Marvel Universe and Marvel Novels.

Snowflakian · 02-08-2010, 01:38 AM

We've seen comic packs, and we've obviously all seen trade paperbacks of collected comics, but recently after digging through old boxes I stumbled on something I had forgotten about...

I'm talking about the Novels marvel made in the 90s

X-Men: Mutant Empire (Utopia, before Utopia happened.)
X-Men: The Jewels of Cyttorak
X-Men: Smoke and Mirrors
Hulk: Rampage
Doom's Day book series (Books ranging from Spidey and Ironman, to Hulk, and even the fantastic 4! All centered around Dr. Doom.)
Spider-Man: Carnage in New York
Ironman: Operation Aim (Starring Tony Stark, James Rhodes, Black Panther, and Captain America)
Ironman: Armor Trap (Starring Tony Stark, and James Rhodes)
The Ultimate Silver Surfer Collection (short story collection from various authors about the surfer and characters he interacts wtih)
The Ultimate Spider-Man Collection (Short stories all centered around spider-man and his friends and family)
The Ultimate Super-Villian Collection (short stories about various villains in the Marvel universe and their connections within the MU as well.)
Fantastic Four
Generation X: Ghosts of the Past (Okay this one should probably be forgotten about).
X-Men and the Avengers (Part of the gamma Quest trilogy)
Time's Arrow book series
Etc, etc.

Among many more.
Including Spider-Man's various books. (Books that cover the gambit of almost every villian! From carnage to venom, even the lizard, and the sinister six!)

So my question is, how many of us would be interested in getting these books republished alongside MU, IM2, XMO figures?
Ironman: Armor Trap with an Ironman Figure and Comic Series War machine or baron von strucker as an example. Or Adaptoids to go with Operation AIM.
Among any other character variations Hasbro could do from within the confines of these books themselves. Army building figures, and more. Just for example. It's rather hard to point out the exact specifics they could do, without ruining the books themselves if any are interested in checking them out.

Comics already help kids get into reading, but this would be one step further into getting them reading normal books too.
Would these help get kids into reading? Would you be interested in some of these books and figures? (the books are written on a mild highschool level, but sometimes can surprise you with high vocabulary usage too. So easily reachable by the majority, with even a few college level words sporadicly.)

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Personally, I just finished re-reading both of the Ironman Novels. And all I gotta say is, awesome. Maybe not the best literature I've ever read, but it was a fun romp nonetheless and they managed to keep the characters highly accurate. It was also refreshing to be reminded what the Marvel U was like before Civil war and so on occurred. Then they got me outright fiending, yes fiending to get my hands on the IM2 comic series War Machine and the 90s TAS modok figure. So I'm all down for an idea like this, especially if it means rarities like Adaptoids, Baron von Strucker, and more. Figures that maybe wouldn't sell without some form of help to push them. Plus, it could get MU pushed even in Book stores now as well.

So, Should hasbro do it or not? And have you guys read these books or even heard of them anyway? What's your vote, and why? Or if you'd prefer it to be anonymous, you can do that too.

uberlad · 02-08-2010, 07:38 AM

I remember those novels, but I have to admit I wasn't a fan.

Might I suggest mini comics like the ones that used to come with he-man figures? Or a one page-wednesday comics-style sheet that has a self contained story instead of a packaged novel

Tarquinius · 02-08-2010, 08:44 AM

I like this idea. It'd be cool if they did an Ironman Anthology book with "a hall of armor".

I think its important to remember though that these books can be upwards of 15, 20, 30 dollars depending on the title and the figure(s) could be 8ish + dollars on that as well. So it could get very expensive to the point where children aren't able to afford it. It could very well become a collector market

Johnnyakiba · 02-08-2010, 08:52 AM

Star Wars almost did something like this with one of their vehicle lines. They promoted their books through toys by giving a accurate description of the book. The packaging was also shaped like a book.

I don't know if these sold well but...in our society today kids are not really concerned with books. I agree that kids should read a LOT more books. BUT this idea is not a winner.

I think the cost of the book plus figure would run these to be about 15-20 and that would be if they included only one figure. Beyond that, I don't think kids would want these books anyway. Marvel is a company that is based on comics. To release such an obscure item would only touch a handful of fans.

trebleshot · 02-08-2010, 08:57 AM

I'd be all for the idea (hence my vote) but I just don't feel the market will bear them. Collectors would probably jump all over it, especially if there are rarities like Adaptoid. But as Hasbro has said many times, we collectors are not their main source of income (around 10%, maybe a little higher with the shift in the economy).

Tarquinius · 02-08-2010, 09:46 AM

Although this poll hasn't been active long it seems like the majority of us like the idea, but know there is no place for it.

Would it be possible if this was a Comic Con exclusive or an online product? Again we'd be shutting out the children market (which was the original intent of this poll I suppose) but the Hasbro wouldn't bomb badly for this idea because it is a limited run, and only available to those who can 1) afford to buy it and 2) have the means to get it.

Snowflakian · 02-08-2010, 02:48 PM

Well, one of the reasons I mentioned the books myself, is because they are out of print, and the paperbacks are marginally cheap, around 5-8 bucks then with the figures cost, you're looking at maybe 18-25 for a Book and 2 figure set. Maybe only 16 or so for a single figure and book set. In my experience though, parents are more relaxed about these costs when it comes to getting kids to read, and enjoy reading. So as long as it could stay below 30, I could see parents being willing to buy these occasionally.

Barnes N Noble, Borders and so on could maybe push these, as could walmart, or toys r us, or other places. But honestly the figure push comes mostly after reading the book itself. So it'd take some kind of balance to do it right. Definitely would have to stick to the paperbacks though for cost, as the hardcovers would raise the price way too much.