I’ve mentioned in the past that I collect comics. Like most kids, I bought the odd comic now and then, here and there, as a kid, without really putting much thought or effort in to building an actual collection that would one day become an investment. I’d be cracking spines, folding, tearing accidentally, touching with sticky fingers, and generally manhandling them quite roughly. My brother, on the other hand, who’s always had good enough sense to keep his things immaculate, needless to say has a much better collection of comics from the 80s in pristine condition. Thankfully, Mom’s childhood collection of Little Lulus and Archies survived two generations of children fairly unscathed. I guess there are some Katy Keenes in there too, but with two boys, those pretty much remained untouched. The same can’t be said of Dad’s collection, which didn’t survive him moving out of the house when he left for college; a fact he still grumbles and groans about to this day.
I don’t recall how, when, or why it came about, but Spider-Man has always been my superhero of choice. I assume it’s thanks to the syndicated episodes of the 60s animated Spider-Man cartoon, that were often mixed in with episodes of Rocket Robin Hood and The Mighty Hercules throughout the 70s and 80s on Saturday mornings. My brother, my older brother, of course chose the arguably cooler DC superhero, Batman.
Being a fan of Spidey, you’d probably assume I’m a fan of all things Marvel. While it is true I like Spider-Man, I actually pretty much hate everything about Marvel and the Marvel Universe. I also like the Hulk, and to some degree Iron Man, but everything else is utter crap. I hate the other Marvel superheroes, and their villains are completely ridiculous. Okay, that’s fine. I don’t have to follow any of those other characters, and I can choose to completely ignore if I so desire.
More so than its licenses, what I really hate about Marvel are their business decisions in relation to those licenses (as opposed to, for example, what DC does). To illustrate my point, I’ll use the aforementioned Hulk as my example. And forgive me if I’m slightly inaccurate with the details, as I don’t really care.
The Hulk first entered the scene with his own series, The Incredible Hulk, in 1962. This was a short-lived series which only lasted 6 issues. But Hulk didn’t go away. During the next couple of years, he made several appearances in other already established titles such as Fantastic Four, The Avengers, and The Amazing Spider-Man. It wasn’t until he became a feature character in another title, Tales to Astonish, at issue #60, that he started to find a home. This continued until issue #102, when the series was re-titled The Incredible Hulk (volume 2), but kept the same numbering. Thus, the stage was set for Marvel to continue f**king about with one of its flagship characters for all eternity.
Hulk actually maintained some stability for the next three decades, having been written/penciled by some of the biggest names at Marvel of then and now. Though, it probably wasn’t until Peter David took over the writing chore in ‘87, and stayed with the comic for 12 years, that it arguably achieved its greatest success. Alas, all things come to an end, and David left the series over disagreements, and the last issue in the series was #474.
Not long after, a new team took over the reigns, but perhaps in an attempt to bring in new readers, this new series was simply titled Hulk and was renumbered starting at issue #1. Unfortunately, the chemistry of this new team was short-lived, as it only lasted for 11 issues. Another new team took it over, and it was re-titled yet again, back to The Incredible Hulk (volume 3), but starting at issue #12. It gets worse…
This third volume of Incredible Hulk has some success and lasts for several years. We now find ourselves in a period where both DC and Marvel have decided that massive sweeping crossovers are the equivalent of the summer blockbuster movie, and for this particular summer, Marvel has decided that Hulk will be the central character. In a bizarre storyline, Hulk is jettisoned from Earth, and to reflect this, The Incredible Hulk series is re-titled yet again to, of all things, The Incredible Hercules, but maintains the numbering, this time starting at issue #113.
So where’s Hulk now? Well, after a stint of crossover-related mini-series, which I’ll get to in a minute, he now finds himself with another new creative crew in another new series, also entitled Hulk (volume 3, I think), which starts back at issue #1… again!
Having said all that, I’ll say one thing good about Marvel. It sounds like they may be trying to restore some order to this mess. After issue #12 of this new Hulk series, they’re coming out with an issue #600 of The Incredible Hulk, and continuing from there. Though, strangely, according to Wikipedia, they’ll still be continuing with Hulk #13 and on, as well. Hopefully, they’ll just drop Hulk, and continue on solely with the Incredible Hulk series. That sounds like what people want anyway.
As an aside, as promised, here are some of the titles I’ve most recently had to put up with as a collector, just with a piece of this little summer event:
- World War Hulk
- World War Hulk Prologue
- World War Hulk: Front Line
- World War Hulk: Gamma Corps
- World War Hulk: Aftersmash
- World War Hulk Aftersmash: Warbound
- World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control
If that’s not a cash-cow, then I don’t know the definition.
Marvel’s done this time and time again with pretty much all their titles (Avengers, Iron Man, even my beloved Spider-Man). I’ve completely ignored X-Men, as I don’t even know where to begin.
Don’t even get me started on the whole clone saga, retcon debacle of the 90s with Spider-Man.
I should also mention that DC isn’t without its own troubles. Whereas Stan Lee essentially tried to establish some semblance of order and consistency with his creations, DC on the other hand (a victim of its own success) has attempted several times to bring together the many disparate story lines in its titles/licenses, to the point now where its stuck having to deal with time travel and parallel universes, any time it tries to do so. Not exactly light reading…
Fuck it. Let’s just all read Sandman over and over…