Comics UK

Thanks for commenting on my waffle Lew. You, also, make some good comments and although I was wrong to accuse the comic's staff of not caring (after all, who am I to know the ins and outs of how it's produced) I still stand by many of my comments. If the comic is intended to bring in younger readers from the films then it should (or could) introduce them better. If the roster of strip heroes changes from issue to issue, a single page before the strip detailing their origins, powers, enemies etc. is far better way of providing new readers a way in (and if it's written well, giving older readers a bit more) than a text only 'card' at the back.

And I don't have anything against 'activity' pages (of course younger readers would probably enjoy making an Iron Man mask) it's just that I can imagine exactly most of those puzzles in other comics with just a change of artwork. For me that's lazy.

Of course I understand these are kid's comics and I always approach looking at them with that in mind. I don't think the actual structure of older UK comics was any better but they got by with more and (generally) better stories. Based off a template or not I just think that with a bit more thought in both the editorial and design Marvel Heroes (and Spectacular Spider-Man) could be really something special rather than just more in a long line of identkit comics.

It'd be interesting to know how these titles are put together (does each one have a fixed editorial team or are they spread amongst many titles) and if Panini's 'format' is in place because there isn't a dedicated team to create a individual comic each month.

Wil wrote: It'd be interesting to know how these titles are put together (does each one have a fixed editorial team or are they spread amongst many titles) and if Panini's 'format' is in place because there isn't a dedicated team to create a individual comic each month.

The format is such because that's what today's kids seem to like. Spectacular Spider-Man has proven to be a big success for Panini, hence changing its frequency from monthly to every 3 weeks. It's hard to argue against success.

A couple of years ago they had a comic called Marvel Rampage which was very much like Marvel Heroes is now. (MH is very much a rebirth of Rampage.) It was very popular then several months in they decided to revamp it to make it "older". It bombed and was cancelled. So one can't blame them for sticking with the format that works.

British comics have always evolved (as I've said many times, to the point of boredom I'm sure ). The current magazine / comic hybrid will eventually change when the "next big thing" comes along as a market leader. In fact, what Spec Spidey and MH are trying to do is to reverse the trend of feature-based kids' mags,to have a more balanced magazine / comic ratio. If you compare those two mags to say, Toxic, or Hot Wheels you'll see that Spec Spidey and MH have far more strip pages.

Many editors of today's comic mags are comic fans themselves. They'd dearly love to see more strip content and proper in-depth features. Unfortunately editors don't have the free reign that they had 30 or 40 years ago, so content is often dictated by money men (who want to pay for as little originated strip as possible), focus groups, sales departments, and retail giants. The grim reality is that sales of all periodicals are on the decline, including newspapers and magazines. All things considered editors do a fine job.

Lew

Well I have to admit that although i am a very intelligent bloke I do sometimes find those worthy modern day adult comics a bit dull and derive much more enjoyment from a simple 60s Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen tale, or better still an Elongated Man story. But then sometimes i'll really fancy some Werewolf by Night or Tomb of Dracula. As a comparison - everyone lauds Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven as a fine Oscar winning masterpiece but for sheer enjoyment we all prefer The Good The Bad and the Ugly. Don't we?