Sadly, Being Number 1 isn't what is used to be.

I recently saw that Marvel was coming out with a new issue of DareDevil....a new number one....ugh, reboot my foot! $h!t!

I posted this comment on my Facebook stream...

I want to start fun new game, every time a publisher comes out with a new #1 issue, Spam them DIDN'T ISSUE 1 COME OUT ALREADY!!! #rebootsareforlosers

...maybe you get the idea I loath the idea of reboots (in most cases mind you, not all...I am looking forward to the New Aquaman series. But Aquaman needs one after all his hardships. Say amen...amen.)

In response to my post, one follower/ friend/ fan had this to say...his words!

Scott Sheaffer (it was so well thought out and right on I had to share before it got lost in FB's yesterdays backlog.)


"When I was a kid, a first issue meant something. It was the beginning. Sometimes the very beginning or sometimes just the beginning of a character getting their own series. Some characters didn't even get a first issue. Thor for instance debuted in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #83 and the series's title was eventually changed to THE MIGHTY THOR. A first issue might be the start of a short-lived series that was interesting but which never caught on with mainstream fans - a cult classic. Or it might be the start of a long enduring series. "Wow! THE FANTASTIC FOUR #200 is coming out? Imagine having the very first issue! Being there from the start!" That was the appeal of first issues. That's all been ruined because now you get first issue after first issue. Something has lasted for 50 issues? Time to reboot. Even poor old Thor got his very own first issue. Publishers do this because first issues still create a TEMPORARY spike in sales. It's no longer just that it's a prefabricated collector's item. Now it's a jumping on point. So many comics writers have been writing so many convoluted, never-ending stories for so long that many fans won't check out a series that's been going on for a while because "there's too much backstory to catch up on" and "I won't know what's going on." From the 1930s through the early 1960s, writers managed to have multiple short stories with beginnings, middles, and ends in each issue. Then issue length stories became more common, but they still had beginnings, middles and ends all in one issue. Then, multi-issues stories with ongoing subplots became more common. Even then, some editors demanded that each issue of these story arcs be approached as if it would be some readers' first issue of that series or maybe even their very first comic ever. Even that's been lost. I started reading Conan comics in early 1978 when I was seven-years-old. I was disappointed when Marvel cancelled CONAN THE BARBARIAN and rebooted with CONAN THE ADVENTURER. I kept buying though even though the comics had long since plummeted in quality and certainly didn't hold a candle to the original Robert E. Howard prose stories. When, Conan moved from Marvel to Dark Horse, it made some sense to start with a new #1, although I would have liked to have seen the old CTB numbering revived. Heck, DC did that with Tarzan back in the early 1970s when they took over Tarzan from another publisher. They kept on with the old numbering. However, when Dark Horse cancelled their Conan series after fifty issues only to immediately restart with CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #1, I simply walked away after thirty years of buying Conan comics. The gimmick of constantly rebooting with new first issues was the straw that broke the camel's back. I haven't bought a new Conan comic since."

Thanks so much for saying your piece Scott, and thanks for your permission to post it up here. Well said, I could not have said it better myself!

So dear readers, what are your thoughts? Have you a story to add to this?

Please feel free to comment!

My your comics begin with a 1,
Peter.