The last quarter of 2012 is going to be packed – PACKED – with comics. We’re already seeing DC launch its month of zero issues, and beginning in October Marvel begins Marvel NOW! The big difference between the two mega-releases is one is doing it during the course of a month, while the other is doing it over the course of several months.
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15 Comments
I would rather have a full on all at once. Like ripping off a band-aid. I feel it makes it much simpler. There are going to be people that dislike it, but odds are they would complain no matter what you did. When you do it in pieces you end up with Green Lantern. They are talking about Blackest Night and how rough it was while the rest of the Universe acts like it didn’t happen. Do it all. Do it all at once.
I voted for all at once but part of that is b/c I have really liked what DC has done. Before the New 52 I didn’t read any DC books, but now I have gotten hook on several of the books that I get every week. And I have even dropped some of my preferred Marvel books to afford the New 52 books.
I might be more interested in the Marvel Now reboot if it was being done all at once and creating as much buzz as DC’s relaunch.
I think it’s better to do it all at once, though the benefit of stretching it out is to slowly get readers who are continuity obsessed acclimated to the change, like easing into the cold ocean. On the other hand, those same people may be driven nuts by the overlapping continuity. Do it and get it over with I say.
I would rather have it spread out over months and years. What I mean by this is that I like the original continuity. I just think that if things need to be tweaked and changed, we as readers should just be okay with it or stop reading that particular book or character. Insane people liked Wolverine’s bone claws. If they disliked him getting the claws back that would actually do something, they should either get over it and enjoy Wolverine stuff or stop reading his books. Yes, I am aware that this would require ditching Marvel altogether…
All at once. Rip the band-aid off quickly.
The faster I can get used to the new continuity regime, the faster I will start enjoying it.
I think that sums it up pretty effectively.
All at once. If you’re going to restart everything, you might as well start fresh.
I voted All At Once (AAO).
My analysis is of generalities routinely defied, however, my main interests are: 1) being part of a collective bandwagon; and 2) enjoying good stories:
AAO –
Bandwagon: With one featured month, it is easier to get readers- old and new alike- excited to try making it one thing that everyone experiences and gets to comment on. With a more diffuse launch, it will generally be more difficult to sustain excitement, drop-off is almost inevitable, and the things people try may tend to be less varied (the cream of the crop will become apparent rather quickly and gather momentum as everything else declines). The proof is in [the eating of] the pudding… people bought way more of the New 52 than they probably should of which let us all be a part of that launch, for better or for worse. The main downside is the glut of books means that wallets get hurt and if the quality isn’t sufficient, people get disenfranchised far quicker.
Stories: The bandwagon effect also gets creators excited and while they technically shouldn’t need an event to inspire them, nonetheless, events do. Having the opportunity to plant their flag on a franchise that is infrequently relaunched and made up to be a milestone can push creators to write / draw at a higher level knowing their book will be referred back to at least for the next couple years if not decades or more. A mass relaunch also tends to mean the slate is wiped clean which should provide more creative freedom (barring DC’s actual execution being saddled with Batman, GL, and other legacy elements).
Spread –
Bandwagon: Given how frequently titles are retired, launched, and relaunched, I really don’t see how to market or generate much excitement for a spread-out relaunch as any different. Even if the “new” content is the draw, your message gets muddled since the focus of every month shifts rather than emphasizing the event itself. If the titles are routinely good, then momentum can build and make the last few titles in the rotation a collective event, but barring a miracle, comic quality doesn’t generally garner that level of building excitement and I anticipate things leveling off after a while. When spread out, you don’t just check out of a few issues here and there of an on-going event month, you check out of the event for weeks or months on end!
Stories: Being yet another relaunch title with an accessibility spin just does not have the same dramatic weight as having your entire universe be rewritten [mostly] wholesale. The staggered approach means your on-going universe fails to tie up in dramatic fashion but only goes away title by title, and your new universe rolls in with inoffensive retreads of your past tales.
None of the above, it takes only a few months for number 1 to turn to number 2… Okay that came out weird.
It only takes a few months for option number 1 to become option number 2.
Besides *very* few comics care about continuity at all, except single author books like Atomic Robo and the like.
All at once. Because otherwise, it doesn’t seem like a reboot so much as a new parallel universe title line.
Like if Marvels Ultimate lines just happened to be starting while it’s Main continuity just happened to be ending.
If it isn’t done all at once, it doesn’t seem like a reboot to me.
I just can’t keep track of what marvel is going through. Which titles are getting the reboot when? Just do it all at once and its easier.
Personally I would rather have a DC New 52 reboot style since it really kinda works for me. Its not one of those half-baked attempts that is more of a teaser. Like one of my favorite fat man have said “Go big or go home.” (Its okay I’m a fat guy too so I can say fat man) If you show your readers just small bits and pieces of a reboot your going to loose your readership and with the market as small as it is, that just isn’t going to work.
Peel that generic adhesive bandage strip off quickly.
If it is going to be done all at once, it needs to be done ALL at once. I have appreciated the New 52 overall, but it failed in the areas of Green Lantern and Batman, which remained nearly or entirely unchanged from their pre-New 52 existences. DC really shook things up in a good way with the New 52, I just wish they would have truly restarted everything.
I pretty much agree with what everybody else said. It’s bad enough when they do what are supposedly “earth shattering event special series that will change the universe forever” but don’t – witness “Secret Wars” which had all the Marvel heroes off planet, and Spiderman’s costume destroyed and putting on the black costume, while, in the main books, all the characters were still back on earth, no mention was made of the Secret Wars events, and Spidey still had the red costume. If you’re going to reboot, then reboot, darn it! And if you’re going to “change” your comic universe, then change it, don’t just give HeroXY or Z longer hair and a purple costume and call it a change.