Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, News With Benefits | Tagged: clickbait, jonathan hickman, marvel, previews, x-men

Jonathan Hickman Doesn't Believe in a Major Part of the Comic Book Industry

Published Thu, 07 Nov 2019 18:04:43 -0600

Last updated Thu, 07 Nov 2019 18:05:37 -0600

Jonathan Hickman is an unconventional writer who doesn't follow the norms. For example, where other writers might write a six-issue series to relaunch the X-Men, Hickman takes the same amount of story and makes it twelve issues. Where other writers might believe that comic books should contain comics, Hickman believes they should contain pages upon pages of charts, graphs, and prose. It's unconventional, but we can't deny that it works. HoXPoX successfully reinvigorated interest in the X-Men franchise.

But Hickman isn't done upsetting norms and turning the industry on its head. On Twitter Thursday, Hickman revealed that he doesn't believe in a major aspect of comic book promotion: previews. Hickman tweeted:

https://twitter.com/JHickman/status/1192575579117248512

This could explain why previews were so sparse during HoXPoX, even if Marvel has begun to release them regularly for the Dawn of X books again. That being said, previews are a staple of comic book promotion, as publishers rarely like to do anything that requires actual effort. Sending previews to compliant media partner websites, sending press releases to compliant media partner websites, and sending talent to have softball interviews at media partner websites is pretty much the extent of it, and we can't really blame them. Why do any work when you can get someone else to do it for you for free?

Nevertheless, Hickman is apparently not a fan of previews, so don't ask him any questions about them. Or any questions at all. We expect this sentiment to be expressed in a chart that takes up no less than six pages in the next issue of X-Men.

X-Men #2 is in stores next week. We'll post a preview of it tomorrow.

X-MEN #2 DX
SEP190778
(W) Jonathan Hickman (A/CA) Leinil Francis Yu
When an island full of unspeakable horrors appears on the horizon, the X-Men have their work cut out for themselves keeping Krakoa safe!
Rated T+
In Shops: Nov 13, 2019
SRP: $3.99