Too Often or Not Enough - Milking Events Without Offering Content

How can you enjoy your favorite superheroes in Marvel's latest mega-event? It's simple; don't buy any comics with an AvX banner on it. That way, you won't have to spend hundreds of dollars on comics that you can probably pick through after the event has ended and buy only what actually entertains you. As Marvel events go, this one is not being solicited across the board like, say, Fear Itself was last year. Fear Itself was a disaster and I am officially on event burnout this year.

Maybe it's because I have budgeted the hell out of my comic buying habits and just can't justify spending extra money on an event that is going to milk me for every penny. This is how it would go down; I would buy the first issue of AvX proper, then my completionist tendencies would prevent me from skipping the next 11 issues. Let's not forget that there is a six-issue 'just fights' series also being published, and really, that's what we want to see. It's like a celebrity deathmatch between our opposing counterparts on each team. Some of us want story, some of us want fights, you know, because we don't see enough pointless 'misunderstanding' fights in comics. So what does Marvel do for this big event? We get two batches of comics that feature either story or fights, and from what I have heard, thus far, the main AvX title has been nothing but an enormous fight scene. I'm sure we'll see our share of tie-ins, one-shots, and minis to go along with a story that could be delivered in one simple story arc.

What ever happens to crossovers? Do you remember those? They were stories that happened to multiple titles that didn't require extra titles to be completed. Second coming was a crossover that apparently didn't need an extra 12-issue series. Sure, we had a Second Coming #1 and #2, but they were a necessary a beginning and a final cap to the story. Yes, we had a couple one-shots and such, but they pissed me off too. Why can't you tell the story in the pages of the books that feature the characters involved in the story? Why put me through all this bullshit?

I know that an event like this involves pretty much every character that matters in the Marvel U, and it would piss me off if the books that featured those characters ignored the current events***coughSCHISMcough*** excuse me...but don't force me to buy extra comics. That means I have to cut other comics out of my pull list just to budget for all this extra crap, and since Marvel is double shippng on three of the comics I read monthly, I'm extra tapped out on cash. Well, guess what, guys? I'm not going to suffer a gap in my X-Factor, Wolverine and the X-Men, or Amazing Spider-Man collections, to buy your stupid event. If I hear good things about it when it's all said and over, I'll think about squeezing your event into my trade budget. As for the rest of you, take a good long look at you pile of Fear Itself tie-ins and resolve to wait until the smoke clears before you start on your 2012 stack of shame.