From what I gather (and what lead to Starlin leaving Marvel again) is that what Starlin did in the OGN does not fit Marvel's overall plans for Thanos and crew now and are not considered continuity. The gave the main Thanos book to someone else even though Starlin wanted to write it, and approved a storyline which resembled what Starlin was doing in the next set of OGN that Alan Davis is in the process of drawing, but go in a different direction with it and it will be released before Starlin's books are out, so the Starlin OGN's are kind of a What If kind of story, not actual continuity, so no Warlock is not actually already back in the MU even though he is appearing in those OGN's.

-M

I'm so done with Marvel.

Might actually pick up the FF when it comes back though.

I have the same attitude about the last 10 years or so. I mentally have a cut off point for certain books and characters. It doesn't bother me that this might be the 6th time Thanos has collected the Infinity stones. I Can block it out.

There's not a large enough customer base buying comics in the direct market for numbers on titles to increase significantly if they trip titles. They can only capture market share and revenue by volume of titles. For years, Marvel and Dc have aimed their output at the collector's market, and that's all that's left, and it is the collector's market that drive multiple titles of their favorites by buying entire lines, it's collectors that drive events by buying them in higher numbers than other books, it's collectors that drive #1s and reboots because they buy those in higher numbers than other books. The comics we have is a direct result of the buying patterns of the customers left in the market, and Marvel and DC are only reacting to what does sell (and none of it sells well outside of the context of the direct market). The customers who have different buying patterns left the market long ago and are not coming back even if Marvel and DC change how they do things. The corral gate was already opened and the cattle have already escaped, there's no comic book cowboy that can go out there and herd them back into the market.

Comic book stores need the monthly pamphlet to remain viable, the comics industry as a whole does not unless it wants to stay in a configuration that is shirking to the point of becoming obsolete. Comics can evolve and survive, I am not sure the direct market can. When Phil Seuling started the direct market it was to sell directly to customers who already knew what they wanted. It wasn't designed to gain new readers or bring in new audiences, it was meant to service existing customers. It became so successful servicing those existing customers it became more profitable than the newsstand market which was abandoned. But they never developed a mechanism to bring in new audiences and gain new readers. The direct maket is terrible at that because it was never designed to do that, and everyone was too shortsighted to build such a mechanism to replace what the newsstand did, and now they are reaping what they have sown. All that is left is existing readers with particular buying patterns (and I will say with self-destructive buying patterns), and it now needs those sprawling lines with too many titles just to survive in the market because there is not enough potential buyers left in the marketplace as it exists to sustain the industry with fewer titles. Cut titles and you cut sales. More people aren;t going to buy your flagship books if you cut the ancillary books. Most buying your ancillary books are also already buying your flagship titles. New readers aren't going to magically appear to buy your flagship books if you cut your ancillary books. More books generate more revenue in a small customer base and they need that revenue stream because it won;t be there if they cut titles (as tiny as the stream is from each title). It's a vicious circle and a downward spiral. There are ways out of it, but they don't involve monthly pamphlets int he direct market. I am not saying they should abandon that, but I am saying it should no longer be the main focus of their business model. They need to service the existing market for sure, but they need to find new markets, the new markets are not going to come to the existing market. And I highly doubt a deep complex continuity with interconnected titles are part of finding that new market.

-M

I feel like they've tried multiple times to market out-of-continuity titles to non-direct market customers with no success, even if those books are often really good.

DC has had a couple hits that "don't count."  Alex Ross' Justice, All Star Superman, Dark Knight:  The Master Race. 

Although maybe they're all technically from Earth 38 and a Half now.