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November Will Be The First Time Marvel Didn't Have A New #1 This Century

Published Wed, 23 Aug 2017 11:30:29 -0500

We've been looking, Or rather Bleeding Cool General Manager Mark Seifert has been burning through the statistics. And we can confirm there there has been a #1 in every monthly Marvel Comics solicitation of the twenty-first century. Until November 2017.

That's right, there has been no month in which Marvel Comics have not solicited a new #1 comic since 1999.

Indeed there were two months in 1999 that didn't have a new number one. But from 2000? Every month had a new number one for something. One might even consider it defining of the age, the need for something new, the market rewarding a new number one over and above everything, and the demand for Marvel to relaunch upon relaunch upon relaunch. Those relaunches, however, have had diminishing returns, leaving us in the situation we currently find ourselves.

Indeed, the closer to you get to 2000 and 2001, there's a much lesser reliance on #1s or relaunched, with Marvel's long-running series still topping the charts regardless.

Well, in November 2017, Marvel Comics is trying to revert to such a time and is taking a specific stance not to have a single #1 for the entire month. There are newly launched books, sure, but every title, new or old, relied on the numbering of comics that came before. It's called Marvel Legacy. And it means business.

You've wanted a name for this period of time? 1999 to 2017? Call it the Relaunch Age. And consider it has now been ended – the numbering of Action Comics and Detective Comics at DC Comics was a start. Marvel is now taking it forward and making it policy…