- The new year is barely a full month old, and two more Marvel ongoing titles have been canceled. This is on the heels of their mass cancelation spree of some five ongoing titles back in November (http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/marvel-comics-news-11-22-11-marvel-cans-five-ongoing-series-avengers-banners). The most notable of these two canceled titles is MOON KNIGHT, written by Brian M. Bendis and drawn by Alex Maleev, which will exit the stage after issue twelve. Bendis revealed this at his own message board, JINXWORLD (http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?211454-OFFICIAL-Moon-Knight-THREAD-OF-VENGEANCE&p=8291163&viewfull=1). He states that he and Maleev were hired to work on the title for twelve issues, and then both would leave and a new creative team would come in. However, despite Bendis being one of Marvel's top selling writers on Avengers material, sales on his MOON KNIGHT fell to levels that were last seen during Gregg Hurwitz's run on VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT after only a half dozen issues. Given that Bendis and Maleev likely command a higher salary than other creative teams, Marvel probably expected better. Marvel has proven to be amazingly persistent with Moon Knight; the company has insisted on him starring in his own ongoing series (or mini series) in some capacity since 2006. Given that the editorial board is under pressure to deliver more hits with "safer" franchises, since MOON KNIGHT hasn't been able to last beyond a year even with Marvel's A-list writer, it will be curious if Marvel is quick to relaunch Moon Knight as they have been lately (often not letting his title rest more than 6-8 months between cancelations). There are rumors that Marvel Entertainment may see potential in Moon Knight as a film property or a TV series, especially since FOX still retains rights to Daredevil in such mediums; if so, he could return in 2012. The other cancellation announcement is GENERATION HOPE, which will end with issue #17 in April. Writer James Asmus notes that the book was selling more or less near cancelation level when he took it over from Kieron Gillen, and he seemed thrilled that he got an arc at least (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36591). After X-23 was canceled, optimists noted that while that was Marvel's only current ongoing title starring a solo heroine, GENERATION HOPE was a team book starring one who is featured in the title. After all, the only other X-Men character whose name is in the title these days is Wolverine. The dilemma with GENERATION HOPE is it sought to introduce yet another generation of "younger newer X-Men rookies" at a time when prior squads of them from prior decades are either still around as B-Listers (NEW MUTANTS, circa the 80's) or clog the background panels or campus cemetery (GENERATION X, ACADEMY X, YOUNG X-MEN, etc.). It was difficult for Marvel to sell fans on a "this time the new characters will count" premise when the X-Men often present extensive evidence to the contrary. Hope is set to play a major role in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN, so a relaunch could be forthcoming.
Alas, with these two cancellations, AVENGERS ACADEMY, HULK, and THUNDERBOLTS currently remain some of Marvel's lowest selling ongoing titles which have yet to be canceled.
- From the ashes of canceled comics come new ones. Marvel will be reviving their "kiddie" line with AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES ADVENTURES and ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN ADVENTURES both launching in April (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36580). This is to coincide with the debut of Disney XD's "Marvel Block" of programming starting April Fool's Day which will feature the series debut of "ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN" and (presumably) Season 2 of "AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES". While Marvel has published a mini series based on an AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES comic, this could be the first time the company has had a tie-in comic to a cartoon series since X-MEN EVOLUTION was handled by Devin Grayson and UDON Studios in 2002. Marvel may be publishing a comic called WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN that bares some roster similarities to the NickToons animated series of the same name that ran from 2009-2010, it isn't a tie-in comic but a core X-Men book. On the plus side, these tie-in comics will actually be written by the creative teams behind the shows - a gimmick borrowed from the current YOUNG JUSTICE comic DC Comics has. Chris Yost, writer/story editor for "A:EMH" will write his respective comic, with Adam DeKraker on art. The USMA comic will be written by committee; "Men Of Action" (the collective name for a team of TV writers behind "GENERATOR REX" and "BEN 10") alongside Dan Slott and Ty Templeton, with art by Nuno Plati. Marvel had just canceled their MARVEL ADVENTURES line of "kiddie" comics in December (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36580), so replacing them with TV promotional material makes sense to a degree. The issues are still $2.99, a price no child has paid for a comic book since Marvel was bankrupt, but bad ideas die hard. In fairness, expect the Disney Store to sell trade collections of these by the barrel.
- April will bring about Avengers variant covers. Marvel calls them ART APPRECIATION covers (http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=45423). Wolverine, Venom, Spider-Man, the X-Men and other franchises have had ART APPRECIATION runs of variant covers. Sales bumps from most variant covers now barely do more than hide the diminishing returns for a month - or soften them - but the House Of Ideas is all about short term ones.
- April's solicitations are in, and they reveal that to a degree, Marvel are keeping their word about the crossovers to AVENGERS VS. X-MEN being "contained" (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36576). The event itself has a core 12 part mini series, a six issue sister mini series, and crossovers with six ongoing titles. The catch is that AVENGERS VS. X-MEN ships twice a month, and ALL of the comics involved are priced at $3.99. Hence, to follow it all for a month will cost nearly $36, or roughly $216 from start to finish. This is what Marvel calls "holding back". One supposes that merely showcases how much of a glut of material Marvel published for CIVIL WAR, SECRET INVASION, and WORLD WAR HULK. It is said if all of the unsold comics from all of those events were laid out, they can circle Jupiter seven times.
Last Week's Marvel Comics News - http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/marvel-comics-news-1-17-12-avx-1-omega-drive-cap-team-up-thor-2-more
This Week's DC Comics News - http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/dc-comics-news-1-24-12-dc-s-new-logo-justice-league-vs-hunger-more
This Week's Indie Comics News - http://www.examiner.com/comic-books-in-new-york/indie-comics-new-1-24-12-the-infinite-isn-t-x-o-manowar-returns-more
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