Marvel continues to work on books centered around it's Golden Age era...

[Yoc]

Continuing a trend perhaps started by their Timely Masterworks collections years back that morphed into Ross' popular Marvel's mini and many others during the 70th Anniversary year - Marvel seems to be smitten with it's GA past - (sometimes retconning it beyond recognition, Bucky anyone?) and have decided to create a history for itself even older than Marvel Comics #1.

See here for the story behind the soon to be released - Mystery Men mini-series:
http://tinyurl.com/6zzt4qn

It sure seems both Marvel and DC enjoy using the GA setting for new story lines doesn't it?
-Yoc

[John C]

I think there are two strong aspects, here.

First, I think the major companies (and even the minors) are starting to realize that World War II wasn't just about smacking Nazis around, and that the era and the era's design are great backdrops.  (By which I mean, in an era where all the Nazis are dead and yet people attempt far greater genocides on a daily basis, punching Hitler on a cover seems a shallow gesture and a sort of trite.)

Second, time's a-tickin' when it comes to those early copyrights, and we're seeing that (as discussed elsewhere) the families of sharp creators can pry even core characters out of their hands even earlier.  So this might be part gold rush (squeeze whatever commercial value is left in the characters before someone else gets them) and part establishment that they've done more with the characters, and so they own a greater part of them.

In the Mystery Men case, while I think those are awful names (hint:  Aviatrix and Operative aren't punchy enough names to be breakaway hits--big words aren't fun, people!) and...oh, look, it's gritty, how astonishingly innovative, I like the idea of establishing new characters and new dynamics.  There's been too little experimentation in the modern day, with everybody trying to replicate the classic JLA or Avengers lineups for their companies that new characters just get pushed by the wayside in favor of those who are already icons.

I'll probably give it a quick look when it comes out.  It sounds a lot better than the Twelve, certainly.

[Yoc]

Isn't it time they just rename The Twelve to The Eight and give up?

[jfglade]

 Avatrix and Operative slide off the tongue like butter, compared to "The Revenant."

 In theory, the coining of new characters in the pulp mold could be very entertaining, in practice, I think the odds of current Marvel stories featuring counterfeit pulp characters being something I would enjoy reading are somewhere between slim and none. I'd like to be wrong, but I fear I will likely be right.

[John C]

Ah, yeah, I knew I was forgetting one of the awful names (but seriously, Aviatrix is the bottom of the barrel, I think).  Thanks, Jon.  And I agree:  Good idea, but probably no fun to read.

Something else occurred to me, in that they should have licensed or purchased real Pulp characters.  Imagine the twisty continuity a clever Marvel writer could assemble from the Avenger, the Spider, and Doc Savage's Fabulous Five on top of some new guys.

Oh, that's right, DC licensed some of those for their inept foray into the Pulps, as I recall.  Oh, well.  That's too bad.  (Meanwhile, DC overlooked the obvious:  The Whisperer, a.k.a. Police Commissioner James "Wildcat" Gordon.  I mean, really, how could they NOT...?)

[CharlieRock]

I think the GA revival is a sign that comics are either doing better or getting better soon (sales wise). As newer fans turn to comics while waiting for the next Spider-Man movie to hit the screen they want to know the history of comics. I know guys at work that for sure never read comics have actually asked me (with increasing frequency) what the comic was like compared to a new movie thats come out. ("Does Spider-Man marry Mary Jane in the comics?" for example). These are guys set in their ways so I can imagine what a kid out there exploring what is cool must be thinking .... ("Who was that Robin, and why is he a bad guy now?")