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Andrew Bitner
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| Posted: 09 August 2018 at 11:12am | IP Logged | 1
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It'd be it's own crossover miniseries. You'd see:
THING VS HULK 1-6 - it's the battle of the century! See the Fantastic Four's Ben Grimm take on the Jade Giant for all the marbles, in a fight that rages across the U.S. Face front, True Believers, this is the one you demanded!
THING VS HULK: X-MEN - when titans collide, where will the X-Men make their stand? Plus, the return of Phoenix!
THING VS HULK: DEFENDERS - with one of their own battling the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, can Dr. Strange, Namor and Silver Surfer remain on the sidelines? What terrible new threat will pull them away from helping a friend in need?
THING VS HULK: AVENGERS - after chasing the Hulk across the globe, the Avengers risk getting between two of the biggest powerhouses of all time. What fateful decision will Captain America make? And what will Iron Man do when the battle comes to the doorstep of Stark Enterprises?
THING VS HULK: AFTERMATH - as the dust settles, who will be the victor and who will know defeat? Only one can triumph, and the end will shake the Marvel Universe for decades to come! IT ALL ENDS HERE!
...bombastic enough for today's Marvel? ;)
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Mason Meomartini
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| Posted: 09 August 2018 at 12:50pm | IP Logged | 2
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That sounds so much like how the promotion would be written.
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Andrew Bitner
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| Posted: 09 August 2018 at 1:20pm | IP Logged | 3
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That's the intention! :)
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Mason Meomartini
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| Posted: 09 August 2018 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | 4
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I didn't know about those anthologies, Eric. It's a good point. I just wonder if the popularity of longer, large scale stories would still outnumber stand alone issues or anthologies in super hero comics.
In a different sense it might work. I also know some middle-aged readers who like self-contained stories, but they have to be something big and unusual. A very strong idea. Like Grant Morrison's JLA Earth 2, the Elseworlds books, Marvels, Kingdom Come, The Dark Knight Returns, or a collection of a 4 or 6 or 12 part story arc from a monthly series. Or collections of a longer series like Transmetropolitan or Preacher. It has to have some length, not just a single 22 page issue. Collections of reprinted material or original graphic novels, as long as it's a bigger project than just a single issue of a series. I know people who would read a Visionaries paperback of John Byrne's Fantastic Four, but not individual issues of it.
They want something like a substantial novel. To these readers, a single self contained issue feels too minor, even though sometimes unusual, exceptional ideas have also appeared in that format. I think it has to give the perception of being something special, not just another ordinary monthly issue. I know to generations in the past, a monthly issue did feel like something special. It did to me in the 80s. I don't know if it would anymore to even younger readers. I have no idea how they react to new single issues these days. I'm curious to know if the culture has shifted and the majority of readers of all ages is like this.
I don't think the creators at Marvel and DC can come up with 5 new ideas that have never been done before, never mind 24. Like it came up in another thread, I think they can only update old ideas or derive new stories from them that will be new to new generations of super hero fans like you see happening with the movies that are adapting what's already been done.
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Mason Meomartini
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| Posted: 09 August 2018 at 3:13pm | IP Logged | 5
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Yeah, Andrew, but you were able to do it exactly the way they formulate it! They might as well use it.
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Andrew Bitner
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| Posted: 09 August 2018 at 5:05pm | IP Logged | 6
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I forgot a couple...
THING VS HULK: SPIDER-MAN - with New York City getting smashed all around him, everyone's favorite neighborhood webhead is up to his big white eyes in trouble. And when Rhino and Sandman join the party, it's gonna be Mayhem in Midtown!
THING VS HULK: S.H.I.E.L.D - it's just not okay to have two of Marvel's biggest monsters slugging it out, no holds barred, so Nick Fury and his team have to jump into action. But when they do, things are gonna get hot for the one-eyed superspy!
THING VS HULK: FANTASTIC FOUR - with one of their own in the battle of his life, Reed, Sue and Johnny scramble to save Ben from the Incredible Hulk! But will they be too late? What a time for the Frightful Four to join forces with Doctor Doom!
Excelsior!
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Mason Meomartini
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| Posted: 09 August 2018 at 7:13pm | IP Logged | 7
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Since they can't increase the number of readers, they increase the number of series they can buy. It's too bad they have to resort to that. But it goes back to the question of whether the majority of new readers would want mostly one or two part stories these days, or if anthologies like the successful ones mentioned in this thread would be about even in sales. It's the popularity with young readers of Harry Potter as a series of several books that made me think about this. Maybe that wouldn't relate to how most young readers would view the comic book format.
Rebecca, I forgot to respond in another related thread to your comment "A Gasoline Alley or real time 'universe' of super powered characters could be interesting." Marvel tried a real time universe called the New Universe in the 80s. I think each issue meant that a month had passed in the series too.
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Rebecca Jansen
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| Posted: 09 August 2018 at 7:32pm | IP Logged | 8
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"Rebecca, I forgot to respond in another related thread to your comment "A Gasoline Alley or real time 'universe' of super powered characters could be interesting." Marvel tried a real time universe called the New Universe in the 80s. I think each issue meant that a month had passed in the series too."
It's too bad I was pretty much on my way out the door in terms of buying DC or Marvel comics when those started up, I very well may've liked those titles a lot. Maybe I could still check some out retroactively...whichever didn't have the huge '80s shoulder pads and spikey MTV hair... that's all I remember seeing of the New Universe in some ads at the time. :^D
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Mason Meomartini
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| Posted: 16 August 2018 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | 9
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Rebecca, about the compromise for serial fiction where you can have one main plot with subplots that lead to the next main plot when the last one ends, it's a good system for comic book series that go on indefinitely. But I notice when a long series has one continuous story it's more dramatic because it can keep building a more and more elaborate story. When a series has to keep stopping once in a while to start over with a new main plot, it loses the kind of momentum that a series with one longer story can achieve. I'm not sure but it seems the long term conspiracy episodes of X-Files were the most popular. Of course a monthly comic that is meant to go on for decades can't do this sort of thing for so long. It would be impossible for new readers to follow unless they wanted to go all the way back to the beginning. But if it's decades long, it becomes impractical to catch up. Shorter stories also have qualities unique to that length though.
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Adam Schulman
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| Posted: 16 August 2018 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | 10
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From what I gather the powers that be at Marvel intend to get the X-Men back, finally, to normal -- or as normal as the X-Men can get considering how quickly the X-Men's popularity led to the New Mutants and X-Factor and so on. But of course they're doing mini-series lead-ins to lead up to the storyline that will finally bring things back to "normalcy."
You CAN fool some people all of the time.
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Robbie Parry
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| Posted: 16 August 2018 at 5:58pm | IP Logged | 11
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I've read some fairly recent CAPTAIN AMERICA and IRON MAN recently. Single issues.
Sorry, but little-to-no action, too much talking. For three quid or more per book, it doesn't feel like value. Why wouldn't I wait for the trade?
Put together, as a trade, the issues would compile a great story. But as solo issues, three quid or more is a lot for TALKING HEADS.
I bought an IRON MAN book in the late 80s. In the issue, there was talk. Stark clashed with Fury. But there was action, too. Iron Man VS Mandroids. It felt like value for money.
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Rebecca Jansen
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| Posted: 16 August 2018 at 7:49pm | IP Logged | 12
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It does seem like you used to get at very least half of a full story in the '70s or '80s plus a look at a couple of sub-plots, and now it seems to be more like an eighth, and worse than that it's an eight of maybe three or four separate titles. Nailed it on the price too! Any wonder why they fail to attract new readers? Then there's people hating on cartoony comics that do tell a complete story at least, like Teen Titans Go... fans and fans turned pro killing the thing they supposedly love?
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