The House of Ideas is about to use DC's idea from last year.
During the "Marvel: Next Big Thing" panel at the 2017 Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo this past weekend, Marvel announced Marvel Legacy, a new initiative intended to "return long running titles to their original series numbering with a renewed sense of hope, wonder, enjoyment and fun."
The Marvel Legacy initiative will explore the Marvel Universe, with storylines starring characters such as Odinson, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Man, the Avengers, America Chavez, Iron Man, Moon Knight, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, Luke Cage, the X-Men, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Deadpool, the Champions, Wolverine, Ironheart, Hulk, The Punisher, and more.
To seasoned comic book fans, however, this translates as Marvel's attempt to recapture lost sales that have shifted over to DC Comics following that company's successful DC Rebirth relaunch last June after The New 52. The most recent Top 100 Comics chart from Diamond Comic Distributors shows Marvel only having 19 of the Top 50 comics in March 2017, compared to DC Comics claiming 28. The Top 20 numbers slant even more in DC's favor, with DC having 13 compared to Marvel only having 5, with 2 of those being Star Wars titles.
And just like DC's well-received 80-page one-shot DC Universe: Rebirth #1, Marvel Comics will launch their own rebirth in the fall with Marvel Legacy #1, a 50-page one-shot "stuffed with twists, surprises, mysteries and revelations, plus a special four-panel fold-out cover by Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada."
Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic of Thor: God of Thunder fame will be the creative team. "This one-shot honors Marvel Comics’ past and it’s a good window into the present day Marvel Universe and then also sets the stage for where we’re gonna go in the future," said Aaron. "The main goal was just to be able to give this to someone who’s got no idea what’s going on in the Marvel right now and have that be a good entry point for them and I think it does that."
As for the plot of Marvel Legacy, Aaron remarked, "We get a peek into the very distant past here so we go back to the prehistoric days of the Marvel Universe. [We are] seeing versions of Marvel’s biggest legacy characters and different versions we haven’t seen before and [an adventure] of, I guess I could call 'the Prehistoric Avengers.' That adventure will have major ramifications for the Marvel Universe going forward."
Aaron added, "This one shot being called Legacy is not a coincidence. This book is very much about that legacy so we see how that legacy stretches back to the distant past and we follow those characters who carry on that legacy in the present and we set the stage for those characters and that legacy will go in the continuing stories to come."
Marvel’s Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso said, "We want fans to get fired up, simple as that. Marvel Legacy will decide once and for all if the Marvel Universe is big enough for Miles and Peter, Riri and Tony, Thor and Jane Foster, Laura and, dare I say, Logan? Spoiler alert: It
is."
Alonso also promised "a last-page reveal that just might break the Internet", while editor Tom Brevoort promised "the return of a central piece of the Marvel mythos that readers have been mourning in recent months." The Fantastic Four, perhaps?
And after Marvel Legacy #1? According to Marvel, long-running Marvel Universe titles will "revert to their classic legacy numbering, honoring and restoring their long history, as new and epic storylines launch under the Marvel Legacy banner. Featuring clean entry points for every series, titles resuming their original numbering will be clearly marked with special trade dress and cover treatments."
So, just like DC Rebirth then. We'll see if Marvel Legacy is a lasting one...
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