If you became EiC of Marvel what would you do?

I'd go back to what was great about the original Silver Age characters, such as FF, Hulk, Spider-Man, etc. and keep the integrity of those characters intact. I'd have story-telling that made sense, keep things realistic, remember that every issue is a new issue to someone so make sure the characters are introduced properly. I'd get panels back to being quite basic without all the overlapping confusing crap. Get artwork to be clear and tell a story. Readers shouldn't be confused with what's happening on the page. If a character dies then that's it. They are dead. I'd make sure that characters were never killed off just to up sales. I'd also never hire Rob Liefeld. Ever!

The things that I would do as EIC:

1. I'd do whatever I could to keep sales up so I could keep my job.
2. Experiment with low profile characters to try to catch fire like Hawkeye while not straying too far from the bread and butter of Avengers and X-Men which make 90% of the money for the company.
3. I'd make sure all story lines were planned out long in advance so that events could be planned with proper care to have the appropriate tie ins or so changes to stories do not become emergencies.
4. Try to plan out character paths for several years to determine who to use in events, who to kill, and who to have co-star in a book to try to get exposure before releasing a solo on their own.
5. Try to expand the synergy between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Print Universe. Try to find ways to include Easter Eggs into the books to try to stir up more discussion and bring up sales.

Forgot to mention I'd try and create new characters.

I'd do the typical job of an editor- try to keep stupid ideas from getting put into print.

1. Fire Dan Slott

2. Reboot the MU

Lets see...

1. Lessen the movie verse influences
2. Try to write more stories about B list heroes
3. Arrange for a Star Wars-Marvel cross over event that is non canon, but with Marvel's best artists and writers.
4. Experiment more with other earths. With Age of Ultron having broken reality, I'd love to get a chance to write a story that could be sort of a Marvel Final Crisis (Imagine, an army of Spidermen/Wolverine from across the multiverse vs Infinity Gauntlet Thanos)

Fire and replace all of the current X-Men writers.

Take Bendis off Guardians of the Galaxy.

Cut back on the number of titles for every character/team (I think this is a big reason why comics aren't very accessible anymore).

Give Beta Ray Bill an ongoing, and a miniseries for Squirrel Girl.

For one, I would stop doing all these crossovers every year.

@xwraith said:

Yup

Fire Bendis! Hire Grant Morrison.

Both of these. I agree whole heartily. I've introduced a couple people to comics and they're intimidated as hell when they realize their 1 character they want to read has 10 different ongoing comics about him - lol (exaggerating but you get it)

Also...

BRING PETER BACK :(!!!!

...Buy/Steal Batman.

Off the top of my head:

• Have less Avengers & X-Men books - I have no problem with more than one Avengers or X-Men team, but as long as each team is different and there's a reason for the team to exist. There are a couple books relating to Avengers & X-Men that have no purpose that I'd cancel.
• Produce more solo books - Goes along with my first thing. Characters like Punisher, Elektra, Black Panther, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Blade, & others are characters who should have good ongoings. However, don't rush this and just throw all the books out at once. I'd wait until I found the right writer for each book.
• Get Mark Waid off of Daredevil - Haven't read his DD run, but it looks awful from what I've seen. I'd cancel Daredevil and wait until the right writer came along to give him a new dark series.
• Bring back Peter Parker - I've really enjoyed Superior Spider-Man, but I want Peter back. I'd let the writer (Dan Slott I think) rap up the story and by January cancel SSM and start a new ongoing with Peter.
• Cancel either Savage Wolverine or Wolverine (which ever has lower sales) - Why does Wolverine need two ongoings? That's just ridiculous.
• Do whatever I could to keep Jason Aarson happy - I wouldn't want to lose him. I haven't read any of his stuff before the Marvel Now thing started, but his work of Thor: God of Thunder and Thanos Rising have been amazing.
• End the Ultimate Universe - It does have a good history, but they need to end it. I haven't read recent events (still trying to read everything before Ultimatum), but it sounds like it's just dragging on at this point. I'd do one final epic story to end the universe (don't destroy the universe, just give and ending that wraps up all lose ends and everyone's story), then cancel all Ultimate books.
• Reboot the Ultimate Universe (under a different name) - After I end the Ultimate Universe, I'd spent a few months with writers (preferably new ones) and plan out a new Marvel universe. Then just release the books and see how they do.
• Put out series about lesser known characters - The ones I mentioned earlier I'd consider B-Listers. Not what I'm saying here. Take a random C or D lister that seems cool, give them a series with a good creative team, and see how it does. It if fails, it fails. If it's a success, I'd be happy.
• Do less big crossover stories - Marvel seems to be putting these out every few months. Why? That makes them less important. I'd make it only 2 or 3 a decade, that way it becomes a rare, special thing when they happen.

I did not plan for this post to be that long. Oh well. These may not be the most popular ideas, but they're simply what I would do.

@mrdorf: everything you have just mentioned destroys the foundation of marvel comics and to a lesser extent comics in general. with the changes you want, marvel would become a retarded, no-fun-at-all, no-great-characters-created-out-of-silliness-or-from-bad-writers dc. you sir do not appreciate comics.

• Honestly I would sell the whole company to DC.
• DC then merges the 2 companies.
• Justice Avenger and Teen Avengers get made
• I make Millions!

@thecannon: dude! reviews for daredevil are off the charts. why fire mark waid?

@allstarsuperman: good thinking

@blackdog2009: thanks. just imagine Uncanny Doom Force? or Legion of X Men?

@allstarsuperman said:

I just don't like DD being written the way I've heard Waid has. I'd really prefer DD written dark & serious. Just my personal preference.

@thecannon: im just getting into daredevil, but hes been written seriously for 40+ years, let Mark Waid play with him a little. Dan Slott plays with Spiderman (although thats hated.). also end of days and dark nights are out there if you like dark.

Ghost Rider needs another ongoing. Make it Blaze to get it going.

Boot whoever is doing the pencils off of Thunderbolts.

Make a mini series from Death's perspective and focus on her relationships with various characters (Deadpool, Thanos, etc)

1 Make more solo titles and put some of the more popular creators on lesser known characters like Blade Moon Knight Iron Fist & Ghost Rider

2 Lessen the movie influence on the comics

3 Push more female characters

4 Get rid of Mark Waid and put Rick Remender & David Finch on Daredevil because i'd love to see that

5 Bring back Peter Parker

One time line only. No alternate versions, what ifs, overlapping conflicting story lines, etc.

The idea to lessen movie influence on characters is a good one. Also, I would ensure all writers have ample knowledge of characters they write. No getting.info ffrom wikipedia or writing characters a way that is after certain development.

@turel_hash_ak_gik: The reason I can't read Marvel now is because of all the things I've mentioned. I'm reading a lot more comics from the 80s which are sooo much easier to follow. If I were to pick one up now, anyone, I wouldn't have to read issues 1-15 to know what's going on in issue 16. The panels are clear enough for me not to be overwhelmed, Storytelling (in terms of artist drawings) were clear. I wouldn't have to work out what characters did what, what they were called to know who they are and their powers. I wouldn't finish the book in 10 mins because of decompression. I enjoyed comics far more because I knew what the hell was going on. The stories were more interesting even when they weren't great. Comics were faaaaar better in the 80s than now. BTW. I appreciate comics....good ones!

Marvel/DC crossover, of course!!! :D

Waid's run of Daredevil is excellent. People are just crybabies.

Fire Loeb. Bendis too if he doesn't suck up enough and fall in line.

Laugh.

Reboot. None of the DC iffy reboot either.

Drop the alienation of readers with needless world changing big events that don't change much of anything at all.

Deaths are final, not done without reason unless writer creates said character, and must have editorial consent.

Make it so that Sony and the rest can't keep licenses. Create a unified movie verse.

Call up Loeb. Ask him if he wants his job back. If he does I'll laugh in his ear and hang up.

Must pick up a few Daredevil books Waid writes. Might get me back onto Marvel.

If I became EiC of Marvel, I would:

1. Have each X-Men and Avenger book be about a different character and not have the same characters in each book. It's not fair to the other characters who haven't shown up in the books yet and it would give them a chance to shine more in the stories.

2. Restore older relationships like Peter Parker and Mary Jane and actually make marriage relevant in the comics (or at least have more long lasting relationships that are not abruptly broken up).

3. Have only one event per year instead of having four or five events each year. People are starting to get tired of events and to restore the specialness of events again, they should be limited to once a year.

4. Not letting the movies have too much influence on the comics, unless it's used to improve the characters (for example, Robert Downy Jr.'s portrayal of Iron Man).

5. Create more books that focus on other characters besides the X-Men and the Avengers such as Ghost Rider, Blade, and Captain Marvel.

6. Have solo titles for other X-Men characters besides Wolverine such as Shadowcat, Colossus, Storm, Cyclops, Psylocke and others and let it run for awhile to see if it could sell in the long run.

1. I'd limit major events. I wouldn't completely stop them but, one event every two or three years would be okay, that would give writers more time to set up said events and, in theory, make better and more memorable events.
2. Attempt to get the movie rights for the various characters (X-men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, etc, etc) back in Marvel hands
3. Push the more unknown/lesser heroes with mini-series and, depending on success, possible on-goings.
4. Give Winter Soldier his on-going back.