Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25739032-20141123181733/@comment-4651179-20150111035321

C'mon, at least speculation is not meant to be harmful, unlike complaints. It's something natural of fans everywhere. Whether a TV show, movie franchise, video game series, or comic book, you'll always wonder what will happen next. It's food for thought.

It helps fans interact and share opinions. Then, when the something speculated happens or doesn't, they can brag or just feel happy that they "knew it," or be surprised because they didn't expect something.

Personally, I'm not a fan of speculating. I don't make complicated theories on what will happen in Time Runs Out. But I do sometimes think to myself, "I wonder if this will solved X way?" as some kind of afterthought after my reading.

A gimmick or not, stories are stories. I find that the new Thor and All-New Captain America represent some form of pandering, but as a result of wanting to do new stories. So, they wanted to replace Captain America, why not Sam Wilson? So, we want a new Thor, why not a woman? It's not as if a frog and a horse-faced alien haven't wielded Mjolnir, or another man.

Additionally, I think that calling these type of stories gimmick is unfair. A gimmick is a story made for the sole purpose of making money. First of all, isn't every story made to make money? Aren't stories made to attract readers so your publishing company doens't go bankrupt? Secondly, though the reviews of these two series (Thor and All-New Captain America), you can see that Marvel is playing their best cards. So far, I haven't seen a single issue of these series with a scor lower than 8/10 in Newsarama or Comic Book Resources.

A gimmick is made for the sole purpose of making money. If a story is also being made for the sake of good narrative, it's not simply a gimmick. It's just a story. We're receiving quality material, and Marvel is receiving our money. Isn't that what the business of the comic book industry is about?