Is Secret Wars going to end up being unnecessary?

[jackolover]

are comics ever necessary?

I ask the question, why do I still read comics? To me it's a literature also, like all the other creators ideas in other forms of literature. And then Marvel came along. Their approach to this storytelling of super heroes explodes a lot of vanilla charicatures existing up till then.

Comicbooks have value in their own unique niche of word and art. They used to be pulps, throwaways, but they have now reached their own respectability, so that historians are valueing the very ideas in which they first appeared. Movies have legitimised the concepts of comicbook literature to the point that it has a commercial value so grand, it so outstrips it's humble beginnings, it blows my mind how far this medium has come. Why Comicbooks? Creators can now look at their industry with astonishment that they are in this business doing what they love, and it's appreciated. It's so surreal.

Neccesary? To those involved in creating and appreciatiing Comicbooks, they would answer yes. It fills a very important void. Of hope, and an aim for something better, not just chaos. No one is always good in that sense, but to strive for it is the thing.

[Cloudman]

Difference is, Spider-Gwen is selling like hotcakes, the Ultimate stuff, not so much.

Spider-Gwen's book has already been stunted by Secret Wars. Those high sales won't last long.

[thecrimson]

Funny that a core part of this event is ending the Ultimate Universe...only to have Spider-Gwen's "Earth-65" survive as a separate continuity in a slightly similar fashion.

That's not the only one to survive if Web Warriors is to be believed.

[Pat Thomas]

I ask the question, why do I still read comics? To me it's a literature also, like all the other creators ideas in other forms of literature. And then Marvel came along. Their approach to this storytelling of super heroes explodes a lot of vanilla charicatures existing up till then.

Comicbooks have value in their own unique niche of word and art. They used to be pulps, throwaways, but they have now reached their own respectability, so that historians are valueing the very ideas in which they first appeared. Movies have legitimised the concepts of comicbook literature to the point that it has a commercial value so grand, it so outstrips it's humble beginnings, it blows my mind how far this medium has come. Why Comicbooks? Creators can now look at their industry with astonishment that they are in this business doing what they love, and it's appreciated. It's so surreal.

Neccesary? To those involved in creating and appreciatiing Comicbooks, they would answer yes. It fills a very important void. Of hope, and an aim for something better, not just chaos. No one is always good in that sense, but to strive for it is the thing.

To me it sounds like you are propping these stories up as a writer's lifetime of building a work of art, but they aren't. They are art, of course, but these stories are
made for mass distribution every 30 days in a shared universe that's constantly changing. Superhero comics have historically given the characters a set of ethics
that can inspire and possibly mold a young reader's value system, but to look at monthly comics as something important with deep philosophical themes is just
pushing it too far. To answer the OP, Secret Wars is unnecessary to people who don't read comics. It's unnecessary to casual Marvel readers, and non-Marvel readers.
It's unnecessary to even the most dedicated Marvel reader if they don't want to read it. It's not even necessary to me, even though I've been buying and enjoying all
of them. Just like every other comic on the shelf, it's something I could do without, but I'm glad they exist because they have been pretty good so far.

[yeah yeah]

That's the whole point of continuity; you can choose to follow or dismiss it. Seeing everything is pretty much being rebooted post-SW, I can definitely see that the story matters. All the teams have changed (avengers, x-men, gotg, inhumans, ultimates, etc), story is great, some of the ultimate characters are now aligned with the 616 (don't know where ultimate reed will end up), some of the battleworld characters still exist...so don't know what else to say. If you're upset that the Ultimate U and/or characters are gone, you just need to wait it out. Plus, if there's no story to write, can't blame SW for that. That falls back on an writer/publisher to come up with.

[jackolover]

To me it sounds like you are propping these stories up as a writer's lifetime of building a work of art, but they aren't. They are art, of course, but these stories are
made for mass distribution every 30 days in a shared universe that's constantly changing. Superhero comics have historically given the characters a set of ethics
that can inspire and possibly mold a young reader's value system, but to look at monthly comics as something important with deep philosophical themes is just
pushing it too far. To answer the OP, Secret Wars is unnecessary to people who don't read comics. It's unnecessary to casual Marvel readers, and non-Marvel readers.
It's unnecessary to even the most dedicated Marvel reader if they don't want to read it. It's not even necessary to me, even though I've been buying and enjoying all
of them. Just like every other comic on the shelf, it's something I could do without, but I'm glad they exist because they have been pretty good so far.

I'm not sure I find Secret Wars neccesary, even though I'm getting all the books too. Neccesity is a very strict word, but I took it to mean neccesary to read to get what happens in NuMarvel, so I took it as neccesary. I'm not too sure now that we are at the middle of the event. I fail to see anything "neccesary" at this stage that is needed to learn about what comes next. Maybe more is to be revealed at the end.

And Comicbooks have their value in their own niche. If that is in a philosophic sense, I can't see why Comicbooks can't touch on that. Like you say, Comicbooks can inspire and possibly mold young readers value systems. That has worth.