A-FORCE... To Be Reckoned With... Appreciation/Celebration!!

[Kurolegacy]

My guess is that A-Force WILL be back with a new creative team.

I really hope that that does happen. I mean it was doing well so it wasn't giving any red flag numbers that usual lead to Marvel pulling the plug. Given that Civil War II had a profound effect on 2 key members of the team, maybe somewhere during Marvel Now we'll see the team brought back in a retooled fashion. Guess it all comes down to how the issue on Wednesday ends.

[Kelly Thompson]

I really hope that that does happen. I mean it was doing well so it wasn't giving any red flag numbers that usual lead to Marvel pulling the plug. Given that Civil War II had a profound effect on 2 key members of the team, maybe somewhere during Marvel Now we'll see the team brought back in a retooled fashion. Guess it all comes down to how the issue on Wednesday ends.

Well, I don't think Wednesday's issue will confirm or deny for you whether it will continue. I obviously wrote it so that someone could pick it up and continue it on with ease, as that's the important thing...that it can continue. I'd like to write it forever of course, but if that's not possible then the important thing is that it survives. And I certainly left it in the best place possible to make sure that could happen.

[Seren]

Thank you Kelly!

[Johnrevenge]

It felt like a punch int he stomach that A-force got cancelled. It had a lot of potential and sales were good...I don't have too much faith we'll see them again, if Marvel cancelled it I doubt they'll decide to bring it back, which is a total mistake.

[Cowtools]

I wonder if there's an interesting story behind A-Force. As much as I love the books - especially after Kelly took over - it never really felt like it 'settled down' to fulfil it's potential.

Here's what seemed to happen from my, the reader's, perspective:
A-Force was launched as one of many Secret Wars tie-ins. It got a lot of press and big orders. I wonder if this caught Marvel off guard, because they weren't able to keep the creative team in place for the ongoing.
Meanwhile, I wonder how many new readers who were attracted to the concept were turned off by the book being so tied to Secret Wars. When that event ended, the continuity of the book went back to 'normal', and people who wren't regular comic readers may have been confused.
So, in an effort to try and have it both ways, the first two arc of A-Force were about bridging the Secret Wars mini with the regular Marvel universe via a focus on Singularity and Dazzler Thor.
But this meant that the book never has a clean 'break' with its origin to establish a proper status quo. (Which is a problem with most team books spinning out of events, like Mighty Avengers)

It's frustrating because if they had started a series with the Thompson/Caldwell creative team and the exact same character line-up, but in regular continuity and just got straight into the stories, it might have been a huge hit.

That said, I'm sure the A-Force brand will return, hopefully bigger than ever. Now that the 'all-female Avengers' concept is out of the bottle, it will be easier to justify trying it again. Maybe a Carol-lead team around the time of the Captain Marvel movie?

[a0040pc]

I do wonder why A-Force was cancelled, I know that low sales was an issue but there are other Marvel Comics that sell even less than that but are still ongoing. Like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur for example. That series sells no more than 10K a month which was quite a bit less than A-Force.

I have been thinking about a little something I call the Dazzler Curse. It seems that every series that Dazzler is a major part of doesn't last very long. Her solo series in the 1980's got canned, it lasted 42 issues but Marvel really tried to push it without much success, she did have a decent length with the X-Men (around 30 issues) but then dropped off the map for 15 years. Then we have New Excalibur that lasted 24 issues, her stints with the X-Men never lasted long, then we had X-Treme X-Men which again didn't last too long and now A-Force. I beginning to think that to make a successful series it is best not to include Dazzler into it.

[Wiccan]

I wonder if there's an interesting story behind A-Force. As much as I love the books - especially after Kelly took over - it never really felt like it 'settled down' to fulfil it's potential.

Here's what seemed to happen from my, the reader's, perspective:
A-Force was launched as one of many Secret Wars tie-ins. It got a lot of press and big orders. I wonder if this caught Marvel off guard, because they weren't able to keep the creative team in place for the ongoing.
Meanwhile, I wonder how many new readers who were attracted to the concept were turned off by the book being so tied to Secret Wars. When that event ended, the continuity of the book went back to 'normal', and people who wren't regular comic readers may have been confused.
So, in an effort to try and have it both ways, the first two arc of A-Force were about bridging the Secret Wars mini with the regular Marvel universe via a focus on Singularity and Dazzler Thor.
But this meant that the book never has a clean 'break' with its origin to establish a proper status quo. (Which is a problem with most team books spinning out of events, like Mighty Avengers)

It's frustrating because if they had started a series with the Thompson/Caldwell creative team and the exact same character line-up, but in regular continuity and just got straight into the stories, it might have been a huge hit.

That said, I'm sure the A-Force brand will return, hopefully bigger than ever. Now that the 'all-female Avengers' concept is out of the bottle, it will be easier to justify trying it again. Maybe a Carol-lead team around the time of the Captain Marvel movie?

I can see why there were technical issues with that, bu well, I actually LOVED that it continued from the tie-in. I honestly can't see it otherwise, it's pretty much cutting off Singularity whole origin and backstory, and I feel like that was a huge part of the premise and that the origin of the team here was great. If you binge-read the tie-in and then go right to the other vol, it really feels like the same thing, a direct sequel, and I thought that was great.

[tetragene]

I've already read #10 thanks to Comixology & the last page was a good send-off (hopefully until they return) & Kelly's farewell message was sweet. Thanks for giving these ladies oomph. While I was already a huge Dazzler fan (and was looooving her all over again in this series), you managed to trick me into liking Medusa

I have been thinking about a little something I call the Dazzler Curse. It seems that every series that Dazzler is a major part of doesn't last very long. Her solo series in the 1980's got canned, it lasted 42 issues but Marvel really tried to push it without much success, she did have a decent length with the X-Men (around 30 issues) but then dropped off the map for 15 years. Then we have New Excalibur that lasted 24 issues, her stints with the X-Men never lasted long, then we had X-Treme X-Men which again didn't last too long and now A-Force. I beginning to think that to make a successful series it is best not to include Dazzler into it.

Some things to consider: Dazzler's solo series actually did pretty well even further into it's run. Years ago someone from Marvel posted a screen shot of the sales #s from one month in the 80s & an issue into the early 30s (IIRC) was in their top 20, despite the series dipping off quality-wise at that point (& losing the supporting cast of the first half of the series). IIRC the title was cancelled to make room for the New Universe they were pushing (the new writer for Dazzler ended up working on several of these titles, I believe) -- not because of sales.

Her stint in the X-Men was short & resulted in limbo because, quite franly, after the first few issues she was in it became obvious Claremont had no love for the character & didn't exactly want her there (she was originally supposed to be in X-factor until the decision to revive Jean was made). New Excalibur was a hot ass mess with awful plots & dialogue for ALL the charcaters -- and she was again helmed by Claremont (and the death/resurrect thing started -- because he seemed to enjoy killing her off every other issue then bring her back to be killed again). Bendis use of her was a train wreck & he seemed more interested in bringing aspects of his Ultimate run to 616. Nothing to do with the problems of the character -- just the poor handling/mismanagement by the X-office with her (as they've done with countless other mutants that aren't the O5 & ANAD).

X-treme (vol 2) was a great series that failed to attract a larger audience, unfortunately.

I don't think any of those are the fault of the character. In A-Force she certainly came off as a strong personality -- we don't know why Marvel pulled the plug prematurely since sales suggest it wasn't doing bad. My only guess would be with the fall out of Civil War II & Inhumans vs X-men affecting the majority of the team in major ways perhaps they are taking a break before (hopefully) re-launching. They put a note in the final issue that A-Force will return, but readers can speed-up the process by sending an e-mail to them about why you like A-Force so my suggestion to everyone: do it.

[Kelly Thompson]

Just wanted to stop in, since A-Force #10 is out today and it's all officially official and thank you for reading and for making me feel so welcome. As I said in my letter in the back of issue 10, I wish I could have written the book forever, I really fell in love with it, but alas that is not to be. But I feel confident Marvel WILL bring the book back and I hope that brings us all some comfort, cold though it may feel today.

Thanks again for reading and for the warm reception!

[Factor]

Just wanted to stop in, since A-Force #10 is out today and it's all officially official and thank you for reading and for making me feel so welcome. As I said in my letter in the back of issue 10, I wish I could have written the book forever, I really fell in love with it, but alas that is not to be. But I feel confident Marvel WILL bring the book back and I hope that brings us all some comfort, cold though it may feel today.

Thanks again for reading and for the warm reception!

Thank you so much, Kelly! I wish your run had lasted longer, but I really enjoyed it. I'll still follow you on Jem and Hawkeye

[Seren]

Just wanted to stop in, since A-Force #10 is out today and it's all officially official and thank you for reading and for making me feel so welcome. As I said in my letter in the back of issue 10, I wish I could have written the book forever, I really fell in love with it, but alas that is not to be. But I feel confident Marvel WILL bring the book back and I hope that brings us all some comfort, cold though it may feel today.

Thanks again for reading and for the warm reception!

I'm really bummed A-Force is ending - I thought it was fantastic and I always looked forward to it. Thank you for writing it! I'll definitely be picking up Hawkeye (I've already added it to my pull-list) when it comes out!

[PaxHouse]

Just wanted to stop in, since A-Force #10 is out today and it's all officially official and thank you for reading and for making me feel so welcome. As I said in my letter in the back of issue 10, I wish I could have written the book forever, I really fell in love with it, but alas that is not to be. But I feel confident Marvel WILL bring the book back and I hope that brings us all some comfort, cold though it may feel today.

Thanks again for reading and for the warm reception!

Read the Issue......and I still loved it, even with the ending being bittersweet.

[Kelly Thompson]

Thanks, guys. <3

Also wanted to apologize, a lot of people (and I'm sure some of them are from this board) directly asked me questions about A-Force being cancelled on twitter/tumblr/etc,. and I ignored those questions because I was not allowed to answer. I try my best to be engaged with fans, but I was in a position of being specifically instructed to no say anything. So...sorry about that.

[Johnrevenge]

It was a good issue, I liked the twist with Alice and it would be interesting to see more of it...sadly it finished and I'm not very optimistic about Marvel wanting to bring back A-force...

[Wiccan]

Thanks, guys. <3

Also wanted to apologize, a lot of people (and I'm sure some of them are from this board) directly asked me questions about A-Force being cancelled on twitter/tumblr/etc,. and I ignored those questions because I was not allowed to answer. I try my best to be engaged with fans, but I was in a position of being specifically instructed to no say anything. So...sorry about that.

I guess you're talking about me, or at least kinda. It's ok, I didn't really knew you couldn't say, I saw(or at least I had the impression I did) other writers previously announcing when their books are ending, so I thought you could, and tried again some time later thinking you didn't answered before because it was too early.

Thanks for all you did on A-Force. I think the ending was great (Specially if the CW arc wasn't planned as the last), I like bittersweet but with characters alive and well endings. That last page was beautiful.