50 state initiative as weekly comic at Marvel

[kramden]

i had an idea that if marvel wanted to do a weekly comic they could do the 50 state initiative from civil war. Every week would be a different team in a different state getting set up and going through their adventures/paces. Do you guys like this idea and would it work?

[ForEverAncien]

Do you have room in your place of residence to spare?

i had an idea that if marvel wanted to do a weekly comic they could do the 50 state initiative from civil war. Every week would be a different team in a different state getting set up and going through their adventures/paces. Do you guys like this idea and would it work?

[kramden]

Do you have room in your place of residence to spare?

???????

[ForEverAncien]

Those comics have to go someplace, don't they?

???????

[SoulStar]

While I do like this idea there are some factors to already take account for which I am sure you would have to be aware of:
1. MArvel and their schedulings haven't been know to be outstanding accept when it comes to being late
2.Avengers the initative is already covering this aspect by introducing, I am assumming, each one of the 50 state teams at a time including using brand new charries that can be used as either cannon fodder or the upcomings of potential rising stars later on
3. Who the hell would be able to pencil and ink all of this on a weekly basis? True they can just do it way in advance but still that is alot of effort to take account. Although they could just easily have rotating artists for each week. Still that's alot.
4. DC's 52 series already looked like it was a straight up bitch to write and create for even just rotating artists and writers combined by using a similar concept for an entire year. Crap load of hard work.
5.I wanna see how Avengers the initiative plays out. It already looks interesting enough.

Anyways that's just one person's opinion.

[a-spidey]

i guess it's to late for that. They must have started with the preparations a way earlier. Now the would run late every week i guess.

afaik it's a lot of work for DC and their 52 project.

[Jadeskies]

I am not buying a marvel brand 52. For one thing I can't justify the cost on top of all the other comics I have in my pull lista nd those I get just because they look interesting.

Secondly Marvel is notorious for starting a comic out with a great artist for about 8 issues and then they put someone on the comic who couldn't get out of a wet paperbag with a knife. Then Marvel wonders why the comic flops. If you cant get enough good artists you need to stop making more 'everyone and thier mother gets thier own comic'. Supply and demand works for quality artists as well.

Thirdly Marvels not exactly doing well in the 'delivery of Hype' section. Just look into Civil War if you need any proof.

So I will avoid any new weekly comic like the plague.

Now if an already standing comic goes weekly I would conscider it, they went weekly with spiderman and west coast avengers before and I could handle that.

[TheDrizzt]

You're assuming that the Initiative idea will last for a full year before being discarded.

[Beast]

You do realize, that's what Avengers: The Initiative is for.

[Mister Mets]

I had this idea some time earlier. This is a hodge-podge of posts on other message boards for possible weekly titles.

The Initiative
Since the team Reed Richards/ Tony Stark are forming: The Initiative will be composed of about 200 superheroes, that seems like a logical idea for a weekly series.

Different stories could focus on different subsections of the team, so it won't be incredibly difficult to control. With 200 members, you really shouldn't run out of potential storylines, and it can touch on every corner of the Marvel Universe.

Its sales would at the very least hover in the Top 50, but for Marvel to turn its usually disposable C-list characters into 4 mid-level books would be an unqualfied victory.

Aside from that, pre-existing franchises can be made into weekly books, especially if Marvel decides to release the hypothetical weekly comic in 36 or so issue "seasons." It means the company can produce less of the comic book, gives creators/ editors a break to rechanrge, and allows each season to end on a hell of a cliffhanger which will have comics fans talking, and buying the issues. It also makes it a lot easier to release weekly comics by just combining the books of multiple book franchises. This could just as easily be done with the Fantastic Four, especially if a quarter or more of the issues become Thing/ Human Torch solo stories. The only problem is that it may mess up Hudlin's plans for Black Panther.

Even Wolverine could be made into a 30 or so issue weekly. In 2007, we have 12 issues of the regular Wolverine book, 12 issues of Origins, and BKV's upcoming "Logan" mini series. That alone gives Marvel 30 issues, enough for a "season" of a weekly. Marvel could end the 30th issue with one hell of a cliffhanger to get fans talking during the five month wait for the next "season."

One of the strongest franchises to make into a weekly is The Avengers
They already have one guy (Bendis) writing 24+ issues an year.
A weekly Avengers series, as opposed to two or more monthlies would avoid continuity confusion, if all the writers co-ordinate their efforts well .
20 or so issues an year could be solo stories about the Avengers who don't have their own monthlies (ie- Luke Cage, Wonder Man, Ronin, Wasp, Hawkeye, etc) or Avengers stories which focus heavily on the more popular members (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man, etc.)
The rest could just be Avengers stories by guys other than Bendis, spotlights on the enemies, Marvels type tales about people affected by the Avengers, spotlights on retired Avengers (which may tie into what the actual Avengers are doing), interludes which further subplots, untold tales, etc.

The best time to launch this series would be when the New Avengers & Mighty Avengers merge into one team again, which should probably happen eventually. The series could just return to the numbering of the original book.

I doubt any issue would ever fall out of the Top 20.
Decompression would also be less of a problem if there's only a week long wait between chapters of a 6 issue arc.

[Mister Mets]

Note- This was first written when I didn't know JMS was leaving Spider-Man

Thinking about the Avengers possibly being weekly made me think about what would have happen if a franchise that already has 40-something issues an year gets turned into a weekly book. This time I thought of the Spider-Man franchise (Amazing Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man, Loeb/ Campbell's project, routine mini-series/ one-shots.) The way it could work out. All Spider-Man books except Amazing Spider-Man get canceled. Amazing Spider-Man remains, except it just becomes a weekly book.


The way the series works would be that each writer/ artist team does a complete story, followed by the next team. For instance- in a six month period, JMS/ Garney may do a five issue arc, followed by 1 issue of Beland/ Phillips, followed by 1 issue of Lee Weeks, followed by 2 issues of David/ Sarcosa, followed by 3 issues of Sacasa/ Medina, followed by 4 issues of Simone/ Coipel, followed by 1 issue of JMS/Garney, followed by 1 issue of Slott/Silvestri, followed by 4 issues of David/Medina, followed by 3 issues of Sacasa/Medina. Then the next six months can begin with a six issue JMS/Garney arc followed by........

The writers would work together a bit to make sure they can work with the developments others make. There may be a chief architect who does more work than the others/ functions as editor. The regular writers may contribute to the work of others, developing subplots, etc.

Pros:
It's good for more than monthly artists who may be constrained by the monthly format, and can handle 16 issues an year.
It also provides many opportunities for artists who can't do a monthly book (ie- Lee Weeks) or for artists already on a monthly book, and capable of drawing a few more issues each year (ie- Sean Phillips.)
It encourages co-operation between writers.
There's less of a wait between cliffhangers, which makes decompression more acceptable.
Because there wouldn't be 3-4 Spider-Man arcs occurring simultaneously, Marvel would have an easier type time hyping each arc one at a time.
Marvel has the benefit of a 25th anniversary issue every six months, and a 50th anniversary once an year.
The format encourages experimentation, and exposes readers to new creators, and gives opportunities for new creators.
There are more opportunities to deal with events in other books.
It encourages cheaper comics, because every weekly book so far (US War Machine, 52, etc) has been at least 50 cents per issue cheaper than the monthly books.
It's also an alternative to the old monthly comic that's been done for the last sixty-five years.
The lower-selling creators (and books that would ordinarily be one-shots) would see an improvement in sales.
Readers would never have difficulty knowing when the next issue of Amazing Spider-Man is coming out.
No more crossovers.

Cons:
Writers/ artists can not be late, as it will delay the projects of others.
Out of continuity projects wouldn't be included in this, so you'd easily have more than four Spider-Man books a month.
It hinders creativity, as the writers have to deal with the developments of other writers far more closely than if they were all on separate books.
Encouraging readers to buy a Spider-Man book a week (as opposed to how readers can currently just follow Amazing Spider-Man) will be hell on the wallet. It may also discourage readers from picking up arcs by creators they would ordinarily follow.
There's a longer wait between arcs by your favorite creators. If JMS/ Garney do a six issue arc (assuming they can create one issue a month) that means you probably won't see anything by them for another 4 1/2 months (18 issues) which also complicate their longer arcs/ subplots.
It requires more lead time for creators (at least at first), since Marvel can't begin an arc until they have every issue finished. There will be an initial loss of a few months of a productivity.
The need to fill 40-52 issues an year (depending on whether you want to go three months without a Spider-Man title for the sake of a cool cliffhanger), means that Marvel may have to settle for crappier work by crappier creators. Experiments/ new creators can easily fail. It also encourages padding, when the writers know they have to produce 52 issues an year, and an embarrassing hole in the schedule can be resolved by turning a 5 issue arc into an 8 issue arc.
The differences between creators may be jarring, especially in TPB form. TPBs featuring the most popular creators may feature a decline in sales, if they also include the work of the less popular creators. For instance, a JMS fan will be less inclined to buy a seven issue trade with 3 issues of content by him, and 4 issues by other guys.
The architect writer will become more powerful, so if you hate that guy, you'll have more difficulty enjoying the other books than you currently do.
It's more glaringly obvious when the co-ordination between writers fail, and one arc suddenly contradicts the developments of another.

Despite all this, I still think it could be done well.