nakamachi wrote:
Batmite wrote:

2) In time, most of the 70s output will make it MM, like Jeph said: "one format reprint doesn't exclude another", so eventually The Eternals, TOD and many others will make it to MM.
Personally I think sales will be the deciding factor, and as long as we have only 9-10 Marvel Age MM volumes per year, concentrating on the main lines, everything else will be excluded.



Demand is the key, I think Marvel is doing a good job with the Epic line which will get the later material out faster and I suspect that what will happen is that more collectors will begin to embrace the format over the MMW since there is so much more material in the 80s to cover. The reason I think the MMW may slow down between 1980 and 1983 is because those are the last few years before everything seems to get divided up into big time creator runs. I wouldn't say that the MMW line would stop at 1983 necessarily, just that there will probably be a major drop off in those years. I suspect that some of the more beloved runs will continue to move forward since there will always be fans that want high quality reproductions of 80s material like Simonson Thor or Byrne FF, perhaps even New Mutants, but lots of other titles like Daredevil after Miller, Iron Man after Michelini, Late Defenders, Marvel Team-Up etc may fail to hold enough fan support. 

I agree, especially since MMs and classic reprints in general has been on the way down for a few years now, so totally 100% about demand, 
and at the same time, and by experience, I do have faith in Marvel capacity to reinvent its formats, so the end will never really be the end, just a new beginning, and in a way that is what Epic really is.

I think what might happen is you will see MMW continue through titles like FF or Thor for a while, and you might see a few fan favorites pop up as new titles, but you might also see the frequency drop off a bit and perhaps even a return to the Atlas books as Epic becomes more popular for the newer material. There is just far too much material to masterwork it all and I think it's more likely that only select titles get the MMW treatment. I would expect new 80s titles to include New Mutants, Wolverine, Moon Knight, X-Factor, Alpha Flight and maybe Punisher, but that's about it.

I think FFF, put it best when he said, "this kind of format has a built in audience that would buy almost anything in that format", unfortunately there is also an erosion factor
as people collections grow too large or perhaps interest simply dies out.
So I would go back to your first statement above, MM up to the 80s, and then who knows, but I have no doubt, given time, Marvel will collect (in a format or the other) 
most of what we are all asking in term of 70s-80s or even 90s material,
from Ms Marvel to SVTU to Horror and so on, with the obvious exceptions of less popular genres Romance, western and war, like it or not Super heroes sell the most.
As far as Atlas material goes, once we get to the pre-Marvel age period, loaded with Kirby and Ditko short stories, sales should be pretty OK.

Also BTW I think we may be looking at 11 or 12 MA titles per year right now and maybe more annual titles like Daredevil, Cap, Iron Man and Hulk. I'm beginning to have my doubts about whether we will git Luke Cage at all. If we don't see it by say March 2015 I doubt we get it.

Of the top of my head, I can only think of two titles that could make it to MM, (under the current publishing policy of big guns only): Luke Cage and Ghost Rider.
So if we do go for 11-12 MM per year and CM is one volume off to be completed, then I think it will be possible for both lines to be Masterworked, 
but I would not expect either title (as well as few others) to ever be completed as MM.





Last Edited By: Batmite Dec 17 13 3:37 PM. Edited 1 times.