Home
D&D
Music
Banner Archive

Marvel Comics Timeline
Godzilla Timeline


RSS

   

« Avengers Arena | Main | Marvel NOW, now. »

I know this is petty...

...but this is the second time i've run across this quote and it bothered me so i might as well get it out of my system:

"We like to break the toys in a way that is responsible and makes sense" [Tom Brevoort] explained, concerning big changes in character lines.

I know he was speaking off the cuff, but when one of the top editors at Marvel mixes metaphors so freely like that, it doesn't give you confidence in their quality control.

This also somewhat dovetails with another random thought of mine. A while back we got a free Marvel calendar, and this month's picture is the promo for Jason Aaron's Wolverine and the X-Men series (here). I haven't read that series. It looks really annoying, just from the few promo images i've seen, including that one. But i was thinking how the "Wolverine as school teacher" idea is a weird evolution for the character. I know he's had Kitty Pryde and Jubilee as sidekicks on and off. But actually teaching a class full of rowdy kids; it's such a departure from the angry wildcard loner that used to be Wolverine's defining characteristic. I'm fine with character growth and evolution and this is one that makes sense. I'm just thinking how difficult it was for Marvel to put the "Spider-Man grew up and got married" genie back in the bottle and wondering if they'll ever run into a similar problem with all their other characters. General Ross is now a Hulk. Flash Thompson is Venom. Professor X is dead. All it will take is one Hulk/Spider-Man/X-Men movie for Marvel to realize they have to undo those things. Does Marvel really think that hard about breaking their toys?

To be clear, i don't want to see Marvel to start putting out Ever-Same stories like Archie or Disney that never evolve. I'm fine with Xavier dying for the, what, third time? As far as i'm concerned he's off preparing for another Z'Nox invasion. And i'd rather Marvel take the risk and evolve the characters even if it turns out to be in a way that's stupid and requires backtracking. I just hope they plan in advance how to fix their toys so we don't have Mephisto showing up to eat any more marriages.

By fnord12 | September 17, 2012, 3:12 PM | Comics


Comments

Most of these changes don't seem that difficult to reverse, though. Several characters have been bonded to the Venom symbiote and then separated from it, so it's easy to do the same with Flash. Similarly, there's no reason Ross can't be cured of the Red Hulk - other characters have been transformed using gamma rays and cured. Xavier is a bit more difficult but we can always say that he survived on the astral plane like the Shadow King and find him a new body.
The real problem Marvel has is that it seems to have had a "no divorces" policy since the Pyms- even Pietro and Crystal were only allowed to get divorced after Pietro killed an innocent man to steal the Mists and expose Luna to them. The result is that writers have to go to ridiculous lengths every time they want to split a married couple up- Scott and Maddie, Peter and MJ, Johnny and Alicia,etc.

For, say, the Red Hulk, it's easy to remove his powers, but i feel like it'll be difficult to get him back into his traditional "Hunts the Hulk with an irrational hatred" status quo, which Marvel may feel the need to do if they ever have a movie along those lines. Even if they come up with a reason to make him hate the Hulk again, we'll always be like "But he WAS a Hulk!".

It's along the same lines as "The Phoenix isn't so bad. RACHEL SUMMERS was the Phoenix."

With Flash it's just about giving a normal supporting character super-powers. I feel like Marvel went through a lot of trouble with Brand New Day to set up a status quo where the Spidey support cast would be recognizable to a movie audience and then they went and gave Flash Spidey-related super powers. He can never go back to just being Spidey's #1 fan and Peter Parker's rival. (I haven't read any Brand New Day so i don't know the degree to which this was actually the case. But broadly speaking even after college and 'Nam, Flash could still play that role if necessary.)

The marriage situation is the worst though. And even after all the examples you list, Marvel still had Storm and Black Panther get married and then had to awkwardly backtrack. But at least it wasn't a continuity-rewriting reversal, which is all i really worry about.

Reference from SuperMegaMonkey

Anyway, these final arcs were clearly in "unbreaking the toys" mode; bringing back Janet and restoring Dr. Strange... i was half expecting Jack of Hearts to pop back up.    Read More: SuperMegaSpeed Reviews

Reference from SuperMegaMonkey

What will annoy me is if they really are dead and Marvel resurrects them a year from now in another book by another writer. It's another case of "breaking the toys responsibly".    Read More: SuperMegaSpeed Reviews - surprise extension