Disorderly

heard with a heavy heart that The Order is being cancelled.

This is quite annoying as it is probably one of the best team books marvel has produced in a while, the concept of a super team akin to a sporting franchise, where someone may be "Benched" or dropped for poor performance was really intriguing, plus the idea that each hero can only keep their powers for 2 years could very well make a series with a constantly shifting line-up, and with that the very real possibility that a character could die. It also examined the behind the scenes PR of the team, how their public image was maintained and simple challenges like City mayors not wanting a super team based in the middle of LA.

So if it was so great, why was it cancelled? Well, it had some bad luck; it was to be called The Champions, harking back to an old LA based team featuring Black Widow and Ghost rider. But as it transpired Marvel had lost the rights to the name and after a brief legal altercation it changed to The Order. Second was it was launched off the back of Civil War, as part of the 50 State initiative. Sadly this coincided with the launch of 4 other team books. Of these Mighty Avengers not only had big names Bendis and Cho on writing and art respectively, but was one half of the 2 central Avengers Titles (Alongside New Avengers) Also released were Omega Flight and New Warriors. Both of these titles could at least trade off the old fanbases of Alpha Flight and The New Warriors. (Which the Order could have if it had been able to keep its name) Finally was Avengers: The Initiative, well, for starters it received the Avengers tag, but secondly it received some solid publicity in the run up to its release (Solid compared to "Its not called the champions") But it could trade off its avengers title, all the order had was "The Initiative" banner that was on about 90% of marvels output at the time.

What compounded this was the ever growing ton of events that were stacking up from Marvel. The X-Men books were running up to Messiah Complex and the rest of the MU was gearing itself towards World War Hulk. Well, if they wanted to follow world war hulk then if anything there was probably going to be a cut back in their uptake of new ongoings. Indeed, in both of the big guns Event fatigue is really setting in.

The next thing that robbed possible publicity from The Order was the controversial One More Day storyline. As this was very much the baby of the Marvel EIC Joe Quesada, Marvels output as far as courting publicity was almost entirely dedicated to explaining how good One More Day was going to be, closely followed by explaining why One More Day was excellent and then pitching Brand New Day, to be honest, you'd have been surprised that Marvel were making any other comics over this period.

Finally is a general criticism of Marvel. Times past a new title, or one resurrecting one of their secondary characters, would never be listed as an ongoing, rather it would get a 4-12 issue Limited series to test the water. Lately Marvel have been banging out new ongoings. I think this puts people off. If you give someone a 6 issue Limited series, they may consider the extra expense over 6 months not too big a hit, particularly when they know that the next big event is a year away. If the series works, follow with another LS or if you feel bold an ongoing. Notably Omega Flight was reduced to a Limited series, and was probably the better for it. If they'd said The Order was a 12 issue LS Not only would I be less upset at it finishing, I could be guaranteed a planned conclusion to the story and the possibility of more later on. An axed title is never a popular one to follow up.What I think we could use, as an ongoing, is an Anthology title relating to the 50 state initiative. Running anything from 1-6 part stories focusing on one or more of the new state teams. Judge on reaction to stories what may make the ongoings of tomorrow and take things slowly.

Still, I'll miss the Order when it finishes.