MARVEL Season One: It is no secret that the sales of graphic novels has done very well. With the DC success producing with 5 out of the top 10 titles graphic novels and trade paperbacks sold at Diamond and other media outlets, Marvel has a long way to go to catch up. So they have announced a series of graphic novels about the origins of their top comic characters and superhero groups. In the same way of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One and J. Michael Straczynski’s: Superman: Earth One they will produce graphic novels for new readers to help their sales in that area.
Official Press Release
Marvel: Season One, a line of all-new graphic novels, just got bigger as Marvel is pleased to add three titles to the highly anticipated line-up with Ant-Man: Season One, Hulk: Season One & Doctor Strange: Season One! These all-new complete stories offer fans a chance to immerse themselves in the Marvel Universe like never before. Journey into the unknown with Ant-Man, learn about the mystic arts with Doctor Strange and find out how Hulk balances humanity and monstrosity as each of these graphic novels offer new revelations for long-time fans and give new readers a fresh introduction to the character. With modern retellings of the world’s greatest super heroes seminal origins by some of the most critically acclaimed creators in the business, no fan can miss this! Each of these graphic novels also include a code to download each book for free, via the Marvel Comics app, making them must haves for every fan.
Also Amazon has announced pre-order of Fantastic Four: Season One by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa , David Marquez (Feb 7, 2012) and X-Men: Season One by Dennis Hopeless and Jamie McKelvie (Mar 13, 2012), Spider-Man: Season One by Cullen Bunn and Neil Edwards (May 8, 2012), and Daredevil: Season One by Antony Johnston and Wellington Alves (Apr 10, 2012) . In the next year they want to be more aggressive in producing graphic novels. Marvel will focus on the origin stories of Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four and the X-Men to reintroduce these top titles to new and old readers.
Amazon has them listed between $15 and $17. You put this with the production of the long awaited Straczynski written “The Twelve” trade paperback series starting in January, and you see Marvel has realized that the comic readers are changing. Readers want more of a bang for their buck. The graphic novel or trade is a great way to get a lot of reading for less money and it is not some Mega-Series that you must buy many comics to tell the whole story at $3 to $5 a comic plus variants and special pre and post series comics which can get very expensive. I think readers know what is good and will buy accordingly but many are cutting back on titles they read so the competition is heavy for the comic book dollar.
There is always an appreciation for quality in the art and writing of comic books and that is why we have this Blog to comment on the industry and the direction it is going and we like the move to the original graphic novel and will follow it closely to keep you informed. Stay tuned comic faithful for more. 🙂 Walt
