to push everything forward. It's a much more provocative, interesting gamble that publishers very rarely take. The best way to change the status quo isn't to reset it to what it's always been, but to change it to something new and fresh. Much like Marvel is doing with Ultimate Spider-Man.

Marvel, in a much similar situation with an overly convoluted Ultimate continuity, opted to embrace the future by putting the past to rest and building on it. By killing Peter (and presumably keeping him dead) and building this new hero in his legacy, they don't create that confusion with the old stories. If a kid really likes Miles Morales and picks up an old issue, it'll be easier to explain that Peter died, than the something like 'it's not continuity any more because everything got reset by a guy who can run really fast'.

It will be very interesting to see what method pays off the most. Will new fans be attracted to the same old, traditional stories with a new coat of paint, or will they want something truly new? Personally I'm hoping for the latter.



I guess we'll find out in a few months.

The Best Thing About The DC Reboot...

...Just makes it all that much more disappointing.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Earlier in the week, Newsarama (or 4chan if you believe Bleeding Cool) released a huge collage of the new DC Logos (or mastheads, if you want to get technical) and they're awesome. Just check'em out:


click to embiggen

Those are, without a doubt, some of the slickest, most modern looking logos I've seen in years. Kudos to DC for really bringing it when it comes to the majority of these title treatments. Out of context, these absolutely signify the new M.O. of 'The New 52' and honestly get me excited about some of these books.

And then I remember them in context:



Simply put, those logos don't go with those costumes. It's like chocolate and relish, Peanut butter and steak, kittens and cucumbers, or... well, you get the idea.

I've ranted about these new costumes before, so I'm going to try to not repeat myself, but basically DC very much missed an opportunity when they revamped these costumes for 'The New 52'. Instead of going to the early 90s for inspiration, why didn't they turn to fashion designers, minimalist artists, or anyone out side of the field of comics that could give these characters a fresh, yet classic new look?

When I see those new mastheads, I expect the heroes they represent to be just as hip an modern. I want a slick, stylish Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman when I open up that first issue of Justice League, not overly complicated versions of their old, better-looking costumes. It's as if the mastheads and the characters were designed by two different parts of DC Comics that refuse to talk to each other. The disconnect between the two ideologies when it comes to new, fresh and modern is astounding.

Listen, I really want this crazy DC stunt to work. I want nothing more than the talk a week from now to be how DC has totally reinvigorated the comics market and goosed sales throughout the industry. I just worry that someone's going to read all the coverage for this new, fresh DCU, only to be disappointed when they see something that looks like comics have always been.

Let's pray that I just worry too much.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the DC Reboot

Now that some of the dust has settled on this DC non-reboot reboot, I figured it was a good time to reexamine DC's crazy ass stunt. Not for nothing, the DC brass has certainly captured the attention of the comic reading public. They've grabbed the limelight away from the House of Ideas, and it'll be theirs to lose if this thing doesn't pan out the way they're hoping. Let's break it down.

THE GOOD

Between the attempts at overly tight publishing schedules (see Countdown), the rapid reversals (See the death and return of Bart Allen), and the unclear, piecemeal nature of their in-continuity history (I'm looking at you, Power Girl), DC was in desperate need of a continuity overhaul. Things were getting a bit overly convoluted. For me, no other character exemplifies this convoluted continuity more than Jason Todd.



I dig the idea of Jason's return as much as the next guy, but I always cringe when I have to explain how he came back: Superboy-Prime, the recently powered Clark Kent from "our" Earth, got bored in his pocket dimension - that he shared with a different Superman, different Lois, and the good Lex Luthor - and started beating on the walls of reality, sending shockwaves through the fabric of time and space which resulted in the sudden un-death of Jason Todd.

You can imagine the looks I get.



It's shit like that that keeps people from diving into comics. When you have to know something from 25 years ago just to start to understand the insane reasons why another character is suddenly around, people get understandably squeamish about jumping into the monthly grind. DC recognizes this, I'm hoping, and are attempting to make things a bit easier to understand.

Plus, as I read in an interview with Scott Lobell (incoming writer on Teen Titans and Superboy) over at Bleeding Cool, most of the old continuity that worked will still be around. It won't be a wholesale reboot, so you don't have to worry about trying to figure out complete new histories on your favorite DC characters.

THE BAD

If you're not going to do a wholesale reboot, then what's the point?

As happy as I am that I'll still be able to talk about those characters I haven't read about for ten years, DC shouldn't be concerned with what I think. When it comes down to it, this not-reboot reboot ought to be more similar to Crisis on Infinite Earths - where everything basically starts over - instead of the significantly less effective method that was Zero Hour.



Do you remember Zero Hour? When they tried to clean up the lingering continuity issues left over from the then-ten year old Crisis by explicitly resetting the timeline and instituting small fixes along the way to make everything more cohesive? Do you remember Triumph (one of the founding members of the JLA) and Alpha Centurian (The first hero of Metropolis)? Of course you don't. No one does, because everything went back to the way it was within two years of Zero Hour. And if things continue like this for DC, this new non-reboot reboot will end up the same way.

The root of all of this, though, is rebooting in general. If you're trying to make your published books less convoluted, adding on yet another qualifier is not the way to do it. For instance, right now, if I want to talk about when Triumph was a member of the JLA, I need to specify that I mean the post-Zero Hour, Pre-infinite Crisis JLA, as opposed to Pre-Crisis, Post-Crisis Pre-Zero Hour, or soon the Post-Non-reboot-reboot JLA. It's problematic.



THE UGLY

The politics of reboots/restarts aside, the most fun part of this whole thing should be the new costume designs. What a great opportunity to tweak their icons to make them look their best for a new discriminating reader.

Or so I believed until I saw this:



As much as I want to sit here and rip on these costumes individually, other, better writers than myself already have. You should check out their reactions because they're all totally spot on. Instead, I'd like to focus on the global issue here: These aren't DC Costumes.

What I've always admired about DC is that every great hero in their roster is backed up by one glorious, instantly recognizable (for comic fans) symbol. Hell, they just did a big line of variant covers showing off that fact. They've been able to access world wide recognition with the simple awesomeness of these symbols, that I'm sure every other publisher wishes they had.



You can see the progression of those strong iconic symbols through the major publishers. DC, because they came first, have the strongest, simplest, most well-known symbols. Thrown in almost any context, you know what those symbols mean. Marvel came next, and while they have a few icons (The X, The Skull, and the 4), they're individual characters don't have the same appeal. For example, the spider needs the red and blue behind it so you know it's not just bad clip at, The star needs the blue and the stripes underneath it, and so on and so forth. Instead of iconic symbols, Marvel instead had iconic costumes (purple pants, red and gold, four circles) to make their characters pop. And then there was Image...

When Image came around, things like symbols and iconic costumes were somewhat passe' and you can see that in the majority of their original character designs. Everyone looked generic, with splashes of color underneath their overly complicated accouterments and grimaces. In veering so far away from the simple, they made their characters too much work to care about, which is why, I contend, that no one's clamoring for Spartan, Badrock, or Brick to return to anything... ever.

The point is, these are Image costumes, not DC costumes.



DC's on the verge of screwing up the best thing they have going. If I were them, I'd seriously consider getting someone other than Jim Lee (Who's normally fucking awesome when it comes to costume designs) to simplify these needlessly complicated and ultimately forgettable costumes.

Conclusion

In the end, I'm really intrigued to see how this all plays out for DC and the rest of the industry. Given the track record though, I'm going to be preparing for the worst though.

Good thing I only read Marvel books, right? I just hope they don't get any 'bright' ideas.