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  1. #1
    Legendary Member daBronzeBomma's Avatar
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    Default If Marvel only had 16 ongoing titles ...

    ... instead of the 50 or so they'll have had at some point this calendar year 2019,

    Which existing ongoing titles would stay?
    Which existing ongoing titles would go?
    Which new ongoing titles might get a shot?

    Me, not knowing enough about Marvel as a whole, would venture these guesses anyway, based on the idea that anyone not getting an ongoing would still get various mini and maxi- series (and yes, the MCU is a definite factor here):

    01. The Amazing Spider-Man
    02. The Incredible Hulk
    03. Captain America
    04. The Invincible Iron Man
    05. The Mighty Thor
    06. The Avengers
    07. The Uncanny X-Men
    08. The Fantastic Four
    09. Wolverine
    10. Deadpool
    11. Doctor Strange
    12. Black Panther
    13. Captain Marvel
    14. Daredevil
    15. Silver Surfer and the Guardians of the Galaxy
    16. Marvel Comics Weekly (anthology series for characters not regularly appearing in the other 15 titles)

    That's my 16 ongoing titles for Marvel. Tried to cover as many corners of the MU as possible. Hard to see a time where Peter Parker has only one ongoing title, tho.

    What are yours? And how realistic would that selection be?

  2. #2
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    What's with the number 16? That seems specific for a Noah's Ark smorgasbord save-what-you-can kind of thing.

    I personally would prefer if Marvel publishes as many titles as they possibly can, commercially and creatively speaking and so on. I think consumers should have all the options and I would think Marvel reducing its output to 16 titles would be seen as, should be seen as, will be seen as -- teetering on shutting down as a comics publication.

    I will point out that your choice of Doctor Strange seems odd since historically he doesn't have a big history as an ongoing title. Ditto Black Panther and Captain Marvel and Guardians and so on. And Fantastic Four got cancelled for an entire year after Secret Wars. If Marvel held on to this "only 16" idea at any time, none of these characters would be where they are now.

    Hard to see a time where Peter Parker has only one ongoing title, tho.
    Technically that kind of did happen in the BND period, where Amazing Spider-Man titles were published three times a month. They shut down earlier satelitte titles like Marvel Team-Up, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Sensational Spider-Man, and made Amazing three times a month, and then that became Amazing two times a month which still continues to this day, though satellite titles have returned with Zdarsky's Spectacular Spider-Man run in 2015-2016 and now Tom Taylor's run on the revived FNSM.

    Of course that's 616 Peter, Spider-Man also has a host of AU publications and so on.

  3. #3
    Uncanny Member XPac's Avatar
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    16 is such a small number that a lot of thought would need to go into making the list. You obviously would allow the franchises which have continued to sucessful sell books for decades to continue to do so.

    So the obvious choices would be:

    01) the Avengers
    02) the Uncanny X-Men
    03) Fantastic Four
    04) Spider-Man
    05) Incredible Hulk
    06) Captain America
    07) Invinsible Iron Man
    08) Mighty Thor
    09) Daredevil and the Marvel Knights (I'm adding the marvel knights to give room for the street level guys who aren't getting a book like Punisher, Cage, etc)
    10) Wolverine

    The last couple would be titles who don't necessarily have publication runs spanning decades, but DO have sucessful movies which make them valuable IPs. In some cases I would turn their solo books into team books to help get more characters characters in play.

    11) Guardians of the Galaxy
    12) Dr. Strange and the Secret Defenders (Secret Defenders is cool because that's a way to bring in pretty much ANY character)
    13) Captain Marvel the Ultimates
    14) Black Panther and the Crew
    15) Ghost Rider and the Midnight Sons

    The last 16th book would be whatever new book they want to try and promote (but which will probably be cancelled in 6 issues). You gotta leave some room for new IP's to potentially be generated. So this slott will likely be a revolving door of new titles.
    Last edited by XPac; 08-11-2019 at 06:38 AM.

  4. #4
    Hold your machete tight! Personamanx's Avatar
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    Realistically nothing I enjoy would be published in such a reduced line. They would all be Avengers team books or solos of those likely featured in them. Maybe with an X-Men or Fantastic Four book thrown in for good measure.
    Continuity, even in a "shared" comics universe is often insignificant if not largely detrimental to the quality of a comic.

    Immortal X-Men - Once & Future- X-Cellent - X-Men: Red

    Nobody cares about what you don't like, they barely care about what you do like.

  5. #5
    Ultimate Member JKtheMac's Avatar
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    I suspect some of your obvious titles wouldn’t be viable in this alternative reality. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, F4 and Hulk have not always sold well. Even Avengers has been desperate at times in its history.

    Marvel would need to sell huge numbers to make 16 books viable.

    Given the statement in this months Comichron preliminary report that “For the last 20 years, monthly periodical sales in comics shops have oscillated around a mean of about 7 million copies a month”, dropping to 16 books would surely let Marvel’s competition expand into the market and potentially squeeze them out entirely. Marvel maintain their strong position by keeping their title list long and varied.
    Last edited by JKtheMac; 08-11-2019 at 07:17 AM.
    “And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.” ― Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

  6. #6
    Uncanny Member Digifiend's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Revolutionary_Jack View Post
    What's with the number 16? That seems specific for a Noah's Ark smorgasbord save-what-you-can kind of thing.
    It's happened before. In the 1950s they were doing around 70 titles, some monthly, some six a year. But then their distributor went bust, and they had to turn to DC. Not wanting to help a competitor expand, they limited them to eight titles a month. All bi-monthly, so 16 titles in total. Fantastic Four was added as a 17th, and others were gradually replaced (Amazing Fantasy to Amazing Spider-Man, being the most famous example, though presumably books were axed when X-Men, Avengers and Daredevil launched as well). Then in 1968 they took over another distributor, removing the limit, allowing for Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and Strange Tales to be split into solo books, and for new books such as Captain Marvel to launch.
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Digifiend View Post
    It's happened before. In the 1950s they were doing around 70 titles, some monthly, some six a year. But then their distributor went bust, and they had to turn to DC. Not wanting to help a competitor expand, they limited them to eight titles a month. All bi-monthly, so 16 titles in total. Fantastic Four was added as a 17th, and others were gradually replaced (Amazing Fantasy to Amazing Spider-Man, being the most famous example, though presumably books were axed when X-Men, Avengers and Daredevil launched as well). Then in 1968 they took over another distributor, removing the limit, allowing for Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and Strange Tales to be split into solo books, and for new books such as Captain Marvel to launch.
    So Marvel historically, against its intent, and at coercion by its competitor, restricted to 16 titles and got out of that situation first chance it got.

    Why would they do that to themselves intentionally, or even commemorate that part of their past.

  8. #8
    Astonishing Member mugiwara's Avatar
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    1) Amazing Spider-Man
    2) Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
    3) Web of Spider-Man
    4) Spider-Man and Venom
    5) Spider-Man and Wolverine
    6) Venom
    7) Carnage
    8) Venom & Carnage
    9) Venom & Deadpool
    10) Deadpool
    11) Uncanny Deadpool
    12) Deadpool & Wolverine
    13) Wolverine
    12) Savage Wolverine
    13) Avengers (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Deadpool, Venom, Black Panther, Captain Marvel)
    14) Uncanny X-Men (Wolverine, Deadpool, Old Man Logan, X-23, Horny Blader, Sabretooh)
    15) Marvel team-up (featuring new and exciting team ups like Wolverine & Deadpool)
    16) that black dude Spider-Man
    Bringing back the old, killing the young: that's the Marvel way

  9. #9
    Astonishing Member Jekyll's Avatar
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    No particular order:

    1. Amazing Spider-Man
    2. Daredevil
    3. Fantastic Four
    4. Iron Fist
    5. Doctor Strange
    6. Ant-Man
    7. Guardians of the Galaxy
    8. The Avengers
    9. The X-Men
    10. The Immortal Hulk
    11. Iron Man
    12. Captain America
    13.The Defenders
    14. Silver Surfer
    15. Black Panther
    16. Thor
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  10. #10
    Incredible Member
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    1: amazing spiderman
    2: x men
    3: avengers
    4: wolverine
    5: fantastic four
    6: amazing fantasy (spiderman team up + venom)
    7: tales of suspense (captain America + ironman)
    8: strange tales (Dr strange+ ghost rider)
    9: thor
    10: tales to astonish (hulk + antman)
    11: A-force
    12: guardians of the galaxy
    13: new warriors
    14: global avengers (featuring alpha flight/mi:13/big hero 6 ect.....)
    15: marvel spotlight
    16:marvel knights

  11. #11
    Astonishing Member Steroid's Avatar
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    Default

    1. Avengers
    2. Amazing Spider-Man
    3. Fantastic Four
    4. Venom
    5. Immortal Hulk
    6. X-Men
    7. Young Avengers
    8. Daredevil
    9. Guardians of the Galaxy
    10. Dr. Strange
    11. Midnight Sons
    12. Wolverine
    13. Black Panther
    14. X-Force
    15. A-Force
    16. Blue Marvel & The Ultimates
    The Avengers are Firefighters. We're the ones who fly into the blaze, whatever it is. Because we're the ones who
    can, so we're the ones who have to.~Captain Marvel

  12. #12
    Mighty Member C_Miller's Avatar
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    Default

    1. Amazing Spider-Man
    2. The Avengers
    3. Fantastic Four
    4. Captain America
    5. Incredible Hulk
    6. Invincible Iron Man
    8. X-Men
    9. Guardians of the Galaxy
    10. Tales of Suspense (Nick Fury/S.H.I.E.L.D/Black Widow title with backups)
    11. Tales to Astonish (General anthology title with main story and backups)
    12. Strange Tales (Magic/mystical title with backups)
    13. Journey into Mystery (Thor title with backups)
    14. Marvel Team Up (Spider-Man teams up with Marvel Universe)
    15. Ms. Marvel
    16. Conan the Barbarian

  13. #13

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    1. Amazing Spider-Man
    2. Fantastic Four
    3. Uncanny X-Men
    4. The Avengers
    5. Immortal Hulk
    6. Journey Into Mystery (Thor & Asgard plotlines)
    7. Black Panther
    8. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (essentially Marvel Team-Up)
    9. Wolverine and the X-Men (essentially the old MCP with an X-Books focus)
    10. Dr Strange and the Defenders of Magic
    11. Champions (cross-franchise teen book with rotating cast)
    12. Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel cosmic)
    13. Captain America
    14. Captain Marvel
    15. Daredevil
    16. Marvel Comics Presents (anthology, testing ground for new talent and characters)

  14. #14
    Fantastic Member
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    Avengers
    Amazing Spider-Man
    Fantastic Four
    Venom
    X-Men
    Marvel Knights
    Guardians of the Galaxy
    X-Force
    A-Force
    Magik & the New Avengers
    Journey into Mystery
    Marvel Comics Presents (for newer characters)
    Tales to Astonish
    Tales of Suspense (horror stories)
    Savage Tales
    Marvel Comics (featuring unused characters)

  15. #15
    MXAAGVNIEETRO IS RIGHT MyriVerse's Avatar
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    1. Spider-Man
    2. Daredevil
    3. Doctor Strange
    4. Fantastic Four

    Avengers
    5. Avengers
    6. Captain America
    7. Iron Man
    8. Thor
    9. Hulk
    10. Black Panther

    Mutant
    11. X-Men
    12. X-Factor
    13. Wolverine

    Cosmic
    14. Captain Marvel
    15. Guardians of the Galaxy
    16. Silver Surfer

    But there's no way the company could survive on just that. So, massive amounts of miniseries.
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