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Is it just me, or is Marvel unraveling before our
eyes? Ok, it might just be me, but it sure looks
like it. Let's start with the top of the list.
Marvel doesn't go to San Diego Comicon. This might
seem fairly minor upon very first glance, but
let's think about this. SDCC is the largest,
longest running, most well-known comic convention
in this country, and it goes beyond comics now,
into cards, movies, and damned near any
entertainment venue you can find out there. Plus,
Marvel is trying to build and maintain Hollywood
contacts, and if you're doing that, San Diego is
the place, as far as a comic convention goes.
Trusting to Avi Arad and Stan Lee will only get
you so far. Nearly every comic company, large and
small, looking to get a little publicity will go
to San Diego, for all these reasons, as well as
others.
Does Marvel? No! Of course not! They claim it was
a cost-saving measure, but everyone I've talked to
sees this as a total load. Marvel has always been
at San Diego, even during the time when they were
bankrupt, and now they're raking in cash, hand
over fist, due to the recent string of hit movies,
and the increased sales in general of their comic
line. Why the cost-saving? If you want to make an
impression, you go to San Diego. It is The Place
to Be, really.
Marvel's not saving costs by missing any of
Wizard's conventions, that's for sure. Rather than
go to the biggest and the oldest, they went to
WizardWorld Philadelphia, which was celebrating
it's landmark second convention!
Now, it's just not the lack of attendance to San
Diego, but what happened there. Topping the list
is something of interest to readers of this
column, and that was DC signing Grant Morrison to
an exclusive two-year contract.
I'll take this opportunity to pause and cheer over
Grant Morrison's last issue of New X-Men being
#154. Sure, the odds are good we might get someone
as bad, or worse for the book, but there is some
hope they could get someone better.
DC also signed on a number of other exclusives
that took more talent away from Marvel. There's
also the recent debacle over Mark Waid being fired
from FF. Everything I see points to Marvel
unraveling before our very eyes, and it just
ain't pretty. I've personally seen this as a long
time coming, and it's all starting to hit the fan.
They're losing many of their big names to DC and
CrossGen, and the talent they do have is stretched
so thin covering so many books, that the quality
is obviously suffering, they're tossing good
writers from titles that have increasing sales,
and are annoying fans - to put it mildly - at
almost every corner.
Hopefully, someone higher up than Bill Jemas is
realising what is happening to the company, and
that this does threaten their longevity in the
market, and begins to steer the company ship back
onto a sane course. If things continue as
many folks, myself included, see as the most
likely path they could take at this time, if left
unattended, then the entire comics industry will
suffer.
Yeah, this month strayed a bit away from the X-Men
proper, but keeping an eye on the company that
gives us the X-Men, and making sure they don't
screw over the industry in a quick grab to line
their pockets before deep-sixing the place, is
something everyone should be wary of.
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