Should Marvel reboot?
DC’s New 52 reboot is one of the biggest things to happen to comics in decades. There’s no question that DC has done well to make their comics easy to read by removing most of their continuity. It was a risky move, but the result has put DC back on top of Marvel with sales figures. With Marvel falling behind for the first time in years, the question arises as to whether it is time for them to initiate a total reboot, in an attempt to clean up their increasingly complicated continuity and become more accessible to new readers.
Yes, Marvel needs to reboot
1) Your continuity is too messy
One of the biggest challenges for new readers of Marvel comics is trying to embrace the X-Men continuity. Spanning over fifty years, the X-Men books are almost unrecognizable to new readers. Gone is Professor X and his X-Men vs. Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants, replaced by a universe where former villains are now allies. However, continuity isn’t just complicated when it comes to the X-Men. Spider-Man suffered a continuity crisis when an editorial decision decided that the devil, Mephisto, would erase Peter’s marriage and make everyone forget that Paeter Parker is Spider-Man. These are the kinds of examples where it’s easy to justify a Marvel reboot.
2) They need more characters from diverse backgrounds
Where Marvel has gotten seriously out of date is that they lack a certain diversity. Sure enough, Brian Michael Bendis is doing an excellent job of making Miles Morales an attractive and cool character in Ultimate Spider-Man, while Ed Brubaker keeps the Falcon as one of my favorite characters, but Ultimate Marvel aside, they are still missing. . How would a reboot help introduce characters from different minorities? Characters like The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, and Iron Man are still incredibly popular because they are over fifty years old. Resetting the clock would allow Marvel to give new characters from various backgrounds more extensive backstories and make them a central part of the Marvel Universe, rather than supporting characters. Marvel could bring Ultimate Nick Fury into the main universe, or even create some new characters, as seen with Marcus Johnson from the recent Battle Scars series. Now is the time for characters from various backgrounds to simply be more than minor characters.
No to a reboot
1) Continuity can be restored more easily
It was easier to see why DC chose the Justice League reboot. The team had become stale, irrelevant, and aside from X-Men, it had the most confusing continuity in the comics. They needed a new slate. Marvel is lucky not to be in that position yet. While they’ve been going a bit over the top with events lately, it’s becoming clearer that they know what works and what doesn’t. With financial problems, Marvel was forced to cancel titles such as Alpha Flight, Dark Wolverine, X-23 and Iron Man 2.0. With the excess weight removed, Marvel should have time to focus on improving its existing lines. An example should be Dan Slott’s work on The Amazing Spider-Man series. When Slott took over, he had a duty to take back the series from the One More Day mess left by JMS and Joe Quesada. Now, Spidey is one of the funniest comics out there. More writers should focus on erasing what didn’t work before and bringing back the characteristics that made superheroes so attractive in the first place.
2) your characters have gone too far
Another problem with restarting a company trip would be that it would undermine the trips that Marvel characters have taken in recent years. Writers like Grant Morrison, Joss Whedon, and Jason Aaron have worked hard to develop characters like Cyclops and Wolverine. Would all of that diminish if the X-Men line were rebooted?
The same applies to characters like Bucky Barnes and The Scarlett Witch. Both characters have had writers who spent years developing them, so it’s hard to imagine a reboot cleaning up their continuity. DC showed just how ruthless they can be when Wally West was cut from the New 52 relaunch. I’d hate to see that happen to any of my favorite Marvel characters.
Conclution
Will Marvel reboot? In my opinion, Marvel is likely to judge the future of its comic line by how well its Avengers vs. X-Men is received. If the event reaches mainstream publicity and sales are good, I can imagine that Marvel will delay a reboot and generate great AVX stories, similar to what happened with Civil War. If AVX doesn’t impress, I feel like maybe Marvel will probably initiate a reboot. After all, if the two best teams Marvel has fighting each other can’t succeed, then it’s definitely time to get back on the drawing board. There seems to be a trend with comics lately, like they’re aspiring to be like the ’90s again, with exaggerated art, page after page of heroes fighting, and little substance. Marvel also needs to change this if they want to stay on top of DC in the future.