My Topic Video Should Marvel get a reboot?

Tell me what you guys think:

Hello new here, cool video, kinda all over the place lol, but I liked it.

Marvel has always done the soft reboots, which I think is a better route for them. I don't think they would benefit from a hard reboot like DC did.

You asked about taking risks though so, If they did....one very risky but potentially great idea that I think would work is for Marvel to go to all Mini series. You could still do universe wide events like they always do (and lets face it events aren't going anywhere, nor do I want them to), but each series could still directly tie into and lead into the other series. And it would eliminate the title or character fatigue because they so many books devoted to them. You wouldn't need 5 different X-Men titles to tell their part in the story. I think it could/would make a much more structured and streamlined universe.

@MistaT: Welcome to Comic Vine. There was a lot to say for the topic LOL I am glad that you liked the video

I do not think they should get a reboot either ,but they should do something big.

That would be a big risk if they went to mini series. It could be cool ,but it would be hard to do. I do not know if I would like that ,but it would depend how they would handle it.

IMO they should reboot, and get things right, no mistakes, just doing it smoothly....

- I do not believe that Marvel should do a DC style reboot, IMO it is a stunt that has brought them a significant spike in sales and press in the short term, but still has yet to be proven over time to be a long term solution that will actually grow the fan base and/or allow the books to grow in quality.

- DC took a large lead in the sales race on the back of 52 new #1 issues, and we all know rebooting a title with a new #1 is a well used sales trick that only temporarily inflates sales. Marvel, by doing nothing new for them, has already taken back the top spot only 5 issues into the New 52. There is no evidence that once casual fans trying out the titles drop off that DC will be any better off than they were before the reboot in terms of sales.

- As for the creative side, it also remains to be seen. DC has rebooted themselves before and it did not fix their confusing continuity (in some cases it made it worse) and again only 5 issues in I do not think anyone can answer if the change is for the better or worse, only time will tell after the fanfare dies down and there is more to judge with. I do not follow DC that much and have not read the reboot titles so I cannot comment as to their quality so far, just that its too soon to say it is a success or failure this early into the process.

- Now Marvel has its own set of problems, some it shares with DC such as their long histories and the continuity that comes with it, and some inherently their own. I'll start by touching on the ones you mentioned:

1 - I commend DC with putting out the New 52 on schedule as much as they have considering it must be a massive undertaking with so much change at once, but I do not see how doing the same would change things at Marvel. Whatever was the cause of the delays of the titles you mentioned (no idea myself) are would not necessarily be fixed by such an event. I agree that delays of 3-6 months that do not involve health or family issues are unacceptable management needs to have a contingency plan for when things happen.

2 - DC has always had far more solo titles of 2nd tier characters with longer runs because they will accept a title selling in the 15K range and keep publishing it. Marvel tends to kill off a title once it drops into the 20-25k territory and hence less titles can survive for the long term under these higher standards. I have always wondered myself why two companies that should have similar overhead costs have such a drastic difference in what is considered a title worth continuing. I would like to see Marvel position itself to support titles that may have a niche but loyal fan base so titles like recently cancelled X-23 might have seen a long run.

3 - Killing off Avengers and X-Men titles will not bring back or prolong niche series, in fact that will do the opposite. None of these titles are the reason your less popular personal favorites are not given their shot, they are actually the only reason why many get a shot at all. The money generated by the two big franchises afford them to take chances on others, Marvel will publish as many titles as they can that will make a profit, there is not internal quota they cannot exceed. If you want to see more solo titles then pray that the dozens of Avengers and X-books sell a ton so they can justify more risks on new titles.

4 - Yes Marvel needs to make some big changes, but what exactly those are are debatable and I have yet to see anyone make a strong case that they have a sure thing in mind. The industry itself is in shambles and not all the issues are something any one company can fix themselves. The list of suggestions I would make to Marvel would be longer than this already way longer than intended post, but there is enough they can do themselves to make a serious dent in making the Marvel U better overall.

 has already taken back the top spot only 5 issues into the New 52. 

@spiderbat87 said:

@WarMachineMarkV said:

has already taken back the top spot only 5 issues into the New 52.

Not true, the top 10 selling books were all DC

- Market share of the industry, not the Top 10

- Jan 2012 retail market share is Marvel at 35.17% and DC at 33.55%, if you go by unit market share (includes things outside comics) DC is still ahead but by a little over 2%

I don't think that Marvel needs a reboot right this moment either because Marvel's problem is that they are not very organized with the events and the books.  I think that if Marvel tries to limit the number of events being put out each year, then the writers would have enough time to write out the stories that they are trying to tell without being interrupted by the events every month.  Also, Marvel might want to limit both the X-Men books and the Avengers books since there are other characters like Ghost Rider and Blade that deserved more attention.

Marvel reboots characters all the time. That's their problem. Spider-man became magic, then unmasked, then unmarried. Now 'some guy'.Tony was the billionaire superhero, to government stooge, to government dictator almost who locks people up in a big prison <----I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like the Tony I read. Reed Richards went from Reed Richards, to mad-scientist Reed Richards back to Reed Richards.

Some ways down the road maybe, but they are always messing with their own titles so much it seems pointless. Even DC seemed restrained of the changes they made. But I was always a Marvel reader.

I think Marvel is very confused about what they want to be frank. You look at Civil War, they had trouble pulling off their own material. They couldnt' seem to decide of Tony was really that evil or not and I think some of the fans didn't see that guy as Tony, either. They wanted to change 'everything' but again had problems. Not just shipping problems. The art was different, but that would mean all the looks of the books should change to be consistent and Spider-man (for instance) eventually became very inconsistent with mutiple aritsts to go with their multiple artists after they retoconned that thing that was so big you can't ignore it. Civil War was very big, but how can you tell fans 'this is the biggest game-changer of all time' and then start to undo some of it instantly. The Spider-man unmasking is thebiggest mistake of the book, because I still wonder what that would of been like as an actual story with a plot and characters. Everything was different and then seemed to ignore the marketing possibilties by just acting like it didn't matter. Some of it could of worked if they pulled back on it a ways. Again, you've got this artist changing the style of the universe. Steve McNiven was his name and I still don't know if it was really his fault the book was delayed or he was just made a scape-goat because it became obvious the writers/editors didn't know what to do with the book.

It's hard to believe they tell fans that somebody dies or comes back in the new AvsX after Civil War seemed riddled with take backs. Thor. Captain Marvel. It's a shame. They should kill Spider-man. Hey, he's got clones. Maybe he was the clone after all. :)

No. They shouldn't have rebooted at DC either.

Marvel needs to do several things if they want to get their groove back:

1.First and foremost, reduce prices at $2.99. DC did this for most of their titles as a deliberate choice in order to sell more. True that Marvel has the top on dollar value, however on unit sold, DC has the edge there. As long as Marvel has prices above $2.99, they will loose the unit share of the market.

2.Deliver on time and once monthly. Marvel in recent years have had it's share of delays on titles. Also another problem is Marvel launching twice per month. Most comic book fans are on a monthly budget and with the economy close to the ground, well many of us have to adjust and choose titles carefully.

3.Lower the amount of titles. How many X-book titles are there? How many Avengers books are there? How many individual books are there? Just in the X-men line there are 10 books. Avengers have a little less than that and that's not counting the other lines. What hurts is that on May alone, Marvel will launch a little more than 70 issues of the different books on May alone...and that's not counting limited series. That's too much money since most cost around $3.99. Also you see that one writer has like 5 or 6 books to write ( Bendis alone has 6 titles to write). You could get to reduce the number of titles so that the writers get more chance to make strong material for their books and not dilute it among 5-6 books.

4. Retcon. I've said it, we need to fix what's broken and it all began to break at Civil War in 2007. What bothered me was the way some characters were behaving against their history and made this nice concept into a flawed execution. Because of Spider Man revealing his identity, Marvel decided to undo the damage made with the dreaded ONE MORE DAY (hated among Spidey fans). And Iron Man in favor of the government, while he's against giving his tech to them or Captain America against the government. They switched out their personal beliefs and you know the result.

5. Make DEATH count. Once they die, make sure they stay dead.Too often we kill a character only to be revived 3 issues later. This makes death pointless. Make the death of a character significant and permanent. marvel should take a lesson from Ultimate Marvel on that one ( ULTIMATUM-HATED BY FANS,but hey I moved on).

any suggestions are more than welcome.

thanks and enjoy life

To be fair both companies have their issues they could improve upon. DC has had delays with Justice League since the reboot. As far as I know thats been the only series that has suffered from delays and funnily enough, it's their top selling series. I do think Marvel should cut down the amount of Avengers titles. DC does the same with Batman though. There's currently 4 Batman series (Batman, Detective Comics, Batman & Robin, The Dark Knight) and there's about to be 5 come May when they relaunch Batman Inc. As much as I love Batman, realistically there isn't a need for him to have that many different series. I'd love to see both companies cut down on the amount of unnecessary titles they have and replace them with characters that aren't being used to their full potential. The Runaways and Cassandra Cain are all in comic book limbo right now (among others). I wouldn't mind losing a Batman or Avengers title if that meant characters such the Runaways or Cassandra Cain could return.

Marvel needs to do several things if they want to get their groove back:

1.First and foremost, reduce prices at $2.99. DC did this for most of their titles as a deliberate choice in order to sell more. True that Marvel has the top on dollar value, however on unit sold, DC has the edge there. As long as Marvel has prices above $2.99, they will loose the unit share of the market.

2.Deliver on time and once monthly. Marvel in recent years have had it's share of delays on titles. Also another problem is Marvel launching twice per month. Most comic book fans are on a monthly budget and with the economy close to the ground, well many of us have to adjust and choose titles carefully.

3.Lower the amount of titles. How many X-book titles are there? How many Avengers books are there? How many individual books are there? Just in the X-men line there are 10 books. Avengers have a little less than that and that's not counting the other lines. What hurts is that on May alone, Marvel will launch a little more than 70 issues of the different books on May alone...and that's not counting limited series. That's too much money since most cost around $3.99. Also you see that one writer has like 5 or 6 books to write ( Bendis alone has 6 titles to write). You could get to reduce the number of titles so that the writers get more chance to make strong material for their books and not dilute it among 5-6 books.

4. Retcon. I've said it, we need to fix what's broken and it all began to break at Civil War in 2007. What bothered me was the way some characters were behaving against their history and made this nice concept into a flawed execution. Because of Spider Man revealing his identity, Marvel decided to undo the damage made with the dreaded ONE MORE DAY (hated among Spidey fans). And Iron Man in favor of the government, while he's against giving his tech to them or Captain America against the government. They switched out their personal beliefs and you know the result.

5. Make DEATH count. Once they die, make sure they stay dead.Too often we kill a character only to be revived 3 issues later. This makes death pointless. Make the death of a character significant and permanent. marvel should take a lesson from Ultimate Marvel on that one ( ULTIMATUM-HATED BY FANS,but hey I moved on).

any suggestions are more than welcome.

thanks and enjoy life