:c67ef7d8ac="Nova#1"]:c67ef7d8ac="BlackSamurai"]I did not realize Ms. Marvel was going the way of the dodo too [need to check if that's true] [/quote:c67ef7d8ac]It is true. Issue #50 is the final issue. It even says that in the solit: http://marvel.com/catalog/?id=13959[/quote:c67ef7d8ac]Ooh, missed that one, thanks (though I am sad to see it go: yet I will admit right now it is not endearing me, but I think more can be done with it). Seems to be a whimper it'll be going out with though, I don't see Mystique's skill set as something a super strong, tough, flight-able, energy-wielding heroine should get book-ending their series, despite whatever history they have. Her biggest claim to fame is luring someone somewhere to get blown up, or threatening innocents and loved ones to get someone outclassing her to back off. No doubt the shapeshifting will make things challenging but 'we' want to see drag out brawls and property damage... where's a Kree-faction attempted kidnapping/repo when you need one? I think that could spin some good stories (especially with the teaser of Kree operatives on Earth via the guy she was involved with earlier on in her series)

I did not realize Ms. Marvel was going the way of the dodo too [need to check if that's true], but it's interesting to see a reaction about Black Widow as a push character. Ms. Marvel was a push character true, but any character can get, and can deserve, the push if stories are out there for them, and I do not honestly believe the approach to Ms. Marvel was thought out far enough ahead (or revised enough as they went on) to sustain her hype. She's positioned as an answer to Wonder Woman, but WW was struggling a while back and benefited more from the JLAers' reverence of her, rather than what was going on in her own series. Ms. Marvel is almost a 'just-there' character sometimes, and may have been coming out of that and gaining some presence; until they completely took Danvers out of the equation for the Moonstone folly. And all for what? To pretend that readers wouldn't know if she was alive or not?Black Widow can suffer the same thing if this push isn't a long haul push, and not just thought as far as "popularity spike because of the movie, let's cash in on her on the comics side while it lasts." A marketing concern they have to consider is how interesting she will be in the movie, and how much her current characterization will mesh with any interest watchers/readers could have in her continuing story. I liked the character way more than I had ever liked Ms. Marvel, and I think the medium also needs more strong female characters, but I always believed they could do a lot more with Storm, Rogue and even Elektra than they have to give a Marvel heroine the type of runs [and presence] Witchblade and Catwoman have had.Stories need to be geared towards making her intricately interlaced to Marvel continuity first to make her essential, then they can do things with her the likes of Wolverine and people will still buy. And the cementing of Wolverine was all about how much he figured into X-Men existence to begin with.All that being said, good luck to Black Widow, but I will ask [the imaginary being that can't really answer] where and when is Storm going to get hers? And if/when they do bring it, will they treat her with the intricacy in mind from links to X-Men, Wakanda, Latveria and her own history to make her an essential property? I will say, if they approach the marketing right, they can achieve that for Black Widow as a spy series, once they don't risk associating her with ridicule by putting her in situations often with vastly powerful characters and have her inexplicably win all the time.