So, yes, on Sunday we ran a story about the Fantastic Four comic book being cancelled by Marvel next year. Response was swift online.
The #SaveFF hashtag adopted for those who wanted to save the TV show Flash Forward was pulled back onto the frontline.
@Marvel #SaveFF http://t.co/TXISIABsGB
— Chris Freeland (@Shriekin_Killah) October 5, 2014
Some were angry. Some with Marvel…
The Fantastic Four comic is to be cancelled just before the new film so Marvel aren't promoting their competition from Fox. Disgusting. — Simon James (@SJames) October 5, 2014
Some with Fox…
What a joke. Everyone wants in on the MCU. No one can make quality like them. Being an asshole gets you nowhere. http://t.co/CXpk1fHUoX — Jessica LG (@youcanttigatag) October 5, 2014
Some despaired.
Please don't be cancelled Fantastic Four. You have a duty to keep running.
— Leo Sutherland (@leosutherland) October 5, 2014
Some were happy.
Good "@bleedingcool: Fantastic Four To Be Cancelled In 2015 With A Triple-Sized Issue 645, For Fantastic Fourever http://t.co/9ZyRvvjOlN"
— Jay (@KissMyKAPOW) October 5, 2014
As someone who's put principles ahead of common sense all too often, I'm OK with this decision: http://t.co/DtUuPbPEgI
— Devourer of Words (@GalactusHelmet) October 5, 2014
Others were resigned.
I know it's sad that Fantastic Four is being canceled but guys please remember this is comics so I'm betting it's not forever. — Matt Miner (@MattMinerXVX) October 5, 2014
ha, FF is dead. Easy to kill something that doesn't make money in order to look tough tho http://t.co/vg12c2qeiz
— LAW Of Comics (@TheProphetLen) October 5, 2014
Some rejected the conspiracy.
There was only so long Fantastic Four was gonna keep on keeping on with the sales it had. Time for the concept to take a knee.
— Patrick Henry (@PHenry1991) October 5, 2014
Some were cynical.
Today: Marvel announces the cancellation of Fantastic Four. Next month: Marvel announces Fantastic Four #1 with [WRITER NAME TBD.] — The Hepplebarons (@jimhepplewhite) October 5, 2014
@GailSimone As a kid, had 2 issues of FF. Both ended with the announcement of "The End of the Fantastic Four!" So not worried if cancelled. — Wayland Smith (@WaylandSmith1) October 5, 2014
The Fantastic Four has been cancelled and relaunched more times than my diet. — VincentPricestrowski (@VJ_Ostrowski) October 5, 2014
Some were cynical in other ways.
Oh snap, Marvel's going after a…medium sized gun. http://t.co/UGOKeFZ3O8 — Justin (@GigawattConduit) October 5, 2014
Some were funny,
@DoomAssistMe Looks like Fantastic Four caught the Mega Man virus. http://t.co/CoUMhEVlYO — Majik (@Evilmajikman) October 5, 2014
Some were blatantly unaware of trademark and copyright law.
I think Fantastic Four might work better as an Image book at this point. It could be the exploration book it needs to be — altonncf (@altonncf) October 5, 2014
Some wanted to congratulate Bleeding Cool
http://t.co/Da5rAe8x1R Congrats @richjohnston & @bleedingcool ! Vindication on breaking a HUGE story, after MANY official denials. — Wags (@Prowags) October 5, 2014
Some were blatantly amazed,
The most frightening aspect of this Fantastic Four news is that Bleeding Cool was actually right about something.
— Scar-man GORE-ison (@GeekyGeekyWays) October 5, 2014
Others on Reddit weren't so kind.
Zthe27th: If their isn't a relaunch by the movies release I will be in shock. From a story, marketing, and financial perspective it just makes sense. This article is just fear mongering without providing any other reason for a big final issue.
Though I did like this.
TheLAriver: It's not."Fear mongering" is a term that relates to stuff like war, injury, and disease. He reports rumors about comic books. Anyone who experiences legitimate fear about Fantastic Four being cancelled is hugey overreacting.
And I had to concur with this.
@tomblargh the smugness of this article rivals the smugness of the wrestling news sites http://t.co/9Ad5JIiwxC
— Nightlife (@AnimeKing420) October 5, 2014
The Bleeding Cool message board were naturally abuzz.
I SHOULD be a Fantastic Four fan. It's the only Marvel comic that is well positioned to satisfy my "pulp adventure/science hero" jones.The problem is, nobody seems to want to WRITE it that way. Every writer tears them apart, and goes over the same tired plotlines:Reed is an obsessed know-it-all who needs to learn to open himself to his family.
Sue proves that she's more powerful than the others think.
Johnny is an immature hedonist who must learn responsibility
Ben has angst about his condition.
Franklin's powers come back, and everybody panics.
Doom returns, more dangerous than ever. Again.
(About the only new plot we get is "Val does something extremely brainy, which either makes things worse or saves the day")And now we're getting word that the new FF movie will be more "grounded".
F#ck grounded. Give me wild adventures in exotic locales, not Yet Another Doom Arc, or "The FF disband".
In other words, give me the Fantastic Four, not "Four Generic Superheroes Who Are Related"
I've said all along that, as a strategy to stick it to Fox, canceling FF is pointless, because it will have zero impact on the success of their FF film franchise. But, conversely, there's really no point in getting all lathered up at Perlmutter because, as the write-up indicates, cancelling FF will also have minimal impact on Marvel's bottom line. I don't pay much attention to sales figures, but I would guess that if they'd wanted to cancel FF based purely on the numbers, they probably could have justified that a while ago. If all they've been doing is dragging the carcass of the FF around out of some sense of tradition, then maybe shutting them down for a while is a good thing. Take some time, step back, and figure out a way to do something with them that might actually get readers excited about them again. Seriously, I wonder how many of the people who–predictably, inevitably–will be eviscerating Permutter online over the next few days actually buy FF comics.
So we can expect a follow up story tomorrow about Tom Brevoort going absolutely apeshit at Rich over this, right?
Not quite. Marvel's Tom Brevoort pointed out on Tumblr that all things will pass, posting these previous "final issue" covers of the Fantastic Four.
Along with the advice
Stop reading rumor sites, and really, stop reading rumor sites and then running here to ask about them in either terror or anger.
Remember folks, the only person allowed to read rumour site is Mr Brevoort. Because only he can handle it. So let's give him the last word, responding to CBR's re-reporting of our story.
@Prowags @richjohnston @omg_rite @CBR This story amounts to "Bleeding Cool ran a story." It's virtually an ad. So no, I won 't.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) October 6, 2014