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    Formerly known by names including "Atlas" and "Timely", Marvel Entertainment is the publisher of comic books featuring iconic characters and teams such as the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America and Daredevil. Currently owned by the Walt Disney Company, Marvel is one of the "Big Two" comic publishers along with DC Comics.

    Need Simple Solicitation (A Rant and Help Request)

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    Baron_BJ

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    #1  Edited By Baron_BJ

    I'm trying to sort out my pull list and when it comes to this Marvel is far worse than any other company and as such I'm in need of assistance. I often find it confusing and infuriating trying to deal with solicitations, upcoming titles and current titles when it comes to Marvel, "Indies" tend to keep cleaner house and rarely change things up too much, DC I could handle (and has been incredibly easy to keep track of since the New 52, say what you will about the books but keeping track of everything is a breeze compared to Marvel).

    In recent times though I've been able make dealing with upcoming DC titles and those that have already passed since the New 52 extremely easy since I found these two Wikipedia pages which appear to be meticulously updated as soon as any information comes forward:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_DC_Comics_publications

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_New_52_publications

    The best part is that for the most part it just lists the item in question (or at most a short tagline blurb in the second one) and isn't a ****ING advertisement wasting space and time unlike the diamond solicits (No Matter what company it is, the Diamond solicits are always a pile of ****) and the Marvel.com website (which is one of the most pathetic and poorly laid out things I've seen in my life, all flash and conveys information poorly). The New 52 also encompasses ALL comics in the main universe, Marvel NOW! (and it's subsequent re-branding "second wave") apparently comprises most but not all the Marvel books being published because reasons (For example if you check on Avengers Assembled and Hawkeye you'll find that these aren't one of the cancelled books nor are they listed as ongoing Marvel NOW! books, they're covered in the Marvel NOW! logo and it says it on the books but apparently they don't count currently nor going forward, they're still in print but they're unlike the other books because we can't have **** make any ****ing sense now can we?!

    If you're still here you are probably wondering why I'm complaining, surely I can find something as amazingly useful as those aforementioned Wikipedia pages on Marvel right? Wrong. Wikipedia lacks a current publications page (all searches will redirect you to an all-time publications record which for the purposes of checking current titles is useless to the point that you might actually think that the current solicitation system isn't a giant turd), although a Marvel NOW! page exists, but it's of no use because as I previously stated; Not Main Universe titles count as a Marvel NOW! title because reasons, meaning that this page is of no use.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_NOW!

    I've been looking for months without luck (and by searching I mean I make multiple Google searches every few days and go through the near infinite number of pages my search brings up, hoping I'll find something that works) and have decided to simply break down and annoy you, the few forum-goers who have not already left because of my inane rantings.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Just adding this section ahead of time to head off a couple of responses that I may potentially receive:

    1. You're a DC fanboy, Marvel is fine.

    No, I prefer Marvel over DC, I brought it up because I wanted to whine and, at least since the New 52, DC has been provably and factually more organised with their books (from a sorting standpoint I mean, creator organization, story and plotting and just general direction has been beyond abysmal).

    2. It's not that bad, you're making it sound worse than it is/If you can't handle it you don't deserve to read these books [This is the same basic point, but for two seperate reasons, the latter is a pathetic attempt at elitism, the first is an argument for complacency on behalf of the companies]

    If you make the second point made in number 2 then I request that you stop breathing right now because you're clearly a colossal tool who really needs to find an actual source of self-esteem outside of comics. If you made the first point then I'd just like to remind you that no other industry is run this poorly, no other industry is this customer unfriendly, to say that the current system isn't a steaming pile of dog **** is like saying "That guy who punched me in the gut was so nice and kind, he could have kicked me in the balls". [This statement applies to the comics industry as a whole, but Marvel FAAAAAR more than anyone else]

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    MatteoPG

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    Yes. No. What was the question?

    Eh eh, just busting your chops. Seriously, though, I didn't get the actual question in this.

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    Baron_BJ

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    @matteopg said:

    Yes. No. What was the question?

    Eh eh, just busting your chops. Seriously, though, I didn't get the actual question in this.

    Yeah, I probably rambled like crazy, I'll try post a TL;DR version:

    I am having a lot of trouble keeping track of Marvel titles since Marvel NOW! began and it's only getting worse since not all main universe titles are classed as part of Marvel NOW! for seemingly no reason (for example Hawkeye and Avengers Assemble aren't being cancelled but they're not classed as continuing in the "All New Marvel NOW!", they're continuing though, but not under that banner). I'm looking for something along the lines of these (the following links are what allow me to control and plan my pull list from DC):

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_DC_Comics_publications

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_New_52_publications

    That first link shows me every comic (not hardcover, trades, etc) that DC puts out each month and what books have been announced, there's no confusion or ambiguity regarding the titles, there's just a straight for list.

    The second shows all the titles from the main DC universe, stating what has passed since the New 52 came out, what is ongoing and what will be coming out in the future (and it is updated constantly), same thing as before, essentially just a list, nothing like the terribly organised and laid out solicits put out by the companies themselves.

    There is no such list that I have been able to find anywhere that applies to marvel (wikipedia has a page on Marvel NOW! but as I mentioned earlier Marvel arbitrarily decides random titles don't count for no reason so the list can't be used to track everything Marvel releases and attempting to find a list of current publications only yields a list of all time publications, although you can find the current books in this list it's so long as to be completely impractical) in such a reliable, simple and straightforward way.

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    MatteoPG

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    @baron_bj: I think there isn't such a comprehensive straightforward list for marvel comics. I was recently kind of turned off marvel and dc because their strategies are too much gimmicky, actually, but I still enjoy some selected DC because they try a little less gimmicks and have a few more consistent titles.

    Marvel is just f****ing with our direction sense, so I am not really motivated to struggle and get all the storylines straight.

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    PeppeyHare

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    http://www.comicvine.com/marvel-now/4015-56129/ shows all marvel now books and books that didn't get rebranded

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    Baron_BJ

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    #6  Edited By Baron_BJ
    @peppeyhare said:

    http://www.comicvine.com/marvel-now/4015-56129/ shows all marvel now books and books that didn't get rebranded

    Thanks for the list and within it I also found a link to "All-New Marvel NOW!" and its influence as well, however it still has the same problem for whatever reason, the two in conjunction still leave out a lot of titles and information with the move over to "All-New Marvel NOW!", leaving out titles that are ongoing and not mentioning what's happening with them, why they aren't branded or listed, etc, some examples off the top of my head (and there are more than I'm listing); Amazing X-Men, Mighty Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Hawkeye and Superior Foes of Spider-Man. These pages are also poorly laid out (still better than most of what I've come across thus far) and have a number of errors, but having said all of that that the pages are still the best I've had to work with so this is a step up.

    Although I'm still holding out hope (against all reason) that I can find something as reliable and concise as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_DC_Comics_publications.

    @matteopg said:

    @baron_bj: I think there isn't such a comprehensive straightforward list for marvel comics. I was recently kind of turned off marvel and DC because their strategies are too much gimmicky, actually, but I still enjoy some selected DC because they try a little less gimmicks and have a few more consistent titles.

    Marvel is just f****ing with our direction sense, so I am not really motivated to struggle and get all the story lines straight.

    My patience is beginning to wear thin with the companies as well, but I'm not going to get started on that or I'll ramble even more incoherently than in my OP.

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