Marvel's "Season One"

[The NZA]

 

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/...c-novels_n.htm

 

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com...ic-novel-line/

 

 

For those who don't want to read their granddaddy's old comics, Marvel is launching a Season One line of original graphic novels — the publisher's first — next year to honor the company's 50th anniversary. The hardcover books star a new, young generation of today's comic creators bringing a modern voice and sensibility to tales of classic Marvel heroes and teams.

 

"We're hoping to introduce folks who have never read any of these characters to these characters in this format, and also provide an interesting and illuminating story for people who have read a lot of Fantastic Four and Daredevil," says Brevoort, Marvel's senior vice president and executive editor.

 

"If you want to dip your toe in the water and find out the essence of what Marvel is all about, here is a nice place for you to start in big, sizable, meaty chunks."

 

The first wave of four graphic novels will include:

 

•Fantastic Four: Season One by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Stephen King's The Stand, Glee) and David Marquez (Secret Warriors), due out in February;

 

•X-Men: Season One by Dennis Hopeless (Legion Of Monsters) and Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram), on sale in March;

 

•Daredevil: Season One by Antony Johnston (Daredevil) and Wellinton Alves (Nova), in April;

 

•Spider-Man: Season One by Cullen Bunn (Fear Itself: The Deep, Sixth Gun) and Neil Edwards (Fantastic Four), arriving in May.

 

Brevoort says a second wave will debut soon afterward "that will get deeper into other characters, as well."

 

Some might think this is a similar initiative as the Ultimate Universe, but the Ultimate comics that began in 2000 were overhauls of Marvel characters. Season One isn't the beginning of an entirely new universe, however.

 

"Everything you know about them, everything that's existed for the last 50 years still exists and is still there," Brevoort says. "These are individually new stories, even though they've got bits and pieces of old and formative origin stuff in and around them, as well."

 

They're not simple retellings of the origin stories, either. While you'll get a sense of that — such as the Fantastic Four shooting off into space and Peter Parker getting bit by a radioactive spider — the Season One graphic novels will focus on tales that define the characters and their relationships with each other.

 

"We know a lot more now obviously about what Spider-Man would grow into than anybody had any idea in 1962, and the same with Daredevil and same with the X-Men," Brevoort says. "We're able to act with a little more forethought and foreknowledge as to how these characters will grow and evolve during that period."

 

update

 

The latest Marvel release to include a download code for a digital copy with the purchase of a physical book is their Season One line of graphic novels, the publisher announced Friday.

 

This comes the same week as the release of Avenging Spider-Man #1 — the first Marvel comic to offer such a deal — and Thursday's announcement that each book in Marvel's Ultimate line will include download codes as of January 2012. Like the polybags for the single issues, the hardcover Season One books will be shrinkwrapped to protect the code until purchase.

 

The Season One line consists of original graphic novels telling in-continuity stories aimed at new readers and set in a modernized version of their characters' early history. Thus far, four books have been announced for release in 2012, and it looks there will be more on the way.

 

"We're committed to attracting new readers by providing compelling original stories about our top heroes from our most exciting creators, all packaged at an unbeatable value," Marvel senior vice president of sales David Gabriel said in a statement. "The response to Marvel: Season One from fans, retailers and press has been so incredible that have a second wave of graphic novels in development for later this year."

 

The first Season One book, Fantastic Four: Season One, is scheduled for February 2012, by writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist David Marquez. March brings X-Men: Season One by Dennis Hopeless and Jamie McKelvie, followed by Daredevil: Season One by Antony Johnston and Wellinton Alves in April, and May's Spider-Man: Season One by Cullen Bunn and Neil Edwards.