When I was a kid, two of the first four comics I had were
Spider-Man comics. One of them was ‘Amazing Spider-Man’, it was issue number
270, and it was copyright 1985. The other was ‘Peter Parker, The Spectacular
Spider-Man’, it was issue number 113, and it was copyright 1986. Realising that
the second issue must have been released at a later date, and not realising
that they were two different Spider-Man series, I postulated that the issue
numbers of comics were chosen at random. I knew that series began at issue #1, and
I was sure #2 followed, but it seemed to me then that you could choose whatever
numbers you wanted after #3 – eg #1, #2, #3, #57, #629, #188, #270, #113 ...
I may have been wrong then, but given Marvel Comics’
numbering systems in recent years, my theory could be argued to be somewhat
ahead of its time. Since the mid-1990s Marvel has frequently, often bafflingly,
re-numbered its long-running series. Below are attempts to chart those numbering
systems for some of their series, graphing number of issues (in sequential
order) against issue number.
Start with ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ – it may seem tricky, but
compared to other series its numbering system has been generally
straightforward. For over 400 issues (starting from point A in the chart below)
there was a long steady climb, where its issue number matched its number of issues.
The series then underwent a ‘relaunch’ in the mid-1990s (B), a
word I heartily detest – I find the concept itself pretty stupid too. Even
this though did not shake the seemingly incontrovertible law that issue numbers
for comic series ran in sequence.
The trouble kind of started when Marvel Editor in Chief Joe
Quesada decided that he disliked the renumbering of all of Marvel’s
long-running series. Consequently, these series started to have dual
numbers (C) – one signalling where the issue was situated in the current
series, and the other signalling what number the issue would be if the series
have never been stupidly relaunched. However, the first of these numbers
magically disappeared when the count for the second number allowed Marvel to
publish an oversized, higher-priced 500th ‘anniversary’ issue.
The numbering then returned to the path that the long steady climb would have taken if it had not been interrupted only marginally thrown off-course by some ‘Point One’ issues – eg #654.1 – barely perceptible on the graph below. This continued until the ‘final’ issue, #700, in which Peter Parker was ‘killed’ and replaced. (Actually there were also issues #700.1-700.5 but never mind that … ) ‘Amazing’ was then replaced by ‘Superior Spider-Man’ but that was then replaced by another stupid relaunch of ‘Amazing’ this year, with Peter Parker returning (D). Therefore, ‘Amazing Spider-Man’, despite running for over 700 issues, is now essentially back at the start again …
Next up: Marvel’s other flagship title ‘Fantastic Four’.
This also had an LSC for over 400 issues (A), before it was stupidly relaunched,
or ‘reborned’ if you will, as part of Marvel’s first stab at renumbering its
popular, long-running series – the ‘Heroes Reborn’ debacle (B).
After ‘Reborn’ divebombed, there was another relaunch under the ‘Heroes Return’
banner (C). The series would then later undergo the same dual numbering phenomenon
as ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ (D), although in the FF’s case it lasted a little
beyond #500, with the wrinkle that the numbers did a switcheroo from #501
onwards so that the higher number came first (E).
The
LSC was then resumed as if it never halted, until Jonathan Hickman ‘killed’ off
the Human Torch, and the title was relaunched as ‘FF’ rather than FF (F). But
then lo and behold, an ‘anniversary’ issue came up, and Marvel wanted to have
its cake and eat it too. ‘FF’ #12 was instead ‘Fantastic Four’ #600, with ‘FF’
#1-11 retroactively becoming the missing issues of ‘Fantastic Four’ (G). After
that Marvel pulled a Captain
Kirk, where ‘Fantastic Four’ (#601- ) and ‘FF’ (#12- ) both existed
simultaneously. Both series were then started again as part of the Marvel NOW!
Relaunch Hyperoverload (H), catapulting the series into a bold new era that managed
to last a whole sixteen issues (I).
Marvel’s ‘Thor’ aka ’The Mighty Thor’ aka ’Thor: God of
Thunder’ actually began life as a re-titling of ‘Journey Into Mystery’, so that
its first issue was #126 (A). Since then its numbering has been affected by
several stupid relaunches, a have-your-cake-and-eat-it, and a double Captain
Kirk. The title ‘Thor’ was initially cancelled rather than Reborned in the mid-1990s
(it was the lucky one), but the series reverted to its old name of ‘Journey
Into Mystery’ and kept the same numbering sequence (B). The relaunch eventually
came though (C), followed by a dual numbering (D), and then a cancellation and
relaunch again (E).
The 600th issue (F) was Marvel’s
chance for a have-your-cake-and-eat-it, even though it was not the 600th
issue of Thor at all. It only works if you count the first 125 issues of
‘Journey Into Mystery’, but not the issues after the first Captain Kirk,
because well … that would not have added up to 600, would it? This resumption
of the LSC did not last long until a second Captain Kirk occurred (G), where
‘Thor’ began again at #1 (H), and ‘Journey Into Mystery’ again took over the
old numbering. ‘Thor: God of Thunder’ is the most recent stupid relaunch (I),
although it is enough of a clean break from what came before that it can almost
be forgiven.
‘Captain America’ has followed a similar path to ‘Thor’,
beginning at #100 as a re-titling of ‘Tales of Suspense’ (A), and then
undergoing a LSC up past #450. Like ‘Fantastic Four’ it got ‘Reborned’ (B), and
relaunched (C), and then had a dual number for a tick (D), before it got
stupidly relaunched (E) and relaunched again (F).
You would think that with so many stupid
relaunches it would never regain its former heights on the y-axis. But never
underestimate the power of Marvel’s have-your-cake-and-eat-it fetish, which took
effect as of issue number, wait for it … the oversized, higher-priced 600 (F). (Though
like ‘Thor’ this ignores that the series began at #100.) Captain America then
got Captain Kirked not long after, when Captain America got ‘killed’ and was
replaced, albeit by the original Captain America Steve Rogers, who himself had
been ‘killed’ and replaced. ‘Captain America’ and ‘Captain America and Bucky’,
which picked up the old numbering, then ran simultaneously (H and I), with the
good Captain getting Marvel NOW!ed accounting for the most recent relaunch (J).
And then there is Iron Man … take a deep breath now ...
Iron Man’ started at #1 (A), and adhered to the law of the
long, steady climb for over 300 issues. It was ‘Reborned’ (B), and stupidly
relaunched (C), and dual numbered (D) like the other titles we have seen here. And
like ‘Captain America’ it was then stupidly relaunched again (E). Alright, this
is where it gets hairy …
At the same time as ‘Iron Man’ was running, a new title
called ‘Invincible Iron Man’ was launched (F). Eventually ‘Iron Man’ was
cancelled, and ‘Invincible Iron Man’ became the Iron Man title (G). Which would
have been relatively straightforward as far as these things go until the
‘have-your-cake-and-eat-it’ phenomenon struck, and ‘Invincible Iron Man’ was
renumbered, with #34 becoming #500 (H). Essays could have been written about
how the hell the various Iron Man issues added up to #500; however the website
Comic Book Numbering worked out the magic
algebra that made it work (hint: three issues of ‘Iron Man’ were apparently
not ‘Iron Man’ issues at all).
‘Iron Man’ has been stupidly relaunched one more
time since then (I), but there is one more hump in the graph. Old Iron Man
creators David Micheline and Bob Layton decided 25 years later to write over
issue #258, releasing their own version of that issue, #258.1-258.4 last year
(J).
Well,
I hope all of those charts explained things. Now you can sit back and wait for Marvel’s
new films Avengers 7, Captain America XL, and Guardians of the Galaxy 462.3, coming
soon to a multiplex near you.
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