General direction for Marvel

[Berkey]

So, what's eveyone's take on the direction Marvel is heading in with regards to the recent events and those to come(changes, Deaths etc)? In the right or in the wrong? Do you like the recent happenings or the future that lies ahead for the MU as a whole? If not what would you like to see?

[jeffarei]

i think the marvel universe was better a few years ago. although some people would argue that it's at it's best right now.

[BeastieRunner]

Parts of it are up while others I feel are down.

[Expletive Deleted]

At the moment, there are a lot of Marvel comic books that I enjoy. There are a number that I don't enjoy, but they're not especially difficult to ignore.

[Will.S]

The Avengers books: Stronger than ever and will continue to be as long as Bendis, Slott and guys like JMS, Brubaker, and the Knauf are on it on top of having top notch artists

Spider-Man books: It had a lot of ups and downs. Rough patches all around but regardless of how horrible OMD was, it made a clean slate again although unfortunately I dropped the book due to OMD as well so I don't know if I can personally say that the direction is "good".

X-Men Books: Really good directions. It took a rather long time to get to this point though outside of a few titles that have been excellent even post Decimation.

General Marvel: Again has it's ups and downs but books like Immortal Iron Fist, Incredible Hercules, Runaways and books of such high quality keep the marvel books in good shape.

[AndyinColor]

Marvel definitely is headed in a different direction from five years ago... it seems that crossovers now rule the land and if you haven't heard of Avengers: Disassembled, then you might not be in the "know".

Starting with the idea of a Skrull Invasion 4(?) years ago, writers at Marvel have started to completely change the status-quo. Mutants are endangered, Spider-man is "many things", Avengers are split up, and the superhero community as a whole is split.

I think that if Marvel keeps up with their "EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE WITH THIS ISSUE" standard, they may keep selling quite a few issues (as their stocks will show) for the next year or so... but eventually fans will be a little tired. Let individual titles have their own adventures. X-Men have not done anything in two years that wasn't a "CAN'T MISS ISSUE".

I hope that Marvel (and DC for that matter) will learn a thing or two from Image and allow there to be stand-alone titles (besides Marvel Adventures). Let heroes fight their villains and let fans have one week without worrying about marriages, more Jean Grey's being born, Skrulls and registration.

-AndyinColor

[Laughing Mask]

they are really screwing things up.

[ZT4]

Spider-Man books: This is a hard one. ASM I disowned after "Sins Past", but BND right now seems to have given it some fresh readers. Ultimate Spidey and Spider-Girl have enjoyed great success in their markets with fresh interpretations of the character and what he could do if older (is there ANY problem with just giving Peter a new leg and creating an MCA2 ASM title?)

X-Men Books: Have recovered well from previous uncertain directions and "House of M", the X-Books have returned to a more classic style and used a truley epic idea bourne out of a lousy du ex machina to pave the way forward for the X-Men's future direction for many years.

Hulk: Hulk was brought back to his roots as an unpredictable force. WWH was a nice throwback to the 1990s and shades of The Maestro in a present day context.

General Marvel: Marvel have made many heroes, obscure and established, exciting to read on all fronts, and given them roles small and large that affect everything. But the price paid was the crippling of Spider-Man's character and integrity, and the event overkill is slowly starting to wear thin. A break from this would prove to be refreshing

[matthewaos]

I would like them to let us rest for a while, after Secret Invasion. I think all those events after events have been tired. Who knows how huge SI will it be? Not even Bendis knew in a interview he gave. But generally I enjoy the marvel U as it is, at least the direction of the things. Only thing I didn't like for years was Spider-Man, except for the side titles, but where the story headed in ASM was bad, and I wasn't wrong in the end...

[rZi]

Ditch the skrulls...

Get mark millar to right something better which somehow forms an old-school style line-up avengers to tackle. ditch the all-stars like wolvie and peter and luke.

[filterpunk]

Plenty of good, plenty of bad. People like Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, and Ed Brubaker have been consistently putting out quality work, which is why their books consistently get my cash.

On the downside, many of the books are just redundant or unnecessary, which reminds me a lot of the 90's. It's oversaturation, plain and simple, where the only real plan seems to be to toss out whatever they can into the market and see what sticks, quality be damned. I mean, take a look at just the Avengers and X-Men stuff.

Avengers + related: Avengers Classic, Avengers Fairy Tales, Avengers: The Initiative, Captain America, Iron Man, Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, New Avengers: Illuminati, The Order, Ultimate Iron Man, Ultimates, Young Avengers Presents, etc. plus whatever Annual, Giant-Size, or one-shot books are tossed out.

X-Men + related: Astonishing X-Men, Cable, Logan, Exiles/New Exiles, Ultimate X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, Wolverine: First Class, Wolverine: Origins, X-Factor, X-Force, X-Men, X-Men: First Class, Young X-Men/New X-Men, etc, plus whatever Annual, Giant-Size, or one-shot books are tossed out.

At this point, it's just too much and that kind of haphazard line-up just isn't sustainable in the long run. They already tried this strategy in the 90's and it nearly killed the company, but since they also had a sales boom in the early part of that decade, Joe Q and company figure it's worth another try. I suppose I'm sounding a bit pessimistic here, but c'mon...Onslaught Reborn? Jeph Loeb writing Ultimates? Humberto Ramos handling Runaways? Bringing back the freaking New Warriors? Someone was honestly sitting there and thinking, "Wow, Night Thrasher: Four Control was awesome! Do it again!" The mind boggles.

Obviously, it's all subjective, but decisions like that are what made me stop reading comics back in '96 and these days, I'm a lot less willing to put up with it.

[Lord S]

My only problems with the direction Marvel is taking are:

- Too many street-level stories involving the Avengers...who have traditionally dealt with threats on a much larger scale.

- Not enough attention to continuity.

- Not much done to promote a 'shared universe', (especially with the X-books).

- Not much storytelling happens in the actual comic books these days...they are too short, as most writers have adopted a decompressed style. This doesn't affect every book, of course...but when I do see it, it leaves me feeling ripped off.

- Some books that are supposed to be regulars take forever to be released, (ie. Astonishing X-Men).

[Parch]

I hope that Marvel (and DC for that matter) will learn a thing or two from Image and allow there to be stand-alone titles I doubt Marvel and DC will want to learn anything from Image.

Image sales = not good

[filterpunk]

I doubt Marvel and DC will want to learn anything from Image.

Image sales = not good

You can't really compare the two in terms of sales figures. Marvel and DC are largely successful because they have iconic characters that many people have become attached to over several decades. They could both have a full year of complete crap and still outsell Image, simply because of that longevity and recognition, while the smaller companies often have to rely on the quality of the work to sell even one book.

Obviously, the Big Two can't have an overly extended period of poor quality, as that would affect sales to the point of bankruptcy or takeovers...oh, wait.

So yes, they can both learn quite a bit from a company like Image.

[gorthon616]

Spider-Man: Light and dark. Anything non-mainstream marvel universe (Spiderman Love MJ, Spider-Girl, MA Spider-Man) is good. Mainstream... UGH. Though I'm sure it's possible to tell good Spider-Man stories... You have to look past a lot of... UGH.

Avengers (individual heroes): Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man are among the best titles around. I love the direction each are going in (though a bit iffy on the new Red Hulk thing). I haven't touched Thor but it looked reeaallly boring. Maybe I'm wrong.

Avengers (team books in general): MEH. Much of NA left be very disinterested with just bland stories a lot of "omg i don't care" plot reveals. Though I AM interested a little bit with the Hood. So I'll check in for that. MA is the worse of the two. Not a fan of Cho and thought bubbles are stupid. I'll stop saying that when Bendis stops doing that. I've tinkered with the Initiative and it seemed decent though not my thing I guess, Thunderbolts was VERY good and lived up to the hype, and the Order seemed interesting but ultimately not my thing, New Warriors doesn't at all seem good/interesting. Honestly, overall not very strong. Though I wouldn't say bad... they have a nice set up with things, but I don't like the execution at all for the most part. Though perhaps it has allowed the individual hero books to shine.

X-Men: I'm a Mike Carey fan. Love what's going on. Astonishing was solid, I don't goosh over it like some, but it was putting out a good story back when good X-Men stories were hard to find. I do like the new direction, though it's sad that New X-Men is being debunked because I recently had fallen in love with Santos. So I hope he gets good treatment where ever he goes.

Ultimate: Uhhhh. Human and UFF are good. I look at UXM and it's just... ugh. USM... I liked the first 7 trades or so, but after awhile... it's too much of the same. Maybe Ultimatum will help things out. Maybe not. Oh and U3 sucks.

Annihilation/Conquest: I enjoy Conquest. Not enough Kl'rt/Ronan for me and the new bodies aren't that good. I do hope that this branch gets a hold of the FF properties that rightfully belong here (surfer/galactus). I hope this part of the MU gets tied in with Invasion and the rest of it's connections. Overall solid.

Secret Invasion: It has me vaguely interested. More out of curiosity on tying in fringe characters/books to the mainstream MU (Young Avengers, Runaways, Kl'rt, and Noh-Var). Other than that it's just another crossover event that I have vague hopes on being decent.

Random notes: Bendis's Ares sucks. I want the mini-series Ares back. Badly. I hope Noh-Var gets pushed into the spotlight. Has the Sentry gone back to forgotten? Hope so, not that I dislike his presence, I just don't think he is used very well. Do people still care about the Runaways? I stopped, though I had this love/hate relationship with them. I hated them personally, but I could help wanting to know what happened to them.

[drwho]

I really think troubles are brewing and that Joe Q doesnt have the creativity to bring the whole registration thing to a decent ending. The registration thing really is a big problem I feel. It does prohibit stories to an extent in my opinion. There are also more stories on the subject that could be told, but I kind of feel like Marvel is creatively backing themselves into a corner and will end up doing something dumb like Scarlet Witch, or Mephisto to make it all go away. X-Men looks really dreadful. I have never been so unexcited in a relaunch in awhile. I mean Scott ordering kid mutants to go out and kill other mutants. I see a big problem with that.

[gorthon616]

I really think troubles are brewing and that Joe Q doesnt have the creativity to bring the whole registration thing to a decent ending. The registration thing really is a big problem I feel. It does prohibit stories to an extent in my opinion. There are also more stories on the subject that could be told, but I kind of feel like Marvel is creatively backing themselves into a corner and will end up doing something dumb like Scarlet Witch, or Mephisto to make it all go away. X-Men looks really dreadful. I have never been so unexcited in a relaunch in awhile. I mean Scott ordering kid mutants to go out and kill other mutants. I see a big problem with that.

I thought the whole registration thing is done? And I don't see where it limits anything. And I just see this as the new SQ. Besides most of the CW issues are non-points, unless if they decide to make it a point.

I do question the Young X-Men premise, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. But I do like the new X-Men stuff.

[Chiasm]

X-Books: In some ways they are right now the best they've been since the 80's.

Avengers Books: They are in a sharp nosedive from just a year or two ago when they were pretty good.

Spiderman: Lets just say I'm not pleased with BND. Not pleased at all and I'll stop here before I rant.

Other books: Punisher (the real Ennis Punisher not that silly War Zone Punisher) has been very good. I fear for it now that Ennis is leaving.

Captain America - the most consistently excellent book Marvel has been putting out for a long time.

[The Master Meglomaniac]

I'm still wondering if super villains will treated like threats in the future, instead of jokes or just people who sit on side lines while the heroes duke it out.

[Micro]

General Direction of Marvel Over the Years:

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Based on not necessarally how good the books were, but the over all direction of the marvel universe.

[Excelsior]

To be honest, Marvel's problem is too much good product. Everyone thought, including myself that the Civil War miniseries was going to bring about a unified Marvel Universe. Instead, it has become more fractured-- I hope the Skrull Invasion story line infuses some good ole fashioned teamwork and stand alone crossovers between the mighty and not-so-mighty marvel characters. This Skrull thing could be the cure all of the split, with an entire Marvel universe of good guys unified and determined to conquer this threat.

[engen500]

My only problems with the direction Marvel is taking are:

- Too many street-level stories involving the Avengers...who have traditionally dealt with threats on a much larger scale.

- Not enough attention to continuity.

- Not much done to promote a 'shared universe', (especially with the X-books).

- Not much storytelling happens in the actual comic books these days...they are too short, as most writers have adopted a decompressed style. This doesn't affect every book, of course...but when I do see it, it leaves me feeling ripped off.

- Some books that are supposed to be regulars take forever to be released, (ie. Astonishing X-Men).

totally agree

[filterpunk]

I already posted most of my thoughts on where Marvel's been going lately, but there's one other thing bothering me. Ads. Some of the books are freaking packed with them and if I see one more military recruitment ad, I'm going to gag.

[engen500]

i'm just tired of paying 2.99 for 2 scenes and some adds...make comics thicker: 22pages to 44pages!!!

[Berkey]

i'm just tired of paying 2.99 for 2 scenes and some adds...make comics thicker: 22pages to 44pages!!!

That would great, but since it costs an arm and a leg for gas and other essentials I doubt we'll see that. But I agree a lot of comics are lacking text and I mean good text. I read a few comics with three minutes worth of text and a lot of pictures which can be nice at times and on the other hand I see some comics with a whole lotta text, but it's all filler. It's hit and miss sometimes.

[BeastieRunner]

General Direction of Marvel Over the Years:

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Based on not necessarally how good the books were, but the over all direction of the marvel universe.

The guitar tab of the Marvel Universe!

[matthewaos]

Some of the books are freaking packed with them and if I see one more military recruitment ad, I'm going to gag.

Yeah, what's that about? I remember some guys saying that marvel making the pro reg win, and having military ads is not good direction. I think that those things are putt there by the government though.

[Expletive Deleted]

Yeah, what's that about?$$$tencharacters

[reta-winter soldier]

Marvel kinda sucks right now. Brubaker and very few others are the exception, they are truly great writers that get their own characters. SPidey has become meh for everybody, avengers thanks to BMB are not the avengers. And dont pay that much atention to xmen. Actually i used to read only marvel a few years ago, marvels mega crossovers have made me read a bit more dc now than marvel.

[filterpunk]

$$$tencharacters

That, and to be honest, I think there's a contingent of pro-war types over at Marvel. Maybe it's my commie-pinko-liberal leanings, but I got a distinct sense of this after reading an issue of Avengers: Initiative that left me wondering why Dan Slott, or his editor, would put in something so irresponsible as George Bush being depicted as some kind of courageous guy.

But yeah, failing that, it's all about the benjamins.

[CyberCoyote]

General Direction of Marvel Over the Years:

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Based on not necessarally how good the books were, but the over all direction of the marvel universe.

Wow.. you put a lot more thought than me into the question for sure :)

With the Spidey Big Red Retcon I'm now completely oblivious to what direction JQ wants to go in. With CW, Messiah Complex and all these other developments you think they want to move forward towards something, but then they take their mascot and yank him BACK 20 years saying it's the only way to tell good stories. Twenty baby steps forward and a giant jump back. I know they must have a big picture in mind but it's difficult to see with things like that.

[Berkey]

Marvel kinda sucks right now. Brubaker and very few others are the exception, they are truly great writers that get their own characters. SPidey has become meh for everybody, avengers thanks to BMB are not the avengers. And dont pay that much atention to xmen. Actually i used to read only marvel a few years ago, marvels mega crossovers have made me read a bit more dc now than marvel.

I got back into DC (and a lot of other companies)a couple years back and although I like Marvel over the rest, I think it helps get away from the recent crossovers, good or bad, and allows me to picture other characters with other issues

[Monty_Cristo]

i like the general direction of Marvel, for now.

[anthony!]

I genuinely think that by the time Secret Invasion ends, the Marvel Universe will look exactly like it did in the late 60's/ealy 70's, but with modern twists and clarifications. And thats a good thing.

All these things are happening or have happened:

-Spider-man is a luckless single guy, and his series now tells one continuous story. His identity is secret, the Bugle hates him and Aunt May makes wheat cakes

-The FF are a true family and have strange adventures from issue to issue. They're celebrities of the MU

-Mutants are now a true minority in the world, so now you can play up the 'racism' angle

-The 'gods' of the MU are being given a stronger footing in the MU, as are the Eternals

-The logic problem of why heroes are generally loved and mutants are hated has been answered with the SHRA and the Initiative.

-The Avengers are the center of the MU, with literally any character joining; with the added bonus of featuring the most popular characters like Wolverine and Spider-man. It also is providing havens for semi-popular characters like Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Black Widow, Sentry, etc....

-Captain America, whether Steve or Bucky, is a man out of time racked with guilt.

[Frank]

The state of Marvel Universe is fine. But I wish Civil War would have affected more things. Right now it feels "same old, same old". But with the exception of a few things-titles like The Initiative-there's no feeling of the landscape having changed. Even a book like Iron Man where you have a character that was the most important of the whole event, you don't feel the presence of Civil War in that book. Heck it's like it never happened. I think Marvel has too many events going back-to-back that you can't build something and let it breath. I think World War Hulk and the Skrull Invasion came too soon after Civil War. So now after Hulk did his damage you don't even remember CW ever existed. And even The Order and the Initiatives are cancelled, after Spidey has has been "re-masked" there won't be anything traces left.

[Frank]

I really think troubles are brewing and that Joe Q doesnt have the creativity to bring the whole registration thing to a decent ending. The registration thing really is a big problem I feel. It does prohibit stories to an extent in my opinion. There are also more stories on the subject that could be told, but I kind of feel like Marvel is creatively backing themselves into a corner and will end up doing something dumb like Scarlet Witch, or Mephisto to make it all go away. X-Men looks really dreadful. I have never been so unexcited in a relaunch in awhile. I mean Scott ordering kid mutants to go out and kill other mutants. I see a big problem with that.

You whine about something like Young X-Men that hasn't come out yet.

[filterpunk]

You whine about something like Young X-Men that hasn't come out yet.

I don't think it's necessarily uncalled for to be suspicious about some of the upcoming books Marvel has planned. Personally, I don't care much for Marc Guggenheim and, having seen I don't know how many failed attempts at writing a "teen X-Men" sort of book, the concept has a huge freaking hill of credibility to climb.

[cap5]

First Spider-man we all know about the crapfest that is OMD,it relly put a turnaround for the spidy collecters that was there for the 40 plus histery
I for one liked the clone saga from 1994 to 1996 even though it was a like it or not that was a importent part of spidy histery but to have it disaperd like it never happend thanksto OMD and not to menshen SSM 200 where harry died relly killed the taste of the issue.So About OMD it was suposto be a weekly thing then BND was to start in Nov but it worked as 1 spidy comic a month which felt like they wanted to start BND in Jan just in time for the start of 2008 I think it was timeing so that was fine
OMD felt like old school comic with the front page reading the Parker Luck I havent heard that in a long time but i think the part i dont like is harry retering so the bottom line is Spider-man was my nummber 1 comic to read now its at the bottom of my short marvel list which brings me to
X-men I was never a X-men fan but then i heard about MC and i thought that would be a great jummping on point for me so i read it and it was a great comic event so i am hooked on X-men comics and the end was a nice ending with lots more Questends so im on board with the new post x-books coming out so the bottom line is MC a great comic Event and now im exited about getting X-men post MCto find out about the dangling plotlines left hanging
Thats just my 2 cents about the events about OMD to BND and MC

[chrismileslord]

Marvel Overall

Crossovers
Civil War: Amazing, and it sold well, the ending wasn't great, but the story was great
World War Hulk: Great all the way through, SMASH FEST.
Secret War:Has A lot of Potential

Avengers
New Avengers: Great Stories, different direction that normal Avengers and it works great for the team
Mighty Avengers: Classic style Avengers, great storytelling, amazing art (for the most part),
Avengers: Initiave: Not my cup of tea, but there are a lot of people out there that enjoy the hell out of this book.
Solo: Captain America and Thor are doing amazing, and constantly pull great sales numbers. Ms. Marvel is decent, loved the first 15 or so issues, but has been lacking as of late. I will wait through Secret invasion (I think she is a skrull) to make a final decision.
Young Avengers: Great Team, Great Book when it was out. And if your like me, everything with YA in it, you buy, because it was that good. Such great characters and character development

SpiderMan
Post OMD we will see, I am not happy, but I am trying it. The First three books were....lacking....but a lot of people enjoy them.

X-Men
X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Ashtonishing X-Men are all Great books now. They are selling well and just had the best crossover ever
X-Force & Cable look very promising, with differenty style of X story that personally I am very excited for
X-Factor doesn't sell as well as it should. It is amazing
Wolverine & Wolverine Origins, as much as fan boys bash them, I love the books (minus Chaykin's art on the last Wolverine arc) but the new arc in Wolverine looks amazing, and I have constantly enjoyed Origins, especially with Deadpool showing up.
Young X-men have a very loyal following, I have never read it until MC, but I will try the first couple issues.
[
B]Marvel (General)[/B]
Hulk: this is a weird place for me, I loved WWH, and I am reading the new series, but it is still new to make a judgement, I am on for the first two arcs anyway, but Incredible Herc IS AMAZING. I never thought I could get into this character, but last issue sold me for good
Street Level: Daredevil, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, are Marvels best books in my opinion. They are constantly on my pull list, and haven;t had a bad issue yet.

Team Books:
Fantastic Four: I have never been a big fan, but I read it and it is good. Miller on it now might give it a boost.
New Warriors: This is 50/50 for me. I love Jubilee and Night Thrasher, the rest of the team doesn't matter to me. Probably dropping this soon.
Thunderbolts: I Love this book. Just give it a try

Minis
Namor: This was great and well done, and I am sure set up some great stories
Silent War: Same as Namor, did some great things and set up for future stoires

Ultimates:
Ultimates is great, never a bad moment
Ultimate Spider Man is great also
The rest of the ultimates doesn't matter to me. Nothing worth reading.

The Bad
Iron Man: I have tried liking this book, but after the character assassination in Civil War, I just can't read it anymore.
eXiles: This is just very very boring to me
Punisher War Journal: I liked this at first, but then it dropped off fast.
Ghost Rider: I read the first six issues, and did nothing for me
Black Panther: I picked this up for Civil War, but after BP beating Silver Surfer, I quit


Overall, I would so Marvel is doing an amazing job. Small weaknesses, but overall the dominate all my comic reading. if it's not listed I never picked it up or read it.