Although anticipation for the upcoming Secret Empire is undoubtedly high, event fatigue is becoming a very real thing. In the past few years alone, True Believers have endured Secret Wars, Civil War II and now this, each following the other like rapid fire and affording little breathing room in between. Not only that, but linewide relaunches are often in tow, which is something else that’s been a growing concern.
In fact, I can’t recall a time in the last decade or so that a major crossover event hasn’t been going on. Granted, neither of the Big Two are innocent, but every time I turn around, Marvel is putting out something with a tagline along the lines of “it’s all been building to this.” Furthermore, it’s getting increasingly difficult to remember what order stories such as Siege, Fear Itself, Axis and Original Sin all happened in.
But according to Marvel Vice President of Sales and Marketing David Gabriel, we’ll experience a prolonged moment of respite upon the conclusion of Secret Empire, as he had this to say at the recent Marvel Retailer’s Summit:
“Hopefully, you guys will be happy to know that at the end of Secret Empire, we do not have any big crossover event scheduled. We haven’t even talked about one for 18 months, at the very least. Those will be away for quite a while.”
What should be noted, however, is that this may not pertain to smaller events such as the recently concluded Inhumans vs. X-Men or the upcoming Weapons of Mutant Destruction. No matter what lies ahead, it will be nice to enjoy comics that aren’t tethered to a grand scheme once Secret Empire is out of the way.