Recent events in the Marvel Universe (Schism, Avengers Vs. X-Men, Spider-Men) have started me thinking about the nature of comic book realities. In the 80s, when their stories became overwhelmed with different iterations and universe, DC Comics streamlined their stories with Crisis On Infinite Earths, and have periodically made additional changes, with the most recent being the 2011 re-tooling of their entire publishing line. While reading Spider-Men, I was struck by the parallels between it and the old JLA/JSA summer team-ups, and one need look no further than Nick Fury, Junior to see the effect of the Marvel Movie-verse, another alternate reality to the regular comics.
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) has taken over the Earth designated 4, S and X, asking: Should Marvel follow DC’s lead with a complete overhaul/relaunch/reboot?
16 Comments
Well, it couldn’t be worse than what they’re doing now, although didn’t they really kinda do that already with the Ultimate Universe? Sure, I know, it’s not the 616 universe, but it’s kind of the same thing, isn’t it?
The problem with a complete reboot (and this is pointed at BOTH DC & Marvel) is that the people who have done the most, in terms of screwing up the Big Two, are still there, i.e. Didio, Bendis, Johns, Hickman, millar, etc. Bring in outsiders. Don’t let 3-5 guys run everything. Don’t make everything tie together. Give guys room to write and you get good stories (JMS on Thor, Brubaker on Cap and Daredevil, Waid on Daredevil, several of the Nu52).
Also, if you do a reboot, it has to be complete, and well thought out. As a long-time reader, it’s confusing trying to figure out what did occur, and what gone in GL, GLCorps, and Batman, but everything JSA and Superman is gone! It makes me more confused than Final Crisis, but that itself may or may not have happened!
I will put money that we will see a new line of #1 issues across the board in November… some will be a relaunch of the title, but I doubt we will see a reboot of the 616 universe…
I thinks it nees to happen. Marvel has sooooo much baggage, everything crosses over, and the status quo is too strong, so nothing has any effect. I’m enjoying DC faaaaar more than Marvel these days. They need to reboot everything, including Ultimate Comics, into one streamlined set of books. They need to ditch their model of “most books wins” and put out a smaller selection of quality titles. Reading Marvel has been a schizophrenetic experience lately. They need to hit that reset so I can get back to enjoying the characters I like and discovering new ones.
Yeah… Marvel’s current status quo is eerily similar to DC’s circa 1984.
Ultimate Comics basically had a reboot about 11 issues ago. Leave the Ultimate universe alone.
I don’t think DC has done it yet. They only rebooted unpopular characters and kept the popular ones pretty much the same. If they are going to do it, they should do it wholesale. Should Marvel do the same thing? Yeah I think so. And it should go out in style like all the heroes in 616 sacrificing themselves to save the universe thus wiping out their old selves but seeding the new.
Yes. Gods, yes. The creative minds at Marvel have been dying to make Peter 15 again and make Wolverine be interesting again; here’s your excuse.
A hard reboot could be good – if a good batch of new faces handled it. I don’t think the existing management could handle it. Plus would the new overlords at Disney allow a hard reboot?
no……………..nuff said.
Kudos on the crazy obscure reference to a Canadian comedy troupe that most Canadians don’t even remember, and just in time for Canada Day too. Was that by design or just coincidence?
Was that by design or just coincidence?
Everything I do is by design, even those things that aren’t. :)
I think I’d rather see Marvel alter reality (like how Age of Apocalypse was started by simply killing Prof X before he founded the X-Men) rather than reboot it completely. Since Ultimate Marvel is essentially a reboot with the added bonus of keeping the “core” timeline intact, and the previous reboot attempt of Heroes Reborn was executed in such a poor fashion (at least according to most people I’ve talked to or read about), it would be interesting to a see a Marvel Universe where things really are new and different (or “All-New, All-Different”)and not just a new start.
I think it would be good to see a hard reboot of the 616 Universe. The X books are indecipherable at times and there are so many crossovers that even if you want to stick to just a couple of titles you end up missing things from other books that make an impact. The timing could be difficult as they still have 6 or 7 issues left of A v X to do and the eventual fallout from that series plus it wasn’t too long ago that Spider Man had a reboot as well. If they did do something akin to the new 52 I would think it would have to be a ways off. I would like to see the Ultimate Universe left alone as that is something I have been following from the start and have a good handle on but I am pretty sure I am in the minority there.
You don’t have to reboot it, just use the next big crossover to break up all the teams. Probably what AvX and “No More Avengers” is all about. Make all the heroes more insular and distrusting of each other, to focus on singular stories. Use it as an excuse to cut some titles.
Instead of a reboot, I’d be more interested in a relaunch.
What I’d love to see is a series of books that have their own and distinct identity that fulfill a unique roll in the Marvel universe. Avengers should be more different than X-Men than just a different roster. Different types of stories should be told — and that goes down the line. That way, a reader’s not just picking between rosters, but also what kinds of stories they like.
Crossovers should be a bigger deal (or, “crossovers should happen less frequently”). Characters (I’m looking at you, Beast, Spider-Man, and Wolverine) shouldn’t be on multiple teams while still carrying their own books. It waters down the universe, muddles the timelines, and over-complicates everything. Each character should have a very specific purpose or role in the universe (Peter Parker works at Horizon Labs, substitute teaches at the Future Foundation, and gets into his own wacky adventures in NYC — him showing up in the Avengers or the X-Men should be somehow connected to one of those three things).
But if you *HAVE* to reboot, hard reboot. This soft-reboot nonsense is frustrating.