Event - Event - Event - Etc.

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PeeDee

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So, I thought this was an interesting article, of sorts.

But that said, does anyone else think that Marvel has gone more than a little event-happy the past couple of years? I mean, House of M was cool (in theory) but we're just piling the events on now, aren't we?

We've just finished Civil War. During Civil War, we had Annihilation. We're just about to have World War Hulk. This fall, we get X-Men: Endangered Species.

I bet I'm forgetting at least one major universe-wide event.

Connectivity and epic events are all fine and good, in their place, but I'd really like some regular-running on each comic series for a while. I mean, we got 20-ish really good issues of Captain America before Civil War, we had the interesting Iron Man storyline leading up to Civil War, Astonishing X-Men is unrelated and has carried a fascinating storyline. Planet Hulk was a brilliant concept (a bit poor in the execution, though) but it was by itself.

To my mind, having event after event after event is like having Infinite Crisis being a permenant series that replaces all other monthly comics. I guess if you enjoyed the Crisis on Infinite Earths stuff, this is great, but I really didn't.
 

wordmonkey

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Now I could be wrong about this (on very rare occasions, it has been known), but the whole event-a-thon seems less about making great books and more about milking the fanboys.

I forget the exact issue, but I think it was an X-Factor (this is back some years when I was still in the Old Country). Marvel had a big fanfare launch, special bagged issues, variant collector covers, it was gonna be the bomb!

I knew kids who went out and bought ALL the variant covers. I was (and still am) more of a DC guy, so I asked, "After all the hoop-lah, what's the actual comic like?"

"Dunno! Haven't opened one."

Now obviously something as sprawling as Civil War you aren't gonna buy just bagged issues and keep them mint (at least I would hope not) but you will get that "gotta get the set" mentality from the fanboys.

To the best of my knowledge, the original Crisis on Infinity Earths event was done more as a pruning-down exercise and a way to tie up various flubs that had happened over many years and many creators. It happened to be a successful series as well. That opened the floodgates.

As long as the fanboys buy all the issues, the big two will keep feeding that market. And even as the fanboys get older and realize that it's all arse, the next generation of fanboys are there to take up the "got it - need it - need it - got it" mantle.

I actually don't have a problem with the events. I just wish they would run them like the DC annuals of old (remember the Eclipso one?). I could read the rest of my books for a year and read an interesting, if unfinished annual, that might have me buy a sister book if the story was good, but I could ignore it if I wanted.

I haven't read a Marvel book in some time, and I was thinking of picking up a couple of titles, but it seems that everything is tied into everything else and it seems like I can't just pick up a good Spidey, or Namor (is he still around?), or Daredevil title and read that.

If the big two have found a good bread-and-butter earner, great. Stability in the industry is a bonus for me. But don't ignore the part of the market that just wants to read about their favorite character in one book.

Know what I mean?
 

PeeDee

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Oh, I know why they have all these events after events. I just wish that there were periods in between where I could, like you pointed out, just buy a Spider-Man comic where Spider-Man deals with issues, by himself, in New York. Or something.

It does feel, after awhile, like you have to take a deep breath and dive into comics and then try to keep up with either reading as many as possible, or reading about as many as possible. I don't read nearly all of them, and if it weren't for IGN.com's weekly reviews, I dont' know that I'd always follow.

The Marvel: Ultimate universe started as a fun reboot of the regular universe with no crushing history behind it to catch up on, except....it's sort of getting there all by itself.
 

PeeDee

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I like the events but I do think they could be spaced out a little bit more. It almost takes the 'event' out of the event if it's a constant thing.

Sure, my point exactly. Death of Superman and Knightfall worked well because they were mostly all by themselves when they happened.

Actually, now I come to think about it, DC has been mostly pretty good about their events being spaced out. Although recently, with One Year Later, Infinite Crisis, World War III coming up, and another event who's name I am forgetting also coming up, it seems they've gone the Marvel route.
 

Jcomp

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Sure, my point exactly. Death of Superman and Knightfall worked well because they were mostly all by themselves when they happened.

Actually, now I come to think about it, DC has been mostly pretty good about their events being spaced out. Although recently, with One Year Later, Infinite Crisis, World War III coming up, and another event who's name I am forgetting also coming up, it seems they've gone the Marvel route.

I concur. DC and Marvel have gone very event happy in the last few years, to the point that one event leads to another, leading to another, so on and so forth, with hardly a chance to breathe. There are only so many "after this, everything changes!" moments to be had in such a short time span. But they're competing head to head, one trying to out do the other, so this is what we're locked into for the time being.
 

AzBobby

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Hmmm... I wonder if this is why I've gotten bored with most of the comics mainstream. Or perhaps intimidated. There's too much to follow. Also, I roll my eyes at "very special episodes" no matter whether it's Saved by the Bell or The Punisher. That is, emotion generated by marketing event rather than surprising you within the story as a reward for reading it. If you show me the main character's wife lying dead on the cover art, sorry, you lost your chance to tug my heart strings. Or am I just lazy? Not sure. Comic book event hoopla would have really turned on when I was ten, but I don't think it's an age or maturity thing so much as what I think I can handle with my limited time and budget.

That must be why I like going back to the characters and worlds that have a timeless mythic quality in which free-standing stories can still hold up. I never seem to buy any comic books or graphic novels any more unless they're standalone or part of a limited series. If some publisher announced that from now on, all the characters and situations in Robin Hood would be different, we'd laugh it off. Sure, someone can create some revisionist or inconsistent Robin Hood whenever they like, but someone else will always go back to the one we know best or create still another fresh revision independent of the former. Oldies like Batman seem to work that way. It's not necessary to tie all the versions of Batman together with retconning and multiple earth nonsense, even if the publishers are inclined to do this sometimes. We accept tales like Dark Knight Returns as the legendary material they are supposed to be.

This is not a knock on anyone who awaits event comics with baited breath, that might be me again on some future date when my tastes drift that way again. Just ruminating on what values in today's comics still resonate with me.
 

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I hated House of M. Too similar of an idea as Age of Apocalypse, and the Decimation seemed cheap to me. Civil War was a good idea but poorly executed, a lot of the fighting seemed to have no reasoning. They definately need to take a year break from these things and give the characters some time on their own.

I'm actually looking forward to X-Men: Endangered Species, maybe they'll make something good out of this whole Decimation thing. I've been keeping track of the X-Men and most of their comics stay to their own plots with minor references to the wider events. I'm looking forward to seeing what Sinister has been up to (gathering up Exodus and the Acolytes, as well as Sunfire and Gambit)
 
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