Anonymous
asked:
At least for me I feel like the big two have lost the faith of the audience and that's why new books fail. People are afraid of getting invested in something because before the first issue hits you are anticipating the book getting cancelled by issue 6,8, or 12. We get asked to vote with our money but it has no effect because the person next to you won't take the risk and you in turn are less likely to take the risk yourself next time too even when something tweaks your interest.

This is all true. But it’s also the way of the world.

Every book at Marvel needs to earn its own place at the table. There are and can be no charity cases–not if we want to keep the lights on and continue to be able to do what we do.

And continuing a series at a deficit doesn’t typically lead to it suddenly becoming a hit, or people suddenly deciding to pick it up because it’s issue #6, or #8, or #13 or whatever. THUNDERBOLTS has existed for more than 15 years, and at every moment of that time there were fans who’d go on about how it was going to be cancelled.

So yes, it’s a tough situation for any new book. But that’s why you continue to try different things, to hopefully find that new take, that new approach or new bit of the zeitgeist that’s going to work and give you something that can carry on for a while.

Also, while I think we all still tend to think and behave as though there are perennial books, the truth is that the only true perennials at this point are titles that go back twenty to fifty years. Even a THUNDERBOLTS can end after 15 years. So the fact of the matter is that most any title that we or anybody else launches today is likely to wrap up at some point. So maybe it’s more important to try to make it excellent for as long as it exists.