"Continuity Map"
I would make continuity maps as giveaways at the stores - not a strict rule thing, but simply a Flowchart of Reading Order of tpbs/storylines to follow certain characters/stories in the marvel universe. Like, a Hulk continuity map would tell you, from, say, Planet Hulk Prelude -->present, what tpbs/issues to get to read the Hulk's story. include things like HULK, Planet Hulk, WWH (and spinoffs), Skaar, etc. Something you could give to Joe Newguy and say, "read these to follow your favorite character". With all of the renumbering/switching/crossovers, it's too hard to keep track of where which stories occur.

Posted by stuckinazkaban on 2009-03-30 17:59:08
one wish...
I would like to see the marvel adventures all ages line expanded, and/or sold for slightly less than the rest of the universe books (does that count as two... if so sorry) children are the future of comics and more and more of the marvel universe is being written for mature readers (which as a mature reader I love, but what happens to the readership when my generation dies or moves on)

Posted by scott19438 on 2009-03-30 18:34:30
Welll...
I hate to say it, but less Bendis. It is not that he is bad, but I think that him being connected to almost every book dilutes the story potential of a shared universe. It makes everything a little too planned and less spontaneous.

Posted by gaveedra on 2009-03-30 18:55:43
Clean beginnings, clean endings
I'd require writers to have a jumping-on point at least once a year, and I'd require them to give every single storyline some sort of pay-off at the end, the size of that pay-off corresponding with the scope of the storyline.

I'm not talking about turning the Marvel Universe into Marvel Adventures. I love continuity, I love following characters in the long-term. What I'm talking about is ensuring that if a reader starts reading at the beginning of an arc, and stops reading at the end of that arc, he'll feel like he got a whole story rather than a middle.

Loose ends can be left for later stories, of course. But whatever the main conflict of the story is, that needs to be tied up. If a story is a mystery, most of that mystery needs to be solved. If a story has a lot of fighting, there needs to be a winner. And like I said, the bigger the story the bigger the resolution needs to be. If Captain America is fighting the Red Skull for 40 issues (more than three years!), then when he catches him the Red Skull had better be either dead or close to it. But if it's just for four issues, then Captain America just needs to stop the current evil plot.

Loose ends can be brought back from earlier stories and even other comics, same as it's done now. But if the reader needs to know something from earlier, it needs to be introduced somehow at the beginning of the arc. If you have a cliffhanger that some character's just showed up, and the reader has no idea who that character is because he hasn't been around in twenty issues, that's the point where he stops caring.

The bigger the story, the more important it is that it should feel like a story. Crossovers should be jumping-on points, and they should end with real endings rather than teases for whatever the next thing is. Even if a story is only happening because there are many years of build-up to it, it should feel right from the start of that story like it needs to happen just because of what you're seeing at the beginning of the story. And in the end, the reader should say "Wow, this story really paid off!", not "Wow, I've spent so much time and money on something that didn't go anywhere!".

Posted by MoriartyL on 2009-03-30 19:09:09
Magic Event
Instead of being a storyline in New Avengers, I would make the search for the new Sorcerer Supreme an Annihiliation-type event.

Posted by gruedragon on 2009-03-30 19:14:49
Deadpool
I'd replace Daniel Way on Deadpool. I think he's got some OK ideas, but he doesn't seem to have the humor chops or the off-the-wall thinking that Joe Kelly, Fabian Nicieza or Gail Simone did. Deadpool is a hard character to write well, and I think that it shows lately. Lots of jokes that just fall flat... Just my 2 cents!

Posted by killerbass on 2009-03-30 19:47:37
make a decision and stick with it
you spend all the time and aggravation with spidey and OMD/BND to do what you felt needed to be done to the character, including making his identity secret, and then a little over a year later you let bendis out him to the avengers in the latest issue of that comic. @#$%!! a week later and im still pissed about that. sheesh.

Posted by Tinsmith on 2009-03-30 20:09:45
Price
I don't think there is much anyone can do about it, but it would be nice if prices could be brought down a little. $2.49; $2.00 for all-ages titles...

Am buying more than ever so it is not really the quality of the stories.

Oh yeah, and get Gage as an exclusive.

Posted by beta-ray on 2009-03-30 20:17:49
Writer
I would have Warren Elliswrite write Dark Avengers and more books in general. He really got me adicted to Thunderbolts but now hes gone.

Posted by veemon1002 on 2009-03-30 21:01:53
I would not have killed the wasp. I know that it was the big surprise in secret invasion and the were some good issues following her death but I do not think it should have happened. I think that she should have lost her powers instead but still survived.

Posted by DeathSentence on 2009-03-30 21:24:56
Keep the same artist and writer on the same b
I would keep the same artist and writer on a book for more than six issues at a time. Just when I start to like someone, BOOM, they're gone and replaced so you have to re-adjust to new art and new story lines, not to mention new teams everytime the writer and artist is replaced. It gets very annoying.

Posted by killerbeejack on 2009-03-30 21:40:57
Honestly? I'd change nothing in terms of personnel, story, or editorial. People forget that the Marvel Universe (and by this I mean the multiple universes created- what-ifs, Ultimate, etc) is the greatest fictional experiment of the 20th century- a collection of characters and stories, told from multiple viewpoints by multiple writers and artists, loosely chronological but continually shifting. It can't be perfect by nature. It's always going to have errors and stories you don't like and all sorts of crazy stuff- but when it works, oh boy does it work. And lately, it's working a lot more than it's not working.

But I would request one thing- I want a reprint of the Son of Doom storyline from FF v1 190 or 1 to 200. That was my first FF story, and I'll be darned if it still isn't one of the best. A fantastic long arc spotlighting every character, culminating in the best Reed/Doom Fight ever (and yes, I'm including Lee/Kirby, Byrne, Simonson, and Millar's recent masterpiece). Plus, it featured the last Kirby FF cover ever. How is this NOT reprinted? The art, by underrated Keith Pollard and legendary inker Joltin' Joe Sinnott is fantastic, and Marv Wolfman tells a hell of a good yarn.

Please satisfy the 8-year old in me and get this on the reprint schedule!

Posted by raycornwall on 2009-03-30 21:54:39
Bye Loeb.
I'd fire Jeph Loeb.

The man has effectively lobotomized the Ultimate Universe, tearing out every last shred of intrigue and replaced it with zany non-sensical splash pages. Also he has turned The Hulk into a glorified game of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots.

I know he sells, and for the life of me I can't tell why, I used to figure it was because of his art teams, but even now McGuinness and Cho have been very underwhelming. Alot of the books he's put on are guaranteed sells anyway. Sometimes a sacrifice in sales are necessary to retain a companies dignity.

Posted by scorpionspupil on 2009-03-30 22:20:08
I would enlist a policy in which all comic series were driven by strong monthly adventures by stable and long standing creative teams, without stunts and shallow marketing ploys getting in the way of the magic.

Don't need Mark Millar, Warren Ellis, or any other hit and miss prima donnas for their 6-12 issue runs. Hate it when I see an artist like Paul Pelletier get moved off a series like Guardians of the Galaxy, as he had a chance to build a strong foundation for that world of books, but artistic inconsistency was the path chosen instead.

The long involved runs are where the magic is at. Even today, when people talk about the great runs, you hear things like Brubaker and Epting's Captain America, Bendis and Maleev's Daredevil, Millar and Hitch's Ultimates, and Bendis and Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man. Those were nice long runs, and those runs gave the creative teams the room to breath that is needed in this format. I'm betting Fraction and Larroca's Iron Man will be in this company in a few years. (if they are allowed to) You just can't name any short runs by anybody that stack up to those. Ellis and Deodato's 12 issues of Thunderbolts and Millar and Romita Jr.'s 12 issues of Wolverine could have been in the above company if those runs were at least twice as long.

No stunts, just good comics.

Posted by Dusty. on 2009-03-30 22:45:06
Idea
So tempting to make an OMD/BND joke...

Anyway, I personally would like to see a real focus on the adult side. Something other than just hiring a couple writers to add some swears and frontal nudity to a small group of more-edgy characters. What Ennis did with the Punisher was excellent, and if that could be magnified (too much to ask?) to a whole line of Max comics, that would be nice.

But with some original adult pieces, as well. Though because, I think, the Marvel universe works best as a whole puzzle, it would be nice to have original characters/ideas that bleed over a bit into the normal universe. Sort of like the Bendis one with that girl, you know, the one who got hooked up with Cage...

Sorry, it's late and I don't feel like googling it right now.

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2009-03-30 22:47:55
Hawkeye
Bring back Hawkeye. Not some moron who's suddenly a ninja, not a supervillain pretending to be Hawkeye, but Hawkeye. Classic costume, best archer in the world. (Then bring back Jan, then find some way to fix Wanda, if it's possible.)

And then cut down on the Wolverine exposure. It's just ridiculous. I realize he brings money in to the company, but at some point, he's going to be overexposed.

Posted by motteditor on 2009-03-30 22:53:37
Clever ploy.

I would license out characters for non-continuity web comics. I know it would be a headache, but it would give people the chance to "do things there way" if it's funnier, edgier, more old-school, what ever. It would be a chance to see some interesting stuff without charging anything, so people couldn't belly ache about the price.

I'd could let some pros work on it, and just regular joes screened through a submission process of some kind. It could be a total flop, but with the proper hype, I think it would really get people looking at Marvel even more seriously as a leader in the digital age.

Posted by kyle-latino on 2009-03-30 23:28:36
What I'd change:
My only tweak would be to the collected editions department, specifically--- let's get some quality sequential reprints of the classic Claremont years. Byrne gets like ten FF Visionaries and the classic run of 80's X-Men doesn't?

I know there are a billion Dark Phoenix Saga printings, and the Masterworks editions of the early years, but to me the peak-era Classic X-Men, from about #160-244 (Brood Saga to Inferno, roughly) remains untouched except in Essentials.

The Proteus saga is a great start, but I'd love to see a dedicated series of color tbs of X-MEN CLASSIC to go alongside the NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC and EXCALIBUR CLASSIC books that are already out there.

The monthly stuff is firing on all cylinders as far as I'm concerned. The Big Four (Thor, Cap, Hulk, Iron Man), have never been better--- certainly not all at the same time. Daredevil is in a great place, the Avengers books are properly at the epicenter of the Marvel U, the FF is weird and strange and awesome, even guys like Nova, Black Panther, Hercules, and Iron First are going great guns. The X-Men corner of the universe finally seems to be on solid footing--- though the "No More Mutants" and Decimation really did cripple the premise somewaht--- and I like where Matt Fraction is going with things.

Lastly: Amazing Spider-Man is consistently an excellent read. Well done, Marvel.

Posted by Gentleman Jack on 2009-03-30 23:40:33
Value added
I'd love to see Marvel follow in DC's footsteps and make the 3.99 price value-added. With DC, they've added 10 page backup stories to their books that they've moved up to 3.99.

Even 2-4 extra pages of story would be a welcome reason to justify some of the cost. Marvel often adds a couple pages to books anyway (and it's appreciated, since it's often for free), so why not make it a line-wide initiative--for example, any 3.99 book now has 26 pages of original content. Or is there a reason why this wouldn't work?

Creatively, have you read recent Hawksmoor mini at Wildstorm? Both the writer and artist (Mike Costa and Fiona Staples) did a great job and seem like a perfect fit for Marvel.

Posted by hayeshenderson on 2009-03-31 02:54:15
You asked for it
Well, here goes. Just remember you asked for our opinions. I am a serious Marvel fan and have been reading your comics for about 13 years now.

1. Stop with the 6-part story arcs already! We all know you are writing for TPBs. That is all well and good, but is there really something wrong with a TPB that has 3 two part stories in it. It seems a lot of stories get stretched too far. Less Filler, more stories.

2. Bendis is not God. Someone should tell him. Tell Joey Q while you are at it. I like some of his work, but he is no Stan Lee. Too many people have been outed, too many have been killed. Too many gimmicks and drawn out storylines.

3. Stop Killing People. Marvel has the largest collection of characters on the planet, but that doesn't mean they can knock off a few whenever book needs a dramatic moment. Bring back Steve Rogers, Bring Back the Wasp. One death per decade would suit me just fine.

4. No more maxi-events. In Secret War not enough happened. In Civil, too much happened. Secret Invasion, WWH, etc, I don't know what happened. I gave up on the whole idea of mega events. Lets have individual creative teams on different series and just produce solid fun stories.

5. Fix Spider-Man. I have 2000+ Spidey comics in my closet. None from the last year. I think that says enough.

6. Hire better editors. I catch more continuity mistakes than your editors do. How about a detailed history on file of every major marvel character (like in the old days). Some fan has probably put one online already. Make sure that your editors read them. Same for writers. I almost get sick when a new "fan fave independent" writer comes on to a series and butchers a character. I have seem reformed villains suddenly become evil again. Characters that have met 20 times, be introduced for the "first" time. I could name 20 instances of really bad continuity mistakes if I wanted too (and that's just in Spider-Man). Someone is not doing their basic research. If they were in college, there would be a lot of people flunking right now. I hear you have a huge digital library. Read some back issues!

Well that's about it for me. Adopt a few of these and I will once again be shouting MAKE MINE MARVEL!



Posted by Spider-Man-Fan on 2009-03-31 03:53:49
While this Romulus character might turn out to be interesting, my impression so far is that this is taking off in a decidedly campy direction for Wolverine. First of all it seems increadibly contrived to suddenly bring in a sort of shadowy puppet master of this calibre - a "Bobby in the shower" kind of plot. The biggest problem is this whole idea of a sort of alternate evolutionary line for Wolverine and Sabretooth - "Oh, didn't you know? You're not actually human, you're descended from wolves!" How the hell that can be if there are only a few of them around, and W and S obviously can get offspring with "real" humans.

Logan is great b/c he is a real person in so many ways - this just turns him into a circus freak. So I hope the whole storyline will develop more along the way of Romulus not at all being what he claims to be. Or this will surely be remebered as Wolverines "jump the shark" moment.

Make Me Marvel - 4ever and ever

Posted by Amberdragon on 2009-03-31 04:57:19
I think I would phase out the printed single issue in favour of a web-to-TPB system.

Posted by Fetsur on 2009-03-31 05:15:45
oh and I'd get rid of the stupid "Congratulations - you won" epilepsy-inducing flashing green ad in the sidebar...

Posted by Fetsur on 2009-03-31 05:18:24
I'd start releasing the occasional OGN. I think there will be a gradual transition toward OGN's, I'd like to see Marvel be an industry leader in that.

Posted by dingogary on 2009-03-31 06:00:54
Hhmmmmmm.......
For the most part, I'm pretty satisfied. However this is one that I've noticed:

- Too many $3.99 mini's!

You guys are publishing so many books, and I buy nearly all of them - or at least I could up until recently. With the price hike and the increase in overall # of titles, it's just too much for any 1 person to keep up with.

Do we really need Dark Reign mini's for: Elektra, Mr. Negative, Venom, FF, etc...? I want to keep up with everything that's going on in the Marvel Universe but I'm being forced to pick and choose. And I get 40% off, at least!!!

Slim down the line a bit, and if you can at LEAST reduce the price to $3.50.

Thanks, - Jamie

Posted by pmpknface on 2009-03-31 08:06:41
Less Big Events
I am the first to admit that Civil War was one of the biggest reasons I started collecting comics again. It drew me into the comic store for the first times in many years. I really enjoyed that event and it got me back into many marvel titles such as new avengers, spiderman, and thunderbolts. The problem is that every time the dust settles from an event and these characters are allowed to start having their normal adventures, a new big event comes up. So just as all my favorite charachters were getting used to registration and the initiative, World War Hulk comes around. I was psyched for WWH but as it was going I was just wondering when it would end. When it did end it was almost like it never happened at all. Cities were rebuilt immediately and everyone brushed under the table that pesky Hulk taking over the world thing even though that was Marvel's big story for most of that year. Then comes Secret Invasion which I was kinda looking forward to but weary of the 8 issues it would take. Sure enough I felt like everything that happened in SI could have happened in maybe 4 books and most of the tie-ins were kinda lame. (although I did not buy them all like with WWH which were even lamer, lesson learned) Now the status quo is being reestablished for everyone under dark reign but I am weary of just how long I should keep invested in that story arc. Is there going to be another big event in a couple months that will make the changes that happen now moot? I'm not really complaining because I am thoroughly entertained by all of this but it would just be nice if the Marvel U was allowed to rest for a year or two so that the teams and characters can get back to what made them famous in the first place.

Posted by Bordo76 on 2009-03-31 08:13:31
bring back the real Thunderbolts

Note: Half the time the website just plain won't accept my comment. Eventually hours/days later it will, but it's not worth my time.

Change: Bring back the original Thunderbolts concept with one of the first two writers. I don't have the patience to wait for this new crew of (mostly really unlikeable) bad guys to to "get around" to redemption when we were so nicely in process before. Also, this is includes un-doing all the un-doing of the character work/progress on Moonstone.

I mean, you guys tried pirating the title into something else once already - at least this time it's organic, but I still find it kind of insulting as a long time reader when everything I've invested in is thrown away.

Just give these guys a new book called "Dark Thunderbolts" and it can fail and get canceled while the original team is on the run from them or something.

Please :).

Posted by onefinemess on 2009-03-31 09:00:06
Fix My Marvel ?
I'm enjoying my monthly Marvel pull list, Tom. However, I'd like to see a return to the narrative boxes that Stan Lee employed for story telling. No, they don't all have to be yellow. Different colors are preferable. I also liked the narrative device Busiek employed in his run on Avengers. He employed the one where each comic had a different narrative voice. And that voice was manifested in narrative boxes with the same major colors as that specific hero. By contrast, most or all of the Marvel comics today, even the really good ones have beautiful art, but are too flashy. By that I mean, that the focus is so much on the art, that the depth and the nuance of the story is lost. I really want to know what my characters are thinking. I want the scene described verbally, not just visually. I want to "read" a comic book; not just view a comic book. Certainly, there is such a thing as comic book art. But in one sense, that is a commission by a favorite artist, a framed poster which has no text or dialogue. A comic book is still a comic book, and therefore is to be both read and enjoyed. I find that I enjoy older Marvel comics more (60's - 80's) because they take longer to "read" than the newer ones. And this is true, even with the ones I've re-read many times in my life. Older Marvel comics provide 20 - 30 minutes of enjoyment per issue. Whereas most of the newer ones can be read in 5 to 10/15 minutes. When prices are so high, and the comic can be read so quickly, it is clear that something is lacking. I am thankful that Bendis has comics that either lean to or are dialogue heavy. He is probably the exception rather than the rule at Marvel today. His work on New Avengers and Dark Avengers is top notch. And Deodato's art is gorgeous with all of his shadows and nuanced facial expressions. I like some of the other new Marvel writers and artists too. But there are others that I really struggle with. My biggest disappointment has been the Millar/Hitch team on the Fantastic Four. I thoroughly enjoyed their work on Ultimates 1 and 2. But their run on the FF is, and I truly hate to say this about two professionals, boring. Millar's writing is not FF centered, but Millar personality centered. The recent story-line taking place in Scotland says it all. And Hitch's art, although full of detail, takes up too much of the page. I get weary of page after page (or double splash after double splash) of nothing but art work. I don't need huge pictures of battle scenes or giant monsters. These kinds of formats (and the current Hulk comic is another example) seem more like "coloring books" than "comic books". Please understand, the art in these books is well done. The problem is not the art. It's the overabundance of art to the exclusion of dialogue, thought balloons, and narrative boxes, all of which enhance the story through the use of words that set the mood and tone of the story through subtle nuances of excellent description. In sum, to fix Marvel, it would be sincerely appreciated if the company would return to "comic books" instead of page after page of "comic art." I thought I read somewhere that there was an actual company wide decision in the past to abandon the narrative boxes. I sincerely feel this was a tragic mistake. Please bring them back! And thanks for keeping this blog going, Tom. It's always great to chat with you!

Posted by Mon Morn Lunatic on 2009-03-31 09:15:44
Price
I have to agree with some of the previous posters about lowering the price of all ages books. As someone that teaches young people, I have a hard time suggesting that they buy comics when I know many of them cannot afford to buy them. People talk about the dearth of new readers. I think that 3 or 4 bucks is a barrier to new readers.

Posted by chocodile on 2009-03-31 09:18:14
Editorial control
I'd exert tight editorial control over the writing, with editors demanding that weak plots be improved, or rejecting plots when a story's premise was fatally flawed. I've seen people argue that the idea or concept isn't central to the story, execution is, but if the premise is terrible, the quality of the execution won't matter. The story will unavoidably be terrible. If the editors' workload doesn't allow them to review and reject plots, than a story editor should be hired specifically for that purpose.

If the editorial system is understaffed, or the attitude toward the story material is such that an editor's primary goal is merely getting an issue published, and questions of quality are secondary concerns, then the editorial process is seriously flawed, if not broken. The editor and writer on any given issue should be able to defend the contents of a story, in detail, or they're not doing what they're paid to do.

SRS

Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-03-31 10:06:29
I agree with Tinsmith!
I love the new direction for spider-man but it seems masochistic at least to go through all the non-sense of OMD and the (somewhat over the top) backlash just to have Spidey outed again. I know it was only to other heroes, who you would expect can be trusted with it (writers willing of course), but its just seems like OMD was a futile exercise. So in summary, I would retcon the recent spidey reveal in New Avengers and thus making him leave (and hopefully Wolverine as well) to get the Avengers on a more even keel. In fact, forget all that. The one thing I would do is remove Wolverine and Spider-Man from the New Avengers. Don't care how you do it.

Posted by harlequin7 on 2009-03-31 10:26:42
We're still here
T, I bet most of us still check your blog everyday, and some of us check all you guys twitter pages. Who doesn't want to know when Joe Q. is day-dreaming?

Posted by thomas more on 2009-03-31 10:33:26
Hmmm... 1 decision, 1 change, that's it. Which means that I have to sum up all the changes I want into 1 thing, 1 event, 1 creation so to speak. So... I'd either bring Scott Lobdell back to the X-franchise, or I'd stop Stan's mantra, and actually give the readers what they think they want. Ahh heck, just bring Jean back and I'll be good. (Do wedding laws in Mass. mean that Scott and Jean are still married?)

Posted by thomas more on 2009-03-31 10:39:53
Btw. I do like Fraction and the others, but the 90's were special to me, and Lobdell wrote most of the stuff that means a lot. Busiek too I think.

Posted by thomas more on 2009-03-31 10:41:40
Character Consolidation
I would like to see a consolidation of characters. Each 'successful" character or teams has multiple titles, each vying for a reader's interest. There appears to be a half-dozen Avengers, X-Men or Wolverine books.

I realize this is incredibly unlikely to happen, but I really wish there was just one Avengers book, one X-Men book and so on. It often feels like that in the attempt to offer something for everyone, nothing feels exceptional or special.

Posted by Neil M. on 2009-03-31 10:44:22
newuniversal
If I could change the one thing (other than the limit of only getting to change one thing ;) then it would have to be newuniversal... or, to be more precise, the lack thereof. Honestly, newuniversal gave me a much more believable universe without all the baggage of existing heroes. The story was going awesome and the art was amazing. The writing really seemed to be much higher quality than most of the books that I read.

My slight problem with newuniversal is this: Spidey comes out three times a month. Hulk comes out once a month. I've been waiting since mid-2008 for the next issue of newuniversal. One was planned, appeared on the order forms and then mysteriously got postponed.

So really, a little more regularity with the lesser known titles, or at least reasons for delay and potential release dates.

Posted by JoshuaRogers on 2009-03-31 10:46:09
Fix My Marvel
Marvel is awesome, Tom. First rate brand and first rate products.

You'll never please all the people all the time, so your marketing and social media guys just have to do a better job of building you the machine that tells the story.

I'm doing my part: http://donaldlafferty.com/publishers-authors-media-and-marvel-on-twitter/

Posted by lafferty on 2009-03-31 11:09:27
Aside from OMD....
Writer roundup:

New-Spider-Brain-Trust= Slott, Kelly, Wells, Lente, Fraction

Dark Avengers=Ellis

FF=Hickman

And never let JMS stop writing Thor, ever.

Posted by moral_d on 2009-03-31 11:40:15
Fewer crossovers. Concentrate on making each book as unique and interesting as possible, and don't worry about how it fits into some over-arching company-wide storyline.

Posted by JKCarrier on 2009-03-31 11:46:51
yost/kyle, the new DnA?
I think Chris Yost and Craig Kyle are completely brilliant, and write such an incredible range of amazing stories. So, if I could change one thing, I'd say have the two of them writing all of the X-books, in a way similar to that of DnA writing all of the cosmic books. All of the cosmic books fit together so well, without unnecessary overlap, because they're all written by the same two guys. I would love it if the X-books were all consolidated like that, and put under Yost & Kyle's control. They're amazing on X-Force, they were amazing on New X-Men, and X-23 is one of the best new characters in the Marvel Universe in a long time. Young X-Men sucks now that they don't have those characters.

Yost & Kyle + all the X-Men = Wonderfulness

Posted by bpmcgackin on 2009-03-31 12:04:10
My thoughts...
Honestly you guys are doing a great job at the moment so I feel a bit arrogant saying what should change, but nonetheless I have lots of ideas.

The first thing that needs changing? this place right here. Id Fix the website, make it cleaner, simpler more user friendly and more focused. The company seems to be putting a lot of resources into online and the look of the website should reflect that.

You certainly have the content at the moment - with this blog and some of your videos and features, but they get lost in the chaos of the larger site.

Posted by hueysheridan on 2009-03-31 12:21:47
You hit the nail on the head...
From your post it appears as if you are already well aware of Marvel's most urgent problem that is currently in need of fixing.

Let me start with some things Marvel is doing right. Marvel rightly realizes that change is necessary to keep their characters fresh and attract new readers. Sometimes change works and sometimes it doesn't, but if you don't try you won't make any progress. For me Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man are books where change has worked wonderfully. In the hands of Brubaker, JMS, and Fraction these titles have been rejuvinated and I now thoroughly enjoy titles I hadn't looked at for years.

Now nobody bats 1000. And when the fanbase is split right down the middle and a title has lost over 40% of its customer base... that is a pretty good indicator that a change has gone south and needs to be fixed. You tried... It didn't work... Just 'fess up and fix it. The talent currently working on the book easily has the ability to fix this thing. Let's get Spider-man back up at the top where he belongs!

Now another thank you. A couple of months ago I subscribed to DCU so I could read Spider-Girl's original series. Now I am delighted to discover that I will be able to read new Spider-Girl stories every month in her new Spactacular Spider-Girl series at DCU. Many thanks for listening to the fans on this one!

Posted by tomek97 on 2009-03-31 12:26:30
Tie-ins
Does there really have to be 20 million tie-ins for every crossover event. I mean seriously, I can't shell out hundreds of dollars a month just to stay in the loop.

Posted by monstersandgods on 2009-03-31 12:58:47
i honestly think that OMD/BND is my only complaint....wow. way to go on everything but spider-man!

Posted by challenger_15 on 2009-03-31 14:11:32
OH!....i'd bring Ben Reilly back!

Posted by challenger_15 on 2009-03-31 14:11:59
Story!
I'll echo some of the sentiments above to suggest that Marvel get (back?) into the business of telling stories/OGNs with a clear beginning and end. I realize that superhero comics are a serial medium but I think Vertigo is a prime example of telling audience-inclusive, finite, serial fiction. And, you could even do it with Marvel Universe characters! Look at what Alan Moore did with "Swamp Thing" (the proto-graphic novel). Marvel is excellent at growing and promoting characters but has very few "stories" that you can hand to a person in the general public. I'm sure there are business concerns that say otherwise, but, if I were EIC, I would promote this format for its artistic value. Icon is a nice start but I'm sure there's more that can be done.

Posted by hamgravy on 2009-03-31 14:15:52
Sorry I'm late....
From a fans perspective, which, I'll admit, is very different from a business perspective I'd like to see at least 40 months between giant crossovers. Since "House of M" it seems like a lot of books are suffering because 90% of the issues put out in a year are either part of, building up to, or dealing with the aftermath of these huge "Events."

And storytelling is suffering as a result.

Posted by cjmcaree on 2009-03-31 15:12:41
Wolverine
I _LOVE_ Wolverine. He's the super hero that got me into comics nearly 20 yrs ago. But it's almost impossible to keep up with him these days. He is in WAAAAAY too many books. I used to be able to get everything he was in, but around the time that New Avengers started (and even before that) it became impossible. It's too much. I realize that he's very popular but there has to be a limit some time. I also think the overexposure makes it hard to continue to develop the character because there's just too much going on at once to coordinate.

Posted by sniktitysnikt on 2009-03-31 15:48:32
more back ups, fewer one shots
I'd bring back back stories in some books and cut the number of one shots being put out from month to month. Not because I don't enjoy them sometimes, but because so after they're just too many of them crowding the stands

Posted by kedd on 2009-03-31 16:48:17
X-Men
I would cut down the number of X-Men. I love the characters but I would like each book to choose 5-7 characters for their team. Wolverine can be on all of them. But I want those 5-7 to be the focus. All other mutants can guest star but can't just hang around. There are just oo many right now and it seems to take away from the focus on the core group.

Posted by Suiter on 2009-03-31 18:40:00
Fun!
There's a lot of good ideas up there (continuity map is a great idea as I've been reading comics for 15 years and I stop for 3 an now can't get caught up no matter how hard I try, and the resolution of one storyline in one book is essential) but my main complaint is that there really isn't too many books that seem fun and superhero-y. It's all melodrama and darkness, which works well on some books (DD esp.) but there should be a balance to the Marvel U (and not just in the Marvel Adventures type books).

I've just been re-reading Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 and I just can't understand why I can relate to those stories so much better than I can to anything Marvel publishes today. There's some good books but it's way too overwhelming with mega-crossovers and major continuity changes every few months.

Marvel needs to build a brand around the various characters and build a status quo for them so new readers (or lapsed readers) can come in feeling like they know the character well enough that they don't need several other books just to read this one story.

Posted by agentfenris on 2009-03-31 20:35:22
ROM
My post was swallowed. Buy out the ROM license. He was pretty well-integrated into the MU, and some pretty good stories came of htat. Then give him to DnA.

Posted by beta-ray on 2009-03-31 22:24:09
Print ESSENTIAL NAMOR, NICK FURY, NEW MUTANTS, NEW WARRIORS, WEST COAST AVENGERS, CHAMPIONS, INVADERS, WHAT IF, WHAT THE?

Why can't you do that? Those are easy ones.

Posted by Rawnzilla on 2009-03-31 23:47:15
Less blog action? It's the Trading Updates.
I think the reason less people are posting - certainly this is true for myself, though I can't speak for everyone - is that the blog these days is just a constant stream of trading updates. It's hard to really interact with that stuff.

Change one thing at Marvel? Fix the X-Men line. That line of books has become so muddled and - sadly - dull that tryingh to follow it is a nightmare. Ever since M-Day - the reaction to which was totally ill-thought out - the books seem to have been treading water, and have clearly dropped down the internal pecking order of importance, usurped by the Avengers books. Marvel need another big writer with big ideas to come in, Grant Morrison style, and shake some life back into the X-franchise (and in a way that doesn't involve putting Wolverine in every book).



Posted by Moorish on 2009-04-01 04:15:02
for a change...
I'd love a ' POWER PACK' ongoing again, by Ann Nocenti and Timothy Green, I'm sure you know why.

Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-04-01 09:13:27
Mutant Town
I have a serious problem with the take-on of Mutant Town, who had been just blown away as you know. I love the idea of a mutant community and if it wasn't developped in the pages of 'Uncanny X-Men', I expected more of Peter David ( which I absolutely love the actual work anyway and makes me say that 'X-Factor' is one really one of the most modern comic-book that Marvel is currently publishing ) about the diversity that such a context offered; I rather think it is the main subject of the book than the 'Investigations' thing, with all respect.
Under your applauses.


Posted by bulgarianyogurt on 2009-04-01 09:20:54
Agreed
The X-books are unreadable.

Posted by hamgravy on 2009-04-01 09:26:27
Greg Land
I would stop accepting work from Greg Land that is obviously traced from the same celebrity photo references over and over again.

Posted by tech knight on 2009-04-01 11:40:15
I'd propose something fairly radical - End the Marvel Universe.

Old stories will always exist between digital comics, Essentials, and other trade collections. The Ultimate experiment, as well as several recent movies (Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man) have all shown that you can reinvent the classic Marvel concepts in a current setting and they still work just as well (better in a couple of cases).

This idea isn't DC trying to fix all their problems with a Crisis, this is a culmination of decades of story. The event to end all events. The last stand of the 616 heroes. It gives the classic versions of the Marvel characters something that all good stories should have: an ending.

Posted by ktalbot23 on 2009-04-01 12:18:41
on a less radical note
Reprint Ann Nocentis' Daredevil run.

Posted by ktalbot23 on 2009-04-01 12:19:59
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!
Unify the Avengers into ONE amazing super team in only ONE book a month with the big three in charge and all-time faves. Thor, Cap, Shellhead, Wasp, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Pym, Cage, you know them.

And please, let Wolverine go. He simply does not NEED to be on every Marvel comic. Same goes fos Spiderman. If any, make them honorary members and use them seldomly.

Posted by Bladai on 2009-04-01 13:46:52
Customer satisfaction
The blog is nice, but there should be an easy way for readers to contact Marvel with complaints, concerns, questions, kudos. An ombud, for example. So if you've been waiting for months for the next issue of The Twelve for example, you have some way of finding out what exactly is going on by shooting the Answer Man an email or something like that. Every customer feels a bit better if a human listens to and responds to them, even if the answer isn't what they like. That's what I'd add to Marvel. An ombud.

Posted by Mdaneman on 2009-04-01 15:25:52
I would do whatever it took to get Joss Whedon back on a Marvel character

Posted by joeshan on 2009-04-01 15:38:59
FIRE JEPH LOEB
1. Fire Jeph Loeb

2. Don't kill characters, just write good stories about them.

Posted by pineappleprotein on 2009-04-01 15:46:24
X-Men as a family
Bring back the family element to the X-Men. The days of the 5 member team that looked out for one another is one of the elements that I miss.

Posted by Smakk9 on 2009-04-01 16:32:51
I'd bring back Nextwave. Please somebody bring back Nextwave!!

Posted by marvo on 2009-04-01 18:45:29
(Ooops... I meant wedding laws in New York and not Mass. What, I was tired!)

Posted by thomas more on 2009-04-01 19:28:19
More Icon/less Superhero
I find that I'm buying more non superhero stuff, including a lot from the Vertigo library. I'd love to see Marvel build up a library of non super hero trades. I know that we have the icon line, but it's an average of one or two books a month. I also realize that Marvel is mainly super heroes, yet I'm just letting you know that I'm spending more and more on non superhero books and if Marvel wants my money, expanding the icon line seems like the best way to do that.

Posted by WIZZARD127 on 2009-04-01 22:06:26
change
change is consistent and constant. However I don't always like or appreciate it. I have gone away from comics buying a bit due to disinterest and the inability to keep up. I have been reading some, but this doesn't compare to the volume of books I was reading in the 80's 40+ a month. Price has also become an issue and it seems publishers are throwing out more and more when there should be some scaling back. I would think that asking the readers what they want--That includes us old timers you whippersnappers--because the industry wouldn't be here if not for the support of us lifers. Marvel nowdays is so full of "unknowns" (at least to me). So I would say (even though I am all over the place here) That engaging the readers (got that readers--Stan said it first and best!) is the thing that I would ask for because I haven't seen it in sometime (thanks Tom ; ) )

Posted by Reed Richards Prime on 2009-04-01 23:06:15
For the record
Mine wasn't Bitching, it was a missing of days gone by.

Posted by Reed Richards Prime on 2009-04-01 23:07:58
JR JR
Romita Jr. needs to stop being the artist for the big spidey arcs. i know his dad is a legend but come on! all of his human drawings look the same and anatomically incorrect! marcos martin has had my favorite arcs and his art breathes much needed life in to BND. MORE MARTIN AND LESS ROMITA PLEASE! and btw new avengers 41? WTF HOW IS SPIDEY GOING TO REVEAL HIS IDENTITY AFTER EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED WITHIN THE LAST YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by lpocnation on 2009-04-01 23:28:29
Make Larry Stroman draw faces
Love Peter David's writing, but I just bought latest X-Factor hard cover and I can't work out who is who. Larry Stroman could draw faces in his first run on X-Factor, what is it now? Lazyness? low page rate? time problems?

Posted by Brianjsg on 2009-04-02 06:36:39
annuals
I expected more "Hire Me!"s.

Publish annuals showcasing characters without current ongoing titles. These done-in-ones could test a character/team's marketability with less investment than a mini-series while throwing a bone to devotees ("Every character is someone's favorite character"). Back-ups by developing talent or industry veterans we haven't heard from recently. Collect the main features in a TPB like the old Marvel "Best Of" yearbooks.

Posted by jakesaint on 2009-04-02 09:34:33
One change
Cancel all titles not generating 20K in sales per month.

Posted by izzatrix on 2009-04-02 10:13:01
Just 1? How about 1 Editor-in-Chief (Joe Quesda), 1 Writer (Jeph Loeb), 1 Storyline BND, 1 Character (Rulk). 1 Unbelieveable Affair (Gwen with Norman)

Posted by DS2008 on 2009-04-02 20:41:16
Here's what I would do...
I would fix both Spider-man and the Hulk, becuase both titles are just plain a shadow of their former selfs.

I would fire Loeb and forbid him into working with Marvel until he gets it history of the characters right.

I would try to reincrease the Spider-girl titles to show some more variety from the company.

Issue more of the Best of..."including some of the Spider-teams from the 80s."

Posted by CAmbm on 2009-04-04 14:08:45
Wolverine
I know that Wolverine is huge right now, what with his movie coming out, but I think he's gotten a bit oversaturated. One thing I could see that could easily adjust his status quo rather organically at the moment would be for Wolverine to quit X-Force following the Messiah War crossover. Based on his troubles with Scott right now, it would be easy to see him say "&#$% it" and just walk away, leaving someone else in charge (maybe Laura, but who knows). That's my one qualm. Thanks Tom.

Posted by myakoopa on 2009-04-10 08:04:25
Minority Heroes/mutants
I would find someone who knows something about minorities and how they would respond to being heroes and find someone who can truly balance the marvel universe. Ican't believe I've collected comics as long as I have and watched the idiot writers butcher and get it wrong and then try to cver it up with stupid deaths and explainations of deaths and watch over and over the death and resuurection of White(Caucasian) heroes, man I must be a glutton for punishment, or just like losing my money. Here is some of the things I would correct:
!. Synch wouldn't be dead, first his death was stupid to begin with how do you get part of a mutants power when your powers are to synchronize, copy and utilize any power to its fullest? If he has already copied Maggot one of the maggots would have eaten the bomb, or using Banshee's power create a sonic barrier around the stupid bomb, or even having synched with Chamber charred the bomb at the atomic level. Besides with the control he had over his power he would qualify as a Omega level mutant.

2.Patriot would not ne a sorry wimp of a teen hero and leader. Since he has a legacy to prove and also to prove that black hearos are just as equal to other races he would be twice as smart reaind up on military tactics to honor his grandfather, get in the weight room to ensure that he wss just as fast, strong, agile, and proficient as any one on his team or who he was teamed with.

3.Bishop would not be a traitor, and most definately would not have lost his arm. He also would have prevented his sister from being killed by ensuring that she never came into contact with Emplate.

4. Dr. Cecilia Reyes can't be killed because her biofield would have prevented any harm fromfalling her, her field is always on and it remains closeto her body except when she is under threat, unlike Skids she can't lower hers just pull it close.

5. Clarice Ferguson (Blink) Should have had more African/Negroid/Bahamian feature and would have had a Carribean accent associated with her speach pattern.

6. David Alleyne (Prodigy) would not be powerless, who with all the retained knowledge of Forge, Hank McCoy or even Reed Richards would not have figured out how to create a device to mimic his powers and create armor and weapons for himself and his other powerless mutants.

7. Dwayne Taylor (Night Thrasher) would not have created a reality show, because it was not in his character to do something so stupid and ignorant because it went against his principle and he hated being in the press.

8. Shola Inkosi once again a minority mutant has no power especially a powerful telekinetic, his first priority would to rebuild Genosha despite the ruin and no matter how powerless he was.

I could go on but it would be fruitless seeing that no one even pays attention to the stupidity and drival being written and the idiots who claim to know how to write storylines. You even make other minority heros wrong. I'm sure there are minority writers and artist other than McDuffie available to help you get a clue. Oh yeah one more thing you can't strip Mutants of there powers without changing there appearance or replacing the missing GENE with a repcement or they all will die. One again how stupid do you think I am? Find some writters who have at least read the comic and have studied the continuity. Peter and Mary Jane not married and Captain America dead .......Please!!!! Sell that idea to CrossGen.

Posted by Preacher_J_531 on 2009-04-27 00:20:30
One gripe.
Stop killing so many damn good characters. Seriously.

Posted by Backtalk on 2009-05-30 04:37:00