All of us have holiday traditions: some of us watch A Charlie Brown Christmas each year, some of politely ask the three major shared comics universes (Marvel, DC, Valiant) to make some changes to their comic lines to please our interests. Wanna guess which one we are doing today?
Today, we look at Marvel, a company once known as ‘the House of Ideas.’ If you go by our wishlists below, it seems like our staff wants to give them a new set of ideas. If you’ve got any ideas of your own, let us know in the comments.
So, without any further ado:
Alice W. Castle
Hire Decent PR People
Holy shit, has Marvel had a bad year. From the revelation that Steve Rogers has been retconned into being an Actual Nazi this entire time (something that was awfully prescient considering the current political climate) to Chelsea Cain being bullied off of the internet by misogynists and radio silence from Marvel to allowing J. Scott Campbell to draw a 15 year old girl in the same oversexualised style he draws every adult woman he’s ever drawn to Peter David going on a massive anti-Romani tirade at NYCC to Axel Alonso claiming that being married to a Korean woman makes him an expert in Korean identity politics to just about every fucking embarrassment coming out of “Civil War II”, the list is almost endless and that’s just considering Marvel Comics‘ major snafus this year. This isn’t even counting the whitewashing bullshit from Doctor Strange or Iron Fist.
Marvel is a laughing stock. With every week of the last year, there was more and more news coming out of the House Of Ideas that proved just how far they had fallen. If 2017 is any different, they need to focus on PR and marketing that will make the company accountable for the stories told and the actions of its employees, including contracted creators, instead of allowing a bunch of middle aged white men get away with whatever they want while cashing in on diverse stories. And that needs to come from the top. We need to see a change from Axel Alonso down through every element of the company to actually take accountability for their actions and push the company forwards in the future. That or, you know, just be thankful for your 2017 readership to consist solely of reddit-dwelling neo-nazis.
Diversify Your Talent And Care About Them
Going into 2017, Marvel has announced a bunch of new books in what might be the quickest turnover from one publishing initiative to the next that I’ve seen from them. Among them, the X-Men got a complete overhaul as well as Marvel’s more street level heroes in order to capitalise on the popularity of the Netflix series. The common thread? Middle aged white guys writing diverse characters. I mean, seriously? Cullen Bunn and Marc Guggenheim as the head writers of the X-Men line? Dennis Hopeless writing Jean Grey’s first ongoing series? Another white guy writing Iron Fist? A guy who’s only known for writing a handful of episodes for Marvel’s TV show writing an Elektra ongoing? Marvel’s holy trinity of characters – Captain America, Iron Man and Thor – are, respectively, a black man, a black 15 year old girl and a white woman. Their writers? All white dudes. The half black, half latina Spider-Man has yet to be written by living Kingpin himself, Brian Bendis.
Is this a joke? Marvel hired their first black woman writer in 2016 and it was a woman who had never written a comic before, who was instead famous novelist and poet. What about all the black women actively creating comics, huh? How come they don’t get a shot? How come the same twenty white men get to dip their toes in every Marvel book like the House Of Ideas is the revolving door in a Trump Hotel?
Shape the fuck up, Marvel, hire diverse creators and give a shit about them. Don’t cancel books like “Nighthawk” before the first trade paperback even hits the stands. Give a shit when women who write your books are harassed online on a daily basis. Stop protecting the white men who write for you like they’re a commodity that’s going to run out any time soon while your diverse creators are leaving in droves to tell the stories they care about at creator-owned publishers.
Continued belowStop Treating Diversity Like A Gimmick
Speaking of diversity: hey, Marvel? You know how when you announce that a title is going to focus on a character that isn’t in the same muscular, blond, straight, cis, white guy mold that every Marvel hero has been in since Steve Rogers was thawed from an iceberg, people actually talk about them? You realise that that’s because every superhero of the last 70 years has basically been the same three kinds of dudes in varying costumes, right? Like, the reason people were excited about Riri Williams is that a young black girl is pretty much the opposite of the stereotypical superhero you’ve conditioned us to picture.
You know what would help with that? Actually tell stories that benefit from these characters’ unique perspectives. I know you think that your stable of eight white guys that write 90% of your comics are able to write from every perceivable perspective, but that’s a load of shit. The reason “Black Panther” is successful is because it’s about the king of an African nation written by a black man with a history of studying and reporting on politics. I don’t care how many kids Brian Michael Bendis adopts, he will never know the experience of a young black girl who is brilliant at what she does like someone who lives that life. This ties in so directly to my second point, but if you actually care about diversity in your stories you’ll back it up by having diverse creators tell those stories from their experiences. Stop treating the skin colour and sexual orientation and gender of your characters like a marketing plot and actually back up this diversity of character with diversity of creators and stories.
Just Get Your Fucking Act Together, Already
Seriously. Just… seriously.
Brian Salvatore
Limit the line
Marvel has a problem: I have no idea what books they are publishing month to month. It seems like new ongoings are announced all the time, and then books just disappear. Other times, I look at what’s coming out each week and I’m shocked at what huge properties are missing (there still isn’t a Fantastic Four book?) or what nearly forgotten character has a new book (Foolkiller?).
This isn’t me saying that smaller characters shouldn’t have books: I actually think that’s one of Marvel’s biggest attributes right now. But their line has so many parts seemingly coming and going each month, with no real consistency, that there is almost no chance of one of those smaller books breaking out. Hell, even when it begins to, like “Nighthawk” did earlier this year, it goes away before that impact can really take root.
My solution is simple: keep the line full of surprises, but take a page from DC and have a more consistent roll out program. DC is adding three new Rebirth books in February, and all three are getting significant pushes, and are given room to breathe. Say what you want about DC’s Rebirth initiative, but even when they rolled out 30+ new series over the summer, there was a clear, understandable plan. I have no idea what Marvel’s planning, and I pay attention. How lost are the Wednesday Warriors who don’t read solicits and write about this stuff on a regular basis?
Ignore the films — and their rights holders
Look, I know that Fantastic Four and X-Men film rights are not controlled by Disney, and they’re upset about that. I get that; it sucks knowing that poor business decisions decades ago are leading to missed financial opportunities for two of your most recognizable properties. But you’ve got to be willing to play the long game here, and ignore all that for a little bit.
Here’s why: despite the fact that you’re not making the same revenue off of Deadpool that you would like, a good Wade Wilson film means more people buying your comics, and that means more money in your pocket.
Now, I know that there is little evidence of a successful film leading directly into new readers, but this is the long game. My wife has never bought a superhero comic (not for me) in her life, but she saw X-Men in theaters when she was in high school. She knows who Wolverine is, not because of a story Chris Claremont wrote, but because of Hugh Jackman. She is aware of the X-Men due to something that you had almost nothing to do with.
Continued belowYou cannot put a price on being ubiquitous, and the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are nearly ubiquitous. The film rights may not revert back any time soon, but if you don’t focus on making those books the best they can be, you’re not just losing potential new readers, but you keep pushing old readers who love those characters further away from your line.
Robbie Pleasant
Give it a rest with the “hero versus hero” events
Look, I get it, conflict and drama sell, sure. The thought of seeing who would win in a battle of Hero A versus Hero B, or one super team versus another, they get people talking, debating, and imagining the scenarios. But when we actually see them happen, they’re almost always so forced in that it wrecks both the book and characters.
Take “Civil War II” for instance. It took so long for Tony Stark to recover his reputation after the first “Civil War,” and now we have him kidnapping Inhumans, attacking Captain Marvel whenever he can, and generally dragging the entire superhero community into his breakdown. The fact that he admits it’s a breakdown doesn’t help either. Yet on the other hand, we have Captain Marvel, who’s far too into the whole “stop crimes before they (probably) happen” thing for it to be reasonable or healthy. But nearly every issue just devolves into fights breaking out because no one can sit down and talk things out like rational human beings.
And we don’t even get the final issue of that before “Inhumans vs X-Men” starts. I’m not going to trash a comic before I read it, but I can’t say I looked at the title and went “Oh boy! I always wondered if Emma Frost could beat Black Bolt, and I’m sure it’ll happen in an organic way that’s satisfying in both story and action.”
Speaking of X-Men…
Make up your mind with the X-Men
Marvel, I’m sorry, but Fox is never going to give you the movie rights back. You don’t need to keep taking it out on the X-Men. You can make terrigen clouds poisonous to mutants, you can launch half the team into space and the other half to Limbo, and you can have the Inhumans beat them up as much as you want, but it’s not going to change a thing.
At least we have “RessureXion” coming up, so there’s hope there. But could the upcoming teams be any more uninspired? I basically had to look at the lineup and go “I guess this has one or two characters I kind of like…” to decide which, if any, I’d read.
Look, Marvel, you have some amazing mutants you can work with, and not just the ones that were once on the 90’s animated series. Just look at all the great characters Jason Aaron introduced way back when in “Wolverine and the X-Men,” and put some of them to use. We’ve already had plenty of stories with Cyclops and Kitty and Nightcrawler; I’m not saying to bench them altogether, just let them share the spotlight with some new mutant talent.
Which also brings us to my last wish:
Let the younger heroes do their thing
Actually, you’ve done a good amount of that so far. Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), and Nova (Sam Alexander) have managed to get a place on an Avengers team before forming their own Champions team (which, admittedly, I’m still unimpressed with). So it’s something, but I’d like to see more of them growing, interacting with more of the Marvel universe at large, and really becoming their own heroes without the looming threat of being sidelined as their predecessors reclaim the spotlight.
Let your characters grow, Marvel, that’s what I’m asking for.
Ken Godberson III
Enough
E-Fucking-Nough. Listen, all I have are suspicions, but I feel like 80% of your line and creators are being strangled right now because of having to tie into big and dumb events. “Civil War II” was a nightmare of a story and the few good tie-ins happened in spite of the main book. Now we have “IvX” and, as someone who generally did like Charles Soule’s work with the Inhumans, I really doubt this event was something he wants to do. It feels like a majority of the stories he had hinted at have been swept aside for this nonsense we are about to endure and won’t be continuing beyond. Marvel, they’re your characters, I get that. But you actually have to trust your creators. Enough of this. Take a break.
Continued belowVince Ostrowski
Rebirth Yourself
I don’t mean for this to sound spiteful or trite, but I have no idea what’s going on at Marvel right now. I mean, I read a few books over there, but overall Marvel just feels like it’s all over the place. In fact, it’s unrecognizable. In a lot of ways, that’s great, but in other ways that’s alienating. Foolkiller has his own comic, for crying out loud. I like Max Bemis and it’s probably a perfectly fine book, but c’mon. Marvel is killing it in the movie realm, and I’m sure as long as that’s the case, they get more grace in the content of their publishing line — what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. I also understand why the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are getting the shaft. I don’t have to like it though, and since this is my wishlist:
Marvel needs to Rebirth the overall vision of their comic line. Take what DC did, which was great, and improve on it a little. They’re kind of already doing this with the X-Men. Reset to a basic “Avengers” title. Reintroduce an adjective-less “Fantastic Four” title. Start a line of new Spider-Man #1s with “Amazing”, “Spectacular”, and “Peter Parker” — titles mean something.
Before you say, “Vince, you idiot, we’ve had 60 years of books like that”, let me assure you that I’m still asking Marvel to move things forward. Give Miles Morales “Amazing Spider-Man.” Give “Spectacular” to Spider-Woman. And make “Peter Parker” a book about coming to grips with getting older and still having powers & responsibility, etc… Likewise, “Fantastic Four” does not have to be directly about the adventures of Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben. Maybe they could make it about the kids and allies? Maybe they could assemble an entirely different team a la Fraction and Allred’s “FF”? But give it that classic Marvel feel. The “Thor” titles are a good example of exactly what I want.
Move the ball forward, but with titles that feel like they matter. Marvel has felt like a big bunch of cop-outs, continuity fuck-ups, and “elseworlds” stories since “Secret Wars” ended. Anything can happen in a Marvel comic — so let’s have it happen to a mainline set of titles. And like “DC Rebirth” did with Midnighter, Doctor Fate, Deadman, and so on, you can still have a bunch of solo books that run alongside the main titles – these books tend to be really good, too.
Zach Wilkerson
Give the X-Men a chance
While I’m mostly a DC guy, I truly enjoy Marvel Comics and the X-Men hold a particularly special place in my heart. The mutants have recently taken a back seat to the Inhumans, and with the announcement of the new X-Men Blue and Gold series I’m genuinely starting to buy into the conspiracy theories. It wasn’t that long ago that we had an extremely healthy X-Men line, with Jason Aaron on “Wolverine and the X-Men,” Kieron Gillen on “Uncanny X-Men,” and Rick Remender on “Uncanny X-Force.” I’d ask Marvel to give the X-Men that kind of push once more, telling exciting new stories that move the franchise forward, rather than treading water as they have in recent years.
