Marvel Comics: 2010s Retrospective

The 2010s seemed to flash by, and now we're in the 2020s. I still find it hard to believe, but it's true.

This decade was interesting, in that there we many good things to come out of it, but many bad things as well. The bad happened primarily in the mid-'10s, where the awful comics outweighed the good ones, and there were just too many events, bad continuity, underdeveloped new heroes shoved in the spotlight, heavy-handed politics, and just bad stories in general. Not to mention them sidelining the X-Men and the Fantastic Four over movie rights, and the promotion of the Inhumans which went down as well Icarus flying too close to the sun. Oh, and the Bendis Addiction was in full swing, where he was the leader writing flagship titles and main events, that caused Marvel to suffer creatively, and I think he's lost his touch because Marvel as a whole improved when he finally left for DC.

That being said, I still think favorably of the decade as a whole, not just for the first part, but I also think they've recovered pretty well in the late '10s. Marvel: A Fresh Start, despite initial skepticism, finally put the emphasis back on good stories while patching things up across the board. It's a great example of listening to the fanbase, and learning from ones own mistakes. Plus, we got X-Men and Fantastic Four back in the limelight, the former even getting their own relaunch with Dawn of X. Coincidentally, or not, this happened after the Disney-Fox buyout gave Marvel the movie rights to them.

I think some highlights of Fresh Start include The Amazing Spider-Man, Immortal Hulk, Venom, the Dawn of X as a whole (including HoX/PoX), Daredevil, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Invaders, and Fantastic Four. While it's not devoid of bad comics (never is that the case), I think it's telling that I look forward to the future of where Marvel Comics is going as opposed to dreading it.

From the early-mid '10s, you also had some great comics such as Hawkeye by Matt Fraction, the Jonathan Hickman Saga (Fantastic Four, Avengers, Secret Wars), Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender, X-Men Legacy by Mike Carey, Journey Into Mystery and Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen, Moon Knight by Warren Ellis, and later, Jeff Lemire, Thor by Jason Aaron, Superior Foes of Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, and the new Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson.

As said, I did not like the mid-'10s as a whole, and I actually took a break from Marvel and only returned when they got better. That being said, there were some comics I enjoyed from there such as Vision by Tom King, All-New Wolverine by Tom Taylor (to my surprise as I hated the idea of replacing Logan with Laura but it turned out good), Spectacular Spider-Man by Chip Zdarsky, Uncanny Avengers by Gerry Duggan, and Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider by Peter David.

So overall, this decade had its ups and downs, but I look at it positively. Thankfully, the last two years really saved Marvel for me, because a lot of it got so bad that it became a comedy. Fresh Start was what the brand needed, allowing me to think of the whole decade positively. It was a great rebound I must say. There were some great ideas that will likely endure going forward, and some great stories that we'll look back on fondly.

That's my retrospective. Overall, what is your view of Marvel Comics in the 2010s?

Discuss.

I agree that Marvel A Fresh Start is overwhelmingly better than the earlier relaunches and I hope we avoid relaunches for a good while going forward.

I'd say it's an overall good decade for Marvel.

I liked the initial Marvel NOW back in 2012/2013 a lot then everything else went to crap after Secret Wars in my opinion as far as the marvel comics division as a whole goes. Of course there are various great individual runs that I have and haven't read in all of this from different creative teams.

[QUOTE=Captain M;4778294]I liked the initial Marvel NOW back in 2012/2013 a lot then everything else went to crap after Secret Wars in my opinion as far as the marvel comics division as a whole goes. Of course there are various great individual runs that I have and haven't read in all of this from different creative teams.[/QUOTE]

Did you try getting back with Fresh Start/Dawn of X?

Is the current banner really A Fresh Start? Cause I hate that lol. Like the books just not the branding lol.

Mixed bag in the 2010s but overall I enjoyed it. All of the Hickman stuff including SHIELD I loved. Phil Notos run on Black Widow was excellent as well, count me in as a fan of Agent Fury (formerly Marcus Johnson) so I also liked Spencer's take on Secret Avengers, Sam becoming Cap (I had many issues with how this was implemented but overall love that they did that) and his relationship with Misty Knight was great, the introduction of the Ultimates as a team in the MU proper and the Bucky Barners run by Ales Kot which everyone else seemed to hate I still adore to this day.

Fresh Start never had a logo, but was referenced in the original marketing for the post-Legacy books. I don't think they're calling it anything now.

[QUOTE=Hybrid;4779121]Did you try getting back with Fresh Start/Dawn of X?[/QUOTE]

X-Men stuff is pretty decent now yeah, FF are back so that's good. Can't talk much about the spider-man side of things but rest is still meh imo. I'd be excited with a bunch of new Avengers books. Not throwaway ones like Occupy Avengers but all of them relatively connected, acknowledging each others' existences.

Fresh Start was bad and the line was pretty aimless until late last year.

[QUOTE=Snoop Dogg;4779644]Fresh Start was bad and the line was pretty aimless until late last year.[/QUOTE]

How so? I'd say the titles above alone, which spawned from Fresh Start, were pretty good overall.

[QUOTE=Hybrid;4778093]The 2010s seemed to flash by, and now we're in the 2020s. I still find it hard to believe, but it's true.

This decade was interesting, in that there we many good things to come out of it, but many bad things as well. The bad happened primarily in the mid-'10s, where the awful comics outweighed the good ones, and there were just too many events, bad continuity, underdeveloped new heroes shoved in the spotlight, heavy-handed politics, and just bad stories in general. Not to mention them sidelining the X-Men and the Fantastic Four over movie rights, and the promotion of the Inhumans which went down as well Icarus flying too close to the sun. Oh, and the Bendis Addiction was in full swing, where he was the leader writing flagship titles and main events, that caused Marvel to suffer creatively, and I think he's lost his touch because Marvel as a whole improved when he finally left for DC.

That being said, I still think favorably of the decade as a whole, not just for the first part, but I also think they've recovered pretty well in the late '10s. Marvel: A Fresh Start, despite initial skepticism, finally put the emphasis back on good stories while patching things up across the board. It's a great example of listening to the fanbase, and learning from ones own mistakes. Plus, we got X-Men and Fantastic Four back in the limelight, the former even getting their own relaunch with Dawn of X. Coincidentally, or not, this happened after the Disney-Fox buyout gave Marvel the movie rights to them.

I think some highlights of Fresh Start include The Amazing Spider-Man, Immortal Hulk, Venom, the Dawn of X as a whole (including HoX/PoX), Daredevil, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Invaders, and Fantastic Four. While it's not devoid of bad comics (never is that the case), I think it's telling that I look forward to the future of where Marvel Comics is going as opposed to dreading it.

From the early-mid '10s, you also had some great comics such as Hawkeye by Matt Fraction, the Jonathan Hickman Saga (Fantastic Four, Avengers, Secret Wars), Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender, X-Men Legacy by Mike Carey, Journey Into Mystery and Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen, Moon Knight by Warren Ellis, and later, Jeff Lemire, Thor by Jason Aaron, Superior Foes of Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, and the new Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson.

As said, I did not like the mid-'10s as a whole, and I actually took a break from Marvel and only returned when they got better. That being said, there were some comics I enjoyed from there such as Vision by Tom King, All-New Wolverine by Tom Taylor (to my surprise as I hated the idea of replacing Logan with Laura but it turned out good), Spectacular Spider-Man by Chip Zdarsky, Uncanny Avengers by Gerry Duggan, and Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider by Peter David.

So overall, this decade had its ups and downs, but I look at it positively. Thankfully, the last two years really saved Marvel for me, because a lot of it got so bad that it became a comedy. Fresh Start was what the brand needed, allowing me to think of the whole decade positively. It was a great rebound I must say. There were some great ideas that will likely endure going forward, and some great stories that we'll look back on fondly.

That's my retrospective. Overall, what is your view of Marvel Comics in the 2010s?

Discuss.[/QUOTE]

You should put that this is your biased retrospective in the beginning. And call the thread "what i liked and didn't like in the past ten years." You write "retrospective" like it's neutral. "That's my retrospective."

[QUOTE=Force de Phenix;4779715]You should put that this is your biased retrospective in the beginning. And call the thread "what i liked and didn't like in the past ten years." You write "retrospective" like it's neutral. "That's my retrospective."[/QUOTE]

Well of course it's MY retrospective, as in my personal opinion. Then I ask what's your retrospective. Don't know what you're getting at.

2010 started with the Dark Reign, and ended in a new reality with Fresh Start. Dark Reign to Secret Wars was very good.

Can’t say I’ve liked any of it after Secret Wars 2015 created a new reality. Somehow, all the problems with the old 616 were supposed to have been changed back, but nothing was. You look at Avengers Standoff and all it achieved was making Steve Rogers corruptible. Thanks a lot. That’s how it’s left me since 2015 to 2019. Where are my old Steve, Tony, Thor, Hulk, and Spider-Man? Magic was up the put, so where was Strange and Wanda? Where were the FF? Confused mess? Instead of giving us a new start, we got “we don’t know what to do with our characters” instead. The confusion makes me think ANAD hasn’t worked. Whatever Secret Wars was supposed to do, the plan of chopping up the narratives of our beloved heroes reminds me of DC comics. (That might be a compliment in some circles).

I think the 2010s will be very influential moving forwards. It felt like a decade of risks, along with a push for lesser high-profile characters.
Some of the best comics that got a revamp of sorts over the decade would be: Vision, Hawkeye, Moon Knight etc. And this difference will really show moving forward (I imagine the MCU especially)
I think after Hickmans epic, Marvel dipped but found its footing again within Marvel Legacy and then Fresh Start. There’s plenty of books now that are fantastic and there is truly something for everyone.