CBR: Marvel Solicitations, October 2009

[Riffleraffle]

...... you think this page and a half was solid "bitching, pissing and moaning" You ACTUALLY think this was bitching...... pissing..... and moaning?

3 people are questioning the pricing of book because...... god forbid we should be happy with whatever amount Marvel charge us.

1 guy asking about Thor and no really caring about the rest.
1 guy asking about Exiles then listing numerous books he is getting.
1 guy ACTUALLY saying Marvel look good.
1 guy says "There is about 20 books and two trades that I'll be getting."
2 more guys asking about Exiles
Me making fun of a Punisher/Venom book and the continuing Hood saga in NA.

Im copy pasting the small ones now
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AXM: 31, NM: 6, X-Force: 20...SWs: 9, BP: 9, Spider Woman: 2...and that about does it for me...
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So many comics...so little interest!
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I'm asking the same thing about Runaways. xl

Ugh, what an underwhelming month. Marvel Apes/Zombies is horrendous.
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nova 30
astonishing x-men 31
uncanny x-men 516
x-force 20
x-men: legacy 228
cable 19
x-factor 50

and maybe the ultimate wolverine/hulk hc. does anyone know if marvel's going to release this series as a tpb and if so when? i think i'd rather get this series as a tpb.
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I thought I had read that the Marvel Zombies Return was slated for October.
At least theres a solicitation for the Zombies vs Apes book
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Where is Runaways?

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Why don't Marvel Solicits have release dates . . .

OZ: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz HC (but I might hold out for the TP)
Guardians of the Galaxy #19
Deadpool #900


You think that this was actually "two solid pages of bitching, pissing and moaning. " are you nuts?

What do you want? Pictures of us sacrificing our first born to Marvel for their glorious gift of the October Solicits?
People cant ask where are the books that they like that are not listed?
People cant ask anything at all?

I'm sorry dude you are way out of order here.

Boom. Headshot.

[whiteshark]

The ones i will be geting and i am more loking forward are#
ASM#608 to 610.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS: ANTI-VENOM- NEW WAYS TO LIVE #2 (of 3)
SPIDER-MAN 1602 #1 (of 5)
WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #1
SPIDER-MAN: THE CLONE SAGA #2 (of 6)

Besides that will be geting as well.

Dark Reign-The List:Punisher- Seeing John Romita Jr drawing Punisher again is cool.And Rick Remender writing in Punisher have been very good as well.

Punisher. Just a ongoing title that i have been enjoying reading.

Hulk by Jeph Loeb. A fun read,and it features the Hulk stories i like to read.

New Avengers. Have been a solid read,and the new artist is going to improve the art i think.

Agent of Atlas-A recent book i have discovered,and think is good.

Captain America- Having Steve Rogers back in the book,made me start to colect it again.

Might add a few others titles,but will be geting those i mentioned at least.

[randomengine]

They hid them because they announced all of them at a convention the weekend before solicitations came out. They appeared in PREVIEWS, though, so retailers were aware of them. Still, a stupid thing to do, anyway.

Well the Moon Knight ongoing appears in the marvel.com catalog, but nothing else does. I use that catalog a lot. They need to keep it up to date.

[strathcona]

Is it just me or does it seem like there are less books being released this month than the last few months? I could be wrong... but it just seems that way to me... less minis and one-shots.

[raskal66]

I dunno . . . the only whining I see is related to missing solicits for people's favorite books. Sounds fan-like to me.

And the pricing. I think people aren't yet accustomed to the increase and so it still sticks out when flipping through solicits.

+1

Fans bitch and moan. It's what we do and it's supposed to keep creators from getting too full of themselves and releasing a bunch of crud whose inspiration was complacency. Especially at the prices Marvel charges. If anything they asked for criticism by doing that.

I think the prevailing feeling about prices is also that many people think that they are excessive. Sure it [the increase] has been around, but that doesn't mean we have to like it. I gave up many Marvel books because I'm not going to let them treat me like a crackhead in thinking I'll pay 33% more in a recession just because that's what it now costs and I'm a hopeless addict who doesn't have the willpower to break the cycle. I only do events from writers I like from them now. $3.99 is too much for an ongoing monthly in my accounting.

[CaptainCanada]

Is it just me or does it seem like there are less books being released this month than the last few months? I could be wrong... but it just seems that way to me... less minis and one-shots.

Seems that way to me too. Counting both DC and Marvel, only 18 items, down from mid-20s lately.

[Peter David]

...... you think this page and a half was solid "bitching, pissing and moaning" You ACTUALLY think this was bitching...... pissing..... and moaning?

Well, no. I said "mostly." So, y'know, reading comprehension can be your friend.

You really need me to break it down for you message by message? Okay. I'll do it by what I see as positives, negatives and neutrals (positive and negatives canceling out), not counting message #1 which simply announced the existence of the story.

#2: "Didn't see anything impressive." Negative
#3: A list of books but kicked off with complaining about the absence of Exiles despite the presence of about a hundred other titles. Neutral.
#4: "Those solicits pretty enderwhelming." Presuming he means "underwhelming," coupled with price complaints. Negative.
#5: This is the message you described where he said "Marvel looks good." Except he didn't. He said "Marvels" looks good, referring, I thought, to one title, "The Marvels Project." Says a couple of positive things about other books. But then goes on to complain about "a lot of chaff," and talks about how happy he is that he cut backs on books. I'll give it a Neutral, but really, it's mostly pretty negative.
#6: Flat statement of intent to buy. Positive, or at least as positive as it gets.
#7: Complaints about Quesada and greed. Negative.
#8: "Not a particularly thrilling month." Negative.
#9: Another complaint about Exiles. Nice to see interest in the book, but it's the only comment he has to make. Negative.
#10: A snark on a Punisher/Venom LS. Negative.
#11: Straightforward list of intent to buy. Positive.
#12: "So many comics...so little interest." Negative.
#13: "What an underwhelming month." Negative.
#14: List of books to buy. Positive.
#15: Question about Zombies. Neutral.
#16: Answer to Zombies: Neutral.
#17: Complaint about prices and "Look at all that crap." Negative.
#18: Another complaint about how Marvel solicits. Negative.
#19: "B/c that's what people will pay for them." Well...yeah. That's, y'know, Commerce 101. Price elasticity, supply and demand, what the market will bear. Pretty neutral.
#20: "Where is Runaways?" with a scowling emoticon. Negative.
#21: Complains about release dates, lists a handful of titles, demands, "That's it???" Negative
#22: Answers question for #22. Neutral.

So let's see what we've got:

Twelve negatives which are postings consisting mostly of complaints.
Five positives (which, again, consists of simply listing titles intended to buy without adding complaints.)
Four neutrals (although at least one of them is so negative that I'm being generous.)

Yeah, I'm sticking with "mostly."

And I know the temptation will be to spin this little exercise as that I have some sort of "expectation" that fans are supposed to keep their negativity to themselves or line up and support Marvel blindly. Which is, of course, a flat falsehood.

All I'm saying is that it seems kind of sad, because back in day, I'd look at the list of Marvel titles coming out courtesy of the Bullpen Bulletins page (since that was our only means of discovering what was coming up) and I was excited and enthused about what was going to be coming out. I genuinely couldn't wait for it. And maybe that perception seems antiquated, or out of touch, or a luxury since comics cost much less back then.

But still, there was just so much more joy about the hobby back then. And at this point, honestly, you seem so accustomed to the negativity that you don't even realize it's there.

And that's too bad, that things have evolved that way.

PAD

[Peter David]

+1

Fans bitch and moan. It's what we do and it's supposed to keep creators from getting too full of themselves and releasing a bunch of crud whose inspiration was complacency.

Really? Considering how it's driven quite a few creators away from the boards, I thought it was pretty much simply an end to itself by this point.

PAD

[Scavenger]

#3: A list of books but kicked off with complaining about the absence of Exiles despite the presence of about a hundred other titles. Neutral.
#9: Another complaint about Exiles. Nice to see interest in the book, but it's the only comment he has to make. Negative.
#20: "Where is Runaways?" with a scowling emoticon. Negative.

Not sure it's fair to include disappointment over a title you want to see not being there as "negative". Isn't that caused by the very "joy in the hobby" you talk about?

I mean yes, it's a negative emotion, but "I'm disappointed the book I like is missing" is very different from "Marvel Zombies vs Marvel Apes? What a stupid idea!"


Edit Wait, there actually is a Zombies/Apes book? Seriously?
Edit 2 OMG there is! And it's by Kesel? AWESOME!

[Peter David]

Not sure it's fair to include disappointment over a title you want to see not being there as "negative". Isn't that caused by the very "joy in the hobby" you talk about?

I mean yes, it's a negative emotion, but "I'm disappointed the book I like is missing" is very different from "Marvel Zombies vs Marvel Apes? What a stupid idea!"

True. But when the ONLY comment made is complaining about the absence of a book, yeah, I classify that as negative.

Edit Wait, there actually is a Zombies/Apes book? Seriously?

Why not? Zombies sell. Apes sell. Seems kind of obvious.

It reminds me of a time years ago when I was fielding a Q&A at the Chicago Comic Con. And one kid, about eleven years old, said, "Marvel publishes GI Joe, right?" And I said, "Yeah." And he said, "And Marvel publishes Transformers, right?" Again: "Yeah." "And Hasbro owns both of those, right?" "Uh huh." "Well, why doesn't Marvel publish GI Joe vs. the Transformers?"

I was thunderstruck that we hadn't thought of that. I mean, my God, it was right in front of us.

And what did the packed house do?

They booed the kid.

Let me say that again: They booed an eleven year old kid because he expressed an interest in what he wanted to see. And they moaned. Loudly.

Furious, I said to the crowd, "Is there anyone here who thinks that this kid is somehow less entitled to have Marvel publish what he wants to see than anyone else?"

Dead silence.

I told the kid I'd suggest it. I did. We published it. It sold through the roof. To this day I regret not getting the kid's name and address so that I could send him free copies.

Again, all I'm saying is that the fan default reaction seems to be to complain. And I find that sad and a bit limiting.

PAD

[Ilash]

Just out of curiosity...are you guys, y'know...fans?

I mean, seriously. Marvel puts out its solicits, and it's mostly two solid pages of bitching, pissing and moaning. I thought fans were supposed to--I dunno--LIKE the stuff that they're allegedly fans of.

Guess that's how much I know.

PAD

Well, to be fair, I am generally much more of a DC fan in general. And while DC had a fairly lacklustre few months at the beginning of the year, they have been, in my opinion of course, kicking Marvel's ass recently. Better value for money, more experimental comics (honestly, DC give us Wednesday Comics, Marvel gives us the return of variant foil covers) and a sudden onslaught of really brilliant titles that all seem to have come out at once.

Don't get me wrong, Marvel still has some good stuff (and stuff that I hear is good) and I'm sure the pendulum will swing back in their favour soon enough but, right now, Marvel seems to be in a bit of a down-swing. And their wonky pricing isn't helping things in the slightest.

[Scavenger]

Why not? Zombies sell. Apes sell. Seems kind of obvious.

I wasn't criticizing it. I picked a concept out of the air that comic fans would jump on and bitch about, not realizing that it was actually something real and solicited this month. I was surprised my random concept was a real book (written by a writer on my "Always gets a look" list.).

[strathcona]

All I'm saying is that it seems kind of sad, because back in day, I'd look at the list of Marvel titles coming out courtesy of the Bullpen Bulletins page (since that was our only means of discovering what was coming up) and I was excited and enthused about what was going to be coming out. I genuinely couldn't wait for it. And maybe that perception seems antiquated, or out of touch, or a luxury since comics cost much less back then.

But still, there was just so much more joy about the hobby back then. And at this point, honestly, you seem so accustomed to the negativity that you don't even realize it's there.

And that's too bad, that things have evolved that way.

PAD

I remember those days too, and I miss them. I will admit I do get roped into some negativity sometimes as well, it's kinda hard not to on the 'net. There have been many times when I have thought about stopping visiting comic sites altogether to get away from the negativity and get back to enjoying comics again.

[Flâneur]

LOL

PAD ... People like Exiles and Runaways, they're not bitching about those books. I also don't see how not wanting to pay more money than usual has anything to do with being a 'fan'. If you want to see a bitchy thread, look at a thread discussing Loeb's work, that is bitchy.

I'll also echo the sentiment about Exiles and Runaways. I really want to see those books continue and survive, they're great books and people shouldn't let the stigma of previously poor runs stop them from picking it up.

[Gorgeousaur]

*AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #608
*AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #609
*AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #610
CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #4 (of 5)
DARK AVENGERS #10
DARK REIGN: THE LIST - SECRET WARRIORS
DARK REIGN: THE LIST - WOLVERINE
*FANTASTIC FOUR #572
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #19
*INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #19
*MIGHTY AVENGERS #30
*NEW AVENGERS #58
NOVA #30
SECRET WARRIORS #9
SPIDER-WOMAN #2
SPIN ANGELS #3 (of 3)
*UNCANNY X-MEN #516
X-MEN VS. AGENTS OF ATLAS #1 (of 2)

*Titles I'm getting through Marvel Subs