The end of continued stories at Marvel in 1969 question.

[Josh S]

Taken from the "quiting and returning to comics" thread:

I started buying & reading comics in 1963, became a Marvel zombie in 1965, and stopped buying comics in 1969, the month that Stan announced the end of continued stories.

Was the MU rebooted in 1969 or did this mean that stories would all be single issue stories? If it's the latter, what was the reason for this? If it's the former, was there an event that explained it in the comics (like COIE at DC) or was it just an editorial move?

[Rob Allen]

Was the MU rebooted in 1969 or did this mean that stories would all be single issue stories? If it's the latter, what was the reason for this? If it's the former, was there an event that explained it in the comics (like COIE at DC) or was it just an editorial move?
Stan decided to move to single-issue stories. Comics companies didn't "reboot" back then. I really liked the "soap-opera" aspect of Marvel Comics, and this move seemed like a step backward. The change didn't last all that long, fortunately.

[Josh S]

Yeah, I didn't think there were reboots that far back, but my knowledge of such things is nearly nonexistant. Thanks for the answer.

[MichikoS]

WHAT IF...?

Marvel had rebooted in 1969? Interesting notion.

Michi

[InfoBroker]

The move to (mainly) single-issue stories and other editorial decisions to simplify content and continuity was driven by the declining sales of comics. The quiet backing away of that policy was from finding out that it didn't make any difference. Other, broader factors had more impact on sales.

But no it wasn't a reboot, and there was no rewrite, rebuke, revoke, nor refuting of continuity.

Minor quibble:

In 1968 and 1969, Marvel did do some re-tooling of several characters, Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange and the X-men immediately come to mind. But this was not a major reboot as we think of today.

Major technically:

Er, um the super-hero comics created at Marvel Comics in those first few early years of the 1960s...

And while the term wasn't used then...

And it wasn't part of comic fandom's vocabulary...

But by definition and form, the foundation years of the Marvel Age of Comics qualifies as a reboot.

-jb the (if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck...) ib-

[benday-dot]

I posted a thread on this a few months back... According to Stan's soapbox announcing the end of continued stories the decision was based on a response to fandom, after several months previously the question was thrown out as to which is preferred... those multi issue soap opera epics, or the short and hopefully sweet one shots... Its up to us I suppose whether or not we believe Stan's ear to democracy line rings true.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=127736

[Josh S]

Cool beans. Thanks, benday-dot.

[MDG]

I wonder if there was also an element of Stan being uneasy because he had to start relinquishing some control of the characters.

What I don't like about a lot of continuing stories in many comics (and TV) is when it becomes a matter of you have to keep read every issue rather than you want to read every issue.

MDG

[Mike Kuypers]

The irony is that in those days a continued story would have been 2-4 issues long. True, subplots might have run longer, but something like 52 would have been considered outlandish.