Marvel Tells Cosmic Fans to Buy Annihilators – or else?

The Marvel June 2011 Solicits hit yesterday and among plethora of Captain America, Thor and Fear Itself related tie-ins, was the solicit to the last issue of The Annihilators.

Penned by our two favorite writers, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, the team consists of Marvel’s most powerful heroes ever assembled – as fans and DnA refer to them as the “Cosmic Avengers.”

Upon reading the solicit for Annihilators #4 (full solicit below), I must admit, I was a bit taken back by the wording.

“Want to show the House of Ideas that you want more Marvel Cosmic? Spread the word and buy this issue!”

Now, if I am not mistaken – we did show Marvel we wanted more cosmic with The Thanos Imperative.

The Thanos Imperative out sold both the heavily promoted Chaos War cosmic event (which consisted of almost two dozen issues) and the recent barrage of Thor “cosmic” titles.

And this was after Marvel told us that our two favorites, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, were placed on “hiatus.”

Shall we continue?

Is it just me or is it anytime a book falters – Marvel always places blame on the readers?

Marvel continues to heavily promote their iconic characters, even though you could argue, as they are that popular — they don’t need that much promotion. Then Marvel states that each book needs to hold its own weight or face the axe. How about trying to build up another character to get to that upper tier of stardom?

I just can’t agree with that assesstment that each book needs to hold its own weight when certain books don’t get promoted, have questionable artists – and when they do have a break-out artist, that particular artist is off and on to another book faster than you can say “Aunt Petunia’s Girdle.”

What else can I dig up?

How about Nova?

Coming out of Annihilation, which saw the return of Cosmic to the Marvel U., Nova was launched front and center. However, Nova would take a back-seat in the next two Marvel Cosmic Events as he briefly appeared in Annihilation Conquest – and NOT AT ALL during War of Kings.

I said it once and I’ll say it again: Not having Nova appear in a Marvel Cosmic event would be like not having Captain America or Iron Man appear in Civil War.

Dna even recognized that Nova was sidelined previous to War of Kings and stated in a feature at CBR, “..he ended the first Annihilation war, he facilitated the winning of the Phalanx invasion, and he is not just going to sit on the sidelines for this one.”

But, Nova did.

How about Guardians of the Galaxy?

This series, out of anything that Marvel put out in the last few years, was by far one of the most well written and character driven books on the market. DnA loved this title  – as did the fans. Curiously, while it did sell better than Nova, it, too, would take a back-seat during the Marvel Cosmic event, War of Kings.

War of Kings which saw droves of both X-Men and Inhumans fans eating it up – while Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy saw none of that good fortune.

Sadly, after the conclusion to War of Kings, both Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy would see a sharp drop in sales.

However, we then get the run-around from Marvel, as they state the books to be on “hiatus,” state sales were not the reason for their departure and state that if Thanos Imperative sells they’ll do more Cosmic.

Now we get: if we buy Annihilators they will think of doing more Cosmic?

“Hopefully they’ll dig ‘Annihilators’ and come out to support it and keep us thinking about further projects to do in that arena,” said Tom Brevoort, Marvel Comics Senior Vice President of Publishing at CBR.

I’m sorry, but first of all, Annihilators isn’t up to the caliber of the previous Marvel Cosmic books – for whatever reason – and in addition to it being stapled to Rocket and Groot (which arguably to be the better of the two and should be on sale on its own) costs more than any Marvel book on the market. You would actually think, in order to get this into as many hands as possible, to sell it at Marvel’s current bottom price of $2.99.

Now, am I missing something?

I’m actually offended by this notion that we need to purchase Annihilators to get more Marvel Cosmic – when we already proved we are here and want to spend our money on Marvel Comics Cosmic Characters.

But, hey, it’s our fault and we need to prove to Marvel we are still around and buy more?

Sorry, I’m not buying that.

 

ANNIHILATORS #4 (of 4)
Written by DAN ABNETT & ANDY LANNING
Penciled by TAN ENG HUAT & TIMOTHY GREEN II
Cover by ALEX GARNER
Variant Cover by SKOTTIE YOUNG
TWO AWESOME STORIES IN ONE COSMIC BOOK! This is it: the galaxy’s most powerful squad and most beloved duo face their fiery finales! First, the Annihilators must prove they are the ace team of universal protectors that Star-Lord dreamed they could be…or perish in the attempt! Meanwhile, Rocket Raccoon and Groot face the horrible, reality-twisting menace – who has a key connection to Rocket’s secret past – that lurks in the heart of the Half-World Asylum! Want to show the House of Ideas that you want more Marvel Cosmic? Spread the word and buy this issue!
48 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99