Are DC and Marvel comics trying to be too much like the movies?

[Andrew NDB]

Oh look, the new Guardians of the Galaxy comic from Marvel. Wow, what a coincidence! That is exactly the same lineup as what's in the latest film, complete with Baby Groot! Who would have thought that two completely different mediums, with entirely different teams would arrive at exactly the same thing without any editorial influence! It's mind-boggling.



Whoa... Old Man Logan on the X-Men team, even though he's from another dimension? Just in time for the (Old Man) Logan movie? What are the odds!



Great minds must think alike -- that is the EXACT lineup of the Suicide Squad movie! Characters that have either never been on the same team or have not for years! Wacky coincidence!

You know what I mean?

This is one of the biggest reasons why it's difficult for me to get back into mainstream comics. Ever since Iron Man, comics on both sides of the DC and Marvel spectrum pretty blatantly reconfigure themselves to "match" what's going on in the movies, and on the fly.

It should be the other way around, the comics "leading" the movies! Otherwise if this trend continues, what will the comic book movies 10, 20 years from now look like? The comics that were forcibly made to look like the movies, movies that were adapting older comics? Talk about the snake eating its own tail.

Fairly creatively bankrupt and dead wrong. I have to imagine whole original plots and characters are being forcibly jettisoned by editorial because of the "Make it all match the movies!" agenda. I just feel like if I started getting wrapped up in Batman comics again, or Green Lantern comics, if a new Green Lantern movie came out, all of that stuff could and would probably just be swept away because... movie.

[PApagreg]

For Marvel's comics not really but as for their animated series, yeah you can tell the writers really want to remind people of the Marvel movies.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by PApagreg

you can tell the writers really want to remind people of the Marvel movies.

Do you think the writers themselves are the ones who really want to do that?

[sdp]

As you mentioned it's nothing new and has been going on for over a decade now. And only a small percentage of the normies who see the movies will even try to buy a comic because of that.

[snake]

Originally Posted by sdp

As you mentioned it's nothing new and has been going on for over a decade now. And only a small percentage of the normies who see the movies will even try to buy a comic because of that.

Exactly. Comic sales only decrease in time. The only stuff that sells well consistently is Batman, events, Star Wars, and Spider-Man.

[DestronMirage22]

This has been going on for awhile, and yeah: they're trying too hard.
It's kinda pathetic that they make these big changes just to try to appeal to the movie audiences, but since their regular comics without the changes are lame, I guess they don't have many other choices.

[Spike Spiegel]

It's a little sad when the worst aspects of some of the more dumbed down films find their way into the source material.

The first time I recall noticing this was the change to Batman's suit in the '90s (all black) after the success of the Burton movies.

[mrmaczaps]

For me, it feels like the movie writers think movie-goers are dumb and don't read comics... so your comic fans go see the movies and complain about it not being the comics and comics writers then decide that means readers want to see the movie characters in the comics.

Most people I know that like comics but don't read them go see the movies and fully enjoy the films despite how bad they are (looking at you DCEU) or how much they change things from the comics.

Some small changes are okay but then theres Man of Steel/Krypton like changes or the lack of secret identities... Or Iron Man 3.... lol.

[ProphetofGanja]

Well, its definitely not the first issue that comes to mind when I think of the current state of mainstream comics but it is becoming one I guess.

As long as the changes that are being made are in service of making things less dumb, be it changes from the comics in the movies or changes in the comics from the movies, I'm all for them.

Originally Posted by Spike Spiegel

It's a little sad when the worst aspects of some of the more dumbed down films find their way into the source material.

The first time I recall noticing this was the change to Batman's suit in the '90s (all black) after the success of the Burton movies.

I mean, if your goal was to slink around in the night in dark alleyways to fight crime and remain unseen, what color would you choose to dress in? Black, or really really light gray??