Comic Book Resources

The Fifth Color | Avengers Avengers AVENGERS with Marvel Comics in April 2012

Marvel started using bullet points. When you scroll through the list of comics debuting in April, there’s not a comic that has a paragraph-style description, it’s all just bullet points. Now, don’t get me wrong, sometimes those paragraphs all started to blur together after awhile and the slew of outrageous questions continues (“Who is this guy/gal? What’s going on? How will they survive?” etc.), everything has been distilled down to three or so talking points. Some of these talking points include story information like who’s appearing in these books, some just point out that this book will tie into another event like AvX, others just shout at you that this is the book where EVERYTHING CHANGES. Something tells me this says a lot about comic book marketing, but that’s for another time.

Right now, we’re looking at the April 2012 solicitations for Marvel Comics and hey kids, do you like… the Avengers? Marvel sure hopes you do, so let’s take a look at what the month before the Avengers movie debuts and EVERYTHING- well, you know.

Right off the bat, does any one think the X-Men are going to get a fair shake in this Versus event? Like, somehow, they might win this one or be seen less as the villains in the greater storyline? That’s the trick; in ‘sports entertainment’, when two face wrestlers go at it, there either has to be a sense of villainy from afar that’s making them fight or one of them has to slip into the Heel’s role and cheat or start showing a little too much pride. My guess is that the X-Men are going to be the boasting, ‘you people’ bad guys in this event because six out of the thirteen or so Avengers books published this month are AvX tie-ins and the X-Men are only getting two. We’ll be seeing more of a Avengers-centric point of view on this one, which makes sense. I mean, who’s got a movie coming out next month?

The Avengers! We’ll be mere weeks away form the May 4 release of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the silver screen and I’m sure you all know that this means the usual spasm of Avengers and Avengers accessories will be on display at your local comic shop. There’s a lot of books to side-step current goings-on if the idea of checking in on the Avengers in the midst of an ongoing event seems too distasteful or daunting, like Bendis’s Avengers Assemble and the delightful return of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Adventures. We’ll have reprints of the first Avengers #1 and a handbook detailing the Avengers’s salient points (like Charlie-27?) and what I’d like to think is a guide to all the varied titles in the Avengers line-up: “Plus: Avengers Academy, Secret Avengers, An Update On The Team Itself And A Full Feature Profile On Hawkeye (Clint Barton)!” I like the idea of a little road map to the different titles on display and why you might read one over another, but $4.99 seems a bit steep for new readers to pick up profiles on Avengers people might never see in the current books and some backmatter promotion. An Avengers dossier on current events at a cheaper price might have been the better way to go.

Speaking of price, 12 issues of AvX is going to cost you around 50 bucks (plus tax, minus LCS discounts, etc.). There are 40 copies of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sold New on Amazon for $20.00 and up. Discuss.

On the flip side, the “Omega Effect” runs through Avenging Spider-Man #6, The Punisher #10 and Daredevil #11. A three-issue event with a clever idea that won’t end all life everywhere as we know it and will add character changing events that will last through their respective titles. I know these smaller events don’t get as much press as they should, but maybe if we vote more with our wallets and start keeping an eye out for the tiny tie-in, maybe we’ll see more of them.

It’s not that I don’t like heart-stopping adventure and the idea that this issue is where EVERYTHING CHANGES, but if you see the threat of death and destruction enough, you start to lose your appetite. Case in point:

Incredible Hulk #7 – “We Dare Not Reveal More! We Wouldn’t Want To Spoil What Is Sure To Be One Of The Most Exciting Comics Of The Year!”

The Twelve #12 (Of 12) – “All Your Questions Are Answered And Nothing Can Prepare You For What’s Next…!”

Thunderbolts #172 & #173 – “Now, The ‘Bolts Of The Modern Day Come Crashing Into Their Earliest Days – And Will Make A Decision That May Destroy The Marvel U – Or Save It!”

New Mutants #40 & #41 – “Can They Stop The Virulent Mutation Of The Animator Before It Engulfs The Whole World?”

It’s like the bullet point solicitations; yes, it’s an eye-catching news note, but it seems a little empty.

Speaking of eye-catching news notes, from Winter Solider #4: “Bucky Vs A Gorilla! You Heard Me, Look At That Cover.” See? Not everything has to shout or yell. Sometimes a guy fighting a gorilla with a machine gun is enough.

Also? Defenders #5: “How Does Namor’s History Intertwine With… Captain Nemo?”

Hee, that’s gets me every time…

Meanwhile, there are two milestones that we’ll pass by in April: the changing of the writerly guard on Wolverine and the fiftieth issue of the (red) Hulk. Yeah, that last one surprises me; it doesn’t seem so long ago that Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness were punching out the Watcher and punking out Thor in space, but here we are. Jeff Parker has sort of turned that book around from the World War Hulks days and brought it towards the adventure smashing book Marvel has wanted for awhile. There’s not a lot of the Bill Bixby-esque drama, the man versus his inner nature pathos that comes from Bruce Banner so effortlessly. There is however fights and explosions, villains and heroes, robots and Nazis and it all really works. Sadly, I wish there was a better name for it and a different man behind the monster, but the Red Hulk is a pretty solid book now so I’ll certainly salute a 50th issue.

The other big change is that Jason Aaron is leaving Wolverine at #304 and Cullen Bunn is taking over in the same month at #305. Thanks to the bullet point style solicitation, I honestly don’t know a lot about Mr. Bunn; he’s a rising star and his previous titles include Fear Itself: The Fearless, The Damned and The Sixth Gun. That’s all they bother to say, which sells the guy incredibly short, especially when he’s taking over the solo title of one of Marvel’s most popular characters. How about telling us he was nominated for the Harvey Awards for his series The Sixth Gun as Best New Series and Bunn himself was nominated for Best Writer. Yes, this is the start of a new storyline, but can we give readers and retailers any more information?   Why is there no love for Paul Pelletier and his past work on War of Kings, Fantastic Four or Fall of the Hulks?  How about another picture idea that’s not Wolverine standing in/nearby fire? Jason Aaron’s Wolverine, in my small opinion, wavered between amazing to pretty standard stock stuff, so there’s no way to judge based on previous storylines how this is going to go. We know Aaron is going to finish out a fight with Sabretooth and then… I guess, Bunn’s Wolverine will stand knee deep in lava. Jason Aaron won’t close the door on this title without slamming it, so expect big things from Wolverine #304. As for the next issue, I guess we can all keep a tight watch over the comic news sites (like us!) for more on what’s ahead.

And speaking of promotion, the solicitation for Mark Millar’s new title the Secret Service reads as follows:

“Secret Service Is The Ramifications Of [How] America Is Struggling On The World Stage, Funding Is Being Seriously Undercut To Balance The Books And Some People Are Trying Their Best To Take Advantage Of The Fragile Global Situation. The Hero And Sidekick Guys Who Lead The Book Are, I Think, The Best Characters I’ve Written.”

I like the idea that there is nothing Marvel could say in praise that Millar couldn’t say himself.

Can you believe that there are something like 40-some trades coming out this month? Are you excited that Bendis’ early work Goldfish is getting a new printing? Who was asking about the Dazzler and Beast epic from 1984? And have we lost count on how many printings X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga has gone through? Take a look at the entire solicitation for Marvel Comics coming up in April and sound off below. Excelsior!