Posted in: Comics | Tagged: marvel, marvel legacy

Marvel Throws Everything And The Kitchen Sink (And Stan Lee) At Marvel Legacy Promotion

Published Fri, 30 Jun 2017 14:35:53 -0500

Last updated Fri, 30 Jun 2017 14:51:47 -0500

Last week, the comic book industry was changed forever when Marvel revealed 52 homage variant covers for their upcoming Legacy not-a-relaunch, changed so much in fact that it ended up doing a complete 360 degree industry change and ended up pretty much right back exactly where it started off. On Marvel's emergency retailer conference call yesterday to try to calm retailers after the lack of response to their Legacy announcements, in addition to Tom Brevoort providing some alternative facts about the cancellation of Fantastic Four, confidence-inspiring Marvel leader Axel Alonso revealed that Legacy is merely a pit stop on the road to a bigger not-a-relaunch to be announced shortly.

But Marvel's already committed, so they've got to make the best of Marvel Legacy, which means it's time to send out yet another press release hyping it up as the greatest thing since sliced bread was bitten by a radioactive toaster. Amongst boilerplate Legacy copy that's circulated throughout past press releases, Marvel made some bold new promises for what Legacy will have to offer, including:

·         The most spectacular character returns

·         Epic stories adding to the next chapter of the Marvel Universe by the industries' top talent

·         Heroes fighting villains

·         Clean jumping on points for all readers clearly displayed using dynamic new trade dress

·         The return to original numbering for many series

·         Did we mention the most spectacular character returns that comic fans have demanded

Marvel even dragged out Chairman Emeritus Stan Lee and had him make a statement in support of Marvel Legacy:

I love the concept of returning to the classic characters as they were originally portrayed, without losing the brilliance and excitement of Marvel's newest generation of heroes. Excelsior!

And they touted Marvel Legacy #1, the oversized one-shot special that will launch the whole thing by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic, and featuring, amongst other things, the 1,000,000 BC Avengers! Boys, we're flattered… but hardly any of these writers even work here anymore. Amongst the former BC staffers listed as being on the team are Odin, Iron Fist, Starbrand, Ghost Rider, Phoenix, Agamotto, Black Panther, and Hannah Means-Shannon.

And Marvel Legacy #1 got its own set of bullet points as well:

·         The single most important first step for any fan to jumping into MARVEL LEGACY

·         Shocks, twists, clues, and Easter eggs

·         A blockbuster story that sets the stage for the coming years of Marvel storytelling

·         The introduction of the 1,000,000 BC AVENGERS

·         The most talked about return in comics

·         A brilliant tale by the legendary team of Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic

·         The set-up for 53 Marvel Universe series

·         Those character returns you've asked for, many of them get cued up here

How many? The press release also promises more to come:

And there's still so much more to come, we've merely scratched the surface with a few words, a few teases, and a few dazzling quotes. Sit tight for in the coming weeks, there will be more exciting announcements devoted to MARVEL LEGACY featuring all the epic new entry level story arcs, the dynamic creative teams, the legacy numbering guides, the returns, the searches, the battles, the foes, dynamic new nostalgia based promotions guaranteed to drive all fans into comic shops. This fall, get ready to cheer MAKE MINE MARVEL!

And offers a graphic showing the titles of the story arcs in the Old 52 titles (though still no creative teams):