Marvel Comics has released a video to its YouTube channel announcing a fresh start in 2018 scrapping the previous attempts like Marvel Now and Legacy. Legacy in particular is a very recent initiative which saw fresh starts for a number of books which also reinstated the old legacy numbering. This resulted in historical events, which Marvel cashed in on with their premium “event” cover prices, like The Mighty Thor #700 ($5.99 cover price) and Amazing Spider-Man #800.
Promising “New Creative Teams. New Series. New Directions. New Beginnings.” series will scrap the new numbering system introduced in Legacy and will reboot series back to first issues including a brand new Avengers series by Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness. That first issue will see the debut of the new team full of characters appearing in movies including Thor, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Iron Man and Doctor Strange. Better yet this will be the only Avengers book which will see the stopping of Uncanny Avengers, New Avengers, Occupy Avengers, West Coast Avengers, Part-Time Avengers and all the other titles which have diluted the Avengers brand.
Remember that Marvel Legacy, which just rolled out late last year, breathlessly promised “MARVEL LEGACY will usher in the dramatic return of dozens of its most beloved heroes, villains, teams and artifacts in bold stories that will begin the next chapter of the Marvel Universe. A return to original series numbering will serve as a rallying cry for old fans, and a dynamic new trade dress will signal a clean jumping-on point for new readers.”
It is obvious that those efforts were not successful and a serious streamlining of the line was in order. Whether this fresh start will be successful long-term remains to be seen but you have to give Marvel credit for not being afraid to hit the reboot button yet again, although the sales boost from all those new #1’s also won’t hurt. The only question remaining is if Marvel has gone to the well one to many times with repeated reboots and if fans will finally stop caring. Here is a hint: they don’t call them “Marvel Zombies” for nothing.
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