Marvel's Post-Secret Wars Comic Line-Up Revealed

[Therumancer]

I honestly have no idea why they go for the genderswap... Even Stan Lee seems to think that it would be better to create new characters rather than just change people..

That's an easy question, and it's the same reason why Spiderman can't get married, Superman never develops, old villains keep reappearing and plots keep repeating themselves.

Nerds are creatures of habit and comfort. And the comic book industry is on a thin line as far as profits go.

When you make a character that has a solid connection/name to an existing character nerds love (ie, Thor/Marvel/Star Lord) there's a built in fan base that's going to buy the comic no matter what BECAUSE it has that name.

Creating a character whole cloth is an uphill battle with hardcore fans, it's the same reason we're on our like...20th Spiderman movie. Bean Counters are lazy and nerds are specific in what they like (and it's specifically "stuff they've seen before" )

Not entirely true, it's about the controversy, when they start playing gender/race/political/SJW games they get to generate controversy which causes people to buy the books. Among other things it attracts the speculator market, and a big run on first issues. The company gets some positive press from the liberal media, and the fanboys who are going to buy the titles (helping the boost) to see what's going on are always going to come back when they eventually revert things if they are driven off.

We've already seen this dance done by DC with the various "Crisis" events. The only thing that will change things is if Marvel can actually tap the movie audiences and sustain them in those numbers, inevitably they are going to want the dedicated fan base back. Comics have routinely stabbed fans in the back for years seeking bigger markets and almost inevitably the industry comes slinking back.

My biggest worry is that since you already have bean counters waxing poetic about how comics are a dying art form, which is actually code for "making money, but not the huge amounts of money we'd like to be making" is that the comics themselves won't survive this stunt and will wind up being abandoned on this note. We already have movie-based business politics influencing the books where it shouldn't be (ie the way The Fantastic Four are being treated), if the new comics don't maintain momentum and the movie bubble finally pops which is inevitably going to happen that could be the end of the Marvel Universe. Especially since the more used to making huge bucks the bean counters get, the less willing they are going to be to become invested in running a less profitable business.

 

[Therumancer]

That's pretty cool, any idea who this Blackbolt guy is?

I can't tell if your being serious but just in case.

Black Bolt is the King of the Inhumans, most notable for being generally one of the most OP yet rarely deployed characters. His Terrigenesis abilities came out as him controlling electrons which made him strong enough to have a fist fight with the Thing and not do too badly but also gave him a voice that could shatter mountains.

The dude can't speak or make any kind of noise or he unleashes a shockwave that levels forests. This has generally been deployed pretty awesomely and has lead to such highlights as beating an Eternal in a fight. But for obvious reasons, he can't just bust it out all the time or even use his outside voice or he'd annihilate the planet.
(unless your Hickman, then he can apparently shout something and Thanos can walk it off rather than become molecules floating somewhere around alpha centauri.)

He's one of the more fun OP characters because unlike, say, Superman or Sentry or whatever, he actually can't use his ridiculously dangerous power that freely or else... well, everyone dies.

Uncanny Inhumans issue 0 by Charles Soule does a good job of explaining what he's like if you need something to read.

I do indeed agree, that fight between Thanos and Black Bolt was a let down. Thanos isn't supposed to be that tough. I think his popularity has lead to him being pumped up, and writers forgetting that the only thing that made him such a big deal was when he got The Infinity Gauntlet. He should have died taking Black Bolt on head to head, and likewise when Thor attacked him in the same storyline and started whaling on him he shouldn't have basically laughed that one off either. Thanos is pretty much on the level of Sersei or Starfox being the same basic race (an Eternal) he's powerful, but not all that, which is why he needs to plan, collect minions, and go after cosmic artifacts and such. He loses a lot of personality when it's portrayed as simply being raw power and writers fiat, part of what made him getting "The Infinity Gauntlet" fun was that he wouldn't likely even make the villain "A" list but he amazingly wound up becoming a metaphysical force when one of his plans worked... which involved a lot of effort in getting the gems from some of the most powerful beings in the universe, which he had to plan for since he couldn't just walk in like a bully, punch an Elder Of The Universe in the nose and take an infinity gem along with the guy's extra seeds and lunch money under normal circumstances. Nowadays he'd probably just be laughing off the power primordial like it's nothing.

As much as Black Bolt got robbed there, I think Thanos blasting Galactus across a solar system was pushing it even more even if it was just a sucker punch so he could get into his ship and steal something (it didn't really do all that much to Galactus). I mean if it was that easy one would think The Eternals would have solved the Galactus problem a long time ago, or that he would at least be staying a long way from earth.


That said I believe Black Bolt's intended power level was shown in "Earth X" even if it was an elseworlds story. When the Celestials moved on earth he destroyed one by yelling at it if I recall, and destroying a Celestial is pretty much supposed to be impossible. He got swatted afterwards, since there was more than one moving on earth, but that was how he went out. I believe his power is also more than just sound since when he made that shot he was standing on the climate controlled part of the moon if I recall, but was successfully yelling out through space into a vaccum. So pretty much.... yeah, if he hit a "mere" Eternal like Thanos he should have been reduced to atoms. Eternals are close to Black Bolt's power level overall, having massive energy manipulation, but they aren't going to just soak attacks like that unless the writer has no idea what he's doing.