Original Alpha Flight

[Garry/Al-Fan]

Over on NEWSARAMA, with pride MARVEL is soliciting a new zombie comic. DC comics is already publishing their zombie epic, DCeased. How low the industry has gone from "With great power there must also come---great responsibility!" to "We're all monsters."

[Le Messor]

The zombie comics are very popular (among people who are not me), so this is probably going to stave off the financial collapse for a while.

As far as degredation goes, some people (also people who are not me) would argue that does not describe what's been going on.

I suspect they're chasing what they think is popular; a few leaders came out (the usual suspects: Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns) that deconstructed the idea of the superhero. They were dark, they changed the way we saw these characters, they were anti-Code.
They were also very popular, so the companies went chasing after those dollars - by copying the tangibles I just listed, rather than how well-crafted they were. (And they are well-done, whatever your subjective feelings may be about them. I could get kicked out of a comics shop for saying this, but I hate them both.)

That eventually became all we could get, for many, many years. Then the companies started to crawl back, and are still doing so, I think - but there are still a lot of the effects of things like that to wash off.

~ Le Messor
"I remember when comics were something you'd escape to, not something you'd escape from."
~ A comics professional, but I can't remember who or find it online

[Garry/Al-Fan]

The DC fans who find zombies entertaining should be the ones trying to find meaning and value in a played-out, brain-dead concept. As long as one zombie exists, there is going to be a problem. If they are not dispatched a certain way, there's going to be a problem. And if there is NO counter to it in the universe, whether it is the MARVEL universe or the DC universe, than all of their so-called "superheroes" have failed. Miserably.

[Phil]

I don't think it's a new thing though.
The minute Punisher or Suicide Squad or Wolverine or Deadpool or any other "anti-heroes" became popular the road was paved.
And possibly even before that with war comics and horror comics generally - Is Nick Fury a hero?

As long as the zombie versions remain alternate universe what if's then they serve a purpose to highlight what would happen if heroes did fail.

I do agree that having them replace 616 characters would be ludicrous.

[Garry/Al-Fan]

Just got the previews (paper-versions) and it is worse than I thought: DC is going all-in with variant zombie covers, line-wide, MARVEL are heralding RESPAWN #1 as "the FIRST ISSUE of this terrifying new vision of the classic Marvel tale!", and I can't believe that we're spending so much time talking about [B]this[B]! Now, the big two will have to keep publishing this junk every few years to exercise and keep the copyright claims to their intellectual property.
Go, Donavann & Matthew Weldon, and Bill Williams (creative team on PUNCHLINE). Go, Joe Benitez and friends on LADY MECHANIKA. Keep up the good work, IMMORTAL HULK team!

[Averyce]

Did people like those Respawn #1 issues?

[Le Messor]

Personally, I'm not getting them; I expect the comics-collecting-world will like them, though.

[Garry/Al-Fan]

I won't buy them. When there is no counter to zombies---not even the Power-not-so-Cosmic---the game's over. "Superheroes" with healing factors that can handle EVERYTHING---except zombie-ism... it's game, set, match. Vileness wins.

[Le Messor]

Further to Garry's point:
When I read (or watch) stories, what I want is a sense of hope. An idea that, no matter how bad things get, the good guys do win, and things get better.

Horror can do that better than other stories, since the 'no matter how bad things get' part is often so much worse than in other stories.

Unstoppable zombies, which you can't do anything about, undermine that.

That's not to say I hate all unhappy endings and 'or did they?' endings, but when there's a sense of futility over it all, it doesn't do it for me; and there are no stakes, because we already know we've lost.
I feel similar about grimdark universes.

~ Le Messor
"Punctuality is the virtue of the bored."
~ Evelyn Waugh

[Garry/Al-Fan]

Since 18,261 copies of the ALPHA FLIGHT: TRUE NORTH one-shot were ordered (according to Comichron), "Canada's Premier Superteam could use some more exposure before enough of an audience can sustain a new series. I propose an 8-page, gate-fold insert like the advertisement/solicitation in the current IMMORTAL HULK (# 28 ), and I suggest placing the 8-page ALPHA FLIGHT insert in 9 comic books: (1) IMMORTAL HULK; (2) Dr. STRANGE; (3) STRANGE ACADEMY; (4) WOLVERINE; (5) CAPTAIN MARVEL; (6) THE AVENGERS; (7) GUARDIANS of the GALAXY; (8 ) HELLIONS, and; (9) THE X-MEN.A short, tight-paced story that re-introduces core ALPHA FLIGHT is what I envision.

[Le Messor]

That's a good way to advertise.

I used to be against marketing and resist the idea that it was so important. Then I began to realise how many things I'd never read (or watched) which I hadn't even known existed. Admittedly, some of them I wouldn't have read/watched anyway, but still: it matters.

~ Le Messor
"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't express."
~ Richard Lawton

[Garry/Al-Fan]

If sales have been declining, year after year, maybe MARVEL should consider getting a few ASSISTANT VPs of content & character development. If an audience isn't being established for new characters/characters intended to make it BIG at the movies, maybe MARVEL should consider finding a place for some experienced comic book veterans who still want to tell good stories.

[Le Messor]

maybe MARVEL should consider finding a place for some experienced comic book veterans who still want to tell good stories.

Agreed.
Good storytelling should be the first concern of all creators

If an audience isn't being established for new characters/characters intended to make it BIG at the movies

There are two problems here:
One, few comics these days are accessible to children. Partly because of content (I wouldn't show kids a lot of the stuff in comics these days), partly because of the death of the spinner racks - basically, you have to go to a comic book shop to get them. Even if there's one in your home town, not everybody is willing to go out of their way to find them, or will even think to.

Two, apparently quite a few people watched the Marvel movies and DID go to comic shops to read about their characters - but none of the characters on their screens were the same as the ones in the books. They'd got legacied out.

Those are things that need to be fixed if the industry is to continue.

~ Le Messor
"The average amount of sleep required by the average person is 'just five more minutes'."
~ Anonymous

[Garry/Al-Fan]

That seems (to me) to be a serious, significant mismatch if what is portrayed at the movies isn't the same as what is in the comic books.

I just hope MARVEL can recapture some of the good sequential storytelling that it used to have, with the kind of craftsmanship and heroes that made it one of the Big Two.

[Le Messor]

It's always been the way; remember when the Blade movies were big hits, and there was no Blade comic book at the time?