This is part of the reason Marvel and I are not best friends. They tend to make things really confusing. No, I’m not talking about replacing Peter Parker with Doc Ock or why every book now has time travel after saying that time is broken and they can’t time travel anymore in Age of Ultron #10 or why Kitty acted the way she did at the end of Battle of the Atom (but I’d like someone to explain that one to me too). What I am talking about is Marvel and all of their new #1s.
It started in last month’s Previews with “AVENGERS #24.NOW = AVENGERS #1 IN ALL-NEW MARVEL NOW!” And there is a great big (really big!) #1 on the cover. Of issue #24.
So, my thought was, ok they will have some sort of dual numbering thing going on, but it still didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. A cheap way to have a #1 without actually having a new #1. (See, I still don’t get it).
Then at New York Comicon, they announced a bunch more of these. In the new Previews, we have all of these books that aren’t new #1s getting the All New Marvel NOW! #1 treatment:
All New X-Men
Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers AI
Thunderbolts
Savage Wolverine
And they all have the great big #1 on the cover.
Here is where my confusion arises. The solicit is also there for Avengers #25. But there is no mention of #2. So are they seriously just going to start slapping a giant #1 on the cover of various issues of there books with no follow up?
My concern is this: Joe Blow comes in. Sees Avengers #1. Buys it. Likes it. Comes back for #2. I now have to explain to him that #25 is the next issue. Do you see my problem here? All of a sudden, I am tasked with trying to explain that, no, there is no #2. #25 is #2. And then the next month I get to do it again for 5 more titles. Even if they are hugely successful in bringing in new readers because of these fake new #1s, they are then just leaving us flapping in the wind, doing our best to explain to people Marvel’s fascination with #1s. They are making my life tough for no real reason.
So I’m honestly asking if anyone out there has any idea what is going on here.
And how do I know that this is just a stunt to try to inflate their numbers? My final numbers for Avengers #24 are due today. And they, magically, are offering a special incentive on the issue. If I order more than 150% of my order of Infinity #2, I can get an extra discount. I can actually get 150 (err 151) for the same price that I could order 100. And I can get that polybagged one with the huge poster, but to get that I have to exceed 200% of my order of Avengers #17. I’m not really sure that I’ll need twice as many #24 as I did of #17. Oh and you have to order that many of the regular cover just to be able to order the variant. I can’t order that many of the variants, just 200% of the cover that now no one will want. And did I mention that they just raised the price from $3.99 to $4.99 on Thursday. And it gets better. I see that this isn’t even shipping until 12/24. Why I am having to order this 7 weeks before it ships? Final Order Cutoff is supposed to be 3 weeks before the book ships.
Sigh…
And this is why I am not a huge fan of the way Marvel does business.