So Marvel is renumbering books AGAIN and abandoning the Legacy numbers for some books 1 1

[Ares]

https://www.newsarama.com/38699-marvel-getting-a-fresh-start-in-may-2018-in-line-wide-change.html

Marvel Comics' superhero hero titles are getting "A Fresh Start" come May 2018, with "new series, new creative teams, new directions, new beginnings." Take a look at the announcement video:

 

The Jim Cheung pin-up features Marvel Comics' primary superheroes, as well as some somewhat-surprises in the appearance of Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider and the notable absence of Iron Heart.

https://www.newsarama.com/38715-does-an-avengers-relaunch-mean-no-700.html

Now that Marvel is relaunching Avengers with a new #1 this May, it seems one of the biggest milestones foretold by the onset of the publisher's "Legacy" relaunch may go uncelebrated, as the current volume of Avengers will end with April's #690 - just ten issues shy of a milestone Avengers #700.

Other titles such as Captain America, Iron Man, and Daredevil celebrated milestone issues as part of "Legacy," though some like Incredible Hulk and Doctor Strange missed what would have been major milestones in their titles.

Avengers isn't the only title going back to a new #1 in May either. Venom (another title that was renumbered with "Legacy" numbering starting with #150) was also announced to be relaunching in May, with IGN paraphrasing Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort as saying that Marvel has more relaunches to come - with the "Legacy" numbering going away almost entirely as part of their 2018 "Fresh Start" initiative.

According to IGN, Brevoort also said that the "Legacy" numbering could stay around on some titles in "subordinate fashion," presumably meaning as a second number displayed below the number of the current volume - though, in IGN's words, Brevoort "favors keeping things as clear and unconfusing as possible for readers."

[ExNihilo]

I really thought Legacy might be a turning point for Marvel, but it almost feels like they've thrown in the towel like "screw it, let's start over".  It's such a terrible gimmick to jack up the price on a "supersized" first issue.  Then re-number for a "giant sized" anniversary issue and charge a bunch again.  Like ASM is hitting issue 800 around May.  Are you telling me we're supposed to spend $10 on the anniversary issue, then $6 on an "All New #1" a month or two later?  All while DC is still charging only $3 on some titles?  And that doesn't even get into the quality of the stories, of which Marvel has been largely disappointing the last two years.

 

At least we're getting the final two issues of S.H.I.E.L.D. beginning in May.  I would happily pay upwards of $10 to see how that series ends.

[Lazyboy]

Edited February 20, 2018 by Lazyboy
broken formatting

[500Club]

What a joke Marvel has become.

[Hey Kids, Comics!]

THIS is reason 986342 that I refuse to buy new Marvel books off the shelf. Anything I am remotely interested in ends up in $1 bins at cons in a few months anyway.

[kimik]

Maybe the House of Ideas has figured it out. Basically, treat every title as a 12 issue mini-series each year and cash in on the Marvel fanboys that will continuously buy the next #1.

That being said, they actually do have this figured out - the quality of the comics does not matter any more as long as their movies keep churning in the big profits. One $600M feature film likely generates more profit in the end than their entire year of comic sales. The only reason to keep the comics going is to introduce new characters and protect existing IP. Otherwise, movies and video games are the much more lucrative space to focus resources on.

[followtheleader]

Makes sense now why Hawkeye series (female version) implied that the last issue is coming up shortly.  

Patrick

[RockMyAmadeus]

[divad]

You don't even want to know my thoughts about this . . . 

[Juno Beach]

Well, this sucks. 

[Mercury Man]

I hate to quote myself, but here is my observation from 12/3/17.   They didn't even make it a few years......ahhemmmm ahemmmm ahemmm (clears throat).....

 

"Can't wait till they relaunch new #1's in a few years, after the Legacy numbering. Then you will have Pre-Legacy Numbering #1's and Post-Legacy Numbering #1's........."

•  December 3, 2017
•  
•  11 replies

[TheRealVenom]

I'm shocked people are surprised by this. Marvel has been doing this for what 5 or 6 years now? I gave up on marvel after uncanny x-men rebooted 3 times in 2 years. 

my OCD collecting can't handle it.

 

I asked Joe Quesada at fan expo a couple years ago if we would ever see 50 issues of a title again and he was honest as hell and said no, probably not. They can slap a new #1 on a series and charge 5.99 for it and make more than say issues 33 of a series.

All about the benjamins since disney took over.

[ChiSoxFan]

I'd like to act surprised, but since I posted this back last July, I can't:

On 7/2/2017 at 7:23 PM, ChiSoxFan said:

I would be much more excited about a return to classic numbering on all of the titles -- if history didn't tell us that Marvel will "cancel" them all again for another #1 renumbering. 

They've done it too many times already. If they're trying to recapture people who abandoned their line, there's a lot of people who won't take the bait. 

I care about the same about their "Fresh Start" as I did about their "Legacy" marketing of their titles, which is to say "Not at all".  The gimmicks over quality storytelling lost me long ago (which sadly means that, if there actually WAS any quality material being put out by them, I never saw it) I didn't take the bait then, and I won't now.

Every $4-6 I save on not buying new stuff is money I can put towards classic material.  Thank you, Marvel, for making my decisions easy for me! 

11 hours ago, kimik said:

Maybe the House of Ideas has figured it out. Basically, treat every title as a 12 issue mini-series each year and cash in on the Marvel fanboys that will continuously buy the next #1.

That being said, they actually do have this figured out - the quality of the comics does not matter any more as long as their movies keep churning in the big profits. One $600M feature film likely generates more profit in the end than their entire year of comic sales. The only reason to keep the comics going is to introduce new characters and protect existing IP. Otherwise, movies and video games are the much more lucrative space to focus resources on.

The film division is clearly where their money is being made, and the reasons listed here to keep publishing  books are spot-on.  That said, what happens when if/when superhero fatigue sets in in that medium?  Or have we passed a point where that's no longer a possibility, at least in our lifetimes?  The success of Black Panther at the box office suggests that Disney/Marvel shows no signs of slowing down in that avenue, but have comic characters been so completely ingrained into the public consciousness that there's no chance of them falling into future irrelevancy in the mainstream?

[speedcake]

This is really disappointing. This might be the line for me, as well. I had stopped buying moderns for a while until a year or so ago. Then I got my hopes up with the legacy numbering, and now this . Might be time to just explore other stuff and focus any money I spend on marvel on completing runs.  VOLUME ONE RUNS 

[Buzzetta]

I am sure that issue #10 / 700 of Avengers will be some double sized $15 priced book.

I am sure that Marvel will publish issue 1,000 of Spider-man no matter what the at then current numbering system is. 

 

But it is stuff like this that gets me to say, why bother and I should sell everyone only to pick up a Marvel unlimited subscription again to catch up.

[RockMyAmadeus]

9 hours ago, TheRealVenom said:

I'm shocked people are surprised by this. Marvel has been doing this for what 5 or 6  20+ years now? I gave up on marvel after uncanny x-men rebooted 3 times in 2 years.

[CKinTO]

This is sad... so soon after Legacy too, although with a new EIC, I could see why CB Cebulski might be more open to scrapping what was his predecessor's idea...

I've already drastically cut my Marvel single issue buys (dropped X-Men Gold and Blue after the last arcs, only keeping up with Astonishing X-Men, and Garth Ennis' Punisher Platoon mini-series that just finished, though that was on their MAX imprint). I basically just buy floppies on Weds for indies / creator-owned titles to support them (right now, Monstress, Redneck, Babyteeth, Slots and a few coming up) and DC books (Batman, Mister Miracle).

I've had a Marvel Unlimited account for the last year, and I'm fine using that to catch up 6mos late on most storylines (just getting to the end of reading Secret Empire now, haha)

[Doktor]

17 hours ago, kimik said:

Maybe the House of Ideas has figured it out. Basically, treat every title as a 12 issue mini-series each year and cash in on the Marvel fanboys that will continuously buy the next #1.

Yes & no. The Law of Diminishing Returns has been kicking in on these titles for some time now & the pace will only increase the more often they go back to this particular well.

Apparently tho, they're not entirely renumbering. They're "dual-numbering". They're going have that big #1 on the cover but still keep the "legacy" numbering too (I will forever just keep calling it "original numbering"). I'm guessing it'll be similar to the Heroes Reborn/Return titles that were relaunched & then got their original numbering back when they started approaching an anniversary issue & then stayed on the OG numbering going forward.

[PopKulture]

Like others have mentioned, it seems like Marvel has been doing this for more than twenty years. It dates back to at least the 90's with the X-men and Spiderman new series, and quickly rocketed out of control. Over the years, I've heard or read snippets about series like House of M or World War Hulk, and thought - "hmmm... that actually sounds pretty interesting." Then I see other similar storylines they've tweaked or rebooted, and I am soon reminded of the adage: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Basically, I view every storyline in the current Marvel universe as something out of one of the "What If?" mags, or more or less what DC did with Superman and Jimmy Olsen in the 60's - all those imaginary tales where Jimmy would gain a superpower and Superman would lose his.

It's pretty sad, actually.

[ygogolak]

In reading these thinking, ok, maybe you like the story but is it relating to sales? So I looked at the last 4 months. Marvel was #1 all but one month.

Oct. '17

Share of Overall Dollars

Marvel 36.38%

DC 30.58%

 

Nov. '17

Share of Overall Dollars

Marvel 34.29%

DC 33.71%

 

Dec. '17

Share of Overall Dollars

DC 34.54%

Marvel 33.80%

 

Jan. '18

Share of Overall Dollars

Marvel 34.30%

DC 33.80%