Marvel Legacy: 8 Reasons The Fans Should Be Worried
If in doubt, relaunch!
That relaunch button will be worn out at Marvel Comics if they keep this up.
This time the House of M is looking to the past to usher its line towards a more lucrative future with the Marvel Legacy launch, an initiative that promises to shift the spotlight back towards its classic heroes.
Marvel is billing the event as a major continuity buster - aren't they all - but the fan reaction has been mixed at best, and why shouldn't the true believers be skeptical?
Between its long-running distribution problems, pricing issues and its cancellation-happy execs, Marvel Comics has a lot of fences to mend with this initiative, and one has to wonder whether this is the fresh start it needs.
The relaunch will kick off with the Marvel Legacy #1 one-shot in the autumn, after which 53 of the publisher's series will revert to their classic cumulative numbering system and sport old-school cover designs that pay homage to its vintage output.
Phrases like 'back to basics' are being bandied about, but hang on, didn't DC do something just like this a year ago? It certainly did, but Rebirth comparisons could be the least of Marvel's worries when this soft relaunch is initiated.
8. Event Fatigue
None can deny that Marvel Comics could use a fresh start, but the more we read about the Legacy initiative, the more we're convinced it's just another "event" designed to kickstart flagging print sales.
This is going to change the landscape of the Marvel Universe, they tell us. Sure, for all of five minutes until the next continuity-smashing storyline comes along.
Marvel was on a roll at the turn of the decade as The Siege event made way for the Heroic Age. The publisher appeared to be avoiding many of the pitfalls DC had plummeted into with its New 52 reboot.
But the Heroic Age quickly became Avengers Vs. X-Men, and AvX made way for Marvel Now, both of which were billed with the same status quo-busting tagline.
This tired trend continued with Secret Wars, Civil War II, Spider-Man: Clone Conspiracy, and most recently Secret Empire - will... it... ever... end?
How about letting the dust settle from your previous event before giving your writers free reign to deconstruct the universe for the umptenth time?