How will the coronavirus affect comics?

[Noodle]

Except you sell those stories to new comers? One More Day, Sins Past and this story with Moria? How would you explain these stories to new comers. This type of endless retcons and convoluted continuity is kryptonite to new comers.

Accessibility to newcomers in story lines is a non-factor in today's age. The internet is a thing. People have devices in their hands that they can easily search anything and get caught up on any story, regardless of the issue you drop in at. I can understand "too convoluted" being a problem, but just getting caught up? No.

Runaways has to be kicking ass in digital sales that's the only thing that could explain why it's still going on. Them physical sales be less than ideal.

I don't care if it gets it's sales from print, digital or live theater reenactments as long as it keeps doing it. The book is damn good.

[skyvolt2000]

Except it just resets to the same status quo so often, even the illusion of change is gone, like how would you explain to newcomers why Mary Jane and Peter Parker are no longer married?

YOU DON'T.

NO one is explaining why Max Goof-Goofy's son and Huey, Deewey & Louie can go from kids to tweeners to teens to college student (Max) to young adult (Max) and back to kids again in various shows.

No one is explaining how Power Rangers can have SPD, RPM & Time Force can happen in the future and no one knows each other. Nor did Mega Force explain all those previous Power Ranger teams BEFORE Jason's teams.

Dc does not care to have comics with Black Lightning's daughters who are now in year 9 of not being around.

No one explained how Black Panther and Shuri as step siblings and Killmonger was not a relative of the family.

No one is questioning why Peter Parker was pretty much Miles Morales in the recent Spider-man films.

Those newcomers are going to have to enter into comics like the rest of us-just pick up a book and READ.


And if we are so concerned about new comers.

What does a newcomer read if they saw Young Justice and like Static? Black Lightning and like Thunder & Lighting or Jordan Calloway's character? Marvel Rising and like Patriot? Arrow and like Mr Terrific (who is not Michael Holt)? X-Men and liked Darwin? Agents of Shield and like Flint of the Inhumans? Legends of Tomorrow and like Vixen? Teen Titans Go! and like Bumblebee? Doom Patrol or Titans and liked THOSE versions?

Gee that is a LOT of folks with nothing to read.

Now gatekeepers and gators would say "who cares about them?" For an industry trying to get new blood-you better care. Because Batman and his entitlement friends aren't bringing in new readers.

[Holt]

I would say most potential readers wouldn't be shocked about Peter not being married to MJ in the comics since them not being married had been the status quo in just about every piece of Spider-Man media in the past 25 years (the 90s show, the Raimi movies, the MTV cartoon, Spectacular Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, the PS4 game, even the MCU flicks). The major exception is probably Spider-Verse, and even then they're divorced there (though the ending has hints of a reconciliation).

There are plenty of valid examples of modern comic books being overly convoluted and alienating to new readers, but Peter and MJ not being married is something that is more likely to piss off older fans who were reading the books in the 90s to begin with.

[DragonPiece]

It's weird Marvel just went on a hiatus and now goes on buisness as usual it seems. Compared to DC, who put out digital first comics and found new distributors etc.

[gch230]

Some comics are better than none comics I guess. AIPT put out the very limited list of Marvel comics coming out May 20th.
https://aiptcomics.com/2020/04/28/fu...o-may-26-2020/

[Chubistian]

Except it just resets to the same status quo so often, even the illusion of change is gone, like how would you explain to newcomers why Mary Jane and Peter Parker are no longer married?

Peter and MJ haven't been married for 11 years. But I have explained OMD to new readers as following: "They sold their marriage to Mephisto, a demon, kinda like Marvel's satan. It was a shitty story". Then, I proceed to lend them stories that I like about the character. When I started reading superheroes comicbooks, I wasn't put down because things from the movies or animated series wasn't in the comicbooks, I just accepted that which I didn't comprehend or understand and enjoyed the rest of the story. I haven't tried Hickman's X-Men, but I doubt that they're more "complicated" than how they were under Claremont's writing

[Frontier]

I would say most potential readers wouldn't be shocked about Peter not being married to MJ in the comics since them not being married had been the status quo in just about every piece of Spider-Man media in the past 25 years (the 90s show, the Raimi movies, the MTV cartoon, Spectacular Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, the PS4 game, even the MCU flicks). The major exception is probably Spider-Verse, and even then they're divorced there (though the ending has hints of a reconciliation).

There are plenty of valid examples of modern comic books being overly convoluted and alienating to new readers, but Peter and MJ not being married is something that is more likely to piss off older fans who were reading the books in the 90s to begin with.

Although most people probably assume Peter and MJ are each other's main squeeze then they would Peter with anyone else...well, I guess except for Gwen but past Emma Stone I don't see that relationship being spotlight again as much.

[Digifiend]

Some comics are better than none comics I guess. AIPT put out the very limited list of Marvel comics coming out May 20th.
https://aiptcomics.com/2020/04/28/fu...o-may-26-2020/

Bleeding Cool has a bigger list for May 20th. Looks like all the April 1st books except, for some reason, Ms. Marvel?
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/than...ay-new-comics/

[Holt]

Diamond did a livestream about their plans and it was apparently rather iffy.
https://twitter.com/graemem/status/1255267605977485315

[Revolutionary_Jack]

There are plenty of valid examples of modern comic books being overly convoluted and alienating to new readers, but Peter and MJ not being married is something that is more likely to piss off older fans who were reading the books in the 90s to begin with.

I wouldn't say older readers. People who read Spider-Man comics from 2000-2007 are pretty young still (I happen to be one of them). Among milennials, Spider-Man being married is well known.

More than that, the fact that OMD despite being awful, is also the most famous Spider-Man story in 616 continuity in the last 20 years, means that, paradoxically, the marriage is still pretty well known.

Until the Raimi movies, the primary exposure for Spider-Man among civilians was the newspaper strip which was still running until Stan Lee's dead, then you have Spider-Girl which is the only Marvel superheroine to reach 100 issues in an ongoing. Then Renew Your Vows came out and was a success. Most recently, 2019's miniseries by Chip Zdarsky -- Spider-Man Life Story which was also a success, commercial and critical, featured a married Peter as well.

Ultimately, in terms of eyeballs, among people who actually read comics, far more people have read a married Spider-Man than otherwise. Far more people read Pre-OMD Spider-Man than Post-OMD Spider-Man.

The fact is that the consumers of Spider-Man in other media aren't coming to comics.

[Holt]

Ultimately, in terms of eyeballs, among people who actually read comics, far more people have read a married Spider-Man than otherwise. Far more people read Pre-OMD Spider-Man than Post-OMD Spider-Man.

We're specifically talking about new readers who'd be coming in from other forms of media. Talking about how many existing readers know about the marriage doesn't really factor into it, which is why I said the majority of the people upset about him being single were older, existing readers. Nobody's gonna be confused coming into comics and not seeing an unmarried Peter Parker since unmarried Peter Parker is the predominant pop culture image of the character, is the point.

[jackolover]

I am thinking whatever stories their writers had planned from the 25th March onwards, they have to change it, while in lockdown, and do the story of the Covid-19 attack in the world and put the world in lock-down. And all the stories from the time of relaxing the isolation, letting writers restart their stories, will have to be that they have to restart them, as in, walking out of their lock-down house into the wide-open world where everyone is stepping into the world for the first time, that has no economy, no jobs, and police aren’t functioning. So, super heroes have a lot of ordinary work to deal with, about violence against Asians, about violence at beaurocracy, about super villains taking advantage of a situation where superheroes are too distracted with chaos to be able to look for criminal activity. I think if Marvel do this, it will be a very different world we live in outside our windows.

Just to give an example. It will be like all the books about the X Nation will be about people emerging out of their bubble in Krakoa Island and all their emergencies will have been forgotten. Like stepping out of Secret Wars 2015 that first time.

Everything you knew before Covid-19, you’ve forgotten now once you emerge. Even in ANAD they were lucky because Reed Richards made their corporation still in full swing, but in COVID-19, there is no Reed Richards to miraculously make Industry go back to full swing.

[H-E-D]

Except it just resets to the same status quo so often, even the illusion of change is gone, like how would you explain to newcomers why Mary Jane and Peter Parker are no longer married?

Reverting to the status quo is what the illusion of change is all about.

[Drops Of Venus]

Diamond did a livestream about their plans and it was apparently rather iffy.
https://twitter.com/graemem/status/1255267605977485315

https://twitter.com/graemem/status/1255284807489196033

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Reverting to the status quo is what the illusion of change is all about.

The "illusion of change" was never consistently practised or maintained by Marvel. Certainly not by Jim Shooter in the 80s.

We're specifically talking about new readers who'd be coming in from other forms of media.

That number is not big.

Talking about how many existing readers know about the marriage doesn't really factor into it, which is why I said the majority of the people upset about him being single were older, existing readers. Nobody's gonna be confused coming into comics and not seeing an unmarried Peter Parker since unmarried Peter Parker is the predominant pop culture image of the character, is the point.

To an extent, this is true. But the specifics of it is worth discussing in the Spider-Man boards.


I will say that if and when this crisis is resolved, and Marvel wants a big event to drum up excitement again, bringing the marriage back would be something to consider.