• A-Force: I liked the first issue, the cast is not bad (though not what I would have chosen for the first all-female Avengers team - except for Carol and Shulkie. Besides them, I would have picked Wanda, Jan and Monica, if anyone is wondering; I’m fine with Nico as well, and would like to see her interact with Wanda. Anyway…), though I’m not exactly sure how that will work out in a post-Secret Wars world (which is probably 616 + a few characters from other universes). G. Willow Wilson and Ibanez are great.
• Doctor Strange: okay, I don’t like how Bachalo portrays magic stuff, and I find a lot of his art way too confusing, but it’s Jason Aaron writing a new Stephen solo, that’s all I care about.
• Extraordinary X-Men: say this name out loud. It has a nice ring to it, right? I loved Lemire’s CBR interview, he seems really committed to what he’s doing here. The team is good, and I predict a lot of feels from Storm, Kurt, Colossus and Old Man Logan sharing panels. Not a fan of this whole “terrigen mists fucking up mutantkind” thing, but fuck, I’ll read anything X-Men, especially with Storm as leader! Not a fan of Ramos, though.
• Uncanny X-Men (Volume what, 4?): dammit, Marvel, you give us Cullen Bunn writing the sequel to his Magneto saga in teambook form, as I’ve always hoped it would be, and put Greg Land as the artist?! FUCK YOU, MARVEL! As if enduring him in the Gillen age wasn’t enough! *sigh* Again, I’ll read anything X-Men, and that’s certainly what they’re counting on (so few X-books that us, their most picky fans, will just roll with it - or, even better, drop the titles so they can get rid of the X-Men for good). I would have liked to see Mags back on a team with Storm and Emma, but at this point I’m just glad Land won’t put his hands on them. And hey, it looks as though Creed is back to his old 90’s self, no inversion nonsense, so there’s that. Let us just hope Mystique has gotten over this nonsensical thing about Xavier being the love of her life, and that Psylocke and Fantomex don’t spend all their time behaving as they did in the two Uncanny X-Force’s. Oh, and please let Magneto have his hair back - besides the obvious fact that we all miss his beautiful silver locks, I don’t think I can handle Land drawing his bald head (we all know what he would use as base for tracing that…)
• All-New X-Men: ah, no Bendis around, excellent. Hopeless is good writing kids - as long as he doesn’t kill any of them this time… I’ve always been more inclined to reading a book about the Original 5 returning to the past and keeping their memories, so we would get a new AU, but whatever, this sounds good too. Why no Jean, though? I could do without Laura on this team.
• Old Man Logan: not my favorite Logan, but since we can’t get the 616 version back… And how many books is Lemire writing, after all?!
• Captain Marvel: unpopular opinion - I’m not a fan of Kelly Sue’s Carol. So, yeah, I really want this new team to make me love the character as much as I used to before Marvel started trying so hard. And Kris Anka!
• The Totally Awesome Hulk: this will either be Marvel’s new Hawkguy, or their biggest flop of the decade. And, gods, I hope Amadeus Cho is this new Hulk! First time I’m picking up one of these since PAD! (and Greg Pak + Frank Cho!)
• Scarlet Witch: first of all, FINALLY!!! James Robinson is not the writer I would have chosen, but he’s competent. The cover art is gorgeous, but who’s on the inside art? Wada himself? Please let that be the case! If not, then Coipel! Okay, we still don’t know anything about the book (and why is this the only book without an artist announced?), we probably won’t until SDCC (next week!), but I’m actually excited about this again!
• Hawkeye: Old Man Clint? Hell yeah!
• Web Warriors: I liked Spider-Verse, I like this cast, this might be interesting.
• Daredevil: is that Gambit?! Anyway, I’m always up to reading books about lawyers written by Soule!
• Howling Commandos of SHIELD: the name threw me off, but then I looked at that cast and… well, it’s fucked up enough that I’m going to check it out. I’ll be very disappointed if this ends up being a traditional SHIELD story.
• Uncanny Inhumans: I liked issue 0 more than I liked any issue of “Inhuman”. Let’s see if this stays that good.
• Karnak: a Karnak solo is not something I ever thought I’d see, or that I’d want to see, but written by Warren Ellis?! I’ll read at least the five or six issues he’ll probably write before moving on.
• Squadron Supreme: I love this, and I’d probably read anything with an Alex Ross cover. And Hyperion!
• Sam Wilson, Captain America: this can’t be worse than Remender’s run, right? And hey, Acuna art! (I do like that cover) Okay, I’m divided here.

• Nova: I’d be more interested in this if that was Rich Rider, but it’s probably Sam’s dad, right? Oh well.
• Uncanny Avengers Vol. 3: aka “Deadpool gets a team”. Because two volumes of Uncanny Avengers were such a success… Okay, look, I sort of like Gerry Duggan, and I’m curious as to what UA without Remender would be like, but I’d be more interested if this was a reworked version of the original pitch (X-Men and Avengers banding together in defense of mutantkind!), which doesn’t seem to be the case here. And, fuck you, Marvel! When you finally put Pietro and Steve back in a team together, you take Wanda away?! This would have been a great opportunity for a “Cap’s Kooky Quartet does The Big Chill” book, but, oh well…
• All-New All-Different Avengers: see, this is where it gets frustrating. The creative team is amazing, but the cast… I get that you have to mix things up sometimes, but putting a bunch of people who aren’t really that close together is not really that interesting anymore; that seems to be the only thing Marvel has done for years, or at the very least since Marvel Now. Plus, it features two characters I hate, prominently. Sorry Kamala, not even my love for you is enough.
• Contest of Champions: I love the Maestro, but I think I’d rather reread the old Contest stories..
• Spider-Woman: I know I said I wouldn’t comment on titles that are simply relaunched as they were but… WTF, Marvel? The Manara situation wasn’t enough, you have to attract even more criticism with careless decisions?
• Vision: I could go on and on about how creepy this particular dudebro is, especially when creating an artificial wife and kids so they can exist solely to fulfill his own family fantasies and sense of self-worth, how frustrating that Marvel continues to consider him “representation” (of what? refrigerators? Toasters? Minivans?) and how they probably won’t point out how problematic his behavior is, but I’ll just leave you with a good friend’s words on the matter:

“The whole premise of that Vision book is creepy and unfortunate. Male characters making wives and children so that they can have the perfect nuclear family of their dreams is not a neat story idea unless those male characters are villains. That is a horror story. It is not heartwarming. It does not endear me to Vision. I was annoyed enough when he talked Wanda into making children because of his low self-esteem. This is even worse.”

• New Avengers Vol. 4, Illuminati, Ultimates, Drax, Venom Spaceknight, All-New Wolverine: all so uninspiring I don’t even know what to write about them.

As one might have already surmised, Marvel finds itself in a rather unusual and awkward predicament in regard to its storied history. The Fantastic Four have disappeared from virtually everything Marvel does outside of publishing actual comic books (and even that now seems to be on hold). There’s nothing on the website. There are no licensed products to speak of. This, of course, could all just be a coincidence. Perhaps the marketing people want to draw attention to what is hot right now. It’s a possibility, however unlikely. But it is the efforts to remove the Fan Four from public view that belies this generous interpretation. Marvel has recently engaged in a concerted campaign to revise its history in a way to support its current and future film and television projects. The company, owned by Disney (which has always had a tenuous grip on history), is attempting to erase characters from our collective memory. This works well with the majority of Americans, since devoted comic book readers and fans comprise only a small portion of the general public. It is much more difficult, however, for Marvel to speak to committed readers of its publications in the same way. Here, it seems they want to have their cake and eat it, too. After all, how can the Fantastic Four, the team and title that started it all, simply be forgotten?

[…]

And so what’s the likely impact of this dual strategy for Marvel? Will it in fact succeed in not promoting the Fantastic Four film and eventual DVD release? Probably, but there’s no way to really know. Would someone who saw the Marvel 75th anniversary cover last year and noticed the Thing been more likely to go see the movie? It’s unlikely. And would someone who purchased the Secret Wars shirt and caught a glimpse of the Human Torch been clued into the film’s August release? Doubtful. This concerted effort to deemphasize and then erase the Fan Four from the public consciousness seems to be rather sad and petty. At the end of the day, one could argue that this strategy was enacted more out of spiteful reasons than financial ones.

And will the strategy disillusion the hardcore fans who, Marvel hopes, will subscribe to Marvel Unlimited and purchase the high price hardcovers and trades? This question is a bit trickier. Maybe not. But the more publicity these actions receive, the more likely that committed fans will become frustrated. Marvel has tried to avoid discussing these moves and, when pushed, offered defensive and evasive answers. Would devoted fans of the Fantastic Four become so upset by these decisions that they choose not to purchase the expensive products Marvel continues to produce? It’s unlikely, but possible. Many Marvel fans can’t buy a shirt, a statue, or a poster of their favorite characters. Fan Four toys for their kids or accessories for their office are out of the question. This likely irks many of those who love the characters. And one has to wonder if the trade-off is worth it. Wouldn’t the spending of committed fans — and even the general public — on merchandise that included the Fantastic Four off-set any possible unintended promotional value Marvel’s products might provide to the film (a figure that would be impossible to quantify anyhow)? The answer is likely yes. Thus, not only is there ill will generated by this decision, there are lost profits. And rare is the example where a company chooses to earn less money than it otherwise might. Even Reed Richards would have a hard time figuring that one out.

GIF by gameraboy

1 - we’re not gonna take it (twisted sister) | 2 - f*ck you (lily allen) | 3 - i’m down (the beatles) | 4 - weballergy (sonata arctica) | 5 - somebody that i used to know (gotye) | 6 - american idiot (green day) | 7 - if looks could kill (heart) | 8 - shut up (kelly osbourne) | 9 - tainted love (marilyn manson) | 10 - denying (spice girls) | 11 - f*ck you (cee-lo green) | 12 - edge of a broken heart (vixen) | 13 - another one bites the dust (queen) | 14 - learn to listen (ramones) | 15 - i will survive (gloria gaynor) | 16 - goodbye (eddie vedder)