[scarletneedle]

Hop :

[QUOTE]Over the last two weeks, Marvel Comics announced first a series of homage covers for all their ongoing series from October as part of their Marvel Legacy promotion, which included a number of brand new titles. The next week, Marvel announced the new issue numbering of all the comics, bringing “legacy” numbering to the titles, as if none of them had ever been relaunched. And alongside this, they announced the titles of the first stories of each of the books.

However, far from the industry-changing announcements promised, this seemed like business as usual. The hype felt unwarranted, and many readers and fans complained that they had been misled. They weren’t alone — because a lot of this was news to the actual comic book creators.

Most Marvel creators didn’t actually know about the Legacy homage covers before they were released, and most of the cover illustrations chosen barely resemble the content inside the comic books in question. The main creative teams on the comic books weren’t aware of most of them until the covers were posted by Marvel.

Indeed, when Marvel Comics announced an industry-changing initiative with Marvel Legacy, most Marvel creators were baffled. There’s been endless speculation on the whole situation, wondering if Disney was stepping in for big advertising or if Marvel was leaving Diamond Comic Distributors. Creators were as nonplussed by the homage variant covers as everyone else.

And there was a similar reaction to the Marvel Legacy/Make Mine Marvel story title announcements, most being decided by marketing and editorial without the writers having a say…cue similar bafflement being gossiped between creators again.

This makes for a perfect opportunity for DC Comics to start a little creative headhunting for next year, promising a company that (these days) at least clues the creators in a little as to what is going on.

Expect this to be a hot topic of conversation in the Hyatt, Hilton and Omni hotel bars this coming San Diego Comic-Con. As ever, Bleeding Cool maintains a strict policy of confidence for anyone who wants to get in touch…[/QUOTE]