Thank You, Marvel Comics!

Thank you, Marvel Comics!

The tiny handful of blog fans that I have who are also comic book fans know that I have obsessed with numbering on the monthly comic book series that come out.  I strongly feel like that they should keep the numbering consistent in their flagship titles, instead of continually rebooting and renumbering back to #1.  These titles should embrace their roots and history instead of abandoning it.

A year or so ago, Marvel listened to me (well, probably not me, but what the heck - I'll take the credit) and began what they called Marvel Legacy.  They restored their numbering on many of their titles, putting Hulk and Thor in the 700s. Avengers in the 600s, Black Panther well over 100, and so on.  It was exciting, and I started to pick up more Marvel titles.  The thread with the past was back!

Then, like so many things in the comic book world, Marvel stopped with the legacy numbering and went back to thinking people could be fooled be jerking back to #1 every couple years.  Sigh.  My little splurge with Marvel was over.

DC has been a little more stubborn.  They have restored the numbering to Action and Detective Comics, with those titles being passed #1,000 now.  Looney Tunes has escaped the renumbering phenomenon, reaching towards #250.  DC does not renumber as often as Marvel, but they still do it.  They renumbered both Superman and Green Lantern simply because they got new creative teams.  I have urged DC  (and Marvel) to put a whole number in the indicia as some magazines do but to no avail. 

Then I noticed something on the newly renumbered Captain America that I was getting ( it has Ta-Nehisi Coates as the new writer - how could I pass that up?).  You can see what I found on the Captain America comic by checking out the similarly identified  Amazing Spider-Man cover at the top of this blog post.

Look at the block in the left-hand corner.  The word at the top is MARVEL.  I've heard of them.  The next item down is 18.  Yeah.  A title that's been running since 1962 has this as issue #18.  Nonsensical, I know, but who knows?  Maybe the rubes buy it. 

The gem is the smaller item at the bottom of the block - LGY#819.  What the heck is that?  I'll tell you what it is - IT'S THE REAL ISSUE NUMBER OF THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN!  LGY is an abbreviation of Legacy, and this is it's 819th issue since the title was started in 1962.

CAN I GET A WOOT-WOOT!

Thank you, Marvel comics, for restoring my faith in the comics world.  And further straining my pocketbook as I get back into more Marvel titles.  It's the perfect compromise, and I love you for it, Marvel Comics!


Hey, DC!  Are you listening?

I know this is a lost blog post for many of you, but you know me - Mr. Blog Variety Pack!  One of the reasons my blog always stands on the verge of taking off but never really does - I can't stick to one theme.

Some of you may not know it, but they have made some of the Marvel characters into movies!  It might be off your radar, but Avengers: Endgame starts this weekend.  These movies might be a little obscure, but trust me, they're worth checking out.

Oh, and by the way, this movie is Avengers #4.

Truth in numbering, baby!