Is it a way to boost
sales by launching new number ones? Yes.
Is it the result of authors who have written the same title
for a very long time wanting to move on? Probably.
Is it about attracting new readers? They’d like to think so.
Is it about reshuffling creators and characters in a way
that’s about highlighting properties for trans-media utilization? I wouldn’t
put it past them.
But here’s the thing, I think Marvel NOW! is mostly about
resource management. All other potential benefits are secondary.
Something that I’ve noticed (and I suspect nearly all comics
people have noticed) is that Marvel seems really keen on double-shipping books
every month. So where historically, you’d get your Captain America once a
month, Marvel now intends to publish two every month. It’s kind of brilliant.
Marvel, in this scheme can publish only their most successful characters, and
pool their artists and writers onto a more focused line up and still sell as
many (if not more) books. It also forces readers to pick up two books for every
on-going they want to follow, potentially doubling the revenues/fan.
(The problem (well one of the problems) with this approach
is it assumes that the reason that a fan buys x number of comics a month is because
of limited interest in other comics/characters. Basically, they think fan only
reads Ironman, Spiderman, and Thor because fan is only interested in those
three characters. I’m sure there are people out there with this mindset and
that they must be very happy with double publishing. That said, I suspect the
majority of comics fans are in a situation where they buy x number of comics a
month due to having a limited amount of disposable income to spend on comics.
They are already spending all of the money they can/want to on comics. There
isn’t any more. As one of those fans, I’m kind of annoyed by this as it forces
me to choose between exceeding my budget or cutting the number of ongoing
titles I read still further. I think Marvel may see a point of diminishing
returns with this approach.)
However, to make this double shipping work, Marvel needs
twice the content from creators per month. Now writers can only write a finite
number of comic books a month. From what I understand, and for sake of argument,
let’s say a comics writer can manage 4 books a month. In the old days, such a
writer could potentially write 4 different books, but in the twice-a-month
Marvel NOW! age that writer can only keep up with 2 on-goings. Marvel now needs
at least twice as many writers for the same number of titles. Similar problems
with creator logistics exist throughout the creative teams of comics:
pencillers can do ~1 book a month, inkers are about the same, and colorists can
do maybe two? (I have no idea how long it takes colorists… it’s kind of alchemy
to me). The point is that for every title Marvel now needs twice the people
hours of work.
I think Marvel NOW! is the result/means of ensuring
sufficient people hours per title. Marvel has to streamline their publishing
catalog or else hire many more creators. They also have to reduce the title
load per writer (Fraction can’t simultaneously write Mighty Thor, Invincible
Ironman, Hawkeye and Defenders + Event stuff + a Creator Owned project or two in
Marvel NOW!, for instance)1 and set up artist rotations on all of their books
(since very few A-list artists can, or want to, churn out two books a month).
If I were trying to reset the entire creative machinery of The House of Ideas,
a systematic role-out of new titles coupled with the ending of older unsustainable
projects is exactly how I’d do it.
So yeah, I think Marvel NOW! is more of a technical,
logistical overhaul than a creative one.
And no matter how Marvel NOW! works out, it’s certainly
going to make maintaining a top-ten comics list/buying pattern (and this blog)
more interesting for a while. So thanks?
1: He has children, god damn it!
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