Marvel REALLY pressing the point.

[Paul Nolan]

Though Marvel's November solicitations aren't quite up yet, Diamond have a list of all their titles.

I noticed three titles specifically: Fear Itself #7 point one, Fear Itself #7 point two and Fear Itself #7 point three. All listed at 3.99.

While the full text hasn't been released yet, first impressions are that they are really taking the proverbial.

[Danscomics]

I call BS. They solicited the event as a 7 part event, not 10. Here are the solicits that Diamond has.

Fear Itself 7.1:

* The Marvel Universe holds a wake for Bucky Barnes
* Fear Itself forever altered the life of Captain America,
see how!

Fear Itself 7.2:

*Tony Stark squares off against Odin!
*And before it's all over, Tony's darkest secret is leaked to the world!
*FEAR IN A BOTTLE?

Fear Itself 7.3:

*Odin decides the final fate of Asgard...and it will never be the same.
*The heroes of the Nine Worlds bid farewell to one of their own.
*THOR NO MORE!

And I would love to hear Marvel explain how these are "jumping on points" for Fear Itself.

[Paul Nolan]

and the creative teams are up at Marvel, showing that really these should be issues of Captain America, Iron Man and Thor

FEAR ITSELF #7.1
Captain America
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils & Cover by BUTCH GUICE

FEAR ITSELF #7.2
Iron Man
Written by MATT FRACTION
Art & Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA

FEAR ITSELF #7.3
Thor
Written by MATT FRACTION
Pencils & Cover by ADAM KUBERT
Variant Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA

More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/story/16503/shat ... z1VTtf33qV

[BobBretall]

Arrrrrgh!

Marvel's hi-jinks really get on my nerves.

I find myself less & less interested in their shenanigans each month.

My first impression is to skip all 3 of these. I suppose this is little different from making these just 3 extra one-shots under the "Fear Itself" banner, but we have a new fractional #ing scheme now....... I don't think the stand-alone one-shots were selling good enough for Marvel, so they're testing the waters to see if tacking them on as "fractionals" makes them sell better.

[BobBretall]

You know, 2 of the 3 are written by Matt Fraction......

Marvel should just go with the theme & have ALL "fractional" .1, .2, .3, .x books from now on written by Fraction.

Make a sub-line...."Marvel Fractionals by Fraction (TM)"

[spid]

Shrug, there have been (Insert Event Name) followups or carry-on stories for years. The only difference for me is the "." instead of something else. I do not really see the problem.

[Paul Nolan]

Shrug, there have been (Insert Event Name) followups or carry-on stories for years. The only difference for me is the "." instead of something else. I do not really see the problem.

1/ they're are pain for retailers to work out order numbers on.
2/ it's confusing for the customer having 4 different #7's on the shelf, not everybody reads about comics on the 'net.

[BobBretall]

Shrug, there have been (Insert Event Name) followups or carry-on stories for years. The only difference for me is the "." instead of something else. I do not really see the problem.

I can appreciate that there are a lot of people that don't care at all about collecting/numbering & fall into the "just tell me good stories" camp.

Also appreciate (if you fall into the "I don't care about that stuff" camp that there are a lot of other people who DO care about it.

Why alienate that segment of the audience???

The people who don't care will not mind if it's done as a separate series, or as adjunct one-shots.

The sole reason this is being done is because Marvel marketing must believe making these #7.1, 7.2, 7.3 will sell better than as separate one-shots.

This is explicitly trying to reach into the wallets of the people who are completists & will buy something to "finish off" the main Fear Itself series where they may have skipped an unrelated one-shot.

[Paul Nolan]

I noticed in the preview solicits that Wolverine & The X-Men #1 is $4.99.

yes, it is 48 pages, but surely any 'on the fence' potential buyers will be completely put off.

Whatever happened to Marvel launching series at a "easy to try" price tag?

[BobBretall]

I noticed in the preview solicits that Wolverine & The X-Men #1 is $4.99.

yes, it is 48 pages, but surely any 'on the fence' potential buyers will be completely put off.

Whatever happened to Marvel launching series at a "easy to try" price tag?

I like Schism & would have tried this comic at a more attractive price point. I skipped it specifically because of the $4.99 price tag.

[spid]

Shrug, there have been (Insert Event Name) followups or carry-on stories for years. The only difference for me is the "." instead of something else. I do not really see the problem.

I can appreciate that there are a lot of people that don't care at all about collecting/numbering & fall into the "just tell me good stories" camp.

Also appreciate (if you fall into the "I don't care about that stuff" camp that there are a lot of other people who DO care about it.

Why alienate that segment of the audience???

The people who don't care will not mind if it's done as a separate series, or as adjunct one-shots.

The sole reason this is being done is because Marvel marketing must believe making these #7.1, 7.2, 7.3 will sell better than as separate one-shots.

This is explicitly trying to reach into the wallets of the people who are completists & will buy something to "finish off" the main Fear Itself series where they may have skipped an unrelated one-shot.

So you would be OK with them calling it Fear Itself: Aftermath Thor, Aftermath Captain America, and Aftermath Iron Man? It just sounds like people are upset just because of the numbering above all else.

We would certainly agree most events now come out with these epilogue stories. This will not be the first or the last so I am not sure how this is different except for the numbering.

Isn't the point of marketing to get more people to buy something? If it works then good for Marvel.

[BobBretall]

So you would be OK with them calling it Fear Itself: Aftermath Thor, Aftermath Captain America, and Aftermath Iron Man? It just sounds like people are upset just because of the numbering above all else.

We would certainly agree most events now come out with these epilogue stories. This will not be the first or the last so I am not sure how this is different except for the numbering.

Yes, I would be PERSONALLY happier if this was just called "Fear Itself: Aftermath" as a separate thing. It's not different, except for #ing.

My whole point was for you to try to realize that this kind of thing, while it makes no difference at all to you, does bug other people.

Isn't the point of marketing to get more people to buy something? If it works then good for Marvel.

Yes. It is their job.....it just makes me sad when predatory marketing techniques work because while they result in short term success/sales, I worry about the negative long-term effects they potentially have.

But is it really "good for Marvel"? Granted there are a number of factors at play, but I can only wonder if this kind of thing has not been a contributing factor to some # of people walking away from Marvel. While a specific issue may get a spike in sales, the overall line is hemorrhaging readers.

I can only speak personally, but these kinds of Marvel marketing practices have taken my personal Marvel consumption from 50+ per month to <25 per month. It's not going to be that obvious on people who buy only a handful of titles, but over the last few years we've seen the overall sales dropping precipitously.

[spid]

We will have to agree to disagree. I do not find any of this stuff as predatory. And I much prefer Marvel's approach to marketing than DC constant bait and switch creator solicitations which leave me with little faith in what product I will get from them each month.

I can appreciate some people might be bothered by the numbering, but I take the rose by any other name approach to comics. I have no problem with them naming the books "." or Aftermath it is the same story either way.

[Paul Nolan]

I think Marvel is really pushing away some readers at the moment.

I feel sorry for X-Men fans in november with Uncanny, New Mutants, Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men Legacy & X-23 all double shipping.

personally I dumped Thunderbolts, Iron Man 2.0 and Herc due to that double shipping schedule . It was easier to dump 3 books than it would've been to dump 6 from elsewhere.

and then there's the Point One Teaser book where you can be teased of future books for a mere $5.99.

It seems Marvel's current policy is to try and get every last bit of money from the current readership hoping they can squeeze blood from a stone. At least DC are looking to build on the readership base and gain money from (hopefully) a expanded readership.

[abysslord]

I have no problem with them naming the books "." or Aftermath it is the same story either way.

I guess the big thing is for someone who doesn't read about comics but just goes to the store. If they see "Aftermath: Thor", they know exactly what that is. If they see "Fear Itself #7" and "Fear Itself #7.1" they may wonder "What the hell is that?"

The biggest thing Marvel has done that's made me weary of them is their blatant use of "tie-ins" to get money. For example, having the New Ultimates vs. Ultimate Avengers 6 part min-series as a DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN tie-in was ridiculous. I bought into it, thinking it will be nice to get the full story or read more about it .... it was completely separate barring a few panels showing Spider-Man get shot from a different perspective.

Fool me once, shame on me. If it wasn't for Spider-man I would read no Marvel, but that's mainly because I don't care about their characters ... but stuff like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. My trust, or what little I had in any advertising, is lost.