Marvel Cleans House

As comic book fans, we’re often the type of people that want a little escape from reality. We want to dive into a new world, a dramatic story, and suture ourselves to our favorite hero or villain for an hour by reading a fine book. Sometimes, though, we’re reminded that comic books, like anything else, are a business in which the end goal is to be profitable. I, for one, am always a little sad when I hear a series is coming to an end before its time, but that’s the nature of business, I suppose. Marvel has obviously been evaluating whether or not some of their lowest selling books are worth the print, and they’ve obviously come to the conclusion that these are not:

Alpha Flight

Victor Von Doom

Black Panther: The Deadliest Man Alive

Ghost Rider

PunisherMax

X-23

Alpha Flight was originally a marginally successful mini-series that Marvel decided to take into a full series, but in the end, wasn’t what they’d hoped. Victor Von Doom never even released an issue before it was canned, so is it possible that Marvel just didn’t like what it was seeing? If they thought it was promising enough, I’m sure they would have at least given it a chance with the consumer. Black Panther and PunisherMax are unique in that their creators later came out on social media networks and stated that the books hadn’t been cancelled but were coming to planned conclusions. X-23 is no real surprise to anyone who follows Marvel’s sales numbers, as X-23 is one of the consistently lowest selling series for them. Most surprising is the cancellation of Ghost Rider, simply because a Ghost Rider movie is scheduled to hit in February of next year. February is sort of a hit or miss month as far as movie releases, so I’m not sure if this means that Marvel has little faith in that film’s prospective take, and therefore it won’t get a big marketing push, or if this cancellation means a series re-launch will coincide with the film, or perhaps they’re not related at all.

Whenever I hear of cancellations like these, I’m drawn into a dichotomy between art and business. They are forever symbiotic; though I wish that weren’t the case at times like these. The necessity for economic sense within a company is a must for that company to survive (the reality), but I’m sympathetic to the artists who have dedicated to so much time and creativity to their stories just to see those stories end in a way that was never planned or intended. I hope all of these writers and artists find new projects and new horizons.

Tags: marvel cancellations, marvel cancels, marvel news, punisher cancellation, ghost rider cancellation, X-23, Black Panther