Marvel F**KS Their Fans Again

Dear Marvel,

I just purchased Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes #1 (of 2) from the store today. I’m a big fan of Warren Ellis’ writing and have been disappointed in the regular Astonishing X-Men book because while the concepts have been very cool and interesting the dialogue and artwork have killed the book for me. The concepts are great with the idea of a different type of mutant or mutants from alternative realities, the Chinese X-Men, all great ideas that can lead to the expansion of the number of mutants in the world and alleviate the problem of only 199 mutants being left. The dialogue and almost teen-age sexual drive that is running rampant does not feel like these characters. Then the art with the horrible poses and ink washes have made the book a muddled mess.

It was with great anticipation that I saw this little two issue mini-series was coming out and with Alan Davis (a favorite of mine) on the art chores I could maybe get back into this book. Of course the $3.99 price tag that you have for all mini-series does not please me, but for something special I can handle the extra buck.

Well I have to hand it to you, you F**KED me again, maybe someone can send me a kiss and at least it won’t feel like rape. It is only one half Alan Davis, but it is ONLY 16 PAGERS OF NEW STORY AND ART.

Let’s check the original online solicitation:

ASTONISHING X-MEN: GHOST BOXES #1 (of 2)
Written by WARREN ELLIS
Pencils by ALAN DAVIS & ADI GRANOV
Cover by SIMONE BIANCHI
48 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Hey, I messed up it is clearly spelled out that Alan Davis is not the only pencil artist, but you said it was 48 pages and it is only a 32 page comic and ONLY 16 PAGES ON NEW ART for an EXTRA DOLLAR. The fill in is Warren Ellis’s script. Maybe a nice addition to the hard cover or trade down the road, but when you solicit the book you should have the decency to tell me you are producing 6 less pages of art and giving me a copy of Ellis’s script instead.

Marvel was 50% of all sales via Diamond for a recent month and you have been king of the hill for a long time. If I was running Marvel I would sign Joe Quesada to a three year extension of his contract and have a signing bonus, plus other incentives. He has done a great job of maintaining market share. The fact that he has lost some of my business is inconsequential compared to what he has done for the Marvel brand.

So whose decision is it then to F**K the customer? I mean you have raised the price of all your mini-series to $4 and DC hasn’t. Not even a stop over at $3.50 land, just a blatant money grab to go for the $4 price point. Then add insult to injury you cut down the amount of actual new material in this mini-series by six pages (27% of a regular comic) and charge us more.

You got me once, but issue #2 is staying on the racks at my store. I hope more people wake up and stop supporting these series, especially supporting something that is enriching you at a time when the economy is hurting most of your customer base.