Lost momentum: Secret Wars & X-Men

[Raye]

Delays happen. We can speculate about the specific reasons, but it just boils down to that Marvel is run by people, and sometimes things don't go quite according to plan, such is life. Just have to roll with it, get the issues when they do come out. I am sure Marvel has no plans to not release the rest of Secret Wars or X-Men 600

[Reviresco]

i enjoyed your pics Reviresco. you are more organized than me. i have piles of books and comics laying around, waiting to be sorted or read...or both. its to the point where i'm putting furniture in storage to make room for more stuff.

LOL! I definitely emphathize. Thank you, though the pics aren't mine. But, I did have my stuff pretty organized ... until, like you, my stuff started piling up. My comics are now a horrible mess. It's one of my projects to try to go through and organize them and pare down or try binding.

[juggalord]

In the three decades that I've been reading comics, I've lived through some pretty awkward & terrible storytelling. The Clone Saga. One More Day. Maximum Security. Teen Tony Stark. Heroes Reborn. Honestly? Secret Wars takes the cake. It has become literally done the one thing those other stories could not. It has shaken my faith in Marvel comics. It's not one thing with a specific tipping point, but a combination of factors that has lead to my crisis of faith here.

1. THE BUILD UP: Secret Wars has been in the works for a very long time. Marvel has spent the better part of 2 years setting up this story, the consequences of which would never be as epic as we could imagine. Even before Secret Wars #1 would hit shelves, the hype was crazy and the rumor mill was in overdrive.

2. THE SHIPPING SCHEDULE: Marvel starts things of big with the book double shipping; two months in a row, I think. Not a bad way to start. What Marvel giveth... Marvel taketh away. The event should just about nearly be over, but it's not even 2/3 through yet. On a huge event like this, one that affects their entire publshing side, it's unthinkable that the core series is months behind schedule. At this point, I don't even believe that it'll be finished in 2015.

3. THE EXTRA ISSUE: Did somebody not think this out?!? I get that there's still more story to tell. I get that they want to do it justice and not rush the ending. What I simply DON'T get is how this wasn't figured out before the mini was announced. These people are supposed to be pros. There's supposed to be a certain level of planning and editorial oversight. Thus far, Secret Wars has become a situation of the tail wagging the dog. It's taken a life all its own, writer & editor be damned.

4. WHAT IF? WHY BOTHER? IS MORE LIKE IT.: I won't pretend to know the ending of Secret Wars or the shape of the ANAD landscape. Like everybody else here, I'm just along for the ride. That's why it upsets me to see Marvel ditch almost all of their ongoings in favor of nearly 6 months worth of books that probably won't matter. I won't judge the quality, as that's pretty subjective, but I will assert that this has been nothing but a sleazy cash grab designed to play on our nostalgia. At the end of the day, it all rings hollow if little or none of it moves the chains forward. A really great example here is "X-Men `92" where we're expected to believe that this is a tie-in series just because somebody tosses in the word "Doom" once in a while. It feels cheap. A buzzword does not a tie-in make.

5. THE X-MEN #600 PROBLEM: I bring this issue up to specifically illustrate what's wrong with this event. If Marvel could publish this book as-is, without alteration, then there's something there that suggests that the Secret Wars event itself will amount to a whole lot of nothing. It bothers me that Marvel can hit the pause button for half of the year, sell several hundred issues of filler stuff, and then just unpause without so much as a, "Back to you your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress." I get that there are going to be changes in the ANAD world and that #600's delay will make more sense once we read it. However, its placement as a post-SW issue baffles me. The idea that they can just publish the next logical issue as if Secret Wars didn't happen devalues the event.

6. ALL-NEW, ALL BLOATED?: Exactly how big is their final ANAD lineup going to be? At this point, they must be up to 62+ ongoings. Is that their largest lineup of in-continuity books? It would seem so. Worse than that, I don't think that there's an end in sight. I wouldn't be shocked to see nearly 70 ongoings announced before 2016 begins. Marvel has always sold tons of books, but not his many were ever both in continuity and ongoing. If DC's nu52 has taught us anything it's that trying to please everybody will only result in a lot of cancelled books. ANAD hasn't even started yet and I'm already sick of it. The Secret Wars cash cow continues. The post Secret Wars 2015 Marvel will have nearly 3x as many in-continuity ongoings as the 1984 Secret Wars. Let that sit with you for a moment. Marvel completionists will have to decide on rent & food or comics.

7. SECRET...WHAT WAS THIS ABOUT AGAIN?: Things were already getting pretty slow due to some exposition heavy issues, but the delay has really hurt the pacing of the book. The delay between issues might not be as huge as that of the 6-issue Kevin Smtih "Spider-Man/Black Cat" mini that ran from 2002-2005 or the 6-issue "Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk" mini that ran from 2005-2009. However, I will literally have to go back and re-read what's already come out just to refresh my mind. This event was supposed to be epic and unforgettable. So far, it's been pretty pedestrian and unmemorable.

For the TLDR crowd, let me sum it up. Too much hype. Stupid delays. Bad planning. Months of filler. Questionable impact. Pandering for a buck. Limp instead of epic.

Here's a bonus #8 & #9 for ya'.

8. EFFECT PRECEDING CAUSE: It's bad enough that the event is delayed. Starting ANAD before the event is actually over is another. We'll be months into ANAD before Secret Wars #9 even ships. I remember when it happened with the first Secret Wars mini back in the 80s. I hated it then. I hate it now.

9. EIGHT MONTHS LATER: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. DC really beefed it with their "One Year Later" jump back in 2006. Marvel is looking to repeat that mistake nearly 10 year later. With an eight month jump, they can literally explain away any change. This will end up making continuity more confusing or odd. On top of that, shouldn't we be allowed to see the aftermath of Secret Wars? Jumping ahead eight months might be convenient for Marvel, but it's hell on readers. They could always do flashbacks or gap filler issues, but this sort of non-linear storytelling doesn't work as well in comics as it does for movies. Like DC's own OYL, this will end up a muddy mess 12 months from now.

When all is said and done, does X-Men #600 even matter? Will anybody remember where they left off after 8 or 9 months? Secret Wars will wash it away. Secret Wars is an excuse for Marvel to shake up their publishing lineup without actually rebooting. Secret Wars is an excuse to jump ahead months into the future and write whatever they want, allowing them to figure out that nasty continuity thing later. X-Men #600 won't matter because Marvel just about closed that chapter of their history as of May 2015. Complete or not, they're moving on anyway. Publishing #600 is just a courtesy. I hope not, but I fear that we probably wouldn't miss it if it didn't ship. Thank you, 8 month jump, said nobody.

Instead of asking whether or not Secret Wars has lost its momentum, we should be asking whether or not the event had any legs in the first place. I'm not so sure. In hind sight, I think that we should've known better. Hickman is great with slow burn epics. His awesomeness can't really be packed into a mere 8 or 9 issues. That this even should feel this troubled is hardly surprising. This sort of event mini format doesn't feel very Hickman-like.

[Reviresco]

IOW, you are disappointed with Secret Wars. REALLY disappointed.

[Iron Maiden]

IOW, you are disappointed with Secret Wars. REALLY disappointed.

LOL. Somehow these long posts about SW belie their intent. If they aren't that interested why bother? Just drop the book if you don't like it. It only lasts from May to December if all goes on schedule from now on. That's not even the whole year.

I do think that Hickman's event is being used by Marvel to launch some new titles. I doubt that part was his original intent. This story is spinning out of his Fantastic Four run and IMO it's like the grand finale that he didn't get a chance to do because of that mandated writer rotation they did when Bendis was leaving the Avengers. Maybe it is the logical conclusion to the Parliament of Doom storyline.

It's a risky move to put aside the ongoing tiles and starting new ones and it remains to be seen if it will be a success. If not, they just go back and relaunch the old stuff I guess.

BTW, I did ask Tom B about it but he really didn't commit. All I can say is I'm sticking with it and apparently so are about 200,000 other readers each month.

[jwckauman]

Some people have said "if you don't like it, don't read it". The thing is I LOVE SW and all that has led up to it! And I love comic book hype! I love "big sweeping changes" and "never the same again" hype. Once the hype started, I went back and re-read the whole Hickman arc over again to get pumped up for it. All the Fantastic Four Hickman stuff. All the Avengers. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ultimates/Ultimate Thor. I did it because Marvel sold me on it. My beef is that it feels like Marvel spends more time hyping their books BEFORE they are published, than while they are being published. I'm OK with delays, but why stop the hype machine? Right now is when Marvel should be going gangbusters on Secret Wars marketing. Instead, it's all about ANAD. How about we do that once Secret Wars is over? It feels like Marvel has more or less ignored Secret Wars at this point and is sweeping it under the rug. Same for the end of Bendis' X-Men run. Bendis (love him or hate him) is the king of comic book writers, IMO. X-Men is supposed to be one of the pillars of Marvel publishing. The end of a Bendis-written X-Men run should get major fanfare. Instead it feels like all the air has been taken out of it. I just don't get it.

I hope people are getting where I'm coming from. Of course delays happen. And i'm OK with that as long as the product doesn't suffer (and would prefer delays over quality issues). But at least pretend that it's still as important an "event" as it was a year ago (when it wasn't on the shelves).

[jwckauman]

juggalord, amen! Well done.

Agree with points about X-Men #600. I expect it to do one thing and one thing only. Tie up Bendis' run. I don't need it to "lead" into something else. Set up something new. I want it to draw a satisfactory end to his run. I have no idea why that has to be delayed.

[Raye]

My beef is that it feels like Marvel spends more time hyping their books BEFORE they are published, than while they are being published. I'm OK with delays, but why stop the hype machine? Right now is when Marvel should be going gangbusters on Secret Wars marketing. Instead, it's all about ANAD. How about we do that once Secret Wars is over? It feels like Marvel has more or less ignored Secret Wars at this point and is sweeping it under the rug. Same for the end of Bendis' X-Men run. Bendis (love him or hate him) is the king of comic book writers, IMO. X-Men is supposed to be one of the pillars of Marvel publishing. The end of a Bendis-written X-Men run should get major fanfare. Instead it feels like all the air has been taken out of it. I just don't get it.

Because ANAD starts next week. They can't just not promote it until Secret Wars is over. They also can't really delay it, because Marvel needs to put a certain number of books on the shelves each month in order to turn a profit, and the remaining SW tie in issues won't cut it.

[TJLamb0518]

I wonder if anyone else here remembers Civil War or the Ultimates second volume

I think a lot of us do. The more salient question is....do TPTB at Marvel remember them? For US, it's an annoyance. We're unable to finish the story in the time we wanted to and it will be odd but not world-ending to read the end of the interim universe months after we've been introduced to the new one. For THEM, it's missing capital. Between the delays and, if we're being honest, the ridiculously slow pace the story is moving, I know a few people (myself included) who just stopped reading it altogether. I even feel jaded and find myself questioning more of the story than I was enjoying (such as "If Doom is God and created all of Battleworld, why would he even bother to recreate ANY superheroes? And some have been created in multiple parts of his world!" or "Wait, so our of all the world, the people that Reed and the gang wanted to save we mostly super-people? Guess it sucks to be Joe Lunchpail!" or "So Doom has stolen uber-super-duper-cosmic power. Again?Isn't this like his 5th or 6th go round on this? Is he the stupidest genius EVER?").


But hey, I bought a few indies and saved a lot of money over the last month....so there's that.

[TJLamb0518]

4. WHAT IF? WHY BOTHER? IS MORE LIKE IT.: I won't pretend to know the ending of Secret Wars or the shape of the ANAD landscape. Like everybody else here, I'm just along for the ride. That's why it upsets me to see Marvel ditch almost all of their ongoings in favor of nearly 6 months worth of books that probably won't matter. I won't judge the quality, as that's pretty subjective, but I will assert that this has been nothing but a sleazy cash grab designed to play on our nostalgia. At the end of the day, it all rings hollow if little or none of it moves the chains forward. A really great example here is "X-Men `92" where we're expected to believe that this is a tie-in series just because somebody tosses in the word "Doom" once in a while. It feels cheap. A buzzword does not a tie-in make.

I am right there with you. I just want to say to Marvel "We get it. The ultimate universe is ending but you want to save Miles Morales and you want Wolverine back, but you don't want to just resurrect him. But really....this is a lot of money to expect from people to get those two results."

[JustJelly]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/09/...into-november/

Secret Wars #7 is now coming out in November

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/09/...r-not-october/

So is Extraordinary X-Men #1. Yeah, Secret Wars isn't finishing until 2016.

[Emcee]

In the three decades that I've been reading comics, I've lived through some pretty awkward & terrible storytelling. The Clone Saga. One More Day. Maximum Security. Teen Tony Stark. Heroes Reborn. Honestly? Secret Wars takes the cake. It has become literally done the one thing those other stories could not. It has shaken my faith in Marvel comics. It's not one thing with a specific tipping point, but a combination of factors that has lead to my crisis of faith here.

1. THE BUILD UP: Secret Wars has been in the works for a very long time. Marvel has spent the better part of 2 years setting up this story, the consequences of which would never be as epic as we could imagine. Even before Secret Wars #1 would hit shelves, the hype was crazy and the rumor mill was in overdrive.

2. THE SHIPPING SCHEDULE: Marvel starts things of big with the book double shipping; two months in a row, I think. Not a bad way to start. What Marvel giveth... Marvel taketh away. The event should just about nearly be over, but it's not even 2/3 through yet. On a huge event like this, one that affects their entire publshing side, it's unthinkable that the core series is months behind schedule. At this point, I don't even believe that it'll be finished in 2015.

3. THE EXTRA ISSUE: Did somebody not think this out?!? I get that there's still more story to tell. I get that they want to do it justice and not rush the ending. What I simply DON'T get is how this wasn't figured out before the mini was announced. These people are supposed to be pros. There's supposed to be a certain level of planning and editorial oversight. Thus far, Secret Wars has become a situation of the tail wagging the dog. It's taken a life all its own, writer & editor be damned.

4. WHAT IF? WHY BOTHER? IS MORE LIKE IT.: I won't pretend to know the ending of Secret Wars or the shape of the ANAD landscape. Like everybody else here, I'm just along for the ride. That's why it upsets me to see Marvel ditch almost all of their ongoings in favor of nearly 6 months worth of books that probably won't matter. I won't judge the quality, as that's pretty subjective, but I will assert that this has been nothing but a sleazy cash grab designed to play on our nostalgia. At the end of the day, it all rings hollow if little or none of it moves the chains forward. A really great example here is "X-Men `92" where we're expected to believe that this is a tie-in series just because somebody tosses in the word "Doom" once in a while. It feels cheap. A buzzword does not a tie-in make.

5. THE X-MEN #600 PROBLEM: I bring this issue up to specifically illustrate what's wrong with this event. If Marvel could publish this book as-is, without alteration, then there's something there that suggests that the Secret Wars event itself will amount to a whole lot of nothing. It bothers me that Marvel can hit the pause button for half of the year, sell several hundred issues of filler stuff, and then just unpause without so much as a, "Back to you your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress." I get that there are going to be changes in the ANAD world and that #600's delay will make more sense once we read it. However, its placement as a post-SW issue baffles me. The idea that they can just publish the next logical issue as if Secret Wars didn't happen devalues the event.

6. ALL-NEW, ALL BLOATED?: Exactly how big is their final ANAD lineup going to be? At this point, they must be up to 62+ ongoings. Is that their largest lineup of in-continuity books? It would seem so. Worse than that, I don't think that there's an end in sight. I wouldn't be shocked to see nearly 70 ongoings announced before 2016 begins. Marvel has always sold tons of books, but not his many were ever both in continuity and ongoing. If DC's nu52 has taught us anything it's that trying to please everybody will only result in a lot of cancelled books. ANAD hasn't even started yet and I'm already sick of it. The Secret Wars cash cow continues. The post Secret Wars 2015 Marvel will have nearly 3x as many in-continuity ongoings as the 1984 Secret Wars. Let that sit with you for a moment. Marvel completionists will have to decide on rent & food or comics.

7. SECRET...WHAT WAS THIS ABOUT AGAIN?: Things were already getting pretty slow due to some exposition heavy issues, but the delay has really hurt the pacing of the book. The delay between issues might not be as huge as that of the 6-issue Kevin Smtih "Spider-Man/Black Cat" mini that ran from 2002-2005 or the 6-issue "Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk" mini that ran from 2005-2009. However, I will literally have to go back and re-read what's already come out just to refresh my mind. This event was supposed to be epic and unforgettable. So far, it's been pretty pedestrian and unmemorable.

For the TLDR crowd, let me sum it up. Too much hype. Stupid delays. Bad planning. Months of filler. Questionable impact. Pandering for a buck. Limp instead of epic.

Here's a bonus #8 & #9 for ya'.

8. EFFECT PRECEDING CAUSE: It's bad enough that the event is delayed. Starting ANAD before the event is actually over is another. We'll be months into ANAD before Secret Wars #9 even ships. I remember when it happened with the first Secret Wars mini back in the 80s. I hated it then. I hate it now.

9. EIGHT MONTHS LATER: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. DC really beefed it with their "One Year Later" jump back in 2006. Marvel is looking to repeat that mistake nearly 10 year later. With an eight month jump, they can literally explain away any change. This will end up making continuity more confusing or odd. On top of that, shouldn't we be allowed to see the aftermath of Secret Wars? Jumping ahead eight months might be convenient for Marvel, but it's hell on readers. They could always do flashbacks or gap filler issues, but this sort of non-linear storytelling doesn't work as well in comics as it does for movies. Like DC's own OYL, this will end up a muddy mess 12 months from now.

When all is said and done, does X-Men #600 even matter? Will anybody remember where they left off after 8 or 9 months? Secret Wars will wash it away. Secret Wars is an excuse for Marvel to shake up their publishing lineup without actually rebooting. Secret Wars is an excuse to jump ahead months into the future and write whatever they want, allowing them to figure out that nasty continuity thing later. X-Men #600 won't matter because Marvel just about closed that chapter of their history as of May 2015. Complete or not, they're moving on anyway. Publishing #600 is just a courtesy. I hope not, but I fear that we probably wouldn't miss it if it didn't ship. Thank you, 8 month jump, said nobody.

Instead of asking whether or not Secret Wars has lost its momentum, we should be asking whether or not the event had any legs in the first place. I'm not so sure. In hind sight, I think that we should've known better. Hickman is great with slow burn epics. His awesomeness can't really be packed into a mere 8 or 9 issues. That this even should feel this troubled is hardly surprising. This sort of event mini format doesn't feel very Hickman-like.

Church.....

[Iron Maiden]

I think a lot of us do. The more salient question is....do TPTB at Marvel remember them? For US, it's an annoyance. We're unable to finish the story in the time we wanted to and it will be odd but not world-ending to read the end of the interim universe months after we've been introduced to the new one. For THEM, it's missing capital. Between the delays and, if we're being honest, the ridiculously slow pace the story is moving, I know a few people (myself included) who just stopped reading it altogether. I even feel jaded and find myself questioning more of the story than I was enjoying (such as "If Doom is God and created all of Battleworld, why would he even bother to recreate ANY superheroes? And some have been created in multiple parts of his world!" or "Wait, so our of all the world, the people that Reed and the gang wanted to save we mostly super-people? Guess it sucks to be Joe Lunchpail!" or "So Doom has stolen uber-super-duper-cosmic power. Again?Isn't this like his 5th or 6th go round on this? Is he the stupidest genius EVER?").


But hey, I bought a few indies and saved a lot of money over the last month....so there's that.

If you dropped it as you say then why worry about it? We are still getting an 9 issues from May to December if the schedule holds. Do you drop shows like Walking Dead when they have a mid season break. They typically show a batch of shows until Christmas, go on hiatus and then come back around Feb for another run of episodes.

Shoot, I remember when comics came out every other month. Or the old Tales to Astonish, Tales of Supense, Strange Tales etc. And for those, you only got 12 pages of each story since you had Sub-Mariner sharing the book with the Hulk. You really had to have patience to follow those.

Funny about your assessment of the book. Most of the online reviews I've read have been very complimentary. And I am not talking about just comic book bloggers. I can't remember which one it was but they had a very apropos description, which is that Secret Wars is a comic book event disguised as a character study. So maybe if Doom isn't your cup of tea, it ain't working for you. You have our permission to move on.

[shgs]

Some people have said "if you don't like it, don't read it". The thing is I LOVE SW and all that has led up to it! And I love comic book hype! I love "big sweeping changes" and "never the same again" hype. Once the hype started, I went back and re-read the whole Hickman arc over again to get pumped up for it. All the Fantastic Four Hickman stuff. All the Avengers. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ultimates/Ultimate Thor. I did it because Marvel sold me on it. My beef is that it feels like Marvel spends more time hyping their books BEFORE they are published, than while they are being published. I'm OK with delays, but why stop the hype machine? Right now is when Marvel should be going gangbusters on Secret Wars marketing. Instead, it's all about ANAD. How about we do that once Secret Wars is over? It feels like Marvel has more or less ignored Secret Wars at this point and is sweeping it under the rug. Same for the end of Bendis' X-Men run. Bendis (love him or hate him) is the king of comic book writers, IMO. X-Men is supposed to be one of the pillars of Marvel publishing. The end of a Bendis-written X-Men run should get major fanfare. Instead it feels like all the air has been taken out of it. I just don't get it.

I hope people are getting where I'm coming from. Of course delays happen. And i'm OK with that as long as the product doesn't suffer (and would prefer delays over quality issues). But at least pretend that it's still as important an "event" as it was a year ago (when it wasn't on the shelves).

Well that's what happens when you release books weekly and your industry is so reliant on pre-orders. You have to constantly be hyping the next thing to make sure people buy it. Plus, since its only the smash hits that go to a second printing, there's not a whole lot of value in promoting your comic once its released and the stores have already ordered their copies (especially since they can't be returned).

[juggalord]

LOL. Somehow these long posts about SW belie their intent. If they aren't that interested why bother? Just drop the book if you don't like it. It only lasts from May to December if all goes on schedule from now on. That's not even the whole year.

First, don't try to second guess my intent. That's just rude. I'm a straight forward guy. There's no hidden agenda with me. It's not as if I'm secretly covered in DC tattoos and am rooting for Marvel to fail. I'm hardcore Marvel, which is why I'm frustrated by this event. I've weathered worse, but still.

Second, there are multiple reasons why I don't simply drop the book.

1. This deep into the core event and its associated minis, it makes little sense to not finish. Ever the eternal optimist, I'm hoping that the back third of the mini picks up the pace, gets better, and justifies the event's existence.
2. I understand that it'll finish after ANAD starts, but I don't want to be left with a lingering feeling that I missed something every time it gets mentioned, however incidentally.
3. I buy just about everything Marvel. Always have. Probably always will. Jumping ship would leave a weird little itch in my brain.

Third, the duration of the event is inconsequential. It could be three months instead of eight and I'd be just as irked. I'd expect that my reasoning would be obvious enough, but I'll briefly reiterate.

1. The core mini has thus far been poorly scheduled, planned, & executed. With literally years of advance notice, there should be no reason for repeated delays, added issues, or anything other than an epic story.
2. Dumping nearly every single ongoing in favor of 7-8 months of continuity & consequence free books stinks. Fun or not, few will have any bearing on ANAD. We were promised that every mini would have a piece of the final puzzle and that they'd matter. Does it seem that way, atm?
3. From a writing point of view, an eight month jump after the event feels like sloppy storytelling. The aftermath is half of the story. Jumping straight to the new status quo might provide a quick entry point for new readers, but it sends the message that the core event was just an excuse for change.
4. When it comes to hype, few events had as much as Secret Wars. With at least two years of creative foreplay, Secret Wars has failed to feel equally as epic. Years of hype for 9 issues of core story and hundreds more of inconsequential, unrelated filler.
5. Does continuity matter anymore? I keep thinking about that when reading this mini. The tie-in issues are a nice tribute to days gone by, but the overwhelming feeling is that the event and the long term payoff might just feel like a giant middle finger and the message, "Continuity schmontinuity."

I'm was never against Secret Wars. I'm still not. I'm hoping that ANAD will make me say, "Holy sh**! That ending must've been great. Things really ARE different and fresh." Appearances to the contrary, I'm still fairly optimistic. I'm just going by the evidence currently available to me. This is what came before. This is what's happening now. How does it make me feel? How does it sit with me? That's all I'm voicing.

Enjoyment can be subjective. I won't argue that. Momentary storytelling can be fun. Sitting back and enjoying the ride has its merits. I won't argue that either. As a means to achieving a long term goal, I'm still not seeing where all of these "puzzle pieces" fit just yet. There are so few cues that little of what's being done feels justified, apart from using monetary gain as a reason.

At least with the tie-in issues, Marvel's just throwing stuff at the wall and hoping that some stuff sticks, imo. That's shameless. If it sells... integrate. If it doesn't... it never happened. I don't think that there's any so-called "puzzle" for these pieces to fit. Marvel just went in with a picture of what they wanted ANAD to look like and then tossed in an event, countless minis, and an 8 month jump to flimsily excuse it all.