if given the job of EIC, what would YOU do?

[anarky]

Because, really, the mysterious character is only interesting when you get tidbits of origin here and there. Snake Eyes around issue #30 was a ton more interesting than the same character around #140, when the only thing we didn't know was his name.

[jjreason]

That's the nice thing about Wolverine's convoluted history - you can ALWAYS retcon it to having been implanted - the story potential is truly endless. Having Wolvie/Sabretooth is also interesting because you can have converging plotlines - like a Seinfeld episode (as stupid as that comparison might be) it was always a challenge to see how the different jokes were going to fit together at the end, but they always did.

[anarky]

If they wanted to get really crazy, here's an idea.

The heroes (and a few villains) go up against some major baddie. This fellow wants to destroy the universe, and he has the power to do it. One by one, they fall. Finally, there are only something like ten characters left. The uberbaddie unleashes his masterstroke, but some really powerful hero (or villain siding with the heroes) is able to partially block the effects of his weapon. And so the universe isn't destroyed, as was the plan.

Only it does cease to exist for a fraction of a microsecond. As a result, the entire timeline recreates itself from scratch. The ten characters suddenly find themselves back on Earth (or wherever) at exactly the same time that the universe ceased to exist under the old timeline. But things are different. They're close to how they were, but not exactly the same. And each of these heroes has only their memories from the old timeline; in effect, they're seen as amnesiacs, since they have no idea what their history was in this new universe.

Maybe some wackjob with a machine gun and a skull on his shirt starts shooting villains, and Spider-Man says, "It's the Punisher!" Only the Punisher emerged much later in this new timeline, and this is his first appearance, and no one knows who the fuck he is. So they suspect Spider-Man of being complicit with him since he knew who he was. Perhaps Luke Cage meets Jessica Jones, and he knows they were married in another timeline, but this version hates his guts for reasons he doesn't know. Maybe Wolverine is turned back into the complete mystery because, even though he has his memory, his new history is completely different from his old one.

[jjreason]

Almost sounds like what they're doing at DC with Flashpoint, though I have no idea how that's going to play out or what they're going to reveal as the cause of Barry waking up in the "similar but totally different" universe to be.

I personally don't need Marvel to follow-suit here. All these upcoming relaunches and new #1's are already smacking of copycatness, even though they're likely just riding that old #1 wave, the same way they have forever (well at least the last 20 years or so).

I will stick by my old theory: fewer comics, done right, will give you sales you need.... flooding the market with crap is stupid and detrimental to the hobby. If Marvel WERE going to start over and I read they were going to do 52 titles, I'd weep openly. I just don't think it's there.

[anarky]

Flashpoint is more of the typical "one guy remembers how things are, and it ain't going to last, so let's make everything as fucked-up as possible." Like Age of Apocalypse or any of a dozen other stories. This would be mostly subtle changes. And it would be permanent. (That's why they'd never have the balls to do it.)

[anarky]

Though to be honest, had they phased out the 616 in favor of the Ultimate line (and not used the "it ain't 616" excuse to do all sorts of stupid shit), that might've been the best. Somewhere between 5-12 comics per month, all top-notch.

[jjreason]

I'm personally kind of scared of massive resets, so your idea kind of freaks me out to be honest. I see DC's move as a huge risk. If Marvel was going to pull something like that I would be extremely, extremely concerned - whereas back in 1995/1996 when they talked about Heroes Reborn I wasn't nearly as freaked out. It might come with the times, or it may be my own familiarity with the trials & tribulations of the hobby (due to the internet) that causes it, but either way I'd bee seeing it as a HUGE risk. Regardless of how DC does with this, I really hope Marvel just leaves well enough alone. The Marvel U was designed to be integrated, whereas DC's was a mishmash (a mishmash they've gone to tremendous lengths to resolve of course, but a mishmash nonetheless). Their reset simply creates a Marvel-style universe for their heroes to play in.

Chux, your series could be a What If deal with an ongoing story as opposed to one-off books... I would think 12 issues over the course of a year would allow you to dabble around with some pretty damned interesting concepts for people who've been into the books for some time. The kicker would be making them entertaining for someone who doesn't know the backstory as well. Little blurbs leading in to each issue (like the title pages they were using a while ago to catch up the readers) would be good. Shang Chi vs Dan Rand for the mantle of the White Tiger had better somehow find it's way into those pages.

Another over-arching concept I'd want to implement straight away: crossovers should be special. Silver Age marvel books included appearances by characters from other books, but not so frequently that it was expected or ordinary - lessening the "need" for folks to read all the books & making it more of a treat to see Daredevil when reading Spidey (just as an example) than it is these days. These days it seems like they cross things over with the intention of selling more comics - by making it so the reader won't get the full story without buying the next issues in both series (or all 3, as was the case with the Spider-Man annual - you had to buy both the Hulk annual AND the Deadpool annual to finish the story - mine went into the box unread as a result), pissing me off more than making me happy. That's not right.

[anarky]

I guess I should clarify: phasing out the 616, in any fashion, is only a good idea if the universe gets to the point where it's spinning its wheels, with minor changes every so often, but always undone. When you undo the Spider-Man and Superman marriage, when you bring back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen for no reason, when Dick and Bucky become Batman and Captain America only to return to their previous statuses as soon as the story's over, then they've, sadly, gotten to that point.

There is no real change in comics. Character evolution is Spider-Man getting hitched. It's not reverting him back to the 1970s status quo just because the EIC liked when he read stories in the 70s. Fuck me, Spider-Man should be a proud father by now, and I'm not even trying to be a smartass. It's the way characters and real people evolve. If I'm nostalgic for my single life, I don't make a deal with the devil to undo my marriage. I deal with it in some fashion, whether intelligently or stupidly, and I might end up divorced as a result. Characters shouldn't be treated that way, either. They're properties, not imaginary people, which might be great for selling their picture on Underoos, but is shit when it comes to telling good stories.

I'm only using the Spider-marriage as an example. If something is done, it should not merely exist until someone decides to undo it. A writer should write the character as he inherits it, not try to turn back the clock to some past time and tell stories for his 10-year-old self.

[jjreason]

You're right - but the tough part is this - should our kids inherit a Spider-grandpa? Should Peter die eventually of old age if the hobby exists for another 100 years? I don't think so. It's extremely tough to allow for "progression" in these peoples' lives, without cocking up the magic of seeing them in their prime. Who they're married to, dating, whatever doesn't need to fluctuate too much. All that shit that remains constant allows readers to pick up a book once every 6 months just to see what's going on & feel like they have the gist - to me there's value in that. When I read a couple of Spidey issues lately I'm reading that he's dating some CSI chick (who's a redhead - shocker of all shockers) and that JJJ is the mayor of New York??? Nah. They don't need to monkey around with that stuff that much - that's not part of my continuity, regardless of what fucking book it's in.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Concerning "Crossovers being special" you also have to remember that Marvel was putting out a very small amount of books for most of the 60s. They were allowed a grand total of EIGHT titles per month, and Martin Goodman decided to do mostly 16 books on a bi-monthly schedule. So really, you're getting that many titles in ONE WEEK nowadays as you were getting over the course of two months back in the Marvel Universe's "infancy". Marvel puts out more books in one year now, than they did during the entire run of Stan Lee's Editor-in-Chiefness from 1961 to 1970 or whenever he passed the buck to Roy Thomas. So all the little cameos and crossovers and such were part of a more intimate shared universe than it is today.

And also consider that most of us started collecting in the mid to late 80s, when there was about 25 years of continuity build up. Now we have almost FIFTY years of continuity build up, but the amount of output in those last 25 years is staggering compared to what it was in the first 25 years. Thats a LOT of fucking continuity. It HAS gotten too unwieldy, trying to please ALL readers who ALL fondly remember a different era.

But resetting the timeline is a damn slippery slope. Look where it's got DC after doing it a half dozen times now since 1986. And its always partial revamps. They're too pussy to go all or nothing. I might've been more onboard with this new one if they HAD decided to go all in, instead of licking Johns and Morrison's assholes and massaging their balls.

I think the Ultimate Universe was conceived half-ass. Spider-Man was a fresh start, but the X-Men certainly wasn't. That seemed pretty convoluted from the first issue. And the Ultimates pushed the entire "Universe" into a hardcore direction that it didn't need to go. There was nothing discernibly different about Daredevil at all. And the Marvel Team-Up series just kind fucked all different kinds of potential ideas up. I think the Punisher would've been a great character to have as a police detective in the Ultimate Spidey books for about 100 issues as a main supporting player and THEN have his family murdered. But nope, they tossed him off as a one off issue in UltTeam-Up.

So, I'm with anarky. I prefer changes that stick. I don't mind a middle-aged Spider-Man married with children. I don't mind a new Captain America. I'd rather have that than the "Rubber Band" mentality where the publishers pull back the rubber band as far as it will stretch to get people excited "Oh shit! Whats gonna happen when they let go of that rubber band, yo?!?" and then when they let it go, obviously the rubber band snaps back to the way it was before they pulled it back. Yeah, thate exciting the first time or two you see it, but once you've been reading comics for a couple decades it loses it luster and I'd rather read substantive changes in a characters development.


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Here's a couple more ideas to add to the list

What If/Exiles. Exiles was a cool idea before that doucher Claremont got a hold of it. You got to see alternate dimensions with a What If vibe to them. But I'd make the cast more disposable. After awhile, you KNEW Morph and Blink weren't going anywhere. Everybody is a potential goner through out the series.

What The--? YEAH BUT WHA?!. A humor book. I don't care if its What The or Wha Huh? or YeahbutWHA? (ooh. Actually I like that one best...) or Not Brand Echhs. There is too much absurdity in the modern world of comics not to be making fun of it constantly. And truthfully, I can see guys like Bendis and Millar poking fun at themselves. And DC is seriously ripe for some badgering and bashing.

Thanos. This one is the same premise as anarky's Death's Head series in that Thanos is also hunting down all the Infinity Shards. In fact, if you were going to do a few Cosmic Titles, that would be the main theme running through all of them. There are now literally thousands of Infinity fragments all over the cosmos and they're getting snapped up by both good and bad guys. Which one is Thanos? Mwa hah hah. It's ambiguous. Also, I would have the villains be some uber-douche self appointed Galactic Space Cops (not the Nova Corps) that would basically be the GLCorps but bureacratic/evil jerkwads. Because if you think about it, its a hubristic shitty notion that these half dozen little blue assholes would say "Right. We're in charge." considering there are trillions of trillions of trillions of sentient beings in the universe. But you'd have to make it obvious without making it obvious. Instead of green rings they'd be using chrome gauntlets or ruby necklaces or something charged by the Power Cosmic.

[anarky]

Thanos. This one is the same premise as anarky's Death's Head series in that Thanos is also hunting down all the Infinity Shards. In fact, if you were going to do a few Cosmic Titles, that would be the main theme running through all of them. There are now literally thousands of Infinity fragments all over the cosmos and they're getting snapped up by both good and bad guys. Which one is Thanos? Mwa hah hah. It's ambiguous.

Holy shit! Have all the cosmic titles secretly planned not as ongoing series, but as 50-issue maxi-series. And the last two months of all of them is a big fucking throwdown over who gets the Infinity Gems.

Which would be Death's Head, because he's awesomest. But he's contracted to give them to Reed, so he does.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Thanos. This one is the same premise as anarky's Death's Head series in that Thanos is also hunting down all the Infinity Shards. In fact, if you were going to do a few Cosmic Titles, that would be the main theme running through all of them. There are now literally thousands of Infinity fragments all over the cosmos and they're getting snapped up by both good and bad guys. Which one is Thanos? Mwa hah hah. It's ambiguous.

Holy shit! Have all the cosmic titles secretly planned not as ongoing series, but as 50-issue maxi-series. And the last two months of all of them is a big fucking throwdown over who gets the Infinity Gems.

Which would be Death's Head, because he's awesomest. But he's contracted to give them to Reed, so he does.

Yeah, but Reed's a douche. The Illuminati is a douche parade.

Instead of doing 50 issue series, do a bunch of six and twelve issue series starring characters that would never get their own books, but guest starring "big" names just to put butts in the seats as it were. Like
Terrax Guest Starring the Silver Surfer and Whitemane, of the Nova Corps. Stuff like that. Other cosmic books would be Starjammers, Imperial Guard, etc.

Also, I was thinking about the Iron Man thing again, and it would be funny to have Rick Jones end up being the Iron Man for awhile. Pretty much have Rick Jones showing up in every book, since he was so intrinsic in a lot of the early Marvel titles like Hulk and Avengers and Captain Marvel, throw him into all the rest of them, so that he like "Rick Jones, King of Atlantis!!" for six or eight issues, then he's "Rick Jones:Immortal Weapon" for a few issues. Have it be a humorous title.

And for the X-Men (I might have mentioned this before) the new uber-villain for the X-Men is an invading alien race that has ties to the Shi'Ar and the Kree and all them. But the main villainess is a human and it turns out to be Scott and Alex Summers long thought dead mother. Intead of being killed like Corsair thought, she was sold as a concubine to this other race and eventually became the consort of the Emperor. Family drama ensues!!

[anarky]

But the main villainess is a human and it turns out to be Scott and Alex Summers long thought dead mother. Intead of being killed like Corsair thought, she was sold as a concubine to this other race and eventually became the consort of the Emperor. Family drama ensues!!

Shades of Claremont here. That could be either super-awesome or super-shitty. Of course, if any of us were EIC, we'd only hire writers we consider awesome, so that would be a non-issue.

I'd un-douche the Illuminati. I know the whole premise of the MU and what made it different from DC is that the heroes were humans and not ideals, but making them all assholes goes too far. One or two assholes, fine. All of them assholes, not fine.

[jjreason]

I was thinking that Jim Starlin's cosmic part of the Marvel U needs to be represented in some form of SS/Quasar/Galactus/Cap Marvel book too, but I have no idea how to turn it into one series. The Infinity Gem arc sounds like at least 2-3 good years of reading, so I guess you could worry about it after that. A title for this thing could be "Marvel Universe", even though that was always the old encylopedia.

[Rollo Tomassi]

You wouldn't have to know. Just give Starlin one of the 52 books and say 'go for it, m'man.'