Rabbitearsblog

Sorry I haven't been on Comic Vine for awhile, but because I was spending so much time with posting videos on You Tube and keeping...

6721 0 36 150
Forum Posts Wiki Points Following Followers

Is Marvel NOW a good place for new readers to start?

No Caption Provided

For months now, Marvel has announced the coming of Marvel NOW and now that it is finally here, would this be a good place for new readers to jump into their favorite stories?  

No Caption Provided


Basically, Marvel NOW was started after the big event “ Avengers vs. X-Men” and even though it is set up as a chance for new readers to dive into Marvel Comics, would new readers be able to jump into the stories quite as easily?  
 
In my opinion, while it’s great that Marvel NOW is switching creative teams, creating new titles ( Uncanny Avengers and Cable and X-Force), and relaunching some of their titles (Uncanny X-Force and Uncanny X-Men), I think that new readers still might have some trouble trying to jump into these new titles because the events of Marvel NOW were started right after “Avengers vs. X-Men.”  Sure, all the new readers have to do is read “Avengers vs. X-Men” to get the full gist of the new direction that Marvel NOW is taking the characters, but what happens if they want to know how “Avengers vs. X-Men” was started in the first place?  They would have to read “ Civil War,” “ House of M" to find out how the mutant population was decimated,  “ Schism”  to find out why the X-Men are split up and many other events that started before “Avengers vs. X-Men” to get the full idea of where “Avengers vs. X-Men” came from.   Now, whenever I think of a good place for new readers to start reading stories in comics, I usually think of brand new stories where readers can just jump in without having to worry about past stories to get them to understand the full gist of the story being told.  For example, I liked what Grant Morrison did with “ New X-Men” by giving a new story about the X-Men, but still have the story to be set in the same universe as the previous stories and you don’t necessarily have to read any past X-Men events to get the full gist of the story.  Sure, new readers wouldn't have much to read back on to understand "Avengers vs. X-Men," but if Marvel NOW is meant to be a new start for the characters, then there should be new stories that are not left over from past stories to really help new readers jump into the stories easily.   Of course, it's not quite certain if all the titles in Marvel NOW will follow the events of "Avengers vs. X-Men" ( Fantastic Four and Deadpool are possibilities of not following the events) but we will have to wait and see more from Marvel NOW to see where this new direction takes all the characters.
 
So what do you think?   Do you think that Marvel NOW is a good place for new readers to start or do you think that Marvel should have waited on starting Marvel NOW until the leftover tension from "Avengers vs. X-Men" is over and done with?

15 Comments

15 Comments

Avatar image for rabbitearsblog
Rabbitearsblog

6721

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 79

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rabbitearsblog
@jrock85 said:

The only Marvel NOW title I've picked up so far is Thor: God of Thunder, and I think it was fairly accessible to new readers. If anything, Marvel NOW seems to be much more well-organized than the New 52.

I think that Thor: God of Thunder would be good place for new readers also since Thor's series was barely involved in any of the events in the past few years.
Avatar image for innervenom123
InnerVenom123

29886

Forum Posts

1786

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 1

Edited By InnerVenom123

Yes, it's a fine place to start.

Avatar image for rabbitearsblog
Rabbitearsblog

6721

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 79

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rabbitearsblog
@Gambit1024 said:

The only real required reading before Marvel NOW! is AvX (which I didn't read, but know all there is to know), but it's not so bad... depending on the title, anyway. Uncanny Avengers and pretty much any of the X-Men titles are the only ones that I wouldn't consider friendly to new readers so far, but from the titles I have read (Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man's) you can just jump right in.

I agree that titles like Thor, Hulk, Fantastic Four and Iron Man would be easy to jump in because they were mostly self contained stories in a way since they barely got involved in any events that Marvel had, unlike the X-Men and the Avengers, which most of the events over the past few years were based around them.  I also think Superior Spider Man might be a good title to just jump in since it seems to be taking a different direction from The Amazing Spider Man.
Avatar image for gambit1024
Gambit1024

10217

Forum Posts

47

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 9

Edited By Gambit1024

The only real required reading before Marvel NOW! is AvX (which I didn't read, but know all there is to know), but it's not so bad... depending on the title, anyway. Uncanny Avengers and pretty much any of the X-Men titles are the only ones that I wouldn't consider friendly to new readers so far, but from the titles I have read (Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man's) you can just jump right in.

Avatar image for jrock85
jrock85

2882

Forum Posts

2684

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 8

Edited By jrock85

The only Marvel NOW title I've picked up so far is Thor: God of Thunder, and I think it was fairly accessible to new readers. If anything, Marvel NOW seems to be much more well-organized than the New 52.

Avatar image for rabbitearsblog
Rabbitearsblog

6721

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 79

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rabbitearsblog

@SUNMAN said:

For new readers to jump on...........not particularly. It's not a reboot like the new 52.

New readers can still buy the books but its no different than jumping on any other long standing series. I generally give people the benefit of the doubt they can place two and two together and look up what they want to via trades or wikipedia. But as far as being a good jumping on point and being easily accesible to new readers. No not really.

I agree. New readers should decide on whether or not they want to pick up an older series to understand the story.

Avatar image for rabbitearsblog
Rabbitearsblog

6721

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 79

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rabbitearsblog
@feebadger said:

@Rabbitearsblog said:

@feebadger said:

Im not sure how effective a jumping on point i t will be as a lot of the concepts just seem like they might be really confusing to a new reader. I think it all depends on how much they include the A vs X story as part of these starting points. I think these relaunches would be far more effective to new readers if they didn't allude to it at all (at first at least) and just introduce the new teams and concepts as just being what they are without all the confusing backstory. I mean, would anyone want to walk into a new comic that features Bendis writing stories of the original X Men... in the present... with the current X Men still existing... for no apparent reason?

I think if that had been the first comic i had ever picked up i would have vomited, passed out and become instantly and irreversibly dyslexic.

I agree that it would have a little better if the new stories were not really tied into Avengers vs. X-Men so that way, new readers would be able to just jump in without worrying about reading any past stories to understand these stories.

Absolutely. If new readers wanted to go back and find out about what happened previously, then that is their choice, but it certainly shouldn't be a pre-requisite to understanding Marvel Now (which it obviously is going to be for the X Men titles) as this kind of defeats the purpose of relaunching a lot of these titles to encourage new readers.

Exactly!
Avatar image for feebadger
feebadger

1599

Forum Posts

5889

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Edited By feebadger

@Rabbitearsblog said:

@feebadger said:

Im not sure how effective a jumping on point i t will be as a lot of the concepts just seem like they might be really confusing to a new reader. I think it all depends on how much they include the A vs X story as part of these starting points. I think these relaunches would be far more effective to new readers if they didn't allude to it at all (at first at least) and just introduce the new teams and concepts as just being what they are without all the confusing backstory. I mean, would anyone want to walk into a new comic that features Bendis writing stories of the original X Men... in the present... with the current X Men still existing... for no apparent reason?

I think if that had been the first comic i had ever picked up i would have vomited, passed out and become instantly and irreversibly dyslexic.

I agree that it would have a little better if the new stories were not really tied into Avengers vs. X-Men so that way, new readers would be able to just jump in without worrying about reading any past stories to understand these stories.

Absolutely. If new readers wanted to go back and find out about what happened previously, then that is their choice, but it certainly shouldn't be a pre-requisite to understanding Marvel Now (which it obviously is going to be for the X Men titles) as this kind of defeats the purpose of relaunching a lot of these titles to encourage new readers.

Avatar image for rabbitearsblog
Rabbitearsblog

6721

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 79

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rabbitearsblog
@feebadger said:

Im not sure how effective a jumping on point i t will be as a lot of the concepts just seem like they might be really confusing to a new reader. I think it all depends on how much they include the A vs X story as part of these starting points. I think these relaunches would be far more effective to new readers if they didn't allude to it at all (at first at least) and just introduce the new teams and concepts as just being what they are without all the confusing backstory. I mean, would anyone want to walk into a new comic that features Bendis writing stories of the original X Men... in the present... with the current X Men still existing... for no apparent reason?

I think if that had been the first comic i had ever picked up i would have vomited, passed out and become instantly and irreversibly dyslexic.

I agree that it would have a little better if the new stories were not really tied into Avengers vs. X-Men so that way, new readers would be able to just jump in without worrying about reading any past stories to understand these stories.
Avatar image for sunman
SUNMAN

8614

Forum Posts

659

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Edited By SUNMAN

For new readers to jump on...........not particularly. It's not a reboot like the new 52.

New readers can still buy the books but its no different than jumping on any other long standing series. I generally give people the benefit of the doubt they can place two and two together and look up what they want to via trades or wikipedia. But as far as being a good jumping on point and being easily accesible to new readers. No not really.

Avatar image for feebadger
feebadger

1599

Forum Posts

5889

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Edited By feebadger

Im not sure how effective a jumping on point i t will be as a lot of the concepts just seem like they might be really confusing to a new reader. I think it all depends on how much they include the A vs X story as part of these starting points. I think these relaunches would be far more effective to new readers if they didn't allude to it at all (at first at least) and just introduce the new teams and concepts as just being what they are without all the confusing backstory. I mean, would anyone want to walk into a new comic that features Bendis writing stories of the original X Men... in the present... with the current X Men still existing... for no apparent reason?

I think if that had been the first comic i had ever picked up i would have vomited, passed out and become instantly and irreversibly dyslexic.

Avatar image for rabbitearsblog
Rabbitearsblog

6721

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 79

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rabbitearsblog
@lykopis said:

@Rabbitearsblog: Exactly! I already have a strong feeling I won't be too happy with the new book coming out in February under Bendis' pen, so I think I am going to break the habit of keeping X-books for the sake of their being X-books and really take the time to keep the ones I really enjoy.

If I had one complaint that I didn't bring up before, its that I feel forced to delve into the Avengers because my favourite character is in the Uncanny Avengers. I am in the midst of picking up TPBs etc anyway, but it still doesn't sit right with me.

Yeah, I'm not really sure how Bendis will handle the X-Men in the future.
Avatar image for lykopis
lykopis

10845

Forum Posts

40100

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By lykopis

@Rabbitearsblog: Exactly! I already have a strong feeling I won't be too happy with the new book coming out in February under Bendis' pen, so I think I am going to break the habit of keeping X-books for the sake of their being X-books and really take the time to keep the ones I really enjoy.

If I had one complaint that I didn't bring up before, its that I feel forced to delve into the Avengers because my favourite character is in the Uncanny Avengers. I am in the midst of picking up TPBs etc anyway, but it still doesn't sit right with me.

Avatar image for rabbitearsblog
Rabbitearsblog

6721

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 79

User Lists: 3

Edited By Rabbitearsblog
@lykopis said:

Sure it would be a great place to jump on --- that's a really big reason it's happening. It might also be a great time for people to switch to digital or back to issues, or collect TPB etc. For me it'll be an opportunity to clean up my pull-list.

Oh yeah! This would be great for cleaning up pull lists so that way, you can be introduced to new stories without having too many books in your stack.
Avatar image for lykopis
lykopis

10845

Forum Posts

40100

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By lykopis

Sure it would be a great place to jump on --- that's a really big reason it's happening. It might also be a great time for people to switch to digital or back to issues, or collect TPB etc. For me it'll be an opportunity to clean up my pull-list.