Good Gravy.
Didn’t we just have Marvel NOW three years ago? A big event
that was supposed to make comics easier to access to new readers? An entry
point that would make comics enjoyable again?
What happened in two years to make Marvel Comics so FUBAR
that the Universe needs to end? Why do we need yet another reboot? Have the
creative teams just painted themselves into yet another corner like they did in
1994-1996, 2001, 2005, 2009, and 2013? Seriously is it THAT HARD to write a
32-page comic book for 12 issues a year? Why can’t writers just get creative?
Why can’t they just tell good stories? Why can’t they tap into Marvel’s rich
history for story material? Why can’t they just pick up where another creator
left off? Why do we need so many got damn new number one issues? Why do comics
have to keep starting all over again the got damn time?
The sad thing is that no one at Marvel seems to have learned
from their past mistakes. All of 1994 and 1995 (So many BAD stories and
concepts I just can’t list them all.) Onslaught in 1996. Heroes Reborn in
1997. Heroes Return 1998. The 2001
creative implosion. Civil War. The Heroic Age. The 2009 Marvel implosion.
Marvel Now in 2013. All promising change. All Promising that things will never
be the same. Marvel’s editors keep doing the exact same thing and expecting a
different result.
The rest of the world calls this insanity, but insanity is
becoming the norm at Marvel over the last 22 years.
What will happen after this latest reboot? More new number
one issues. Another short-term spike in sales, followed by another rapid decline
12 to 24 months later. Time after time this has been the result, with Marvel
losing more and more market share to indies like Image, BOOM! Dynamite
Fantagraphics, Archie, and even Webcomics. None of which have rebooted a single
title. And all of these publishers are currently producing some of the best
comics in the medium right now while Marvel’s editors are still trying to
figure out how to reinvent the wheel Stan Lee created 75 years ago.
The editors in chief at Marvel are still looking for a huge
surge of readers to come back to comics. So they keep throwing shit at a wall
with these gimmicks and stunts. I’m sorry but scores of new readers are not
going to come back to comics. It doesn’t matter how many stunts Marvel does. It
doesn’t matter how many reboots Marvel does. The 1990’s are OVER and everyone
at Marvel needs to GET OVER IT.
The days of selling a million comics to speculators are OVER.
And the time to start rebuilding the audience of new readers was 22 years ago.
But instead of Marvel’s comic book editors and publishers rolling up their
sleeves and doing the hard work of focusing on stories that get new and casual
readers to care about their characters, they keep focusing on gimmick and shock
marketing stunts to irk older fans and pander to speculators looking to make a
fast dollar on an event.
Sadly many editors, writers and artists who came up in the
comic medium during the 1990’s didn’t learn the craft of storytelling. And they’re still trying to apply a
1990’s approach to the comic publishing business in a 21st Century
publishing world that changed in 2008. And that’s why Marvel Comics keep
rebooting every 2 to 3 years instead of their creative teams doing the work of
building a following for their characters through great storytelling.
It’s hard to tell your friends about a great new Marvel comic
when Marvel titles get cancelled like clockwork every 24 to 36 months and
rebooted with new number one issues with a brand new direction and a brand new
premise. It’s hard to CARE about characters when you know everything you just
read will end in 24 to 36 months and start over with a new number one issue. I
mean, just when fans get into a Marvel comic, it’s cancelled. And if you look
for a collected trade of said comics…it’s out of print. It’s hard to get into
Marvel Comics because they don’t STAY in one DIRECTION LONG ENOUGH for readers
to FIND THEM or GET TO KNOW ANYONE in their UNIVERSE.
Y’know what would really get the attention of a comic fan at
Marvel? For something in their universe to actually STAY THE SAME for a while.
For a character to wear the same costume for a while and maybe even keep the
same codename and secret identity for a while. Have the same adventures for
four or five years. Actually go a year or two without a mega cross-over event
between every title. Just spend four or five years of creative teams telling
great stories of good guys vs. bad guys. Take the time to establish some
characters. Give them some roots. Establish their strengths and weaknesses. Have
them build a rivalry with some bad guys. Build a rogues gallery. Give a
creative team the space to tell some stories. Have them make a commitment to
stay with a title for a while. Maybe if Marvel’s editors went this simple
approach a title could go 50,75 or 100 issues for once. And maybe readers could get into a
character and become fans of the comic version of a character and not just the
movie version of them.
If anything, the announcement of ending the Marvel universe
is a sign of frustrated creative people throwing up their hands and GIVING UP. Unfortunately,
the more Marvel’s editors promise us things will never be the same Marvel the
more they actually wind up the being same as they were in 1994 and 1995. In
three to five years the same dysfunctional editors will be telling us the
Marvel Universe is back after the fourth Secret War. And Shawn will be saying I
told you so just like I did back in 2012.
I have an odd feeling that television has done a more successful job at attracting new fans than the comics themselves will ever do in recent memory. That is unless if they're best-selling graphic novels and even some of them are comic strip collections at that.
ReplyDeleteNever knew you were frustrated with Marvel in the past or two though you did mention Mr. Quesada's incompetence. Anyway Marvel is more of the same DC only had one short term gain but whether they will wise up is a mystery. Maybe it's for the best that they do burn after all everything has to be reforged with fire. Though we should feel pity for the creators under them they are going to be out of work.And I know you have no love for the management but please in all good consciousness pray that they will repent.
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