Each week the Graphic Policy team takes on a topic in a virtual roundtable discussion! Sunday’s are known for their roundtable talk shows. This week’s topic…

We’re about a month out from All-New, All-Different Marvel. What do you all think about the relaunch/revamp/restart, and is it really “All-New, All-Different”?

Troy: Marvel’s been flirting with an Uncanny, All Old….All Same, addiction to superlative adjectives.The constant demarcation for new jumping on points is starting to feel like a marketing gimmick……fresh stories and status quo aside…I miss the days when the stories just flowed…..and we weren’t inundated with a disturbingly repeated cycle of new Number 1’s. This may be an unpopular opinion…but I enjoyed collecting (digitally and in print) 200+ issues of X-men and observing for myself where the stories evolved and how the landscaped changed.

Elana: But new readers won’t know what a good jumping in point is unless we tell them. thats clear to me from the convos i have with new readers

Brett: Yeah, the adjectives are getting out of hand. I think my favorite comments on it was when Skullkickers kept rebooting to a first issue with a new adjective thrown in front.

As far as All-New, All-Different, it doesn’t feel all that new or different yet to me. There’s some interesting series they’ve announced, but there’s almost no creators or series announced where I’ve gotten super excited about them. I’ll give them each a shot, but there’s no “must read” right now for me.

Alex: I’m with Troy. I miss collecting (and reading) long runs that number into the hundreds. Aside from there being a rich hosts of the team in those pages, the comics flowed so well as an overarcing story.

The influx of new number ones may draw new readers in, but the end of one “volume” makes it SO EASY to drop a comic that you think isn’t as good as it should be, because they give you a convenient dropping off point.

Elana: If they really wanted all new all different they would be bringing new voices in to the marvel universe– preferably people of color, women, people who are lgbtq, folks from other countries etc. There are new titles that look more inclusive in terms of the characters but that only goes so far if they are mostly written by straight white guys. There seems to be a bit of range in terms of what sort of tone and genre notes each book will hit. Over all I am concerned with the lack of diversity most of all. There are definitely a few books on the list that I am looking forward to but over all this is a missed opportunity.

Brett: I think Joe Illidge said it really well when he saw it as a half step.

Elana: It’s a half step that is hard to have faith in when so far their response to fans who raise concerns has been to mock us. I’m really shocked by that.

Brett: What books are folks actually looking forward to, if any?

Elana: Doctor Strange potentially. spider woman potentially (these are both with some trepedation). Devil Dinosaur. Moar Squirrel Girl. Amadaus Cho Hulk (because it’s Greg Pak writing it), Angela (!!!!!!) Blade, A-Force (I’ve found the series mediocre so far but I will give it another go when it restarts ) Patsy Walker Hellcat

Alex: Honestly? Very few. Howard The Duck, because the first five issues were great (and the writer poked fun at the reboot in the final issue), Old Man Logan because I miss Wolverine, and that’s pretty much it. Maybe one of the Spider-Man titles, but I already know I won’t care about all of them… And if there’s ever a tie in story then I’m more apt to drop them all.

Daphne: I’m looking forward to the comics that are changing things up in interesting ways by either focusing on characters who we haven’t seen from in a while (Patsy Walker: Hellcat, more Squirrel Girl) or by changing characters in new ways like Devil Dinosaur and Miss Marvel. I’m liking A-Force a lot, though it started off a little rocky, and I missed out on ALL of Spider-Gwen so I’ll probably use this as a point to start checking it out.

Alex: I think that with the constant relaunching that Marvel have been doing lately this latest batch of relaunches feels, to me at least, like just the latest in a long string. I don’t feel the need to get invested in a series because they’ll probably just relaunch it again after next years event.

Brett: Do any of them feel that much different than their relaunches when they pushed Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, or Spider-Woman?

Or does it all feel like it blends together at this point?

Alex: I feel it all blends together, which is unfortunate because I know that my indifference will prevent me from reading some great comics.

Brett: Out of the two, which excites everyone more? The recent DC relaunch or this upcoming Marvel one?

Alex: I don’t know what this says about my enthusiasm for DC lately, but if I had to pick? Probably Marvel (to quantify this, I pretty much only read Batman and Detective Comics from DC – and have for years – so I don’t really have the interest in the other DC characters that I do for Marvel’s). How about you, Brett? Which publisher’s relaunch is tickling your fancy?

Brett: Out of the two, DC I think had more intriguing and different comics with their relaunch. Prez, Cyborg, We are Robin, Omega Men. All seemed different and interesting to me.

Alex: Yeah, you’ve really been loving Cyborg. I want to pick Omega Men up in trade form when it’s released (I don’t think my LCS doesn’t have all the issues).

Brett: Some interesting thoughts here! Thanks everyone for the input.