Is Marvel Failing To Support Most NA Marvel Titles?

[Aioros22]

Seems like the "funny" books get the most PR attention from them, which I can understand since it`s the kind of title made to break the mold of the standard market reader but some more tradicional named Titles seem to be "just there".

Take Hercules for exemple. I haven`t seen any discussion about it (past the well staged first issue) despite the quality of the Creative Team or the interesting direction for the character. Where is the buzz?

[strathcona]

My take on a lot of books launched under the ANAD banner is that many of them are actually minis. Basically they have told the writers that they have between 6 and 12 issues (depending on the book/writer/concept) to finish their story, then the book will end... not be cancelled, end. If the sales are strong, then they will allow the writer to tell another story (again, of a pre-set, limited number of issues that is never revealed to the fans), and so on. Certain big name books/characters are not part of this deal, but a book like Hercules or Black Knight, Weirdworld, Vision, Carnage, Karnak, Contest of Champions, etc all fall into this category. They are limited series as far as TPTB are concerned, but they don't want fans to know so we're more likely to buy them.

[classicgmer]

I think Marvel has done a decent enough job promoting all the ANAD but at the end of the day they cant make people be interested in certain books. Personally i think *Illuminati" is a pretty good book that's flying under the radar but it doesnt seem to be generating much discussion...Honestly i think this is the case with the vast majority of the ANAD different books as a lot of them feature non A-list characters.

[Ken Ashcroft]

Sorry but what does NA Marvel titles mean?

[frizb]

I think Marvel has done a decent enough job promoting all the ANAD but at the end of the day they cant make people be interested in certain books. Personally i think *Illuminati" is a pretty good book that's flying under the radar but it doesnt seem to be generating much discussion...Honestly i think this is the case with the vast majority of the ANAD different books as a lot of them feature non A-list characters.

I wasn't digging Illuminati at first even though I like the characters, but issue #3 was really good. I'll be back for more.

[Tofali]

Most Marvel books these days have only 12 issues to survive which i find fair. The only characters exempt from this rule are the ones that are prominently featured in the MCU. Team books and team-ups are a safer bet than solo ongoings.

[Von]

Take Hercules for exemple. I haven`t seen any discussion about it (past the well staged first issue) despite the quality of the Creative Team or the interesting direction for the character. Where is the buzz?

Hercules is great so far, its one of the new 'smaller' titles that I am looking forward the most to now. Same with Scarlett Witch: truly top work all around.

I wonder what you are wondering, but I wonder more why there aren't more threads started about them here on this board. Is it because no one is reading them,
or because among the ones that are reading them noone is thinking to start the thread? I'm not up on the sales figures.

[classicgmer]

I wasn't digging Illuminati at first even though I like the characters, but issue #3 was really good. I'll be back for more.

There are three criticisms that I've seen pop up as to why people might not have given it a shot or have given it a shot but didn't really care for it.



#1 The art. I myself had some minor reservations about the art that revolved around Titania & Thunderball being drawn to youthfully but apart from that it doesn't bother me at all.


#2 It's a villains book..Some people I guess just don't want to read a book where the villains/bad guys are the protagonists so that's a pretty major impediment for getting people to check out the book.

# 3 Too much Hood & Titania. Now as far as Titania concerned I can see the validity of the criticism if we're only talking the first issue because that was definitely the issue to showcase her but past that I feel we've gotten decent panel time for the rest of the cast.

As far as Hood is concerned if you're not a fan of the direction Bendis took with the character chances are you're just going to flat out not like the book as he obviously has a huge presence within this title.


Next issue should be interesting seeing as how Jason Aaron handled Titania's first encounter with the new Thor and the amount of attention that garnered here and other places online.

[frizb]

There are three criticisms that I've seen pop up as to why people might not have given it a shot or have given it a shot but didn't really care for it.



#1 The art. I myself had some minor reservations about the art that revolved around Titania & Thunderball being drawn to youthfully but apart from that it doesn't bother me at all.


#2 It's a villains book..Some people I guess just don't want to read a book where the villains/bad guys are the protagonists so that's a pretty major impediment for getting people to check out the book.

# 3 Too much Hood & Titania. Now as far as Titania concerned I can see the validity of the criticism if we're only talking the first issue because that was definitely the issue to showcase her but past that I feel we've gotten decent panel time for the rest of the cast.

As far as Hood is concerned if you're not a fan of the direction Bendis took with the character chances are you're just going to flat out not like the book as he obviously has a huge presence within this title.


Next issue should be interesting seeing as how Jason Aaron handled Titania's first encounter with the new Thor and the amount of attention that garnered here and other places online.

Yea the art isn't my favorite but it's not the worse I've seen. I like villain books so that's a plus for me. It's been mostly villain vs villain so far. First 2 books were too heavy on Titania & Hood, but it was fixed last issue. Next iissue should be great with the Thor vs Titania rematch.

[Raye]

I don't think Marvel has neglected books in terms of what they've done, I mean obviously the A list gets more press, but just talking the lower tier, each books seem to have gotten about the same amount of interviews and preview pages being shown. After a certain point the publicity is no longer Marvel's doing, it's the readers and sites that latch onto some books over others. I think the real problem is that Marvel launched too many books at once, and some just fell through the cracks.

[Of Atlantis]

I definitely think there was a massive gap concerning the effort in marketing the ANAD books, and it plainly shows with the sales numbers.

[skyvolt2000]

I definitely think there was a massive gap concerning the effort in marketing the ANAD books, and it plainly shows with the sales numbers.

You can only market so much when you have Star Wars eating up every thing.

Marvel did not tell these store to overprice those hip hop variant books. There is no excuse for a store to charge $75 for Sam Wilson's cover.

Marvel can't make a store stock any of their books. I've still yet to see The Ultimates or Dr. Strange or Hercules in stores.

I'm sure Marvel knew going into this folks were going to dump books because they didn't care for who was in them.

Marvel knows this. This is about trying something different and maybe tossing out some ideas that could see their way into a movie or tv series or web series.

We know Moon Girl & Devil Dino is not long for this world yet if that does not scream Disney Movie in 2020 than I don''t know what does.

Right now does Marvel have any reason to panic?

They have Star Wars.

DC has become a huge mess as fans are not trusting them to get anything right.

If sale get too messy-

Hello Steve Rogers as Captain America
Thor as Thor
Welcome back Fantastic Four
Welcome back Logan as Wolverine
Welcome back Bruce Banner Hulk
Hello solo Falcon series
Hello Lady Thor under a new name
Hello Star wars Finn solo series
Hello Rey solo series

They enough ammo to fall back on.

[Factor]

Seems like the "funny" books get the most PR attention from them, which I can understand since it`s the kind of title made to break the mold of the standard market reader but some more tradicional named Titles seem to be "just there".

Take Hercules for exemple. I haven`t seen any discussion about it (past the well staged first issue) despite the quality of the Creative Team or the interesting direction for the character. Where is the buzz?

I don't actually see Marvel promoting the "funny" books more than others. I see them promoting books like Invincible Iron Man, Ms. Marvel and Black Panther, but books like Squirrel Girl don't get that much promotion, they are just able to generate more discussion online than others like Hercules or Black Knight. There's a different from Marvel actively promoting a book and spontaneous online response.
Take Hercules for example, his new book was only ever a hot topic when the whole controversy surrounding the portrayal of his (bi)sexuality started. I think it would actually be interesting to see if the book would have fared better if they decided to focus on that aspect of the character, it would certainly generate more talk, not necessarily more sales.

[Of Atlantis]

You can only market so much when you have Star Wars eating up every thing.

Marvel did not tell these store to overprice those hip hop variant books. There is no excuse for a store to charge $75 for Sam Wilson's cover.

Marvel can't make a store stock any of their books. I've still yet to see The Ultimates or Dr. Strange or Hercules in stores.

I'm sure Marvel knew going into this folks were going to dump books because they didn't care for who was in them.

Marvel knows this. This is about trying something different and maybe tossing out some ideas that could see their way into a movie or tv series or web series.

We know Moon Girl & Devil Dino is not long for this world yet if that does not scream Disney Movie in 2020 than I don''t know what does.

Right now does Marvel have any reason to panic?

They have Star Wars.

DC has become a huge mess as fans are not trusting them to get anything right.

If sale get too messy-

Hello Steve Rogers as Captain America
Thor as Thor
Welcome back Fantastic Four
Welcome back Logan as Wolverine
Welcome back Bruce Banner Hulk
Hello solo Falcon series
Hello Lady Thor under a new name
Hello Star wars Finn solo series
Hello Rey solo series

They enough ammo to fall back on.

Maybe, just maybe, if Marvel put the effort into marketing their B, C and D listers better than throwing their books against a wall and seeing what sticks, stores would be inclined to order more and they could thrive better in the long run. Where is the logic in releasing these experimental books alongside its most popular titles? Stores have a budget and they need to make money. If you put the choice in front of them with either ordering Invincible Iron Man #1 with a hundred variants and incentives and Black Knight #1 for example, what do you think they would choose? Of course it's up to the store to order, but it's not like Marvel and other publishers have nothing to do with how much they influence that decision. Exposure is the first step to actually selling something.

Don't get me wrong, I'm more than thrilled Marvel has decided to give less popular characters a chance, but there are about 5 #2 issues already shipping below 25k and I've never seen that happen before. Something's got to give, and I don't understand why, if Marvel wants these characters to thrive, they would doom them from the start by releasing them alongside its most popular characters and titles. Not only do stories have a budget, but people do too. I feel as if they'd be less likely to risk buying a newer book if there's a more hyped character on the stands beside them, especially considering it's almost $5 a book.

[MYCMTSC]

There are three criticisms that I've seen pop up as to why people might not have given it a shot or have given it a shot but didn't really care for it.



#1 The art. I myself had some minor reservations about the art that revolved around Titania & Thunderball being drawn to youthfully but apart from that it doesn't bother me at all.


#2 It's a villains book..Some people I guess just don't want to read a book where the villains/bad guys are the protagonists so that's a pretty major impediment for getting people to check out the book.

# 3 Too much Hood & Titania. Now as far as Titania concerned I can see the validity of the criticism if we're only talking the first issue because that was definitely the issue to showcase her but past that I feel we've gotten decent panel time for the rest of the cast.

As far as Hood is concerned if you're not a fan of the direction Bendis took with the character chances are you're just going to flat out not like the book as he obviously has a huge presence within this title.


Next issue should be interesting seeing as how Jason Aaron handled Titania's first encounter with the new Thor and the amount of attention that garnered here and other places online.

I think Titania is the only character worth reading about in Illuminati.

Granted, I'm not terribly familiar with her aside from the last She-Hulk series, but her story is such a realistic portrayal of what it means to have a record and reputation and try to live a normal life. The other cast members--including Enchantress, whom I love--are playing stock roles.