Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
We saw part one of this article last week, and it looks like this is not the last part. Good stuff so far, Andrew. Curious to see where you’re going...
The Ultimatization of Marvel
A Melodrama in Several Parts: Chapter 2
By Andrew Goletz
Less than an hour after part one of this series went live, I started receiving emails from people with their own theories about the Ultimatization rumor and its validity. Regardless of what side of the fence you’re on, when it comes to the idea of Marvel Ultimatizing their entire line, it’s apparent that everyone has a strong opinion about it.
Heroes Reborn was brought up as a similar status quo shaking event, but to my recollection, Heroes Reborn was never meant to be a permanent thing. The creative teams involved were only signed to 12 month contracts with most people assuming things would be back to normal at the end of their one year tenure. It was up to the fans to take the stories or leave them. Besides, Heroes Reborn only covered the Fantastic Four and Avengers (along with mainstays Captain America and Iron Man). The result was pretty much the Marvel Universe being split in two and that didn’t benefit anyone. Part of the enjoyment that comes with reading comics in a ‘shared universe’ is that characters can interact with each other, which makes for some fun reading. Heroes Reborn eliminated half of that type of interaction. In the case of the Ultimate Universe, at least there are duplicate books at this point. Spider-Man and the X-Men may have Ultimate books but their ‘regular’ Marvel Universe counterparts are still around.
The key difference between HR and Ultimatization is going to be the long-term scope of the projects and the fact that with an Ultimatization all characters are affected. They may not be the same versions you remember, but the availability of interaction with each other will still be there.
An intriguing new rumor making the rounds ties together a lot of the points brought up last week regarding Secret Wars 3, the Ultimate Conspiracy Theory and the Ultimatization project. Head on over to Rich Johnson’s ‘Lying in the Gutters’ on www.comicbookresources.com for more information but it looks like the Secret Wars will make their way to the Ultimate Universe. Since Brian Michael Bendis has said that Venom’s origin will be different in this version, I doubt they’re doing this just to introduce that character. So is Ultimate Secret Wars going to engage our Ultimate characters in the grand conspiracy or will there be a cosmic boom resulting in one shared Ultimate Universe for all of Marvel? Time will tell.
Johnson also talks about Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates writer Mark Millar being assigned the task of making the Ultimatization happen. In the last couple weeks several creators have had their names linked to this project, most recently Brian Michael Bendis. So is everyone wrong? Are we all being played? Or is the answer right in front of us the whole time? Could the high profile exclusive contract signings of Bruce Jones, Kevin Smith and J Michael Straczynski have to do with keeping these people on board to help shape New Marvel? Add these 3 to a line-up of current Ultimate writers rumored to have been working on the project (Bendis and Millar) and future hopeful Morrison and you have 6 of the most high-profile creators re-imagining the Marvel Universe for a new generation. Seems like a can’t-miss proposal.
The speculation that this is nothing more than hype for a possible fifth week event seems to be heating up. By now most people have decided that there is some validity to the rumor of Ultimatization, but no one knows just how much. If this is something put out by Marvel for the sole purpose of getting people talking, it doesn’t seem to make sense. The Ultimate books would be the ones to benefit from the hype and they’re already selling very well. So if it’s not a publicity stunt ala ‘U-Decide’, then where does the truth lie? Having the books undergo a fifth week event seems like a great idea for the creative teams to branch out and take more liberties without committing to the controversial move of revamping the entire line. Then again, when has controversy ever affected Marvel? People might have thought the U-Decide thing was too silly to be real, but come September, the three books will be out competing against one another. And to plug ol rumor master Rich Johnson one more time, he’s the man slated to take over for Bill Jemas on Marville after the first 4 or 5 issues.
The Marvel Encyclopedia seemed to be a bone of contention for some. A hardcover encyclopedia featuring a who’s who of Marvel characters is set to come out this fall. It’s a nifty modernization of the old Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe that I was able to do some preliminary work on. Some have asked why Marvel would celebrate their ‘old’ characters in an Alex Ross covered hardback edition when they could be very well obsolete within the year. Scheduling is the obvious answer. The book has been in the planning stages for awhile and we don’t know (if the rumor is true) how long ago Marvel had decided to Ultimatize their line. If it happens, the Encyclopedia could now serve as a fitting endcap for Version 1.0 of the Marvel Universe.
Right now we’re going to look at a few numbers, specifically the order numbers on Marvel Comics for the past 6 months featuring just the Ultimate titles and their regular Marvel Universe counterparts, head to head.
One other thing to note is that in terms of Trade Paperback and Hardcover sales, the Ultimate titles lead the regular Marvel Universe titles in the months where both came out (March and May). The exception being in March, where G.I. Joe Volume 1 was the highest-ranking Marvel Trade (#4 with roughly 7,000 copies). Ultimate X-Men Vol. 3 placed 6th with 6,000. The Best of Spider-Man HC was 12 with 4,000. In May, Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 was the highest-ranking Marvel Trade ranking 3rd with 7,800 copies and G.I. Joe Vol. 2 was next at #5 with 5,700 copies.
These were taken off of www.icv2.com, so you can go and do your own research since the cynical ones out there will think I pulled these numbers out of my ass.
February
Rank Title Est Qnt Rank Title Est Qnt
3. New X-Men 106k 5. Ult X-Men 95k
14. Avengers 54k 2. Ultimates 107k
6. AMS 96k 7/8 USM 78/77k
March
Rank Title Est Qnt Rank Title Est Qnt
1. New X-Men 104k 3. Ult X-Men 96k
12. Avengers 53k 2. Ultimates 103k
5. ASM 93k 6. Ult SM 81k
April
Rank Title Est Qnt Rank Title Est Qnt
2. New X-Men 104k 5. Ult X-Men 96k
14. Avengers 54k 3. Ultimates 103k
4. ASM 99k 8. Ult SM 84k
May
Rank Title Est Qnt Rank Title Est Qnt
2. New X-Men 103k 5. Ult X-Men 94k
17. Avengers 53k 3. Ultimates 102k
4. AMS 98k 7. USM 91k
June
Rank Title Est Qnt Rank Title Est Qnt
3. New X-Men 100k 7. Ult X-Men 93k
20. Avengers 51k 4. Ultimates 99k
6. AMS 97k 9. USM 88k
July
Rank Title Est Qnt Rank Title Est Qnt
8. New X-Men 99k 9. Ult X-Men 93k
23. Avengers 52k 5. Ultimates 102k
7. AMS 99k 10. Ult SM 92k
What is crucial to note here is that these numbers (while estimates only) reflect just sales/orders for comic book stores. And in those comic store figures, we learn that the Ultimate Trade Paperbacks are selling better than the regular Marvel Universe trades, or at least they’re being ordered more.
And when it comes to monthly sales, the Ultimate titles are neck and neck with their regular Marvel Universe counterparts, with the exception being Ultimates, which nearly doubles the orders placed on the Avengers.
And while New X-Men leads Ultimate X-Men, you’ll see that New X-Men lost about 7,000 readers in the 6 month time frame while Ultimate X-Men stayed consistent throughout.
Amazing Spider-Man has been consistent so far, hovering near the 100,000 copy mark with no drastic changes while Ultimate Spider-Man continues to pick up speed.
And there is no comparing Avengers vs. Ultimates. Ultimates has doubled the Avengers since its debut.
The wildcard here is that the comic store orders are only a part of the overall sales for these comics. Publishers don’t release the exact sales numbers for direct market and mass market orders, but with some checking, I was able to get information about how well the Ultimate titles do compared to the other Marvel books. Keep in mind that Ultimate Spider-Man was the book given away for Free Comic Book Day and that it was the most downloaded of the Marvel dotcomics and that special subscription offers for Ultimate Spider-Ma were available in numerous mainstream publications like TV Guide.
Sources at Marvel also revealed the following: “By a wide margin, the Ultimate line leads Marvel’s most popular list of monthly titles distributed via subscriptions, newsstands and bookstores. The Ultimate Trade Paperbacks are also the leading sellers in all classes of trade, including comic shops.
By a wide margin, the Ultimate line beats the regular Marvel Universe in subscriptions, bookstores and newsstands. And they’re neck and neck in comic shops. If you begin to add dotcomics, giveaways and special promotions like Toys R Us and Wal-Mart last holiday season, the resounding success of the Ultimate line becomes more and more apparent.
Everyone likes to look at Diamond’s Top 300 charts, but that’s only a small glimpse of the overall picture of comics being read. If you take into account all of the other areas where the Ultimate titles are selling better than other titles, it could be estimated that close to a million people have read the Ultimate titles. That sort of puts the Top 10 charts in perspective, eh? If you start to include online looks, then the figures are well above that.
So people can debate the merits of Ultimatizing the entire line as long as they want, but when it comes to the issue of success, the numbers are right there. The Ultimate line leads without a doubt.
Next time, I promise I’ll get to the part where I talk about why Ultimatizing the Marvel Universe is a great idea, not just for Marvel fans, but for anyone reading or involved with comics in any way shape or form.
