Random Thoughts: Too Many Crossovers & Events
By MetropolisKid41 3 Comments
Ever feel like the comic events are getting to feel a little overwhelming? Major crossovers or events that have multiple tie-ins can add up quickly at the cash register, you know this first hand if you ever tried collecting all or even half of all the tie-ins and sub series. I collected every single tie-in and mini-series book for Civil War, that was originally supposed to be 74 books, but then it got delayed twice so they pumped out more issues to fill in, so it turned out being around 90 books. Woah! 90 books at $3-$4 a pop adds up damn fast over a 6-8 month span. Especially when the book in my mind was so lackluster, some people may disagree with me on this one, but I challenge you to find someone who bought every tie-in and spent all that money on that event and felt different about it than I did.
And that’s just for one event, now what happens when a company, say Marvel, hits you with 3 pretty big events at once, all with multiple tie-ins, damn, if you want to read all of those you’re screwed if you aren’t rich! Right now Marvel has the big one, Fear Itself, with a ton of tie-ins, prequels, and a line of sequel issues that are numbered 7.1. So if you wanted to collect the whole story for that, it would cost you a pretty penny, but wait there’s more! Also right now there is X-MEN Schism, complete with preludes and Spider-Island that has a number of special tie-in mini-series. That’s 3 pretty big events all at once, one that affects the entire Marvel Universe, and the other 2 affect 2 of Marvel’s biggest and most popular franchises, Spiderman and X-MEN. Maybe it’s been announced and I missed it, but has Marvel announced in what order these are taking place? Or are we supposed to assume they are all happening at once? If that’s the case, the Marvel Universe has more drama than a full week’s worth of Soap Opera programming. Now don’t get me wrong, it sounds like Fear Itself has been pretty great, and I can attest to the fact that Schism and Spider-Island have been awesome so far, but how do they expect people to pick up all 3? I think Marvel is actually shooting themselves in the foot here and hurting their chances at sales. I mean I think I probably spend more money a month than the average comic reader, I’ve been picking up 10-20 titles a month plus one shots for the past 6 or 7 years, and even in those 20 titles I can’t pick up all 3 events’ main story. I think if they had spread them out a little instead of hitting everyone with all 3 at once, they’d have a lot higher sales, with people being able to at least pick up the main series of each story, instead of having to pick 1 or 2 of the 3 like I have.
But then again, how would they spread them out, because it seems like today there is no break in major comic crossover events, one right after another. For DC we had 8 months of Blackest Night, that led into a year’s worth of the 24 issue Brightest Day, which was fantastic by the way, and only $2.99 a month and had very few tie-ins, the Swamp Thing mini-series was about it, except for the Green Lantern titles, which most people were probably already getting anyway if they were reading Blackest Night, so you can’t complain too much. But it seems like it’s getting to be non-stop event after event with tie-in after tie-in. With Final Crisis we had a number of tie-in mini-series that didn’t really even start until after FC had concluded, like Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds, which was so freaking good by the way, pick up the trade, it was 1 million times better than the regular FC title. But still, tough on the wallets, especially of High School and college kids, which I assume they are trying to bring into the market to get a whole new age group immersed in comics. At Marvel it’s been pretty much non-stop event after event since Civil War. Civil War was followed by Dark Reign, which then lead to Secret Invasion (which was pretty damn awesome). And now already announced we have 2 follow up events coming out of Fear Itself, it just seems like there is no end. What was once a one-time a year, 6 month event annually has lead to 12 months continuous “major earth shattering events” that effect the whole comics universe of that publisher, but usually only 50% of time deliver the impact they promise. I’m just thinking that Marvel (yeah I know I pick on Marvel a lot but they’re the ones that have 3 events going on right now, with 2 sequels coming) would cut their events in half, and really develop the good ones that occur once a year, their fans would greatly appreciate it and I think they’d see a rise in sales, because customers could pick up more tie-ins and mini-series. Hopefully DC’s new 52 sets a standard and changes things, so far no major block buster events announced, so maybe likewise Marvel will dial back to only 1 or 2 a year, I think it would be easier on fan’s wallets, and allow them to pick up more titles in the long run, and actually be better for sales. Yeah there would be a less number of titles out there for sale, but I believe sales numbers would increase for the titles that are out (which lowers their cost of production and increases profits). So please Marvel, less events equals more developed and better events which leads to happier customers more likely to spend their money on tie-ins, and higher profits for the industry.