Turned off by Avengers vs Xmen

[edhopper]

From the moment I heard about this event I thought OMG you have got to be kidding.
Back in the silver or bronze ages this was a two issue crossover. Now we have dozens of issues to tell a story. Everything I dislike about Marvel these days is encapsulated in this mega event.
It's why I only read a few of the Marvel books that aren't caught up in these unnecessary happenings. And when the throw one of my books into the maelstrom, I drop it for the duration.
Look, I can see why this might appeal to a lot of fans. But for me it is a meaningless, overblown mess where a lot of characters are forced into a story whether they fit or not.
This isn't a writer coming up with a big story, this is an editorial decision that they need a big event and searching for something that can be blown up to fit.

I am posting here because I don't want to wade into the fans on the Marvel boards. And my post would just get lost there anyway.

Thanks for letting me rant.

[mrc1214]

You are right. Most of us on here (Classics board) don't bother following events or alot of the big two books in general.

[dan bailey]

Of course. The fact that the things are apparently selling great guns (or, more apropos, what passes for great guns these days ... more like tiny derringers) just confirms the prejudices all too many of us (speaking! or, rather, typing!) hold toward the big companies & their fans these days. Though of course it's been a truism for more than a century now that no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the public (not that, again, you'd know it from the precipitous circulation declines).

I'm afraid that, to me, they don't deserve our money; they deserve our scorn.

[Francis Dawson]

The healthiest thing for Big Two superhero comics would be to have a long, long hiatus. There have been creative decades for superhero comics and perhaps there can be again but the contemporary lamestream is sad and dysfunctional. Supply is outstripping demand.

[CromagnonMan]

have you put your preorders in for the collector's hardcover yet?

[MRP]

Of course this isn't the first time Marvel has had a mini-series featuring the X-Men fighting the Avengers, the last time was around '89 where they had X-Men vs. Avengers, FF vs. X-Men and a Mephisto vs. miniseries that features X-Men, X-Factor, Avengers, and FF all published the same summer and promoted together. This strategy isn't anything new for Marvel, it's not an Alonso or Quesada thing, it's an outgrowth of them thinking they're giving the fans what they want. What are some of the best selling back issues of Marvel's silver and bronze age....Hulk vs. Thing fights, Thor vs. Hulk fights, Hulk vs. Wolverine, etc. These issues hold a higher demand than the issues around them usually. Marvel puts out a Hulk vs. direct to DVD animated feature with Hulk/Wolvie and Hulk/Thor fights and it does very well.

Preorders for A vs. X were nearly double what Justice League (the #1 sales leader since its debut) had been). My local shop sold out of A vs. X withing 15 minutes of putting out new boos that week. Reorders were filled a week later-with a second printing.

I have no interest in the story. I read the free little promo pamphlet and flipped through the advance copy my retailer got for hosting a pre-launch party (he showed it to me since I help him out with his back issue). There was nothing there for me, but then I realize my tastes do not reflect the majority of the buying public these days (and not just in comics).

However, it is selling, and selling well (especially by current sales standards). Marvel is a business and while I would prefer that creativity be at the forefront of their decisions, it is sales that drive comics. Spider-Man got his own series because a little issue of Amazing Fantasy sold better than the issue before it and Stan and Martin Goodman thought they could make money with the concept. FF got launched because DC was selling a lot of copies of a super-hero team book (JLof A), so criticizing Marvel for making decisions based on sales in business matters condemns the company all the way back to the Silver Age (if not further), not just the current crop of editors and writers.

We like to look at the past through rose-colored glasses, but the reality is Marvel has always been a business about sales and they will publish what sells well currently. And in today's market, that's books like AvX.

-M