Intern: "Hey, if you never renumbered Wolverine, we'd be on issue 300."
Management: "Actually, this IS issue #300, you just don't know it yet."
Intern: "Why are we doing that?"
Management: "Because we will get to stick a $4.99 cover price on it and sell a shit ton of them to retailers who will over-order them because of speculation, and only sell a third of them."
Intern: "So will this still be volume 3?"
Management: "No, no. This is volume 1."
Intern: "That makes no sense."
Management: "YOU MAKE NO CENTS! YOU'RE FUCKING FIRED!"
Intern: "But I'm not even on the payroll. That pun carries no weight."
Management: "SNIKT!"
I predict similar conversations from the Uncanny X-men department around about Issue #56 when they reach the point in which they can call it Uncanny X-Men #600 NOW ONLY $9.99! It doesn't make any sense because nothing has changed really. Wolverine #300 starts where Wolverine #20 left off. Jason Aaron is still writing for it. This renumbering is completely unnecessary.
Next thing you know, we will be celebrating every change in creative team with a new #1. Better yet, why don't we just start every story arc at #1. That will make these comics much easier to archive!. I get the reason why we have different volumes of the same comic, just fucking stick to it when you make a change and don't fuck up my longbox with this renumbering garbage. You want to see a screwed up chronology? Look at volume one of Journey Into Mystery. It just skips about 120 issues randomly, and then it does it again!
Wolverine will never have an issue #299. Uncanny X-Men will never have an issue #545. X-Factor will never have an issue #151-199. Am I the only obsessive compulsive lunatic that is infuriated by this impulsive numbering system that Marvel has? I would rather read 52 #1 issues in one month than read one more issue that is a multiple of 100. Stop it or I will hit you with a rolled up Fantastic Four #600.
"Am I the only obsessive compulsive lunatic that is infuriated by this impulsive numbering system that Marvel has?" You definitely aren't the only one, Lebeau... Besides the double(triple) shipping that Marvel does, the constant restarts/renumbering drives me insane... I totally get WHY Marvel does it(MONEY!!!), but that doesn't mean I have to like it... Take Uncanny X-Men for example... Why the hell did THAT need to be renumbered? Because of Regenesis? Then why not renumber the entire X-line? To keep Uncanny and Wolvie and the X-Men at the same number every month? Does that mean all of the other X-books don't matter and I shouldn't bother with them? It's not like we got a new writer with Uncanny #1, plus the storyline that was starting at the end of the past Uncanny series just continued into the new one!
ReplyDeleteOf course that's not as bad as Fantastic Four #600... How does FF #1 = Fantastic Four #589?! Besides that, what series is the current Fantastic Four title? Is it series 1(which the numbering would lead you to believe), series 3(the post Heroes Reborn stuff), or a whole new series, a forth? Is FF actually a part of the third series? Or is it FF series 1? Ugh. Sorry to go off on a rant like that, but this is one of those little things that drives me insane!
This really sucks, especially for the newcomers.
ReplyDeleteWe old fans don't really suffer that much because we know the continuity and the back history of everything.
I just wish Archangel died for good.
:)
Well, don't you worry! Angel looks to be reverting to Archangel in AvX, since one of the promos depicts Daredevil battling Archangel, and not Angel. Basically, what is happening is all of the top writers for Marvel are saying "Rick Remender, even though you are one of the best and top selling writers for us, fuck you". They can't say AvX happens before the Dark Angel saga, because Evan(Genesis) is at the Jean Grey School. GOSH!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am SO over #1 issues, renumbering, etc. I don't even know how to categorize anything in my collection anymore. How many volumes of one comic book do we need? I couldn't even tell you what volume "Green Arrow" or the "Legion of Superheroes" is up to. "Batman, Inc." and "Batman: the Dark Knight" (neither of which I read) didn't even get out of single digits before they began again with a new #1. Sales are dependent on good stories and art, not what number is splashed across the cover. And then comics start over at #1 only to renumber them to 300, 600? Sigh...
ReplyDelete@#$%^&*! I know. It aggravates the hell out of me to have my first volume of X-Factor end at 150 and start again at 200. I mean, I could put the 50 issues of volume 3 in the gap, but then if I die and some asshole is going through my belongings to disperse it among my loved ones, they will think I don't know how to count and I will look like a lazy collector.
ReplyDeleteThese are the things I think about when comics get renumbered.