Comic Book Talk

Question for the group, and let's use Generation X as an example title: If Generation X was super successful and Marvel wanted more of the title and its cast, does it make sense to create spin-offs or would it make sense to just release Gen X bi-weekly?

Or every week?

I understand the hurdles that go with it, I'm just curious if any publisher has tried this approach with marquee titles? Instead of Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, just the one book published four times as fast? It would at the very least keep the narrative contained/more easily trackable.
 
Schizm said:
Question for the group, and let's use Generation X as an example title: If Generation X was super successful and Marvel wanted more of the title and its cast, does it make sense to create spin-offs or would it make sense to just release Gen X bi-weekly?

Or every week?

I understand the hurdles that go with it, I'm just curious if any publisher has tried this approach with marquee titles? Instead of Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, just the one book published four times as fast? It would at the very least keep the narrative contained/more easily trackable.
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There's already a Gen X reunion (the characters not the creative team) running at Marvel. The title escapes me because the art is mediocre and the artist lays things out weird, like for double page reading or to be read vertically. But the characters are there.

I don't know that Gen X was "super" successful as it's moreso popular/nostalgic for those of a certain age. I don't know that if they brought it back it wouldn't be cancelled abruptly like everything else Marvel does. The problems seem to be more with the creative teams / administration than anything to do with the characters themselves. But there has been murmuring online about Lobdell and Bachalo getting together to do something related to Gen X, but it's mostly just in the "wouldn't it be great if" phase, though both creators, particularly Lobdell have been receptive to it.

I still don't know why they haven't made a Gateway figure given his Outback time and Gen X affiliation. I don't personally need him but I'd say he's at least as necessary as any Reavers (and slightly less than Longshot) characters we get.
 
Schizm said:
Question for the group, and let's use Generation X as an example title: If Generation X was super successful and Marvel wanted more of the title and its cast, does it make sense to create spin-offs or would it make sense to just release Gen X bi-weekly?

Or every week?

I understand the hurdles that go with it, I'm just curious if any publisher has tried this approach with marquee titles? Instead of Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, just the one book published four times as fast? It would at the very least keep the narrative contained/more easily trackable.
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That's pretty much exactly what the Superman 'Triangle' era of the 90s was, each week's issue of the ongoing story was simply titled differently.

Final Crisis is the single-worst entertainment experience in *any* creative medium, since fire was mastered. I've read that worthless pile of shit FIVE goddamned times and I can't even tell you the villain or the plotline. Morrison is a worthless writer without an editor that will tell him, 'NO, Grant, that's fucking stupid' on the regular. His JLA run was fun, but Grant Morrison hasn't written anything worth reading since the Invisibles.
 
Lots
Jolene00Negative said:
also....COIE is not good a masterpiece, actually.
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Fixed it for you
SDcomics said:
You're right, it wasn't good. It was bloody brilliant, maybe one of the best comics of the 20th century.
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Amen!
SDcomics said:
Yeah, that's a lot.

Just glancing over all that, I'll say that COIE, Cosmic Odyssey, DC One Million, Final Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Blackest Night and Doomsday Clock were brilliant. Convergence, Knight Terrors and Beast World were bloody awful. Although I will say that the Batman/Deadman/Sandman team up portion of Knight Terrors was interesting. I liked that. The rest of it was bad, though.

The rest ranged from pretty good to merely decent.

I agree with my compadre @TheGillMan. The problem with these big crossover events is that they don't seem special anymore. They come out too often. Back in my Silver Age day a team up between two heroes, like say Green Lantern and the Flash or Spider-Man and Daredevil was cool because it was relatively rare. After they started happening all the time the novelty wore off. Now at least once a year you have all the heroes in an eight or nine part story. I believe that too much of anything can get old after awhile.

And while I'm on my "old man yelling at clouds" soapbox, Annuals used to be really special. When I was a kid the annuals were amazing. A new story plus a reprint, and the new stories always had a special event. With the Fantastic Four it was Reed and Sue's Wedding and then in the next annual the birth of their son Franklin. In Spider-Man you saw the formation of the Sinister Six. With the Avengers you had Thor and Iron Man returning to the fold and the new Avengers fighting the originals. It was great stuff. I think Stan looked at it like this: An annual cost twice as much as a regular issue, and if kids were going to pay that much, they may as well get their money's worth. I always loved that guy.
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ALL OF THIS!!!! Perfectly sums up my feelings.
puckace said:
Agreed. Annuals used to be special and have great stories in them to boot. Today’s annuals are more of a tease and an excuse to charge even more for an issue. I’m often disappointed by the nothing burgers I get from most comics I pick up these days 🤨
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Yep. I remember the annuals were something you were excited about, as they usually had an impact on the overall book. Nowadays, they're just a throwaway story that isn't remotely important to anything.
 
adrienveidt said:
I've read that worthless pile of shit FIVE goddamned times and I can't even tell you the villain or the plotline.
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A buddy of mine pointed out that the plot was the same as the Spongebob Squarepants movie - now I can't unsee it.

And to the question at the top of the thread, popular books will double-ship from time to time. Marvel made a habit of it in summers in the late 80s/early 90s. G.I. Joe (Energon Universe) is doing it right now.
 
SDcomics said:
Dr. Manhattan showed everyone his penis.
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Yeah, but she's a literal child! And that's bad!

SDcomics said:
I would think if it were as bad as you suggest, it wouldn't still be in print 40 years later.

You got a LOT of hot takes. But everyone is entitled to their opinion.
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Identity crisis is still being printed too.

Just because something makes money doesn't mean it's good. look at them Avatar movies!
 
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adrienveidt said:
Final Crisis is the single-worst entertainment experience in *any* creative medium, since fire was mastered. I've read that worthless pile of shit FIVE goddamned times and I can't even tell you the villain or the plotline. Morrison is a worthless writer without an editor that will tell him, 'NO, Grant, that's fucking stupid' on the regular. His JLA run was fun, but Grant Morrison hasn't written anything worth reading since the Invisibles.
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I love this energy so much. I'm not a big Morrison Head, I like some of their Batman stuff, like Batman Inc. and Batman & Robin. Batman RIP is whatever to me, JLA had some fun. But no one can pay me to re-read the Invisibles, lol. I like the ending of their New X-Men run but most of the run leaves me with a shrug

I know so many Morrison heads that LOVE Final Crisis and think if that was the last DC comic ever published it would have been a great ending, and I can not.

TheGillMan said:
Fixed it for you
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you monster!

I will die on the hill that it's not good it's just monumental


other hot takes for y'all to enjoy: Long Halloween is Trash, Dark Victory is Trash, spider-Man: Blue is trash, Hush is trash

Jeph loeb is a writer consistently skating by on the laurels of the artist he is teamed up with, and thinks his mysteries are smart and clever when in fact they are clueless, infuriating, and dumb.
 
Schizm said:
Question for the group, and let's use Generation X as an example title: If Generation X was super successful and Marvel wanted more of the title and its cast, does it make sense to create spin-offs or would it make sense to just release Gen X bi-weekly?

Or every week?

I understand the hurdles that go with it, I'm just curious if any publisher has tried this approach with marquee titles? Instead of Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, just the one book published four times as fast? It would at the very least keep the narrative contained/more easily trackable.
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I think spin-offs would be the smarter play, unless they can guarantee a writer and artist to be able to turn around work quick enough for weekly or fortnightly
 
Jolene00Negative said:
other hot takes for y'all to enjoy: Long Halloween is Trash, Dark Victory is Trash, spider-Man: Blue is trash, Hush is trash
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I didn't like Long Halloween on my first read. On my second, it became my favorite Bat book. Dark Victory is sadly a retread of Long Halloween, but when it dares to blaze its own trail, it's very good.

I like Spider-Man: Blue fine.

Hush is bad.
 
Long Halloween is fantastic!

Dark Victory is a mixed bag. Some good stuff, but most of it is forgettable.

Spider-Man: Blue is good, not great

Daredevil: Yellow is amazing, and doesn't get the love it deserves.

Hush is a mediocre story with purty art.

On the subject of Final Crisis.: I'm a huge Grant Morrison fan (I've read through The Invisibles at least three times), but I found FC to be one of their weakest efforts. It just didn't hit me the way most of their stuff does. There are some great ideas in there, but it didn't live up to its full potential, in my opinion.

Crisis on Infinite Earths IS monumental. It's also freaking great!
 
Jolene00Negative said:
To each their own!

But I challenge anyone to re-read or read The Long Halloween and try to figure out the mystery based on the clues given, and see if that matches up with the end of the book!

Go ahead, I'll wait
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I loved the Long Halloween. That said, promise me you'll never change, kiddo.

I think the subnic under your screen name should be "has some hot takes."
 
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SDcomics said:
I loved the Long Halloween. That said, promise me you'll never change, kiddo.

I think the subnic under your screen name should be "has some hot takes."
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around my comic discords, these are all ice cold takes, us young 'uns know better!

Take Tim Sale away from the Long Halloween and you'll see what I mean!

(aka listen to the audio adaptation podcast they did and you'll see how much it's held up by the art!)
 
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