Lots of AvX

Marvel is really pushing the Avengers vs. X-Men event because those are its two biggest franchises. Not to mention that they comprise about half the titles running right now. Don't be surprised if X-Factor, X-Force, New Mutants, and the rest don't end up being affected by this somehow, somewhere down the line.

I'm not collecting titles in either line, so I'll be sitting it out, but just a few months ago, this would have found me buying multiple issues from titles I do not collect, and have no interest in collecting, just to stay abreast of Uncanny. This whole event is one of the main reasons I stopped collecting X-anything, so it's damn sure no way to bring me back into the fold. I hate to be cynical, but I'll be downright shocked if this changes much of anything and isn't just more fanfare to move units.

Having said that, a lot of the covers are nice and I like both teams, so I may keep an eye on developments online - through other blogs, forums, and so forth. I would love for the Avengers and the X-Men, and really all of Marvel's characters, to find that spark they once had, but I fear that current market conditions will not allow that. Now, more than ever before in their history, Marvel's characters seem like little more than lifeless properties constantly being put into situations they'd otherwise never find themselves; the stories feel forced, and the characters do too.

Marvel doesn't need more upheaval to sell books. Quite the opposite; it needs more stability and lasting development. Daredevil is an example of a book that is doing well despite the fact that it remains somewhat detached from the other titles in the MU. Marvel needs more of these, even within the larger sub-lines, like the Avengers family, but I don't know that they will actually go in that direction.

Of course, I've said all this before and been rebuked by the old "If it didn't sell, they wouldn't make them" argument, so we'll see how it plays out.

© C Harris Lynn, 2012