Marvel Reverts to Early 1990's gimmicks In September

[James Harvey]

It has begun. Could this "U-DECIDE" gimmick, starting in September, be the beginning of the end for Marvel? As you know, Bill Jemas recently faced off against Peter David about his CAPTAIN MARVEL title, which then spurned a bit of a fight between Quesada and Jemas. The end result of this fight? All three creators will launch three titles in September and the most popular title after 6 months stays and the rest get cancelled. Here's an excerpt (and an image) from newsarama.com's report:


http://www.comicon.com/gallery/categories/Marvel_Comics/thumbs/t_marville_1-md.jpg

Marvel also provided the solicitation copy for the debut issues of all three series, which reveal for the first time the series’ artists, a new title for the Quesada-edited series and a surprise revelation or three…

MARVILLE #1 (of ?)
Cover by M.D. Bright
Bill Jemas (w)/M.D. Bright (p)/Paul Neary (i)
Just imagine Bill Jemas creating the DC Universe! That's right, Marvel's own President introduces a hero for 2002! If you thought some of the things Jemas said before were crazy, just wait until you meet The Marvel!
32 PGS. with ads/FC/MARVEL PG
Cover A by M.D. Bright $2.25
Foil Cover B by UDON $3.99
Foil Cover C by Greg Horn $3.99

CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 (of ?)
Cover by ChrisCross
Peter David (w)/ChrisCross (p & i)
A new-reader-friendly beginning for Marvel's best-reviewed book! Okay, you know CAPTAIN MARVEL is one of the most critically acclaimed titles in the entire industry -- and now Peter David and ChrisCross invite you to find out why! Big changes are coming for the son of Mar-Vell, and you can get in on the ground floor right here... when Cap goes crazy!
32 PGS. with ads/FC/MARVEL PG
Cover A by ChrisCross $2.25
Alternate Painted Cover B By Joe Jusko $2.25
Alternate Sketch Cover C By Alex Ross $2.25

ULTIMATE ADVENTURES #1 (of ?)
Cover by Kaare Andrews
Ron Zimmerman (W)/Duncan Fegredo (p & i)
Here it is: The next Ultimate title! Get ready to meet two all-new additions to the ranks of the Ultimate Universe as writer Ron Zimmerman (TANGLED WEB #13), penciler Duncan Fegredo (TANGLED WEB: I WAS A TEENAGED FROG-MAN) and editor Joe Quesada introduce Hawk-Owl and Zippy -- and present a touching look at the world of the super hero side-kick!
32 PGS. with ads/FC/Cardstock Cover/MARVEL PG $2.25

The full story is here: http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=13&t=001203

...Ugh...

[Reed Richards]

this may be the most brilliant move ive ever seen in the comic book industry

rest assured that i will closely follow each comic and weigh in when the time is right by dropping the worst comic after 3 months and again after another 3

kudos to marvel for their outstanding work


also, Jim, could you please explain when in the early 90's a similar contest occured? Yes, I do recall Tom DeFalco's unending run on THOR, but IMHO that doesn't compare with this.

I don't think its quite fitting to call this a 90's gimmick. After all is said and done, I would like to think this will be sucessfull and entertaining at the same time!

[sulimo]

The flashback to 90's part is the damned alternate/foil covers.

I'm starting to feel nauseous already...

[kid_flash]

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!!

As always, I'm just laughing like crazy at this whole thing. I think it's freakin' hilarious.

I'll be buying this, because, let's face it, the first six issues of each title will be collectors' items. In fact, I think I'll gather money together and get at least ONE of the alternate covers for each.

[James Harvey]

The foil covers. Quesada has been fighting this since he stepped in. Quesada is dead set against them since he took the seat, but Jemas is convinced they will boost sales. And thanks to this ridiculous 'U-DECIDE' thing, Quesada let him have his way with the foil covers. I personally blame gimmick covers, like foil ones, as part of the great 1990's implosion which sent sales tumbling close to 300% (believe it, over the span of 5 years, sales dropped from the then regular 400,000 to around 40,000). Sales have been on the rise, very very slowly, for the past 5 years or so. The top selling comics break between 150,000 - 110,000 per month. With the slew of comic book films coming, that could all change.

But foil covers....evil...

[CadaverousEyes]

Heh, I liked the occasional foil cover back in the 90s. Special and shiny.

That Transformers cover is heresy, especially since Marvel didn't get them. Ah well, I can take a joke. It looks like they're doing their darndest to make Captain Marvel look like the most appealing one, which is how it should be.

[Reed Richards]

the 90s did indeed feature TONS of special covers

i own like 10 copies of the Ghost Rider #15 with the Glow in the Dark Skull on it-- very cool

but sometimes they were kinda nice.....

[Joe Tully]

I could never stand the fancy covers. They seemed like just an excuse to jack up the price by a buck or two. I eventually started avoiding those things purposely. I think that this is partially to blame for the comics crash--IMHO part of it was also reaction to overuse of certain dark characters like Punisher and Ghost Rider, as well as relying on stunts like killing Supes, replacing Thor, killing Reed Richards, and of course the Spider-Clones, which might have been the last straw. When people got sick of them, things came crashing down fast. The best way to ensure a lasting readership is to just rely on good talent instead of gimmicks! It's incredibly obvious, but it's too frequently forgotten.

Quesada's book sounds kind of interesting. It'll be interesting to see how the contest works out.