11 titles to return to original numbering as part of Marvel Legacy
By D. Goodman
Word has come out of Heroescon that at least 11 ongoing titles will be returning to their original numbering as part of Marvel Legacy.
It has not been a great time to be Marvel Comics the last few years.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to be a huge hit with moviegoers, raking in money almost as fast as the U.S. government can print it, that success has not translated to the comics. Sales for Marvel titles are down across the board, readers are defecting to other publishers and worst of all, it seems like Marvel is turning a deaf ear to what fans want.
Marvel has published huge crossover event after huge crossover event, with results for each one worse than the one before it. Civil War II was a disaster sales-wise, as was Monsters Unleashed, Original Sin and any event not named Secret Wars.
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Worst of all was the constant relaunches and renumbering. Books were cancelled and relaunched almost yearly or with the arrival of a new creative team. Almost no book had a chance to see issue #25, with the joy of buying a one hundredth or two hundredth issue apparently a thing of the past.
But Marvel may finally be listening, at least when it comes to the renumbering.
First Venom went from issue #6 to issue #150, which when you use Marvel Math is where the title would have been if it hadn’t been published as a series of miniseries and cancelled titles. This August The Ultimates 2 will go from #10 to #100, but I’m still not sure how that math adds up if I’m being honest.
Now Bleeding Cool is reporting that word out of Heroescon this past weekend is that 11 more Marvel titles will be returning to their original numbering as part of Marvel Legacy, the kinda/sorta like DC Rebirth reboot that isn’t really a reboot.
The list of titles is as follows:
- Amazing Spider-Man #788
- Spider-Gwen #28
- Spider-Man/Deadpool #1770
- Captain America #694
- Hulk #708
- Iron Man #593
- Guardians Of The Galaxy #146
- Black Panther #165
- Daredevil #594
- Gwenpool #21
- Iron Fist #72
Some of those make perfect sense, such as Amazing Spider-Man, Hulk and Iron Man. Others, like Guardians of the Galaxy and Gwenpool, I’m not so sure about. And no, I have no clue how Spider-Man/Deadpool can be up to issue #1770, but given we’re talking about Deadpool here, who cares?
No X-Men titles are present on the list and it also looks like we’ll be getting a lot of big anniversary issues over the next year or so.
But my real hope is that this isn’t a one-time gimmick and Marvel actually sticks to the new numbering. Canceling books to relaunch them with new first issues over and over just doesn’t work, as has been proven time and again.
Must Read: Preview: Spider-Men II from Marvel
Marvel Legacy begins with a one-shot by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic this fall with a gatefold cover by Joe Quesada. From there they are promising a return to greatness for Marvel Comics and a renewed focus of its history.
We shall see.