Previous Post Is why Marvel is not appealing to me anymore. I mean I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's. Marvel constantly changed then...Tony got drunk and stopped being Iron Man, Bruce Banner takes over the Hulk, losses control and gets banished as a mindless creature, then separated into Banner and Hulk, then Rick Jones takes over, then turns grey, Donald Blake is killed off, Cap becomes the Captain, West Coast get their own branch of Avengers, my fav late 70's Avengers line up disbands, Defenders stop being Defenders, Jean Grey dies, old x-men leave, new x-men come back, Vision goes mad. There was just as much change then, as there is now, but, it's down to two things: 1) I'm either just too old and need to pass the baton to the kids 2) it's just way too forced, Rhodey was the most obvious choice to be Iron Man, Sam, I'm not sure of, that seems more dictated by editorial need for a black cap. I think Elijah Bradley would have been a better choice I personally think it's a mixture of both

Not enough time is spent just trying to write great stories anymore. Marvel has become a big corporation so they are always looking for the next big thing, the latest cash-cow, or how they can cut a bigger slice of the demographics pie.

The product has become all about marketing - gimmicks, hyperbole, and change not for the sake of the story or the character but to try and reel in one audience or another.

The product is also becoming frighteningly haemogenised. Weve gone from a state where the comics influenced the direction of the movies and are rapidly approaching a time when the movies will decide what appears in the comics, primarily because Marvel are desperate to get those millions of movie-goers to buy comics. We'll eventually arrive at a place where you cant distinguish the one from the other.

Marvel doesnt even value its rich comicbook history anymore. Secret Wars was Marvel saying 'we dont care about history or continuity anymore, were wiping the slate clean and sarting again because thats easier than trying to manage 75 years of work.' It happened, but it happened in another reality so doesnt matter now.

Explaining why there is a white Nick Fury with a long and rich history in the marvel universe to new fans too complicated, so we'll simply erase him from that history and introducing a vastly inferior character. It doesnt matter that he lacks any of the gravitas, depth or presence of the original - because he superficially resmbles the famous actor who played the character in a few movies, so thats okay.

On a smaller scale they cant even get the little things right. Starting their 'next big thing' (the current reboot) MONTHS before they even finished their last big thing (Secret Wars) is unforgivable. They dont even know how long Secret Wars is going to be! They announced it would run for the extra issue then retracted saying they didnt know how many issues it would run. They dont know whats going on in their own house!

I'm also a child of the 70's and 80's, which means i was used to comics that were availible at pocket money prices, containing hugely entertaining stories with compelling characters - not a bunch of miserable political angst - that most importantly came out on time.

I felt that I was part of another world. Now I just feel like the victim of a marketing scam most of the time.