I feel like the thing with Marvel is that they do a fair bit that doesn't fit the superhero niche, but because they print everything under the same imprint, it doesn't stand out as much?
Some of the Marvel series I have really loved, like The Incredible Hercules, and Journey into Mystery, I have loved because they felt like 90s Vertigo comics. I remember when I first read The Incredible Hercules, and feeling like I'd been cheated all these years. Because Marvel was publishing fantasy comics and I'd never realised. Obviously The Incredible Hercules is part of the superhero universe in a way that, say, Books of Magic wasn't – but it still fills the fantasy niche for me, rather than the 'superheroes punching things' niche.
Or, a couple of years back Marvel put out a bunch of short series that to me seemed like 'series designed to appeal for teenage girls' (although I think it was actually 'series based off old Wildstorm properties'). They did this under their main imprint. And I thought it was interesting to compare that approach with what DC had done a few years earlier with Minx. Though, obviously these were happening against different backgrounds – DC's felt like 'oh wow teenage girls are reading all this manga, how can we get in on that?' and in that context a separate imprint makes more sense. At the time, I thought it was cool that Marvel just threw them in under their main imprint – although in retrospect, I wonder if they would have done better if Marvel hadn't. Vertigo is visible in a way that Marvel's non-superhero comics aren't. And Vertigo is read outside of the population of superhero fans in a way that Marvel comics are not.
Um, so I think it's one thing if we're just discussing superheroes, but if we're discussing Marvel as a publisher then the comparison should be to DC and its imprints, not just what's branded DC.
Also, I would quite like to pretend iZombie isn't there, but I'm bitter because it sounds like it won't really have much to do with the comics :P I'm too over-invested. I am too invested in Hellblazer as well, which is why I don't think I'll be watching Constantine. Apparently DC's media strategy fails for me because they're adapting stuff I care too much about ...
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Date: 2014-08-05 01:34 am (UTC)Some of the Marvel series I have really loved, like The Incredible Hercules, and Journey into Mystery, I have loved because they felt like 90s Vertigo comics. I remember when I first read The Incredible Hercules, and feeling like I'd been cheated all these years. Because Marvel was publishing fantasy comics and I'd never realised. Obviously The Incredible Hercules is part of the superhero universe in a way that, say, Books of Magic wasn't – but it still fills the fantasy niche for me, rather than the 'superheroes punching things' niche.
Or, a couple of years back Marvel put out a bunch of short series that to me seemed like 'series designed to appeal for teenage girls' (although I think it was actually 'series based off old Wildstorm properties'). They did this under their main imprint. And I thought it was interesting to compare that approach with what DC had done a few years earlier with Minx. Though, obviously these were happening against different backgrounds – DC's felt like 'oh wow teenage girls are reading all this manga, how can we get in on that?' and in that context a separate imprint makes more sense. At the time, I thought it was cool that Marvel just threw them in under their main imprint – although in retrospect, I wonder if they would have done better if Marvel hadn't. Vertigo is visible in a way that Marvel's non-superhero comics aren't. And Vertigo is read outside of the population of superhero fans in a way that Marvel comics are not.
Um, so I think it's one thing if we're just discussing superheroes, but if we're discussing Marvel as a publisher then the comparison should be to DC and its imprints, not just what's branded DC.
Also, I would quite like to pretend iZombie isn't there, but I'm bitter because it sounds like it won't really have much to do with the comics :P I'm too over-invested. I am too invested in Hellblazer as well, which is why I don't think I'll be watching Constantine. Apparently DC's media strategy fails for me because they're adapting stuff I care too much about ...