Marvel Relaunching In May (Again)

[dl316bh]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

Bring on the Parker/Watson marriage.

Please no.

This is a great breakdown, but one could argue that these creators not being at Marvel is the fault of the company. Maybe they aren't so favorable to work for because of editorial reasons.

Morrison, sure. They basically took a dump on what he did with the X-Men the second he left and he hasn't seemed keen on doing anything with them since. So there's seemingly hard feelings there.

A lot of the rest - Fraction, Hickman and Remender, for example - seem like, from comments, they just felt it was time to move on after six to eight years with Marvel and they wanted to get back to the creator owned stuff they'd found or were finding success with. Bru just seemed burned out on superheroes, basically said he had nothing left to say with them and seems like he mostly wants to work on noir stories now. Maybe they could have convinced some of the others, minus Bru, but they mainly seemed ready to just go do their own stuff with Image.

The others are mainly just busy dudes who don't do many comics to start with or are guys DC snapped up, because they seem to have learned a lesson from the days when Marvel pulled guys out from under their noses.

Thats what I love about manga is that there is so much variety and so many stories to tell.

Kind of? It feels like they'll publish anything over there, sure - not always for the better - but manga's got its own problems, partly in how samey a lot of the work can get. Especially if some hot new concept hits it big and about a dozen imitators start up in its wake, which happens every year.

Regardless, if you want more variety in American comics, check out Image, Boom, Dark Horse, Oni Press, maybe even Dynamite (I don't even know what they're doing these days). Publishing original work from creators across comics is pretty much Images entire business model these days, aside from Spawn and Savage Dragon I guess. I'd say IDW too, but I'm pretty sure everyone on this forum is well aware of them already and they're more licensed comics than creator owned anyway.

[AquaParade]

I think it’s fair to point out the reasonable explanations that may have caused these writers and artists to find work elsewhere, but I think the pattern tells the story - the fan favorite creators just aren’t at Marvel. There’s a root problem there.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by dl316bh

Please no.

I know the marriage (at least to MJ) ain't your cup of tea, but the majority love it and it's time they brought it back. Part of Spider-Man's ongoing problems is it's absence. The only reason it's gone is because of the upper brass' maddeningly stubborn insistence Peter remain "youthful". It's not even a line-wide commitment considering we've never went a year without the marriage in publication elsewhere (Renew Your Vows, Newspaper Strip), so what IS the point of keeping it out of the mainstream stuff? All of Peter's alternative love interests have proven to be duds and fail to measure up to MJ.

Just damn well fix what was never broken.

[dl316bh]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Just damn well fix what was never broken.

I guess we just don't agree, at heart, on what whether it was broken or not. You don't think it was, I do. Which is fine. I just honestly don't want it back (partly because I don't like it in the comics, partly because of the effect it has on the outside media). But hey, we had a good discussion about that before, so no big reason to repeat it.

I think it’s fair to point out the reasonable explanations that may have caused these writers and artists to find work elsewhere, but I think the pattern tells the story - the fan favorite creators just aren’t at Marvel. There’s a root problem there.

Oh, absolutely, it's reasonable to say that, whatever the reasons, most of the big favorites of the prior decade are gone and that's an issue for them. I think this is just the natural downturn that was always bound to happen due to them relying so heavily on superstar creators - and tricks like events and relaunches - coming back to haunt them. Now they have to fill the void with talented newcomers who don't have the immediate star power and it's leaving the line without some luster.

At least some of them will return over time though, I'm sure, if only to occasionally get their name out there again with the superhero audience and thus try to entice them to the outside work.

[plastroncafe]

Dear Comic Companies:

It's okay to have more than one universe for your books.
Please stop rebooting the whole thing in an effort to make just one that everyone will like.

It won't work.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Dear Comic Companies:

It's okay to have more than one universe for your books..

Alternate Universe titles are a hard sell...as Renew Your Vows and Spider-Gwen are currently experiencing with ever decreasing sales. Marvel's best stab at one (Ultimate Universe) steadily went downhill with only Miles Morales holding it up.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Marvel's best stab at one (Ultimate Universe) steadily went downhill with only Miles Morales holding it up.

no wonder when the Ultimates was a bunch of unlikable assholes and the X-Men was a bunch of unlikable assholes and the FF was a bunch of unlikable assholes. Only Spider-Man was any decent, and that one Hulk comic where he wanted pancakes and that one Gambit story.

[dl316bh]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

no wonder when the Ultimates was a bunch of unlikable assholes and the X-Men was a bunch of unlikable assholes and the FF was a bunch of unlikable assholes. Only Spider-Man was any decent, and that one Hulk comic where he wanted pancakes and that one Gambit story.

Oh god yeah. The Ultimate Universe, Ultimate Spider-Man aside, was schlock where everyone was a grim, unlikable asshole that it's impossible to read. It's amazing to me that The Ultimates was a popular thing at one point. I mean, yeah, big shock since Mark Millar launched and established most of those books, but still. None of those characters were worth following or investing in. The Ultimate Captain America might have been the worst version of the character to actually stick around for a while.

I wasn't sad when it ended. The line was garbage from near the start, buoyed mainly by the fact that Ultimate Spider-Man was good near the whole way through.

[Candy Kappa]

Legacy numbering and new number 1s, trying to have you cake and eat it I see, Marvel editorial.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

I know the marriage (at least to MJ) ain't your cup of tea, but the majority love it and it's time they brought it back. Part of Spider-Man's ongoing problems is it's absence. The only reason it's gone is because of the upper brass' maddeningly stubborn insistence Peter remain "youthful". It's not even a line-wide commitment considering we've never went a year without the marriage in publication elsewhere (Renew Your Vows, Newspaper Strip), so what IS the point of keeping it out of the mainstream stuff? All of Peter's alternative love interests have proven to be duds and fail to measure up to MJ.

Just damn well fix what was never broken.

I even question why was MJ built up (mentioned in ASK#15 and teased repeatedly from ASM#25 to #ASM#42) only to go on one date interrupted by The Rhino? Gwen Stacy herself only seemed to be an extended block to the inevitable. Perhaps this is a separate thread.

[dl316bh]

Stan Lee's talked about it before and she was just one of several women orbiting Peters life, because he thought it interesting to have different women Peter might think he was in love with. That's it. I think he's even said he intended Gwen to be the one, though I could be mis-remembering the mans words on that one. It was more Gerry Conway who liked MJ and looked to make her more of a thing, so he killed Gwen off for that purpose and tweaked MJ. MJ became more of a fixture from there, along with the other women that came and went from Peter Parkers life.

[Candy Kappa]

Gwen was killed off cause fans at the time hated her. I think MJ and Peter works best together, and now that we have Miles, Peter should be able to be an adult and happily married because wow bachelor Peter sucks.

[dl316bh]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

Gwen was killed off cause fans at the time hated her.

Gerry Conway has admitted outright in forewords and the like that he killed off Gwen Stacy entirely because he liked MJ better.

I don't know what fans at the time thought - maybe they did hate her, I wasn't alive then and have never looked into it - but I'm going with what the people involved said as far as the why.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by dl316bh

Gerry Conway has admitted outright in forewords and the like that he killed off Gwen Stacy entirely because he liked MJ better.

I don't know what fans at the time thought - maybe they did hate her, I wasn't alive then and have never looked into it - but I'm going with what the people involved said as far as the why.

People were just as livid when Gwen died. Slott has often said that if the internet were around in the 70s, the backlash would have been astronomical, much like how the marriage controversy stands with fans today.

Gwen's gained mythical status as the "idealized" love in Peter's life, even despite the attempts at deconstructing that with the Sins Past storyline.