I think he messed up bringing in the new characters. He needed to put the magic heavyweights in the driver's seat aka Doctor Strange and Doom. Loki and Wanda would also drive sales but I do not think Hickman cares about them.
I think he messed up bringing in the new characters. He needed to put the magic heavyweights in the driver's seat aka Doctor Strange and Doom. Loki and Wanda would also drive sales but I do not think Hickman cares about them.
I feel like focusing so much on Wyn was a mistake.
He's too much Doctor Strange/Constantine hybrid, worsened by the fact he was partnered with Strange himself.
So Wyn winds up being too much of a generic protagonist guy despite how high-concept and experimental the book is supposed to be.
I agree, Wyn hasn't really endeared himself to me either. Also the science side needs to carry more weight. They have just been getting killed and don't even put up a semblance of a fight. Aiko move now is a getting a magician to do her job for her. Kinda takes away from the opposing sides tug of war when the story is so bias to one side. Everything around the characters is cool, and I want to see more.
I don’t want to see this go. Not yet. Hopefully 8 issues isn’t the end, and it makes a return. This has legs but it needs time to cook.
I think that if the sales were abysmal Marvel’s not the kind to leave ambiguity. They’ll have the new characters slaughtered in short order if they don’t intend to use them or let Hickman return to them. So that will be the hint as to whether or not Hickman will be allowed return to it
what characters are supposed to be spun off from this mini-series?
I am an unabashed Hickman fanboy, and even for me this is a dull read.
It just doesn't have the excitement that HOX/POX or his other Marvel epics had.
This may be a litmus test of how much can Hickman get away with, especially with originally created characters (even though I love his indie books).
I don't think it's a case of sales or prior work not meeting expectations.
I believe this was always meant to be 8 issues, which is what Brevoort also says in his newsletter.
The selling point of this book is Hickman's concepts + Schiti's artwork. Work on this book started well in advance so that Schiti would be able to do all 8 issues, including the triple-sized first issue.
If this became an ongoing, they would have to bring in fill-in artists to keep the monthly schedule and do tie-ins to events and so on.
They're probably taking a seasonal model approach to this story, which is what I meant earlier by the independent comic thing. The first 8 issues are the 'Season 1', followed by a 'Season 2' next year once Hickman/Schiti can get enough issues in the can. There might be an event later on.
The closest book we've seen like this recently is Strange Academy, which similarly had its identity tied to Young's concepts + Ramos' artwork.
My working theory is that The-Powers-That-Be is the alternative name of Master Chaos, the Universal Abstract that represents chaos and magic.
masterchaos.jpg
So The-Natural-Order-of-Things is her cosmic counterpart, Lord Order, the Universal Abstract that represents order and science.
lordorder.jpg
Since Chaos and Order are rivals, Mia joining the Centum of The-Natural-Order-of-Things means she is cut off from the higher abilities afforded to servants of The-Powers-That-Be.