We recently ran a report about the comic business and how well Marvel stacks up against DC.
Because of The Avengers, and the vast array of characters under the label’s umbrella, Marvel’s currently on top, but with The Dark Knight Rises, DC should have a strong summer as well. In fact, when DC rebooted its titles last year, sales went through the roof, reinventing the company in a big way.
Now ScienceFiction.com reports that Marvel’s planning a new NOW! Label.
What exactly is Marvel NOW? Well, it sounds somewhat similar to what DC did with relaunching a number of titles from the very beginning, starting at issue #1 with new creative teams.
Yes, the term “reboot” immediately comes to mind, and perhaps in trying to keep up with the Joneses, Marvel might want to try the DC experiment themselves and see if it works for them.
As USA Today reports, the Marvel NOW! Label will launch and/or relaunch over twenty titles. The New Avengers will have a fresh creative team with Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting. And of course with the Avengers currently being white-hot at the box office and the comics stores, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America will also get #1 issue restarts as well.
But again, Marvel’s executive editor Tom Revoort told USA Today, “This is the same Marvel universe you were reading about the month before and the same characters. They haven’t gone back to square one – all of that history isn’t out the window.”
And as Marvel Editor in Chief Axel Alonso told Comic Book Resources, not all Marvel titles will get a fresh start. For example, Daredevil will stay the same.
”[Writer] Mark Waid is doing a fantastic job on [Daredevil] and his run is still very new,” Alonso said. “So we have no interest in interrupting that book.” Unless of course, somebody comes up with a brand new way to do it, then a Marvel reinvention will definitely be in order.
So could all this give Marvel an even bigger shot in the arm, even though the company’s going like gangbusters these days? It will certainly be interesting to see if what’s good for DC will work it’s mojo on their chief rival as well.
