Axel-In-Charge - Dec 28, 2012

[CBR News]

Our conversation on the year that was 2012 for Marvel Comics wraps as Axel Alonso says farewell to long runs by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Brian Bendis and more while reviewing what made "Daredevil" and "Hawkeye" hits.


Full article here.

[Trey]

Oh geez multiple writers on a project? Thats just lame. Give me one vision!


Highlight Moment of 2012 is the return of the 05 and Teen!Jean telling Scott to shut it! LMAO great job Bendis.

[Wolf_Leader]

Oh geez multiple writers on a project? Thats just lame. Give me one vision!

I was thinking that everything was pretty right on about what was good for Marvel this year until that comment.

[Rheged]

Another thing I learned was the power of collaborative writing. This wasn't my first rodeo with a big event story featuring multiple writers and artists -- I'd cut my teeth on "Messiah CompleX" and "Second Coming" -- but "Avengers Vs. X-Men" was so much bigger in its scope. And I truly believe that the story benefitted from the combined might of its five writers and three editors. "AvX" gave me a lot of confidence that we can do more of this in the future.

Dear god. Nooooooooooooooo! Ugh. So, so wrong. Second Coming was a mess too. And the only thing that saved Messiah Complex was Mike Carey.

I do love how the three artists are completely left out of the equation here.

As far as DEFENDERS, I can't believe Alonso doesn't see the difference the effect of a $3 and a $4 price tag makes on a book's success. Both Daredevil and Hawkeye are $3. Defenders was $4.

And THANK YOU, Kiel Phegley, for using the Namor issue Defenders cover.

[Omega Alpha]

Dear god. Nooooooooooooooo! Ugh. So, so wrong.

Amen. For once, I hope he's lying.

[djsweet]

Dear god. Nooooooooooooooo! Ugh. So, so wrong. Second Coming was a mess too. And the only thing that saved Messiah Complex was Mike Carey.

I do love how the three artists are completely left out of the equation here.

As far as DEFENDERS, I can't believe Alonso doesn't see the difference the effect of a $3 and a $4 price tag makes on a book's success. Both Daredevil and Hawkeye are $3. Defenders was $4.

And THANK YOU, Kiel Phegley, for using the Namor issue Defenders cover.

I buy both DD and Hawkeye, I would have bought Defenders at $3!

[Xenigma]

Defenders is a book I was interested in buying, but at $4 an issue it just didn't make the cut. Similarly, I'm skipping a lot of NOW books because of the $4 price tag. With comics as high quality as Hawkeye at $3 an issue, it becomes a lot harder to justify $4 a pop for titles that often prove mediocre.

[Joecooler2u]

Oh geez multiple writers on a project? Thats just lame. Give me one vision!


Highlight Moment of 2012 is the return of the 05 and Teen!Jean telling Scott to shut it! LMAO great job Bendis.

I have to say Bendis seems rejuvinated on All-New X-Men. He seems to be writing with a passion he's only been putting on Ultimate Spider-Man. I think he just burnt out on Avengers. Too many years and too many issues in that time-frame. Doesn't hurt that Immonen is drawing his butt off on the title. Great art and story. Despite it double-shipping I still can't wait for the next issue. My only issues with AvX was the John Romita Jr art and maybe it was a bit too drawn out. I could deal with the multiple writers but when the art needs to be damn good. My favorite issues were with Coipel, Kubert drawing. Overall I'm loving most of Marvel Now titles and a lot of titles that come under the radar like Red She-Hulk, Dark Avengers and the critical hits Daredevil and Hawkeye. All-New X-Men, Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, Indestructible Hulk & Iron Man are all among my favorites while I'm waiting for Cable & X-Force and Thunderbolts to get rolling story-wise. Looking forward to Secret Avengers, New Avengers, Uncanny X-Men & Uncanny X-Force, Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova. Surprised how much I like FF & Fantastic Four. Biggest disappoinment? Probably Stuperior Spider-Man (though the preview art looks nice and I'm willing to let Slott redeem himself by the rushed/forced feel of #700) though I loved Yost's first issue in Avenging Spider-Man 15.1 much more than Slott's finale of Amazing # 700....Defenders is just one of those titles that never seems to sell no matter how often it is repackaged or no matter how great the team or creative team. It's a good idea but fans just don't seem to go for it for some reason...

[jyeager11]

On the flipside, one title that came out across 2012 that didn't seem to find its place was "Defenders." Back when you and Tom Brevoort were doing this column together, you both spoke a lot about wanting to find the right pitch to make that franchise a success. I think that people who picked up the series by Matt Fraction and the Dodsons were really into it, but it never got enough readers to make it for the long run. What happened there?

Alonso: Go figure. Look, in this market, the road is littered with worthy books that didn't find a big enough audience to hit their margin. We put out a quality series that just didn't stick. I think part of it was timing, too. If we'd launched it against the backdrop of Marvel NOW!, things might have been different.

I commend CBR for reminding Alonso that just prior to Defenders' launch, "you both spoke a lot about wanting to find the right pitch to make that franchise a success."

So had the book succeeded, Alonso, Fraction and Brevoort would have been (rightfully) congratulated for finding the right pitch to make the book a success. Yet now that it failed, timing being blamed. Why is it impossible for Alonso to conceive of the possibility that although he believed in this pitch, it might not have been the right one to make the book a success?

I know he doesn't want to project weakness this early into his tenure as EIC, but nothing would scare me more than a leader who says "Beats me, must be the timing" when trying to analyze why a book failed.

I'm also beginning to understand why everyone at Marvel thinks it's perfectly normal for Peter Parker to turn to Satan for help when he gets himself into trouble, and why none of them seem to get that Peter used to be all about taking responsibility for your actions. That's why he didn't turn to Satan when Ben died.

Back then, people actually believed in being responsible for your choices, in the good times or the bad. How about "we thought we had the right pitch, but clearly we didn't" as an answer? It would certainly re-assure me that the next pitch will be better if these guys at least PRETENDED to know what was wrong with the last one.

[ragnarok]

I didn't buy the Defenders (just didn't fit my budget) but I read them recently at a friend. I'm quite glad I didn't buy it. I think the best thing about the Defenders was the collectors club, that hired the Black Cat. Their misadventures sounded like intresting hijinks I wanted to read about. Then they got killed

[ian33407]

Axel :

"Daredevil" proved that comics are voodoo, not a mathematical equation."

................GARGgggggglggggggllllllerk

When I asked you about a NEW MUTANTS FOREVER serie, by Claremont and Sienkiewicz, you replied : "sorry it's all about maths".


Then again :


"If you find the right creative chemistry, the sky is the limit."
>>>>> ..what ? Claremont and Sienkiewicz AREN' T STRONG ENOUGH !!!!!??????!!!!!
C'mon dude, did you see FIGHT CLUB ?

DO YOU LIKE PARKINGS ????????

[MarvelMaster616]

Overall, I would say that 2012 was a pretty successful year. While I really didn't like how Avengers vs. X-men ended, there's no denying its success. The biggest highlight for me was All New X-men and Brian Bendis taking control of the X-books. I think that was by far the biggest development of 2012 and will probably continue into 2013. The X-books underwent the greatest amount of change in 2012 and I think Age of Ultron will put the Avengers through a similar change in 2013.

[JaggedFel]

I am sure no one read Avengers vs X-men thought that collaboration worked great besides Marvel Editorial.

[TheDonAbides]

I am sure no one read Avengers vs X-men thought that collaboration worked great besides Marvel Editorial.

I f*ckin loved it.

[Rheged]

I bought every issue of Defenders, digitally. Unfortunately, it was canceled before I bought my first issue. I find Fraction's one of those writers who either hits big or misses big with me; and after a few consecutive misses, I wasn't going to take a chance at $4. If it had been a $3 book I might have jumped on from the beginning like I did with Hawkeye. If Marvel had dropped the digital prices on the first few issues before they announced the cancellation, I might have tried it earlier.

What killed it for me was the combination of the $4 price and the pathetic delay on dropping digital.

I don't mind paying $4 for a book I know going in that I'm going to like. I just don't take many chances with $4 books, especially not when they double-ship.

Yes, more concrete reasons that may have led to the cancellation of Defenders. People who didn't like Fear Itself wouldn't be inclined to pick up a book that appeared to spin directly out of it with, with the Nul arc, written by the same author.

There was also some fumbling with the first trade. I didn't even know it was out, because they switched from HC, which I had on pre-order, to paperback.

<snip>....Defenders is just one of those titles that never seems to sell no matter how often it is repackaged or no matter how great the team or creative team. It's a good idea but fans just don't seem to go for it for some reason...

Paragraph breaks are your friend.

Defenders went over 150 issues, which is respectable by any definition. It has only been 'repackaged' twice as an ongoing. The Busiek / Larsen 12 issue run, and this run by Fraction and assortment. AFAIK, the mini-series have done well enough -- the Giffen / DeMatteis / Maguire did well enough to put in hardcover.

That said, it apparently isn't an easy concept to write or sell, as the original had a certain quirkiness to it.