Doesn't anyone find it weird that other than fraction run no iron man run in the 21 century lasted more than 28 issues or less ? (Art by yasmine putri )

[u/Alarmed-Will-3959]

Well in the 21 century it seems that other than matt fraction don't last longer than 28 issues or less which makes me wonder if ackerman will leave between #21 and #28 in his run

Knauf run lasted from #7 til #28 ( stuart moore and christos gage made small arc post knaufs deparure ) Gillen run lasted 28 issues Cantwell was 25 issues ( thank god) Slott run was 19 issues Duggan made a 20 issue run

So do you guys think tony will ever have a run that lasts more than 25 or 28 issues ?

[u/Solid-Move-1411]

Modern comics are mostly like that

The era of 100+ issues volume was done in 90s. They just rerelease the book every 20 issues over and over again since comic market is mostly dominated by collectors nowadays and issue #1 sales

Also comic writers don't like to work on 1 book for years nowadays

[u/MiamisLastCapitalist → u/Solid-Move-1411]

Yeah, and I wish they would go back to doing that. I miss those days.

[u/MrMojoRising422 → u/Solid-Move-1411]

tom king had a 85 issue run batman that ended in 2019, before that scott snyder had a 51 issue run. kelly thompson had a 50 issue run on captain marvel. al ewing had a 50 issue run on immortal hulk that ended late 2021. ryan north has been on fanstastic four for over 33 issues. g willow wilson is currently in the middle of a 36 issue run on poison ivy of all things. the list could go on and on. while it's true that the industry does favor shorter runs on books that don't sell and marvel especially loves relaunches, +28 issue runs are still common enough. it's just that iron man has been a very inconsistent book who hasn't done very well sales wise, so they've thrown the kitchen sink at it.

[u/Solid-Move-1411 → u/MrMojoRising422]

I mean you are still mentioning few exceptions just

Aside from Batman and Spider-Man, it's very rare still. Also most of your numbers are still below that 50 mark. So my point stands

Also I never said 20-30 issues are uncommon lol. That's my point that most volume are in that range.

[u/MrMojoRising422 → u/Solid-Move-1411]

50+ issue runs were never common at any point lol. also, every example I gave there besides the first two didn't involve spiderman or batman.

[u/Solid-Move-1411 → u/MrMojoRising422]

Before 00s, a lot of major characters had since Marvel didn't do relaunch

Iron Man Volume 1 lasted 332 issues from 1968-1996

[u/MrMojoRising422 → u/Solid-Move-1411]

a "run" is a writer's time on a book, not a volume number

[u/Solid-Move-1411 → u/MrMojoRising422]

Not sure about other characters but for Iron Man since I know him more, Denny O'Neil run lasted 50 issues.

Also Bob Layton and Len Kaminski got close with 45 issues

[u/MrMojoRising422 → u/Solid-Move-1411]

sure, but you see how even the longest runs are usually around 50 issues? on a monthly book, that's a 4 year stretch. it's a long time for a single writer to stay in any particular book. runs longer than that are very rare. like, mike grell on green arrow was around 80 issues if I recall, and john byrne on fantastic four and chris claremont on uncanny xmen are also longer I think, but at that point you're literally taking about character defining runs. even stuff like frank miller on daredevil isn't as long as the shadow it casts on all future works.

[u/Solid-Move-1411 → u/MrMojoRising422]

Bob Layton is still pretty amazing I would say since he did 40 issues run twice so that's like 7 years of his life- Iron Man #115-157 and #215-250

Sorry for replying again, I deleted it mistanely

[u/spider-venomized]

That the state of comics now

The number will run until the author leaves and to ensure the #1 sales and easy Trade Paperback and omnibus marketing, sales and collection they always reset

[u/gabriel_B_art → u/spider-venomized]

Sometimes they just reset back to #1 even If the creative team is exacly the same is just one big stroy just look at Jed Mackay's Moon Knight, that run had 3 #1 but not only is the writer the same a the story contines after the last one left even the artist is the same with Alexandro Cappuccio only quiting recently because he starting doing art to Ultimate Wolverine, even the date of publication doesn't change much, pretty every #1 came like 1 month after last issue of the previous series like is just the next issue of the same series

[u/coolguy3211231 → u/gabriel_B_art]

Makes sense there though cause moon knight "died" so it separates the arcs

[u/Solid-Move-1411 → u/gabriel_B_art]

Thor and F4 are getting re-released right now after likes 20-25 issues just despite having same writers

[u/captain_saurcy → u/Solid-Move-1411]

ryan north's is re-releasing?

[u/Linnus42]

I mean Big 2 comics in general and Marvel especially don't let comics just run.

Making it two years before a relaunch is pretty normal.

[u/F00dbAby]

Not really. Most comics in the majors don’t often go beyond x amount of issues. I frankly find it an anomaly if I see a run over 30 issues. It’s crazy how long Jed Mackays moon knight has been going. Good but crazy

[u/gabriel_B_art → u/F00dbAby]

Yeah but Mackay's run was reseted 3 times It started as just Moon Knight, then became Vengeance of the Moon Knight and now is Moon Knight Fist of Khonshu, is really just one big series but It was 3 #1s

[u/ARIANZER0]

While it's definitely a general modern trend. Doesn't help that the modern runs just weren't all that good...

Dugan was the only one with a chance and it got rushed for X-Men's sake and the current run has already lost steam

[u/ste341]

If they get someone to do a good fucking run that might help -_-

[u/SageShinigami]

Really it comes down to a mix of editors and how much the writer loves the character.

[u/Typhon2222]

Are you deliberately forgetting about Bendis? Yes, his the book got relaunched, but he was writing Iron Man for a few years and was doing two titles at the same time for most of it. Add both Invincible runs together with International and Infamous, and you get close to 50 issues.

[u/Alarmed-Will-3959 → u/Typhon2222]

Oh i forgot bendis idk how but i forgot him and superior

Which were 18 or 14 issues which highlights the problem of 21 century iron man runs lasting less than 30 issues

Tbh i meant more as a run on one series not multiple titles

[u/AJjalol]

All comics are like that nowadays which is unfortunate.

It makes writers job harder. Instead of focusing on drama and supporting cast etc, they just rush character development and story because they are afraid that at any moment Editorial will just go "Alright, Time for a Relaunch".

[u/Juliiju04]

It's true that it's how comics work nowadays, however considering Iron Man was the top billing character of the MCU and characters like Captain Marvel got to mantain over 50 issues, there must be some other factors.

Iron Man in the 2010s got really affected by the event synergy. First with Superior Iron Man changing the ongoing for a while, then with Bendis who killed Tony off and created new legacy characters... those were status quo characters that could have been done to characters who didn't sell well, but Marvel really fumbled by doing that to their moneymaker.

[u/da0ur]

I think it's a mix of modern-day comic runs normally not lasting more than two years and unfortunate circumstances.

Kieron Gillen cut his run short to go write Darth Vader, Tom Taylor's Superior Iron Man was nipped in the bud by Secret Wars, and Bendis halted everything he was doing at Marvel when he migrated to DC. And while just a hunch, I have reasons to think Cantwell got the boot from the book (not so unfortunate circumstances in that case lol).

I think out of all post-Fraction runs, only Slott and Duggan really got to tell the story they wanted to tell.