http://blog.newsarama.com/2011/10/21...ght-cancelled/
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Well, the link leads to a blank page, so...not really sure if i like it or not, cuz i can't read it!
Newsarama doesn't necessarily make it the truth.
We've seen a cover for #9 and it seems weird to announce an ongoing & then turn turtle on that decision.
However it would explain why the "of 8" hasn't gone on #5 and it was always expected...
Who knows...
What? Come on! That blows! I hope we at least get a mini per year or something like that now!
Dale Eaglesham seems to be confirming on Twitter.
Sad news if true as I thought this was the best version of Alpha Flight in almost twenty-five years.
Oh, this makes perfect sense.
They let volume 2, which was mildly interesting at its best, go for 24 issues.
They let volume 3, which was a total abomination, go for 12 issues.
Now we have volume 4, with some of the best artwork and plots since the early days of Byrne... and they cancel it after 8 issues.
If I may quote Marrina... WTF ?!?
Confirmed via solicits.
Article to cone ASAP.
Dumb, why make the announcement and then cancel it? I HOPE they mean the limited series is done and then the on-going will go on with #1
im really confused and im wondering if this is just a solicitation thing. they have been wrong before. it makes no sense and the sales are stronger than generation hope, thunderbolts and x-factor (ar at least on par with) plus they JUST announced it as a ongoing 2 months ago.
wish fred or greg would confirm or deny this.
Dale's pretty much confirmed on twitter.
After yesterday's firing of 14 members of staff I did fear as much, but at least making it to #9. I suppose they have to use the variant somewhere,
As much as I hate to say it, it makes sense and I didn't think it'd make it past #12.
It just seems like Marvel had a con in Canada and wanted to give the sales a temporary spike and didn't want to take **** from fans all weekend so announced an ongoing they were never going to keep.
I just genuinely wish they hadn't, as I was fine with a well done, maxi-series.
I'm officially done with Marvel.
If there is an upside to this, it is 32 pages so it's gonna be some doozy of a final issue battle, (speculative :-) , could be 32 pages of talking heads).
Check the front page article for Greg Pak's statement and some teaser art.
Marvel is just full of simply bad idea people. My sons read nothing but DC now, who'd a thunk it?
Sometimes...I really, really hate the Marvel execs (bunch of lying bastards). Thanks to Greg Pak and Dale Eaglesham for letting us know the news.
Dana
Well, when the series was supposed to be 8 issues we were pretty damn happy, remember? They just put it back to where it used to be. Still, it sucks, but this is where we were earlier in the year. What we got was amazing so now should be the time to celebrate volume 4 and the fun times! Sort of weird about the change in plans though, yeah.
I'm still feeling so up on Alpha Flight. Marvel really did try to promote this comic and made particular effort to push it in ways we never saw with v3 nor Omega Flight and hell, we got Dale Eaglesham! So let's enjoy the last three issues and go out on a high note.
Love,
rplass
Sorry, hate is not the right word...I don't hate anybody, I'm just angry.
Marvel execs are still lying b#$@%$s!
Dana
=D>=D>=D> Beautifully put and I couldn't agree more.Quote:
Originally Posted by rplass
Oh I agree, R...I was ecstatic to have the maxi series...I just think it's really despicable of Marvel execs to tell the creative team and make an announcement to fans that it was to be an ongoing, then retract it (Shades of Omega Flight). I guess I can stop buying at two different comic stores now.Quote:
Originally Posted by rplass
Dana
The upgrading & then downgrading got us an extra 10 pages in #8 & an extra variant so it's not all gloom.
I'll be happy with the well done maxi-series we've got.
Just a shame the way we had hopes raised & dashed, but that's business for you.
yeah. if they just would have kept it a 8 issue maxi series i would have been fine with it, but upgrading it then cancelling it makes it seemed like it failed. i really hope we get a straight answer on this as to why (sales, creative decision.....)
The one thing I really am bummed about the series not continuing is that there's no classic "heads in the crosshair" issue for #12:
http://www.alphaflight.net/gallery/d...mbs/af1_12.jpgAlpha Flight v1 #12
http://www.alphaflight.net/gallery/d...mbs/af2_12.jpgAlpha Flight v2 #12
http://www.alphaflight.net/gallery/d...mbs/af3_12.jpgAlpha Flight v3 #12
Though it does look as if Heather is killing Mac on the solicit for #8 of v4... sort of matches what Greg told me at NYCC that they are going to do something shocking. hmm...
IFanBoy didn't seem to get much from Marvel
Quote:
UPDATE: When we asked Marvel Comics about the cancellation they issued a “no comment”,
the more i think about it the dumber it seems on marvels behalf. i really wish they would have left well enough alone with the maxi series. let the team re-establish itself and go from there. but to upgrade it, then cancel it seems really dumb. it dooms the property from ever having a chance of being credible, because people are going to not bother investing the time since they will think it doesn't stand a chance, and also makes the creators look bad as they upgraded it, then canceled it. just end the maxi series, it makes everyone look better.
i really have to question who's making the decisions at marvel. poor, poor, poor business practices. actually, just plain dumb.
Damn, that really sucks! I mean, where's the love for the Canadians?? *sighs* Damn, knew it was too good to be true.
That's what happens when you just look at the bottom line. If DC never did their #1 thing, maybe Alpha wouldn't have got canned. These suits can't tell their asses from their heads. I mean we can all see that what DC did is just a cash grab, to get higher sales, but as everyone knows as most of those series continue the sales of those books will drop. Dispite all the #1's out by DC, AF did respectably well selling over 23,000 copies.
This what Marvel suits are http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2LQfKMZNA
Maybe they are going to launch a new title starring the same exact characters called "CANADIAN AVENGERS"!
Oh, they'll probably have to add Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Luke Cage as members, though.
Isn't that Marvel's modus operandi these days?
this is bad. kiss my Canadian, Tim Horton's lovin' arse, Marvel. again.
This is some ****ing bull****. Why don't they just downgrade the paper quality or something? And maybe cancel a title that ISN'T selling as well? WTF?
Itr's a real shame I just never cared about DC's characters or universe. Marvel has such great history and characters, and such a big name, but they never seem to know wtf they're doing with it!
They almost had me on board as a fan again, too. ****ing Marvel.
Speak for yourself. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by rplass
This mini series and short lived ongoing series BS is part of what drove me away from marvel. The fact that Alpha was going to go ongoing is what got me interested in Marvel again. I miss the days when series went a good fifty issues or more before being cancelled, and when sales were bad they'd have the common sense to figure out why fans stopped responding, and make some changes. The fact there are so many new volumes of old series is just absurd. Someday we'll be on Alpha Flight Vol 10, the three-book mini-series and begging for more scraps. **** Marvel.
i really wish we could get the real story as to why this series is being ended. its not based on sales as 3 other titles with similar sales are in the same boat(avengers academy, xfactor and thunderbolts) heck, black panther and daken are even lower than alpha's sales.
so please, some adult, not some marvel editor thats going to speak to me like a infant, i would love to hear the real reason why this series was so mistreated.
You're right that all Marvel did was return the title to the mini/maxiseries it was meant to be, but unless they're going to produce more of these in the future I can't see any hope of AF seeing the light of day again. Well, they might show up in the X-men or Avengers, or Spider-man, or Deadpool as punching bags like they use to. Maybe we should hold off speculating about the team's future until the final issue to see where they leave off, but I can't help feeling like Charlie Brown after Lucy pulls the football away.Quote:
Originally Posted by rplass
Marvel did promote this quite a bit, far more than any time before, but it still seemed like only a drop in the Marvel flood of Fantastic-Spider-X-Avengers-Pool Events. I don't think Axel Alonso said one word about the book in his CBR columns after the first issue came out, nor did Tom Brevoort have anything to say in the few interviews with him. Honestly, compared to the terrific job the creative team did to spread the word, Marvel promotions did very little. Now, if there was stuff being done on Twitter or FaceBook, I'll admit I don't follow those, but I would have expected to hear about something coming from those venues either here or another forum. I didn't, and so assume there was nothing, but please if anyone can correct me I'd be willing to change my opinion.
I hope someone from Marvel will eventually explain why the book was reduced from an ongoing while other titles with lower numbers are left to limp along. If there was a solid business reason for this move as opposed to some other book getting the axe so AF could be saved, I think fans should hear it. Otherwise this is just self-fulfilling prophecy that AF won't sell, and only serves to poison the water for any future attempts.
Well, I guess all that's left is to enjoy the remaining issues (as I know I will), before going back to my non-Marvel lifestyle. :(
Unfortunately Phil, i agree with you.Quote:
It just seems like Marvel had a con in Canada and wanted to give the sales a temporary spike and didn't want to take **** from fans all weekend so announced an ongoing they were never going to keep.
To me, this shows Marvel as a spineless, no-class, lying company...which I have known for quite some time that they are!
As well, i beleive we will shortly see a big push forward, to try to get all or most of their comics as 'digital only', thereby massively reducing the cost to the company.
In the end, despite what many of us feel is an I-hate-Alpha-Flight slant from some of the suits at Marvel (right or wrong, the perception is there, and has even been fed by some of those very same suits), this is about DC kickin' Marvel's arse.
i wrote on another thread somewhere that what DC did with their company-wide relaunch was very ballsy. Short-term (long-term won't be known for quite some time yet), it worked, and worked well.
Marvel panicked. That is what short-sighted, stuck-in-a-rut executives with little business sense do; they panic.
Unfortunately, long-term, the future of comics IS digital comics, like it or not. Kids don't read books anymore. And WE are all getting older...
Quote:
Originally Posted by varo
It was purely about sales.
Let's not get back to this conspiracy theory.
If you check out Rob's thread elsewhere in this forum you'll see that, as you pointed out, AF was only outselling 3 ongoing titles, the reasons for why or why not they haven't been cancelled I've outlined.
The mini was losing sales on a rapid slide.
Yes X-Factor & the other titles you mentioned were selling similar, but they hadn't dropped dramatically over the course of 4 issues.
It's not the sales of a single issue it's the dramatic rate at which the book was losing readers, as I tried showing in the sales figures articles, without going into pessimistic mode.
The only real confusing thing is the ongoing announcement.
Did Marvel genuinely think the #1 numbers would sell or were they just telling Canadian fans what they wanted to hear at the Con in order to avoid a weekend full of AF questions, because it was an easier option.
The timing of the cancellation isn't out of the blue & the news of all the editorial firings hints that Disney are taking a very different route with Marvel than Time Warner did with DC.
i understand that, but didn't the readership also start to level off with only a 4% loss in readership from 3 to 4?
I wonder if any Alphans will join the Avengers?
also, if marvel is only allowing a series to trend out for only 4 issues, they have some seriously poor decision makers with very bad attention deficit disorders.
sorry. i'm done with my rants. this one really annoys me though.
It's not a poor decision at all though, it's a case of stopping thousands of dollars from slipping through their fingers like grains of salt.
You HAVE to see it as a business point of view.
Writers and Artists can't be expected to work for free. Nor can the people above them, and nor can the people every step below them from printing to distribution to sales.
I know I couldn't finance a title personally, and that's still essentially what Marvel/Disney execs have to do on a daily basis.
Feel free to rant, it's part and parcel of this place and you're not being offensive.