Four no more - who is going to die of the Fantastic Four?

[Yoc]

Who is going to die of the Fantastic Four?
Marvel needs more sales and wants to kill off one of the FF.
(at least until they need to bring them back again.  Captain America, etc)

See here for more-
http://beta.ca.news.yahoo.com/buzz-builds-online-comic-book-shops-marvel-set-20101222-152527-219.html

-Yoc

[John C]

It'd be hilarious if they made someone up and killed him on the very last page, with an editorial comment that he joined and left between two issues, years ago.

But since Disney said that they're targeting Marvel at boys, and since Marvel editorial seems less than keen on marriage, hmmm...

[bchat]

Wow, that's ... not original (see Fantastic Four 381 October 1993).  Kind of sad that the only way Marvel can think of to generate interest in their titles is to "kill" someone, but it's just plain funny that the mass media pays any attention to "news" like this.

I voted for The Thing because they already "killed" Reed once & doing it again would be too lame, and I can't see the "death" of Sue or Torch having an effect that will "will ripple across the Marvel Universe like never before".  How would The Thing's death affect the Marvel Universe?  I don't know, but he's the only one of the four that was popular enough to get his own cartoon series, plus a long run in Marvel Two-In-One, a 36-issue series in the 1980s and another series in 2006.  My point of view is that, for better or worse, comic fans would actually care that The Thing was killed, whereas the other three would just get a "yeah, so what?" response.

On the other hand (and I should have thought about this before voting), killing The Human Torch makes more sense since Marvel seems willing to use their stable of Golden Age characters, so why have two characters that are, for all intents & purposes, exactly the same?

[misappear]

The scene is a dark room somewhere in Manhattan.  A single light above a round table illuminates the four faces of the men in attendance.  Cigar smoke hovers in the air.  Big Stan, chewing on the butt of his Havana, surveys his henchmen.
     "We gotta bump somebody off.  Youse guys gotta do dis, cuz I'm too old.  Hell, I'll get blamed for it anyway."
     With fear and determination, Little Joey looks into the steely eyes of his boss.  "I'll do it!  I ain't bumped nobody since the Rogers deal, and I'm itchin' for some action!"
     "You got moxie, kid.  By the way, do I know you?"
     "Big Stan, we gotta send a message that when we bump somebody, he stays bumped.  Too many people say our bumps ain't really bumps.  It's about respect.  We don't want the D.C. crowd laughing.  And they ain't got room to talk.  Look at those botched jobs on Allen and Jordan.  Now there's some bumps that won't stay bumped.  Jeez!"
     "You're right, kid.  But remember, too many bumps and nobody'll wanna buy our "product." "
     "I unnerstand.  I'll get this done without creating a crisis."

[bchat]

The scene is a dark room somewhere in Manhattan.  A single light above a round table illuminates the four faces of the men in attendance.  Cigar smoke hovers in the air.  Big Stan, chewing on the butt of his Havana, surveys his henchmen.
     "We gotta bump somebody off.  Youse guys gotta do dis, cuz I'm too old.  Hell, I'll get blamed for it anyway."
     With fear and determination, Little Joey looks into the steely eyes of his boss.  "I'll do it!  I ain't bumped nobody since the Rogers deal, and I'm itchin' for some action!"
     "You got moxie, kid.  By the way, do I know you?"
     "Big Stan, we gotta send a message that when we bump somebody, he stays bumped.  Too many people say our bumps ain't really bumps.  It's about respect.  We don't want the D.C. crowd laughing.  And they ain't got room to talk.  Look at those botched jobs on Allen and Jordan.  Now there's some bumps that won't stay bumped.  Jeez!"
     "You're right, kid.  But remember, too many bumps and nobody'll wanna buy our "product." "
     "I unnerstand.  I'll get this done without creating a crisis."

Forgive my ignorance, as I'm not up on my knowledge of the Marvel staff, but who's "Big Stan"?  At first, I thought you might be referring to Stan Lee, but since he's working with BOOM! Studios on a new line of books, that can't be right.

[Yoc]

 
HAhaha!
Great job there misappear!
I loved it.

And I'm sure it's still Stan Lee BC.
He's still the face of Marvel in many minds, especially with his cameo's in the movies, etc.

-Yoc

[CharlieRock]

I think killing off a character to generate sales is silly. Why not just remove his powers or something actually creative?

[JonTheScanner]

Removing powers has probably only been done slightly more often than killing off a character

[misappear]

"So how long is this one for Clark?  Is this a Red Kryptonite thing, or has Mxyztplk flumoxed you again?"

[John C]

Wow.  Death.  Depowering.  I'm reminded of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode:  "Dawn's in trouble?  Must be Tuesday."

You know, I can't help but feel that the market-share might increase some, if they quit it with the redundant stunts and actually wrote, like, decent stories that someone off the street could read and enjoy in a sitting.  Maybe sell them somewhere that people actually go, like a supermarket or convenience store, too.

Instead, we get this:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/218160

On the other hand, for that, it might be worth it.  "That would only serve to compound the conundrum when we all come back."

[bchat]

You know, I can't help but feel that the market-share might increase some, if they quit it with the redundant stunts and actually wrote, like, decent stories that someone off the street could read and enjoy in a sitting.  Maybe sell them somewhere that people actually go, like a supermarket or convenience store, too.

No, it's better to leave the comic industry as-is, where a person has to figure-out where the nearest comic shop is, and then drive there every week because a title they're interested in MIGHT be released & they want to be there the day it comes out because the store owner won't buy more copies than what he thinks will sell that very same day.   If the comic companies start doing crazy stuff like going back to single-issue stories, or doing something really bizarre like advertising on tv or in national newspapers, then sales might increase, and then what would all the doomsayers of the world have to talk about?

[John C]

Hm.  Good point.  It would seem to take the sport and challenge out of the hobby.  Maybe they could write the books in a secret code to compensate for the convenience of purchase.

[Yoc]

Just heard who the 'winner/loser' is.  I wont ruin the surprise but I was personally wrong.

-Yoc

[Yoc]

It was the Human Torch for any that were curious to know.

-Yoc

[Yoc]

I now hear that Spider-Man will be joining the book and it's to be renamed to something else with FF for initials.  I can't recall what atm.
I guess Spidey wasn't busy enough as part of the Avengers.