Since Jemas's demotion, I have noticed the following changes at marvel over the last few months.

1. The return of the letter page (a topic that had already been discussed in another thread).

2. The return to producing more traditional superhero titles.

3. The return to all caps lettering.

4. They are making most of their superhero titles, once again, suitable for all ages. Over the last 2 to 3 months ,I have noticed that marvel has toned down the cussing,graphic depictions of violence (in terms of the amount of blood they would show),and strong sexual inuendos in their PG/PSR rated books.

I, for one, am very happy with these recent changes at marvel.

It's all a trick to lull us into a false sense of security, then -- a new X-Book, KITTY PORN!!!!

Just out of curiosity, I counted the number of X-Men and X-Men related titles in the new Previews and the total for the month of May is: 18! Mind you, I was only counting regular comics and not the various hardcovers, trade paperbacks, statues, etc. The cost to buy all of these books would be over $60.00. I'm still waiting for them to trim the X-line. (that WAS one of the "reasons" why XHY was cancelled, no?)




frank :-{>

That was the first lie. I guess the later lies wrote over it.

Obviously some people must be buying these X-Books for Marvel to produce 18 titles in a month. I am interested in knowing how many of these are long term X-Men readers?

(By long term shall we say people who started reading before Claremont finished his original run.)

Of course, NuMarvel would start to disappear. I was all ready to coin the phrase "movie books" instead of comic books. BAH! -Rick

>>1. The return of the letter page (a topic that had already been discussed in another thread).<<

Kudos on the rest of list but do still need letter pages?

"Overwordy Balloons" is a charge levelled at Chris a lot. I am not saying it's without merit but isn't it also true than all comics have become so much more economical with words these days?

In fact I am often amazed how quickly I can read through an issue these days. Compare this to the Stan Lee's old scripts for example. Leaving Chris out of the arguement are we perhaps getting a bit lazy these days?

Yeah, I notice that it takes me only 5 minutes (if that) to read most comics these days, as opposed to the 15-20 it used to take me back in the day. And it's not my reading speed - going back and rereading them takes longer than a current comic does.

Maybe we're just not getting as much story as we used to?

____________________________________________
You are a god among insects. Never let anyone tell you different.

In fact I am often amazed how quickly I can read through an issue these days. Compare this to the Stan Lee's old scripts for example. Leaving Chris out of the arguement are we perhaps getting a bit lazy these days?

I'm a big fan of economy of words. Say what you have to say, but tell it in the most concise way possible. I find this especially true with the marriage of words and pictures, as in the medium of comic books. Often were/are the times that Claremont (and others whose styles are the same) use the words to convey what the pictures should be telling us...or, often, repeat what the illustrations capture. That was the beauty of Lee. He let us in on the thoughts of the characters, letting us know what the character was feeling, without abusing the text to the point of beating us over the head with dialogue.

I wouldn't compare Lee to Claremont at all, especially when you look at the norm for the number of panels per page in the 60s to that of the 80s. It may have appeared as though the characters were speaking a lot, but the illustrations by Kirby captured "movement" from panel to panel. With a lot of Claremont's later X-Men work, the panel count had gone way down yet the content of his dialogue seemed to increase such that (to my eye) the characters were very static, standing around and pontificating rather than word propelling action and deed.

I don't think it has anything to do with the amount of words in a given comic book equating to a better reading experience or how fast you can read a 22 page comic. For me, the measure of a good reading experience is what I take away with me once I've put the issue down. Good example is the recent THE ESCAPIST comic from Dark Horse, an anthology book featuring the characters of Michael Chabon ("The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay"). In it, Jim Starlin has an 8 page story with virtually no dialogue that took me all of five minutes to read, yet it's a very powerful piece of comic book storytelling. Same can be said for various "silent" issues that JB and others have done. Certainly not the norm, but to judge a story on speed of reading seems a little odd to me. I've read a book in a day that I've enjoyed more than a 900 page novel that took me two months to read.



Matt Reed

Personally, I always thought the mark of a good comic book should be that you can pretty much understand the story by just looking at the pictures without reading the text. Try that with some of the extended story arcs today.

~Bob

What issue is X-Men (or is it Uncanny X-Men?). I know I stopped buying it with the Wolverine headshot during Marvel's headshot cover month (the same month the Thing got his headshot in FF.)

Obviously some people must be buying these X-Books for Marvel to produce 18 titles in a month. I am interested in knowing how many of these are long term X-Men readers?

(By long term shall we say people who started reading before Claremont finished his original run.)
****************


Andrew, I have been collecting new comics and back issues since 1987. The only X-title I pick up consistently is X-Treme X-Men by Chris Claremont. I pick up certain issues of Uncanny X-Men (mainly ones with Juggernaut in them).

After the revamp I will collect Excalibur and Uncanny X-Men, both by Claremont. I will also pick up certain issues of New X-Men with the Juggernaut in them. I will try Whedon's Astonishing and Bryan Singer's Ultimate X-Men. I will but the one issue of New Mutants (aka Academy x) with the original New Mutants reunion. As for the other 13 books...no I won't buy them. I can't even think of what they are.

well marvel lost me with 9 titles last month...

and I dont think I would ever go back at this point. They would need a Crisis level retcon to make me want to read the ones i dropped again. I mean seeing as how nightcrawler is the son of teh first mutant(satan) Maybe he could do it..

ick

"They would need a Crisis level retcon to make me want to read the ones i dropped again."

Assuming this means putting the clock back, then where too? And can this be done without rebooting the whole Marvel Universe?

Some of those May covers makes me realize how much I miss Marvel

I must comment on the hawkeye cover above...

On every issue he has the costume yet in the comic itself he NEVER wears the costume at all

When is the all-cap lettering coming back? None of the Marvel books I bought last week had it.

Glenn Greenberg

You're absolutely right. Several years ago, a co-worker and I were discussing Kirby and he pointed out that you could white out all the word baloons in a Kirby story and still have a reasonable idea of what was going on.

And whaddya know- that Hulk cover actually looks like it may be a reflection of what's going on inside and not just a pin-up of the Hulk.

"I don't need anyone. Don't need no mom and dad. Don't need no good advice. Don't need no human rights. I got some news for you: don't even need you too! I got my time machine, got my 'lectronic dream...sonic reducer. Ain't no loser."
-Rocket From The Tombs- Sonic Reducer

A regular, well-written, well-chosen letters page can add considerable entertainment value to a comic book, series, or company.

And the concept can easily be adapted to an "email" page.

When is the all-cap lettering coming back? None of the Marvel books I bought last week had it.

As far as I know, it's not coming back full-time just yet. But it's now an option, whereas previously it was practically outlawed. There's upper-case lettering in Alpha Flight #1 and Captain America & The Falcon #1, and I think also in The Punisher. Comicraft are even back working for Marvel now...

"I must comment on the hawkeye cover above...
On every issue he has the costume yet in the comic itself he NEVER wears the costume at all "

You're a little wrong, hon.

For issues 1-3 Hawkeye is in plain clothes on the cover with a backdrop of him in costume. But the active figure is Clint.

In issue 4, Hawkeye is in costume on the cover, active as Hawkeye. And in the book he APPEARS IN COSTUME.

In story arc 2 (issues 7 and 8), he will be in costume according to two recent interviews Nicieza did. Plus, the Black Widow will join him. It will be a traditional superhero story and reflect the feeling of the Larocca cover posted above.

I think the Hawkeye series is a great indication of the death of NuMarvel. The series started as a decent but untraditional twist on Hawkeye--plain-clothed, street-level, etc. But, now that the spirit of NuMarvel is fading, the series is also taking a turn towards the classic Hawkeye most of us prefer.

~Cali Anne~

My guess is that though on the surface Marvel will go back to "traditional" stories, deconstructionism will still be a strong editorial theme.

As long as MARVEL KNIGHTS and the ULTIMATE titles
are around it can never revert back to good ol' Marvel.

Too many versions of the same characters and some
aren't even recognizable anymore. Seems to me they
have alot of work to do if they want to restore the company
to what it once was...i don't really think they care to.

-C!

Uncanny X-Men is on #440. The issue you quit reading on was #211, cover date November 1986. (That was the 25th Anniversary of Fantastic Four #1, all of Marvel's covers had headshots that month.)

Sean

"I saw a lot of things in the Navy. A Uterus was not among those things."

Just a bit of information about Marvel's 4th QTR 2003 results. They have seen a large amount of growth, including quite a bit in the 4th quarter. If numbers like these continue, I think we will see Marvel continue along the same path as they are at the moment.


Publishing:

2003: $73.2 million
2002: $64.5 million

Q4 ’03: $19.0 million
Q4 ’02: $16.7 million

Operating income 2003: $24.5 million
Operating income 2002: $19.5 million

Operating income Q4 ‘03 : $7.2 million
Operating income Q4 ‘02: $5.2 million

I knew I should have bought when it was at $3.

Maybe those numbers are not as strong as they seem because they have been saturating the market last year. For example Marvel has had a lot of "double shipping" months, putting out 18 issues for many titles. And then there's the "double dip" revenues they get from having people buy both the monthly book and the subsequent TPB or hardcover.