In light of DC’s new 52 Marvel has felt the same need to shake things up. Of course they can’t go exactly the same as DC so they have their own spin on it, the Marvel NOW (sort of) relaunch. Today we have some community members assembled to discuss what the future has in store for Marvel. Joining us today are joeagentofhand1 (Joe), Blood1991 (B1), and Edward Windsor (EW). So hello everyone.
EW: Hi, I am Edward Windsor the rpger formally known as lazystudent.
B1: Hello fellow Viners I am Blood1991.
Joe: Hi, I am Joe agent of Hand.
What have you all been reading recently?
EW: My current pull list is Avengers vs Xmen, Captain Marvel, X Force, Age of Apocalypse, Hellraiser and Batman Dark Knight. Also recently read Batman Earth One.
B1: AVX, X-Men, Legacy, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and The X-Men, Ultimate X-Men, Avengers Academy, Aquaman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, and I think I may be forgetting a couple.... Oh well.
Joe: My pull list is Venom, Deathstroke, and Animal Man. I also currently read the Violator miniseries from the 90's and DC Universe by Alan Moore.
What were your first thoughts when hearing about Marvel NOW?
EW: I kind of expected it after the new 52 however I am not that happy about it really. As you can see by my pull list I read mostly Marvel at the moment and I fear this reboot will do bad things to my favorite ongoing which is XForce. With a reboot on the horizon I don’t see how the team could fit with it. I may just be being pedantic but if it's an XMen with xavier it's not his style.
B1: I have very mixed feeling on Marvel Now. On one hand I love both the Avengers and X-Men, but right off the bat they hit fans hard by cancelling Uncanny X-Men which has been a Marvel sales anchor for years. However, most of the characters who appear in the X-Men and Avengers come together for at least three months out of the year because of big events and tie ins. So in many ways it really isn't that big a change. Plus I stopped reading the Avengers, because I wasn't happy with the writing or the direction of some of some of my favorite characters. Hopefully Hickman and Remender bring me back on board, the way Gillen and Aaron brought be back onto the X-Men after Fraction's unfortunate run.
Joe: I am not crazy about it, but I will give it a shot. People said the same thing about the New 52, but for the most part it was good. I am interested to see what is the reason for the costume changes, especially Iron Man's costume change(it reminds me of the mc2 character Mainframe).
There has been some mixed feelings on the new 52 as well, but I would say mostly positive. Do you think Marvel Now will be able to replicate this?
EW: For me the new 52 was a bold but interesting move. But by resetting/altering mainstream continuity you risk confusion and alienating a large portion of your audience. Marvel NOW could very well be a good move long term, but short term people are bound to be unhappy that certain things will change(rosters, relationships etc). I personally can’t see how X-Force will fit in Marvel NOW plans. If it is the original X-Men roster, Wolverine and several members technically shouldn’t be X-Men let alone be on a black ops X-Men team which is whole heartedly against the Xavier policy ( presuming he is back and leading the Marvel NOW X-Men and that the original members are the only X-Men). If, for example, the original team is being reformed (Iceman, Beast, Cyclops, Jean and Xavier) but other X-Men such as Rogue, Gambit, Storm and Wolverine are around how are they going to fit in? Will we get blue and gold teams ?. This is the problem you get with reboots/changes unless everything is known (which spoils it). People will just speculate and get confused. ( Like me)
B1: Marvel has never rebooted, and I think it is one of the biggest dividers between the two companies. Like EdwardWinsor said it is a risk to alter the main Marvel Universe, because long time readers are probably not going to be happy. I think Marvel Now is going to try and modify the idea of the new 52; keeping a majority of their characters history while altering the universe around them.
Who could benefit most from the reboot? Or conversely, suffer the most? (talking about character, teams or series here)
Joe: Benefit, I am not exactly sure who at this point. I would say the Avengers would benefit from this, but Nick Fury(not his son) is going to suffer even more going farther into obscurity.
EW: In terms of benefit, I guess Angel and Xavier could benefit in terms of X-Men,with them being more prominent in the original roster, Jean Grey will obviously get a massive boost returning from the dead. But I imagine the likes of Emma Frost, Magneto ,Rogue ,Gambit, Storm, Collosus etc will at first be far less prominent or involved with the X-Men. Avengers will also probably see more of the Pyms. Titles wise I expect peaks for the major Avengers and X-Men books at first then a slide away quite quickly as the now setup progresses. Hopefully XForce asI have mentioned many times won’t suffer but I expect most of the major Marvel books will be altered sales wise as a result.
B1: The X-Men have the most to lose and potentially the most to gain, but that depends heavily on how AVX ends and Uncanny X-Men end. Hope, and The Phoenix Force five are characters are going to be heavily affected after the event, but how is still a mystery. Other characters like the Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Storm, She Hulk and others have been given more panel time recently and I am hoping to see that trend continue into Marvel Now. Lastly Havok and Rogue seem to have some underlining importance in the Uncanny Avengers. I think a lot of puzzle pieces are going to reveal themselves in the upcoming issues of AVX and hopefully by the end of A+X we will have an idea for the big picture.
Is there any potentially great new storyline or retelling of a classic storyline that you can foresee?
B1: I think having all of these heroes brought together this way really opens the door for some huge world ending, universe shattering events. However, I can't see this lasting for a very extended period of time. The Earth can only face Galactus sized threats so often. What happens to the baddies that are Avenger or X-Men exclusively? Are we going to see the Hellfire club fight the Avengers? Norman Osborn take on the remaining X-Men? Marvel has some great story potential in this, buut they have to be careful with loose ends.
Joe: I hope they do Ultron War. They built it up through the Heroic Age and I feel like they wouldn't all this hype they created was for nothing. I want this event though to be an Avenger only event. It is also the perfect chance for this to occur. Ultron could see that the universe has changed and takes advantage of the scenario. Maybe Ultron War could be a new story of how the Avengers became a team.
B1: I've been looking forward to the Ultron War especially because I see it as the ideal event to bring back the Wasp. I also think Ultron is an ideal villain for Marvel Now. He is a big enough threat to bring everyone together.
EW: Hmm I think they should stay away from doing do-overs of older stuff unless they can improve it since it will tarnish the name of the original. As for new stuff they have a whole new plate to start to one so technically they could branch out anywhere. I would like to see how the deal with the weapon program that created Wolverine and others myself.
Joe mentioned the costume changes. Any thoughts on that? Should they go with the "it isn't broken so don't fix it" idea? Any costumes that you are looking to get redone?
EW: The only redone/new costumes i have really seen that look different are Thors/Cyclops and Captain America. Thor’s is just a different colour really and looks cool I think. Cyclops new headgear I don’t like though looks kind of messy - too many lines for me - I like the classic straight edge one line visor. The new design looks like he can fire in an x-like beam. Caps looks more military based (like the movie) which is kind of meh, its not great in my view, but its different at least. I am interested to see if they alter Captain Britain myself as I am a big fan but he isn’t really used so much so that could be awhile away other than that I want to see how they shown Gambit and Iron an since I imagine Stark will 100% have a new look and Gambit’s always kind of cool.
Joe: I think there are some characters that do need a costume change, but characters like Thor, Cap, and Tony don't need it. They could give characters with costumes that are outdated or ridiculous looking. Characters like Spot(a name change for spot as well), Flying Tiger, Wizard, and Vulture.
EW: Interesting choices Joe, but since they are kind of D-list characters with the possible exception of Vulture. Do you think they will happen soon? If at all? Marvel hasn't been selling established characters such as Storm, Gambit and Colossus well for a while and they are far more mainstream.
Joe: I really doubt it, but I hope they do give D-List villains and heroes updated costumes.
EW: I agree with you Joe, it is nice to see surprising changes. However Marvel seems to have issues with A-B list at the moment, D-list is just a horror show waiting to happen lol
B1: Don't even get me started on the Captain America redesign, that is a costume that in my opinion shouldn't be changed. In all honesty I'm not feeling Cyclops's or Thor's redesign either, but they might grow on me in time. I understand why they gave the characters new costumes. New chapter in Marvel, new costumes. Marvel does this from time to time, but in the end they almost always go back to a variation of their original look.
Would you be for Marvel reaching back to the past to reboot some other old series? DC rebooted for instance Dinosaur island and the Hero Dial. Could Marvel make anything old and forgotten relevant again? And if yes what could it be?
EW: I would like to see Marvel bring back the Exiles or a Silver Surfer series though since its Exiles isn’t mainstream universe I highly doubt even the reboot will make it happen. Here’s to hoping though.
Joe: I don't know why but I would like to see the Exiles again. As for older series I would want Tales of Suspense. It could focus on characters who most likely wouldn't get their own series. Characters like Werewolf by Night, Fin Fang Foom, Man Thing, and other characters of that nature.
B1: I agree with Joe on a Tales of Suspense series, that would be awesome. As for an older series …hmmm … I think I would like a new Champions series. I also want to see a Lady Liberators series that team of heroines could hold a book and they could all use a boost.
EW: Excalibur would be cool also. But Joe’s comment regarding tales of suspense would be a refreshing change, I would totally buy that.
Some speculate that DC has "a way out" because of the way that it has created its universe following Flashpoint with Pandora. Do you think Marvel will leave itself a roll back strategy, or even will it need to?
EW: Will they have an escape plan? Probably. Should they? Host definitely. Will it be used? hopefully. This sounds really anti-progressive but Marvel has been event after event in recent years and whilst a reboot may slow that down as they have to re-establish continuity, it is doing so by altering the very base of the Marvel universe. They would be better off having the reboot series as a separate arc in my view, sort of like the Ultimates. The mainstream universe being rebooted is a risky move look at how many of the 52 titles DC titles have come and gone and how much of the established continuity is now in question.
B1: The way Marvel dishes out events all it would take is twelve issues to completely redirect their Universe if they need be, and by twelve issues I mean about forty tie in issues and an after event. But it is a risk they are taking with Marvel Now. In my experience Marvel always has a plan, I swear they plan a decade of stories before they put pen to paper and edit as they go.
Joe: They probably do have a strategy out. Will they use it? Maybe. If sales are bad they will have a way out. What will their strategy out be though? Maybe the Infinity Gauntlet?
A real world application for the Infinity Gauntlet, that thing really is powerful. So thanks all for the input and let's wrap this up
B1: It is that time I suppose, great chat my fine fellows. Blood is out.
EW: Ladies and gentlemen I bid you toodles.
Joe: Well I had fun and this is goodbye.
That is our in-depth look at Marvel NOW, but what do you all think? Is there going to be a reboot of the reboot to the post-reboot? Is the new direction going to bring the fans in like they did to DC?
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