All-New All-Different Marvel Checklist

[Starleafgirl]

Maybe it's just me, but I think that Marvel's attempt at being everything to everybody sounds like a terrible plan. Their lineup is starting to bloat out of control.

Oh I know, it's insane. But I think they're just throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. I bet most of these series are being envisioned as 12-issue maxiseries rather than true "ongoings."

They probably won't bother with continuity this time around... we've only got a year left until the next relaunch, right? ;P Kidding, but geez... ^_^;;

[Pav]

Where's that Death's Head book?

I'm wondering about that, too. I'd be hard pressed to pass up a Death's Head book with the right creative team.

My hope is that it could be the yin to Silver Surfer's yang.

-Pav, who would love Si Spurrier on it...

[juggalord]

They probably won't bother with continuity this time around... we've only got a year left until the next relaunch, right? ;P Kidding, but geez... ^_^;;

Y'know... I know that you're kidding, but you might not end up being too far off the mark. Marvel has repeatedly insisted that they didn't need to reboot. Instead, their tactic has always been tweak, tweak, and tweak again. When that works, it's great. You get stuff like Civil War. When it doesn't, well, you end up with stuff like OMD/BND. Obviously, I'm not going to judge ANAD before it's even out. Looking at how diverse the title selection is, there's a lot of promising stuff there.

I'm just wondering how long Marvel can stave off an actual full on reboot with these tweaks. At some point, continuity is going to become a tangled ball of spaghetti and the only way to fix things would be to put on a fresh pot. As long as they didn't fall into DC's trap of repeated reboots, I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to Marvel hitting the reset button.

I don't think it's really an "if," but a "when." It took DC 46/47 years before they pulled the trigger with Crisis. Marvel's already 53 years in, 76 if you start with the intro of Namor & the Human Torch I. (74 years if you're a Kirby die hard and want to start with Cap.) Do you really think that they'll make it to their 100th anniversary without a full reboot? I'm not convinced.

Secret Wars would've been the perfect event for it too. Shame.

I know that some of you would prefer the tweak option instead. I totally get your reasoning. I'm just a reboot fan. I feel that it's perfectly acceptable to start over when things aren't working right and you've fully exhausted the usefulness of the band-aid approach.

I've been writing computer programs since I was a kid. In a sense, what we've got here isn't too different. Maintaining an old code base gets much harder the older it gets. At a point, it becomes so heavy and convoluted that a rewrite ends up being a cheaper option, both in terms of money & time. Rewriting the code from scratch is certainly annoying, but doing so really allows you to reinvent, revitalize, and even future proof in ways that would be impossible with patches.

[Mic1402]

The problem with rebooting things as it gets rid of one of the things the differentiates marvel from dc. The history and growth of the characters and world. Sure it has it's problems, but seriously is the continuity that bad? Most bad continuity is just painted over and ignored through the passage of time anyway.

Though i do see your point about the amount of books. i must mention that a number of them are targeting different demographics, and a trying to appeal to different audiences. I also agree that a number of them will not be getting past 12 issues. (Poor New warriors )

it does seem to be a case of "Try Everything!" and see what sticks. They are however in a position to do this though, considering how successful they are at the moment.

My main thing is that i hope the next big event is not gonna have for a while, so the books can build up to things without being interrupted constantly.

[Lady Jane]

Though i do see your point about the amount of books. i must mention that a number of them are targeting different demographics, and a trying to appeal to different audiences. I also agree that a number of them will not be getting past 12 issues. (Poor New warriors )

it does seem to be a case of "Try Everything!" and see what sticks. They are however in a position to do this though, considering how successful they are at the moment.

My main thing is that i hope the next big event is not gonna have for a while, so the books can build up to things without being interrupted constantly.

Agreed.

I don't mind Marvel trying to be everything for everyone for a while. You can pick and choose what you read and aiming at different demographics will help bring in different types of readers.

[juggalord]

The problem with rebooting things as it gets rid of one of the things the differentiates marvel from dc. The history and growth of the characters and world. Sure it has it's problems, but seriously is the continuity that bad?

Actually? Yeah. Continuity IS that bad. I'm the first person to admit that this rich history, which I love very much, has become a massive burden, which I love a whole lot less.

There are certain elements in the X-Men family of things, for example, that you'd probably be unable to explain without a complex set of diagrams and a PhD in cryptology. I only mention the X-Men because their repeated hijinks with time travel, alternate history refugees, clones, and so on make them emblematic of this sort of problem.

Similarly, every time a new event rolls around, however big or small, that notion of compressed time gets strained just a little bit more. Character and world development are fine. You can't have comics without them. However, there's only so many times that you can alter the status quo and make these "nothing will ever be the same again" changes to characters and their world.

If you're running five events in five years, and Marvel certainly runs more than that, your world and its characters lose credibility. There's only so often that you can say, "Because...comics." Marvel's comics don't run in real time. It might take anywhere from 4 to 8 years of our time just to equal one of Marvel's. (Seriously. Franklin Richards has only aged 8 years in the almost 48 that he's been around.)

Think about that for a moment. If you've got five major status quo shifting events in five years, but those five years only amount to one for those character then you end up with a continuity that's messy and impossible to explain as having all happened in such a brief period of time. IRL terms, that would be like you personally facing a major disaster every 2 months and each one totally upsetting the balance in your life, sometimes to the point of causing major personality shift for you.

For us, the readers, that causes some very real event fatigue. For the characters and their world, they become that much more unbelievably cartoony each time it happens. Compressed time is a necessary evil, but this endless stream of annual continuity scrambling or history complicating events is hurting the one real thing that separated Marvel from DC, which is its character focused believability.

It used to be possible to relate to Peter Parker because he was so much like us, except for spider powers. We might not be able to become Spider-Man, but most of us were already Peter Parker. That's what separated him from the likes of Superman or Batman. As readers and as people, it would pretty much be impossible for us to be either of these characters OR their unrelatable alter egos.

Compressed time leads to all of these events happening in a VERY short period of time. Those events lead to having the ground constantly shifting beneath the character's feet. That prevents status quo shifts from ever lasting or at least having any impact. Then explaining all of that stuff in any way that's comprehensive and believable becomes near impossible. I think that the best possible analog would be to compare Marvel to the TV show 24. For us, the show took place over 8 years. For Jack Bauer, those were just 8 impossibly bad and convoluted days, all of which resulted in major status quo changes for him.

When you look at the big picture... When you look at how much has happened in what is only supposed to be a 10 year period of time... It's nearly impossible to say that continuity ISN'T that bad. Marvel can tweak, tweak, and tweak some more. They can de-age characters, resequence events, and make Faustian pacts to rewrite short term history as many times as the want. Continuity IS a mess that's caused by everything from events, compressed time, shifts in creative teams, and good old fashioned bad writing.

The whole reboot VS tweak thing might be one thing that separates Marvel from DC, but it's not the most important thing. They've got to think big picture. If they never opt to reboot then they ARE going to lose that one thing that was supposed to make them different, that "world outside your window" quality where characters felt like real people with real problems and a lived in a world not to far removed from our own. That element has been slipping away from Marvel since the mid to late 90s. They've got to scramble before it they lose it forever. When that happens, all you'll be left with is a world not too different than the beginning of DC's own "Kingdom Come" where characters were caricatures that fought one another just to stave off boredom and the difference between good and bad no longer existed.

Reboot? Not an if, but a when. Trust me. Give it time. It'll happen. If you still don't believe... Just imagine yourself comprehensively explaining just the past 5 year's worth of Marvel continuity to somebody who's never read a single Marvel comic before. Just the past 5 years. That's all. You couldn't even do that in even the most cursory way possible without confusing them. Their heads would explode and then you'd say, "Oh, yeah. Now I get it."

NB: For those of you who say that Marvel event fatigue is a myth, do yourself a solid and count how many events, big and small, that have happened in just the past 5 years alone. Here are just a few from 2011-2015: Fear Itself, AvX, Age of Ultron, Infinity, Original Sin, Axis, & Secret Wars. Those are the biggies and that was just in five years. That doesn't even account for the smaller, more contained event storylines like Age of X, Schism, Spider-Island, Battle of the Atom, Goblin Nation, Spider-Verse, & Black Vortex. Once again, this has all happened in just FIVE years. To them, that has all happened in just ONE YEAR. I haven't even accounted for the Superior Spider-Man mind swap, which compressed 33 issues into a year and a half. In the past 10 year alone, the status quo has shifted so many times for the X-Men that I stopped keeping track. Especially for them, it really IS that bad.

If you want a little more detailed timeline of the major events and crossovers then go to the wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public...ossover_events When you do that, keep in mind that all of those events are not only the most significant ones, but also took place in what is only supposed to be 10 years (or so) Marvel time. None of that even factors in the regular every day status quo shifting story arcs or weird plot twists that make up character development.

[Starleafgirl]

Well, continuity is definitely a mess, but I think Marvel will just relaunch/event/relaunch/event until the model doesn't generate as much short-term money as it used to, at which point they'll reboot all continuity so it won't matter anyway. I know everything Marvel's said up to this point indicates they would "never" do that, but I have a feeling "never" would change pretty quickly once the bottom line shifted unfavorably.

I'm personally really sick of events... but then, I have been for years.

In any case, back on topic...

Marvel Announces "Power Man & Iron Fist" By Walker & Greene:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/ar...-walker-greene

How many non-mutant series can they launch at this point, geez?

But this one doesn't really surprise me, given the upcoming Netflix push for the characters.

[Winterboy]

Fingers crossed for Punisher, Secret Avengers and Master of Kung Fu.

[Ceebiro]

Anyone think that the only reason Marvel is launching so many books is that they don't expect the vast majority of them to last beyond a year?

[Starleafgirl]

Anyone think that the only reason Marvel is launching so many books is that they don't expect the vast majority of them to last beyond a year?

That's exactly right. They've talked before about adopting conventions from television and their model being 12 issues = a season. So most of these books will likely only last one season -- or get cancelled before all "episodes" have aired a.k.a. before 12 full issues are published.

The successful ones will earn a second season, new shows will be introduced, etc.

[JaggedFel]

That's exactly right. They've talked before about adopting conventions from television and their model being 12 issues = a season. So most of these books will likely only last one season -- or get cancelled before all "episodes" have aired a.k.a. before 12 full issues are published.

The successful ones will earn a second season, new shows will be introduced, etc.

Its funny it took so long to reach this idea, they have always been dropping new number ones this was the obvious tactic netflix it 10-12 issues a year.

[James Hunter]

I'm wondering about that, too. I'd be hard pressed to pass up a Death's Head book with the right creative team.

My hope is that it could be the yin to Silver Surfer's yang.

-Pav, who would love Si Spurrier on it...

Death's Head by Spurrier would be interesting but its the lack of THUNDERBOLTS/CITIZEN V announcement that I'm getting worried about.

Its the most exciting image on the teaser poster to me and pretty much *every* character from that poster has a series announced now (and some that aren't on there have too!)

Cheers.

James.

[Michael P]

How many non-mutant series can they launch at this point, geez?

I can't help but laugh at this, given that 20 years ago (or even 10), fans were saying the exact opposite.

As I first read in an X-Men comic: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Starleafgirl]

I can't help but laugh at this, given that 20 years ago (or even 10), fans were saying the exact opposite.

As I first read in an X-Men comic: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

HAH!

Yep. XD

...I prefer it the other way... The world that didn't have a bunch of Spiders webslinging around the multiverse, mutants dropping out of the skies 'cos of t-mists, Inhumans as a whole new race for which humanity can pile on their hatred, and a whole bunch of Avengers teams.

[Michael P]

Updated with January launches and revised launches for the X-Men titles.