Marvel Season Ones

[Selphy]

Are any worth reading? I don't know much about the origins of the characters but are these good retellings? Like X-Men or Daredevil? Those two are the ones I'm most interested in buying but if say, Fantastic Four was worth reading I wouldn't be against buying it.

[davidn15]

So far they appear to be a very mixed bag, or at least that's what I'm getting from reviews. I heard FF wasn't all that great. X-Men was better.

[CrazyOldHermit]

I've read the three that have come out and I really don't see a point. I thought the best one was X-Men but even then it was nothing to write home about. They really are just early days adventures with all the excitement of reading a Wikipedia summary, whereas something like Ultimate Spider-Man had the extra appeal of 1) bringing fresh ideas aboard and 2) having somewhere to go. I mean, where do they go from here? Season Two? How much of the original runs do they plan on replacing?

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

It is disappointing that the creators are hamstrung by having to tell an origin story. My only hope is that the OGN format works well enough that Marvel will actually try telling some original story with less big name characters. At least Earth One is being established as an entirely separate universe, so it gives creators a lot of room to create something new.

That said, I'm still signing up for the Hulk Season One because I'm that much of a fan of Tom Fowler, plus FVL can bring the funny.

Question for the thread.

If Marvel were to continue OGNs, but completely original stories, which characters would you like to see?

I'd love to see Wonder Man get one. As far as classic Avengers I kind of feel he's been short-changed the most. He's rarely allowed to be the toughest/strongest on the team and when they finally bring him back, he's nutso. One good story could be all

[Hulk_Is]

I feel like it'd be a waste for Marvel to put out OGN's for characters that aren't in any kind of regular rotation.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

I feel like it'd be a waste for Marvel to put out OGN's for characters that aren't in any kind of regular rotation.

Depends on the kind of talent they can get behind the effort I think. It's really not that different from the minis they produce though (or at least used to). I get your point though. There's got to be a guarantee somewhere that it could sell. It's a dollar that Marvel will have to work hard to earn, but I think it could be worth it.

Again, we won't know unless they try. I kind of think the Ant-Man Season One will probably be the most telling of how lesser known characters sell. Even though he's a core Avenger he's still kind of insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

[frostfalls]

It is disappointing that the creators are hamstrung by having to tell an origin story. My only hope is that the OGN format works well enough that Marvel will actually try telling some original story with less big name characters. At least Earth One is being established as an entirely separate universe, so it gives creators a lot of room to create something new.

That said, I'm still signing up for the Hulk Season One because I'm that much of a fan of Tom Fowler, plus FVL can bring the funny.

Question for the thread.

If Marvel were to continue OGNs, but completely original stories, which characters would you like to see?

I'd love to see Wonder Man get one. As far as classic Avengers I kind of feel he's been short-changed the most. He's rarely allowed to be the toughest/strongest on the team and when they finally bring him back, he's nutso. One good story could be all

I think the OGN would be a good way to target a YA or children's demographic and bring in new readership. Characters that aren't in regular rotation could definitely be featured, though I think Digital first or digital only comics might be a more cost effective way of branching out initially in that direction. What I'd really like is to see some female characters who haven't been able to support an ongoing featured and marketed towards teen girls. There are tons of characters that could work there -more underused teen characters in coming of age type stories or characters like She-Hulk who are just a blast and have issues of identity and confidence that could resonate with teen girls. Spy stories, romances, magic, telepathy- all of these could totally appeal. Marvel has definitely published the material in the past, but I think this format would be better able to reach the customer. They could run ads in things like Teen Vogue and whatever other magazines/websites teenage girls are reading now (I'm a bit out of touch there) with excerpts, and in the OGNs themselves they could have codes to maybe DL a free digital comic with reading recommendations for similar stories. The characters and stories are there for girls to get hooked on and fall in love with, they just don't know they exist for the most part. If Marvel really decides to branch into prose novels these characters would be kind of a no-brainer there as well. Something like the Emma Frost series for instance, could work really well as a novel.

For the kids I think it'd be cool to have Marvel Adventures style stories, with backup features that teach kids some basics of how to draw and put together layouts, and invitations for the kids to send in their artwork/questions for the creators to be published in future OGNs, along with reading recommendations and where to find them online and links to the marvel kids website. I definitely think they could focus on characters outside the main few, and have more kid friendly character databases online. It could be integrated with the cartoons and their promotion.

Sorry to ramble on like this, but I really think a combo of OGNs, digital comics, and prose novels with the right marketing could be very successful in new markets like these.

[The Man Without Fear]

I thought Daredevil: Season One was pretty bland, myself. Not bad, but you're better off reading Daredevil: Yellow, as it basically does the same thing, but with better art and a conscious awareness of the inherent camp of the stories it's retelling. The only thing Season One brought to the table that was new was a fairly generic subplot, which itself is only worth mentioning because it very lightly touches upon Daredevil trying to find a niche for himself as a crime fighter in a world filled with super-strong and agile beings. If that had been at the forefront of the story, I think it would have been a lot better.

As it is, however, I wouldn't recommend it. I almost paid $25 for it at my LCS, but I decided to wait a week and get it for $10 less from Amazon, and I'm extremely glad that I did, because even at that price point I still feel sort of ripped off.

- Manning