Marvel Promotes Creators But Forgets to Name Them
It’s always a great thing when a corporate comic company remembers that its works are built on the effort of talented creators. So I was impressed to see Marvel announce that they would “celebrate some of the most influential comic creators in Marvel history with a line of Marvel’s Greatest Creators True Believers comics”. (“True Believers” being their name for their $1 comic line of introductory books, emphasizing the cultish nature of their fandom.)
The big problem here is that the press release doesn’t both to say which creators any of these titles feature! The list of titles is
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Avengers – The Origin of Mantis #1: Reprinting Avengers (1963) #123
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Hulk – The Wedding of Rick Jones #1: Reprinting Incredible Hulk (1968) #418
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Invaders #1: Reprinting Invaders (1975) #1
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Iron Fist – Colleen Wing #1: Reprinting Marvel Premiere #19
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Iron Fist – Misty Knight #1: Reprinting Marvel Premiere #21
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Luke Cage, Power Man – Piranha! #1: Reprinting Power Man #30
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Power Pack #1: Reprinting Power Pack (1984) #1
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Silver Surfer – Rude Awakening #1: Reprinting Silver Surfer (1987) #51
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: Spider-Man – Kraven’s Last Hunt #1: Reprinting Web of Spider-Man (1985) #31
Marvel’s Greatest Creators: What-If? – Spider-Girl #1: Reprinting What If? (1989) #105
But the only hint we get as to these Greatest Creators is an intro blurb that says “Reproducing some of Marvel’s most iconic stories by industry greats such as Louise Simonson, Peter David, Steve Englehart, Roy Thomas, Don McGregor, and Mike Zeck”. If these discount books are meant to be outreach, you can’t rely on customers knowing already who did what and why these books are worth reprinting.
These issues are due out next month, in May.
8:59 am
In the past, these “True Believers” have all been media tie-ins, such as the slew of Captain Marvel ones that came out last month. There is no obvious media tie to these, but I can’t help but think there is a marketing reason for them and not just a celebration of creators.