panel from She-Hulk #12 by Javier Pulido
Last Wednesday was a sad one as it marked the release of She-Hulk #12, the final issue in its year-long run. What made it an especially amazing series was that it focused less on the “punch the badguys” side of Jennifer Walters’ life and more on her day job as a lawyer. We got to see her help out old friends like Hank Pym and Steve Rogers with legal problems, go head to head with Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil) inside a court room, and even assist Doctor Doom’s son with some extradition problems. All the while, the series balanced a level of comedy that has been a staple of Shulky’s adventures for years with smart storytelling that brought the Marvel Universe to the forefront without having a super villain beatdown on every other page. Charles Soule and Javier Pulido (with the help of Ron Wemberly for a couple of fill-ins) brought us a book that was loaded with character and charm. So why the heck did it have to end? We’re the sales terrible? Did nobody care? That doesn’t appear to be the case.
Hawkeye #21
At the back of the issue, Charles Soule wrote a nice sendoff to the series thanking the many readers of the book who let him know how much they enjoyed it. He stated that the response was “straight up overwhelming”. He went on to explain that the 12 issues that hit the comic stands were the 12 that he pitched. He pitched a year long tale with an overarching storyline that would give She-Hulk a mystery to solve with a bunch of subplots showing off her legal chops. That was it. The door’s been left open for someone else to pitch another story using the characters and situations that Soule set up. All a writer has to do is pitch a new She-Hulk series to Marvel with a concept that get’s them psyched and Jennifer Walters can have her own series once again. In the meantime, we’ve got a complete She-Hulk story that we can revisit any time we want.
This might just be the way to go when dealing with mid-level characters like She-Hulk – characters that have a loyal fanbase but not the blockbuster sales an Avengers or X-Men or Spider-Man book might have. She-Hulk isn’t a singular phenomenon as Marvel has had success in the recent pass with a number of other short run series. Books like Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye, Fraction and Mike Allred’s FF and Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber’s Superior Foes of Spider-Man all had runs under 25 issues. Each sported critical acclaim, reasonable sales and a fun story coming at a traditional hero characters from an alternative angle. Telling a good story with tons of character development took the forefront and the book wasn’t bogged down by big events or cross-overs. The reader got what he was paying for and went home happy. And for every fan that bought the issues, there was one more checking out the book in trade because they could get an entire series worth of stories by picking up just one or two hardcovers/paperbacks. Characters like Boomerang and Ant-Man had increases in popularity. That’s not something that happens everyday. And it happened because of these short run series getting greenlit.
FF #16
I know there are number of folks that may complain about Marvel’s constant stream of #1 issues and I for one don’t blame them. Long running series like Avengers and Spider-Man do not need a new #1 every 16 months (sometimes every 12 months depending on the year). There are stats that show that books like Wolverine and Fantastic Four lost readers by restarting their series twice in under two years. If it’s a well known or popular title, by all means, keep the original business model in place. The audience for these big name characters are continuing to pick up the comic, so a new first issue will not bring the reader bump you’re looking for.
On the flip side, a lesser selling character like Black Widow or Punisher or Iron First, characters that don’t usually have long selling titles, can benifit from a series that’s less than 25 issues. The story is compact, all done by one creative team (with a little bit of help from time to time) and ultimately has an ending. Then after a year or two of being off the stands, the character can return with a brand new creative team locked in that will produce yet another complete story by the time they’re finished. And for the collectors out there, it makes it easier to complete a series.
While it’s not written in stone, it looks that Marvel will continue this “short run series” business model for the forseeable future. While it may drive some collectors crazy, it makes sense to keep commitments to the less popular characters short and this style not only guarantees that but also gives their older properties a fresh start every couple of years when they come back on the market. As long as it continues to bring us great stories, I think the majority of fans will be just fine with it.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
If you’re gonna geek out, GEEK HARD!
Without the “short-run” series, titles like Super Foes would not have been possible.