I've noticed that both Marvel and DC push their comics differently. Both do interviews, talk to fans and have teasers, but I'm talking about something else entirely. I'm talking about books that already out. Books that have a declining readership. Sometimes its just books in general. "What are you talking about Doordoor?" Let me explain.
With Marvel we tend to see relaunching. Or a new direction. A good example would be Fantastic Four, Daredevil or even Black Panther. These are usually done after an event. Fantastic Four as had good loyal fans throughout the years but it was never where Marvel wanted it to be. They think that their top their characters should be at the top of the chart. And following the "Four" event it did get there. FF followed Fantastic Four in the new direction and was a smash hit. It seemed to be working. But it doesn't happen in all cases. Look at Black Panther. Black Panther has been having an identity crisis because he can't seem to connect to enough readers. He's been the Black Panther, The man without fear and now the American Panther. Still I suspect the book will have low ratings. My advice would be to literally reboot Black Panther. His origins have been too stereotypical africa. A nation such as Wakanda should be more advanced. Not so stuck in the past. Progressive. But it hasn't been at all. Thats beside the point though. Marvel doesn't really do full reboots. They only relaunch the titles. Which apparently gets a ton of readership. The problem is where Marvel draws the line. They don't draw a line. If something isn't doing as well as it should be or if they just want more readership someone will die or there will be a new status quo for a book or a line of books. If this is working for them, great, but I don't see how this helps make better stories.
DC tends to do something a little differently. I might be bias towards DC so forgive me for being a little nicer to DC. They tend to change creative teams. A good example would be Action Comics or more recently Green Arrow. Grant Morrison and Rags Morrales were put on that comic for a reason. I know I wouldn't be picking up Action Comics without Grant Morrison on it. I think a lot of other people would feel the same. And Green Arrow has changed writers as of issue 4. Do you think it was because Krul found a new project or because DC offered a different project because Green Arrow wasn't getting much of a positive response? I think it was the second one. Green Arrow is one of DC's top tier character and they want a strong response from the public for this book. You could argue that the change had to happen before the book was even released but maybe DC anticipated the negative response towards it. Not to say that a lot of it wasn't good. I actually enjoyed the issue. I know others have as well. It's when DC sees a character or concept with a lot of potential, they try to push it with a new creative team. Usually when they choose a new direction, its with the same creative team though.
Which is more effective? DC or Marvel? I say who knows? I lost my train of thought so ill end this here. Perhaps ill finish this once I think a little.
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