It’s always a big deal when an issue #1,000 comes out, as we recently celebrated Action Comics and Detective Comics reaching that milestone! Well, it’s Marvel’s turn, and some news continues to surface about this landmark celebration! Eighty creative groups, wow!
I always have an opinion or two on such a happening, so let me share them here!
MARVEL, PLEASE DO THESE!
Of course, I know that Marvel is the top of the comics heap so they can do whatever they like, but it would be terrific if issue #1,000 would not be expensive. I fear that it will cost $8.99 each, and that will exclude many fans who have budgets they must live by. It is show business after all, so they want to make money, but think of all the fans, not just the ones with fat wallets, please!
I would also like to see creators from Marvel’s days gone by, such as John Romita, Roy Thomas, and Sal Buscema. They have been instrumental in bringing the House of Ideas to its lofty status these days, and to forget them would be disastrous, in my opinion.
I’d also enjoy seeing tribute paid to those from Marvel who have gone on before us, including Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and many others. Again, the House of Ideas wouldn’t be the creative force it is today without them. Maybe pages with some of their best work in them?
I know it’s asking a lot, but what if some of today’s biggest names went to local comics shops for the release of #1,000, and not just the big ones! You might keep a struggling LCS afloat if you send a popular creator to one on that day. Or even a willing actor from the MCU.
Personally, I’d love to see a timeline for Marvel, and it should include the bumps and bruises along the way as well as the highlights. I love knowing how things got the way they are, so it would be cool reading to understand Marvel from the ground up. Then, too, I’d like to know how this is issue #1,000. I’m uncertain just how they arrived at that number because, by my count, they’ve made many more than that if you include all the various titles over the years.
In a related move, it would be awesome for Marvel to talk about what they want to be when they grow up—in other words, where does the House of Ideas go from here. It may only be dreaming, but you might light a creative fire when it comes to moving forward.
MARVEL, PLEASE DON’T DO THESE!
For goodness sake, please don’t break a record and feature 1,000 covers on #1,000. It wasn’t that long ago that an Avengers title had 100 of them, and that left collectors scrambling and regular readers in a quandary as to which cover to buy. Of course I expect there to be many covers, but not TOO many, okay?
I also wouldn’t recommend that Marvel have their Editor-in-Chief talk over the Internet instead of sending out creators to press the flesh with fans. While doing this as part of the overall celebration would be great, it’s so cold and distant to turn the guy into Max Headroom or something. We need the personal touch instead of the World Wide Web way of doing things!
I mentioned previously that I feared this book would have a cover price of $8.99. Honestly, anything more than $4.99 will be budget-busting, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see cover prices of $10.99 or more. Again, show business, but think of ways to bring the cost down so just about every Marvel fan can get in on the action!
It would be awful if this celebration goes on without attention being paid to creators who are women and/or people of color. In today’s environment, we need to be inclusive, not exclusive. The same goes for characters who are female and/or of color.
Marvel also shouldn’t only highlight the positive. There have been some major mistakes along the way, and it would be great to share how those have been important along in Marvel’s development as well.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MARVEL!
I think it’s safe to say that the comics industry would be a very different animal without the House of Ideas. In fact, I’m not sure there would actually BE a comics industry if Marvel weren’t around.
In another fact, I doubt that we’d have local comics shops in our communities if Marvel wasn’t here. A lot of fans wanted their comics on a regular basis, and Marvel still sells more than many of the other companies combined. Without the House of Ideas, I’m not sure we’d even have any LCS’s at all.
Stan Lee worked very hard to make Marvel “accessible” by talking with fans on a level no other company has been able to do. I’d love to see more of that in the days ahead. Now, nobody could be another Stan Lee, but someone could make fans feel more appreciated, among other things.
And I won’t even go on to talk about the MCU’s influence, including the recent success of Endgame. As they have molded the comics industry, they very well might be shaking up the movie industry. Then, on to TV?
I often rag on Marvel by saying that, yes, they are the House of Ideas, but not necessarily good ones. The truth is that if you look “success” up in the comics dictionary, you’ll see the Marvel logo there. And that’s a fact.
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