Marvel Clarifies Fresh Start & Addresses Legacy Numbering Concerns

Fans who were just getting comfortable with the renumbering of Marvel Legacy need not fear. Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort confirms that Marvel's "Fresh Start" won't wipe away what Legacy began.

Marvel's "Fresh Start" was announced earlier today. The initiative promises creative team shake-ups across some of Marvel's key titles. So far these include new writers and artists on Venom and Avengers, which will also get new #1 issues to denote the beginning of their new stories.

However, Brevoort tells Marvel.com that the new first issues do not mean that Marvel Legacy numbering is going away.

"Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be rolling out new beginnings for a few of our key franchises—new creative teams, new starting points, new storylines—all the big stuff that we've been building towards since Marvel Legacy began. This isn't a clearing of the slate—while these new starts will kick off with new #1s, we'll be maintaining the classic Legacy issue counts as dual numbering on these titles as well," says SVP and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort. "Oh, and don't read anything into not seeing a character on the Jim Cheung piece…we can only squeeze so many characters in there without killing poor Jim!"

When the "Fresh Start" was announced, Marvel's new editor-in-chief compared the initiative to 2012's Marvel NOW!

"I can say, walking through these halls, I've never seen more enthusiasm and more excitement for where Marvel Comics is going this year," Cebluski said. "Not since Marvel NOW! Have we had such an overarching, line-wide change of talent on the Marvel Comics line."

Chief creative officer Joe Quesada offered some additional hints at things to come.

"New fresh ideas, new fresh creators, really are taking that perspective, which is, 'If you haven't read a comic before, if you're an old lapse fan and you want to come back, its the perfect opportunity to do it,' because, as I say, they start and start and their great jumping on points," Quesada says.

Venom and Avengers are just the first of what's sure to be several more big announcement from Marvel in the coming weeks.