In a lot of ways, the holidays are about tradition. Everyone’s got ’em. It might be a family latke recipe, or getting together to watch Die Hard, or arranging the Christmas tree ornaments so the cats don’t knock them off the lowest branches. Here at Multiversity, we have an annual tradition of looking at shared comic book universes and politely ask them to do something differently. It’s one part new years resolution, one part gift giving- to us, every one!
Today, we are taking a look at the red brand, Marvel Comics. We’ve been pretty excited about a lot of Marvel books this year, and we have a lot of suggestions of how they can continue to capitalize on their success. Despite dominating 2019 in a lot of important ways, Marvel has felt like it is in a feeling of transition, and out staff has big ideas of what the company should look like in the next year. Let’s take a look!
Can you Cancel Series in Broad Daylight Please?
Honestly, Marvel, you are the worst when it comes to cancellations. Series get cut off, like, four issues into their runs with nary a reason and we have to find out via their creators announcing it on Twitter or from its sudden disappearance from previews. And this doesn’t just happen to new series either. “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” got the axe, it seems, back in September but I hadn’t heard about it until I was doing some research for “War of the Realms.” Marvel, you put out some great books but you gotta tell us when they’re ending. Being blindsided like that is not good!
Or, well, I see it that way. “Superior Spider-Man” saw it differently and I gotta say, for that book the sudden end, worked. I was not expecting #12 to be the final issue but that was the plan from the start, it seemed, and Christos Gage hearkened it back to the time before previews, when you’d only find out about a comic ending in the letters pages. Maybe that’s what Marvel is clinging to but that only works if the ending is planned, rather than abrupt, leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. -Elias Rosner
Figure out legacy numbering
I thought we were all stoked about legacy numbering. In reality, it’s more controversial than that. It’s difficult to agree on what counts. But that confusion is exactly the kind of thing legacy numbering is supposed to address. Anyone dealing with Marvel books long enough have picked up a trade only to find it collects “Captain Marvel” #1-5. And then found another different collection of “Captain Marvel” #1-5 right next to it. And another. And another. It has to stop.
I’m not saying that there’s one agreed upon numbering system for any series. After all, there were issues of “Captain Marvel” that pre-dated Carol Danvers, and stories about Mar-Vell that ran in “Marvel Spotlight.” Kamala Khan is in a series called “Ms. Marvel” but when does that numbering start? Does Mar-Vell count towards Carol’s numbering? Does Carol’s numbering count towards Kamala because they shared a name or a title? It’s enough to make you break out into hives.
So I want to see some commitment and follow-through from the House of Ideas. It doesn’t need to be a perfect system that makes everybody happy. It needs to be a serviceable system that helps with organization. Comic store employees, librarians, and new fans will all thank you. Old fans might grumble, but the legacy numbers don’t hurt anyone. Stick to them Marvel, you’re on the verge of something great! -Jake Hill
A more diverse creative team (telling the stories they want to tell)
Don’t get me wrong, Marvel has a creative team that represents a good cross-section of unique points of view, but it’s never a bad idea to welcome more voices to the table. Having a more diverse creative team can develop comic stories that can become important and meaningful, or present a unique perspective to aspects of the superhero genre often overlooked. Once again, Williams’ work on “Amazing Mary Jane” is a story that is a perspective unique to Leah Williams.
That being said, though, don’t put creative teams into boxes. Authors can tell good stories about characters who don’t necessarily reflect their personal lives. If an author has a good take for a story, they should be given a chance to tell that story. -Joe Skonce
Appoint more “Heads”
It’s no secret that Jonathan Hickman killed it on “House of X” and “Powers of X.” He’s still doing great “X-Men” work, but now he’s got a new title: the Head of X. Behind the scenes, it looks like it’s actually a lot of work. Hickman is in many ways playing the traditional role of editor. He’s overseeing the creative direction of all the mutant comics. He hears pitches, provides feedback, and helps coordinate ideas between the books. And it’s been great! The continuity has been tight, and the ideas fresh. It lets one book tell a trailblazing fantasy epic that ties into the main series nicely, and has consequences that ripple into the dark black ops book. It’s a pleasure to read.
Not every series has to mirror this approach, but it makes a good deal of sense for some of them. There are a ton of disparate books about friendly neighborhood spider-heroes. Maybe give those books a strong creative direction and appoint a head of webs. A webhead? Why not do that with cosmic books? Al Ewing is about to take over “Guardians of the Galaxy.” I’m sure there’s a “Silver Surfer” or “Nova” books in the works that could fall under that purview.
Having an auteur with a big dramatic vision can be really energizing, to readers and writers alike. This approach is working wonders for the X-line, and I bet it could do some good elsewhere. -Jake Hill
…and make some of them women!
What’s that? Marvel not giving enough time to women? Where have I heard that before? Oh, every year, every time we put together one of these wishlists. It’s pretty discouraging. Sure there are some women doing some very cool work on the Marvel roster, but while Leah Williams, Tini Howard, and Kelly Thompson are getting higher profile books, writers like G. Willow Wilson are moving on. It’s not a deep bench, and one dramatic change can decimate the number of books with female creators. I think this is beyond hiring more women, though that is necessary too. I think we need a high profile female creator allowed to assert her vision across a line of books.
The excitement over Hickman is partially because he wrote a masterpiece, but he’s also working with a team of writers to produce multiple excellent comics, all of which bear his name and sensibilities. I would love to see what a set of “Avengers” books look like with Kelly Thompson’s sensibilities at the helm. Or the return of “Young Avengers” and “Champions” guided by Rainbow Rowell’s sensibilities. At this point, I’ve been disappointed by Marvel’s gender balance for so long, it’s going to take something dramatic to shake me from my torpor. -Jake Hill
Don’t Forget Your All-Ages Comics
With the ending of “Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” and the disappearance of “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,” as well as the cancellation of “Future Foundation” and “Unstoppable Wasp,” it feels like a lot of the all-ages comics being put out by Marvel proper are ending or being canceled. If you want to have a solid line, you gotta have books for all ages and one of those categories is all-ages comics. I just hope this means they’re preparing to release more in the future rather than culling the line.
Maybe we’ll finally get those OGNs of the titles that sell better in the trade. -Elias Rosner
Continue to make limited series’ for easy entry points.
I am relatively new to comics and one of the things that kept me away for the longest time was just the scope of it all. Comics are intimidating. There are years of stories, changing continuities, and different creative teams, sometimes it’s difficult to figure out a good place to start. This year, Marvel published the “History of the Marvel Universe,” which helped. But more useful is the continuing of their “grand design” project.
The grand design projects are created to create stories that are throwbacks in art style and to a certain extent storytelling. But they are also designed to tighten up the continuity of a franchise and give an overview of the stories that you might have missed if you don’t have the time to go and read every single issue of a comic. Originally it was X-Men, now it is “Fantastic Four,” but most characters would benefit from a nice concise retelling of their early days to make comic books not quite as daunting. -Joe Skonce
Have Jordan D. White teach a public relations class
For better and for worse, Stan Lee set the standard of what a leader looks like at Marvel. You know the archetype- a slick, high-energy carnival barker who loves his readers and can’t wait to tell them about the latest Marvel comics storyline. Over the years, Marvel executives have often… not been that. They’ve been shy, insular, and had the bad habit of putting their foot in their mouths. But every time I see an interview with Jordan D. White, I am delighted.
It’s not just that White has charisma, though that certainly helps. It’s not just that he’s consistently behind some of the best Marvel books, though he is. White just seems like a good guy. Now, I have no idea if he is. I don’t know what he’s like behind closed doors. He’s been pleasant and affable the few times I’ve interacted with him, though you could say that about a lot of comic folks who have turned out to be less than stellar. But White is great at selling me on his comics. He makes them sound exciting. I can’t recall a single time that he’s lost patience with a fan, or gone on a rant about how putting women in comics hurts sales. (That’s really something that one of his colleagues did). I don’t need corporate executives to be my friend, but it’s really nice when they are consistently enthusiastic about the same things I am, enough to have “controversial” opinions, and to get into good natured arguments. That’s something comic fans (occasionally) like to do.
So I don’t know what Mr. White’s secret is, but I hope every executive of the Marvel company is taking notes, because he’s great at getting me excited about the company product. -Jake Hill
Experiment with some imprints
DC’s imprint experiment has been a rousing success. This isn’t quite the same as having the “head” of a line. Imprints are less guided by a single creator than they are curated. It’s a chance to give some lesser known creators a chance, with the more famous creator acting as an executive producer. Think about what the Sandman Universe books have looked like. Neil Gaiman features heavily in the marketing, and he is helping choose the creators and guide the books, but he is not writing more “Sandman.” Some of the books strongly connect to continuity, some less so, and some are only concerned with extremely local events.
These imprints could be a great way to bring back celebrated Marvel creators and give them a place to expand their signature style. Kelly Sue Doconnick famously re-imagined what a Carol Danvers comic should look like. What about an imprint books that similarly overhauls forgotten or under-served characters? Ed Brubaker has a very specific style of spy and detective story that he likes to tell. I’d love an imprint that gives voices to other creators who want to tell similar stories about Winter Soldier, Nick Fury, Roz Solomon, or Echo. In the early 2000s, Marvel Knights was an imprint that produced some classics and some duds. I think imprints could do a lot to build excitement for beloved corners of the Marvel Universe. -Jake Hill
Don’t be afraid to get weird with it.
Comics are weird. They feature larger than life, over the top personalities (often wearing equally flamboyant costumes.) It’s always fun to see creative teams embrace that. One of the most intriguing books of 2019 “Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda” pulled out some of Marvel’s strongest heroes and it works!
Though this shouldn’t just be limited to characters. One of my favorite books of the year is Leah Williams’ “Amazing Mary Jane” series, a comic about an actress collaborating with a villain to write better action heroine parts for a movie. It’s a wild premise and it’s a lot of fun to read. It’s fun to see Marvel take weird swings! hopefully, we’ll see more in 2020 -Joe Skonce
