Every now and then, about once a month, 12 times a year, all year long, Marvel likes to give us "fanboys" a sneak peek into what's coming out. The recent solicitations brought up something that I felt the need to kick around out in the open with the hope that I might understand this insular world that I have embraced to the inner core of my being.One thing I don't get? Fans that get burned about the sudden stream of comic book appearances of a character due to that said character being featured up in a next big super hero blockbuster movie. The new crop of Silver Surfer related projects and appearances is what got me thinking in this direction. You dudes just get hella burnt, you do.
News of the black suit making its appearance in Spider-man 3 and everyone is all "sighs" and whines. Its funny because the people making these kind of remarks are mostly DC fans. As if the idea of Marvel trying to get some extra dollars by indirectly tieing in some of their comic books to their corresponding movies really turns your screw. However, when DC puts out a Silver Age collection of classic Brainac stories around the same time the latest Superman movie comes out in which Brainac is the feature villian, everyone is all "These stories are blowing mind! Yippie skippy!" Not trying to stir things up, its just an observation. Marvel fans get like that, too. Recently at New Joe Fridays, someone had to question Marvel's reasoning behind the Back In Black storyline. You almost feel like the Powers That Be have to apologize for the forthcoming movies editorializing the comics. Don't know about you, but it seems the way to run a business is to capitalize upon any kind of success and milk it for all its worth. When you're done with that, slap a variant cover on that summabitch!
Also, while we're vaguely on the subject of new solicitations....anyone notice a lack of the Black Panther title being solicited? Has it been canceled and I just missed it? If it was officially canceled, I imagine there would have been a nice little storm of thinly veiled racism and the subsequent commentary making its way across my screen. Until now, nothing yet.
3 comments:
It's never really bugged me, especially if a movie leads to some better stuff coming out (as the Ghost Rider movie led to the team-ups trade that is all kinds of awesome). I think a lot of readers like to believe that the writers come up with these stories with absolutely no editorial or marketing input, which is pretty much all wrong. I have a feeling most of the plot points of main books, especially around movie-time are dicatated to the creators, as it should be since Marvel and DC are businesses who (rightly so) want to maximize their profits. It just sucks that they sometimes resort to using dreck like "Back in Black" to do so.
I have a feeling that Black Panther is just delayed since by then it'll still be in the middle of its "zombie" arc, and they kill a zombie book.
With Back In Black, I get a feeling that it was partially movie editorializing and partially Mark Millar saying "....and at the end of Civil War, Spider-man will have his black costume on!" Because that would be Earth Shattering! and Amazing! Or something. Its a shame that editorializing can get in the way, but its corporate comics. I read them like I watch my blockbusters. Most times I expect them to be full of explosions and beautiful looking people being overly dramatic. And when I don't want that, I get my indy on, which has been more often than not lately.
If that lacks coherence, its because I'm way tired and a little bit stupid right now.
I like Black Panther the character, but Hudlin has zero subtlety. His story are basically "Look how cool Black Panther is! All the ladies love him! He's black and takes no crap!" It's like Marvel BET, and I don't sponsor any network that shows "Blackbuster Movies." It's almost demeaning to me, no matter how well-intentioned.
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