What is ANAD? I'm Confused.

[vitruvian]

On your first point, of security in doubt, the threats you describe aren't what I was talking about. Sure the Earth was getting threatened a lot, but it was the underlying assurance the Earth would be saved. Now, I'm not so sure in ANAD.

No, there was no underlying assurance, other than Marvel's desire to keep publishing comics. Within the context of the stories, everything was always as completely in doubt as it is now. Every time they said the Earth or the universe was close to being destroyed, it was. To think otherwise would undercut the dramatic tension of every big story from before 2015.

One your second point of Steve's authority and the FF and Avengers being missing while other teams filled the gap, I wasn't aware after Onslaught that there was that big a gap between heroes disappearing and returning. Maybe a few weeks? Steve Rogers being less influential could be said to have happened before Secret Wars, sure. I think I felt he was just a crotchety old man by that stage, and he seems the same in ANAD.

If you weren't aware of that, then you need to go back and reread rather than post from ignorance.

[Bl00dwerK]

A reboot that isn't a reboot because the head honchos at Marvel didn't have the balls to do a reboot.

Fixed that for ya!

[jackolover]

I'm starting to get the impression ANAD has been the result of wishful thinking the first 8 months. You are not going to get the things in ANAD just happen as a matter of circumstance. Peter Parker is not going to get to be CEO, Tony Stark is not going to get his wish to be just an Industrial shlub again, the kids are not going to get to be ANAD Avengers, and it goes on. I look at all the stories in these first issues, and it's like people wanted the A-Force to continue, or Miguel has Roberta Mendez as his secretary. I think the sh** will hit the fan when everyone's wishes conflict with everybody else's.

[Tiamatty]

I'm starting to get the impression ANAD has been the result of wishful thinking the first 8 months. You are not going to get the things in ANAD just happen as a matter of circumstance. Peter Parker is not going to get to be CEO, Tony Stark is not going to get his wish to be just an Industrial shlub again, the kids are not going to get to be ANAD Avengers, and it goes on. I look at all the stories in these first issues, and it's like people wanted the A-Force to continue, or Miguel has Roberta Mendez as his secretary. I think the sh** will hit the fan when everyone's wishes conflict with everybody else's.

No. Just . . . no. That's not what's going on. At all. I promise you that. I promise you, there is absolutely nothing more behind ANAD than a marketing effort. That's all. That is really all this is. Branding. Branding. Branding. That's what's going on here, is branding. Marketing. PR. There is nothing more going on, at all and any attempt to find something more going on is pointless because there is nothing there to find.

[ImprobableQuestion]

I'm starting to get the impression ANAD has been the result of wishful thinking the first 8 months. You are not going to get the things in ANAD just happen as a matter of circumstance. Peter Parker is not going to get to be CEO, Tony Stark is not going to get his wish to be just an Industrial shlub again, the kids are not going to get to be ANAD Avengers, and it goes on. I look at all the stories in these first issues, and it's like people wanted the A-Force to continue, or Miguel has Roberta Mendez as his secretary. I think the sh** will hit the fan when everyone's wishes conflict with everybody else's.

What, so these stories are all in Inception style recursive dreams and none of it is real?

[ImprobableQuestion]

I've got about 340k worth of ISO-8 right now, and nothing yet either. But, I'm hoping to become the Shaper of Worlds or something once I hit 400k.

Silver Surfer hits 285 with 2 covers? That's crazy! I'm still 3 Command points away from a shot at anyone.

[jackolover]

Really? You honestly think there's any chance of the Earth being destroyed? Seriously? They're not going to destroy the Earth because that's where the stories happen. If it does get wrecked, then time travel will erase it from happening, just like it has for years already.


Because this isn't the Silver Age. This isn't building a new universe. This is using the same universe they've been using for over 60 years already. It's all business as usual.


No! ANAD has nothing to do with the sliding timeline! That shit is going to be treated exactly the same as it's always been treated!


It. Is. Branding. There is absolutely shit-all more to ANAD than that. It's a marketing effort. Why do you refuse to accept that? Why do you keep trying to read shit into the ANAD branding that isn't actually there? It's branding. It's branding. That's all it is. It's branding.

You say it's branding only. Why should I take that as true? Sure, It could turn out to just be a fizzle, but ANAD seems to be a wick that's just been lit.

I think the purpose of ANAD was to listen to some of the complaints fans had had over the last few years. I find most of the books seem to stand on their own, and there are no characters that are on more than one team that I can think of. I find that books seem to read longer, feel less decompressed with more happening in each issue. I also think that there is less of a direction in the MU and each book seems to be able to tell it's own story instead of being forced to tell part of a whole. These are all things that have really been needed at Marvel in the last decade or so, and I hope ANAD can continue to bring them. I for one am quite enjoying it so far.

That's one approach Marvel could take. We'll have to wait and see.

[jackolover]

I dunno. I've been amassing thousands of Iso-8 Crystals since I started playing Puzzle Quest last year and nothing scary has happened to me.




That you know of.

Yeah, ANAD is not Puzzle Quest. But in that game, what is the power of Iso-8? What advantages does it give the player?

[jackolover]

I guarantee a few of you guys have put more thought into it than the editors. Just don't be disappointed when none of this matters in 6 months. We've been here before. There's really no reason to assume there's more going on than what's on the page.

We've been here before? Give me one example the whole marvel universe was destroyed and now a new universe with different physics operates?

[Tiamatty]

You say it's branding only. Why should I take that as true? Sure, It could turn out to just be a fizzle, but ANAD seems to be a wick that's just been lit.

Because at no point has anyone at Marvel ever given any indication that ANAD is anything beyond a simple marketing effort. You want it to be this big, revolutionary thing. But that's not what Marvel's going for. This is little different from the Age of Heroes deal. Or Marvel Now. Or All-New Marvel Now. It's the same thing. It's just something to slap on covers to get attention. It is, at most, a declaration of an intention to continue efforts they'd started making prior to ANAD.

[Michael P]

We've been here before? Give me one example the whole marvel universe was destroyed and now a new universe with different physics operates?

Aside from what we know about Galactus's origins, there was the time Genis-Vell destroyed the universe and then brought it back.

In any case, let me reiterate: stories are about people, not shared-world minutiae.

[jackolover]

No, there was no underlying assurance, other than Marvel's desire to keep publishing comics. Within the context of the stories, everything was always as completely in doubt as it is now. Every time they said the Earth or the universe was close to being destroyed, it was. To think otherwise would undercut the dramatic tension of every big story from before 2015.



If you weren't aware of that, then you need to go back and reread rather than post from ignorance.

I haven't got them anymore. I'm working on impression at the time.

Oh, and on the point of threats always adding underlying tension? I never saw it. Secret Wars was a surprise to me. It was the only threat that ever came to fruition, so any tension before 2015? Never felt it for the reason the threats never eventuated.

[jackolover]

What, so these stories are all in Inception style recursive dreams and none of it is real?

I wouldn't put it quite that way, but it's something I wish did happen. It would make ANAD a little more provocative, that's for sure.

[ImprobableQuestion]

Yeah, ANAD is not Puzzle Quest. But in that game, what is the power of Iso-8? What advantages does it give the player?

It makes characters powerful. Hawkeye can fell Galactus with an arrow. Black Widow can go toe to toe with the likes of Ares and Ragnarok. Falcon can shield his allies from the fires of Pheonix or the lightning of Thor.

[jackolover]

It makes characters powerful. Hawkeye can fell Galactus with an arrow. Black Widow can go toe to toe with the likes of Ares and Ragnarok. Falcon can shield his allies from the fires of Pheonix or the lightning of Thor.

Thanks,

Does it explain how this is done? Is it like a magic object that gives you your Ernest wish, or, is it just a playing token and you end up with strength 8 and magic 5? Is there a definition section in the game that describes Iso-8 specifically?