Are Marvel and DC necessary for the future of comic?

[The Dying Detective]

I have been hearing a lot about how the comic book industry has suffered and it's in dire straits And often it's attributed to the general incompetence of Marvel and DC and their mismanagement of their respective brands and characters, rehashed story lines, lack of good talent in it, writers who are basically children in adult bodies, allowing social justice to run wild, certain restrictions you must abide by to write their characters, and constantly employing old guard writers who might have run their course. At this point one must wonder are Marvel and DC necessary for the future of comics? This might be best illustrated by Ring of Gundam a short film created by Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino which illustrated his views on what the anime industry must do to move forward. In Ring of Gundam the hero Eiji seeks the memories of the first Gundam protagonist Amuro Ray on the Ring Colony to find the way to the future for mankind. And during this search a battle erupts, that destroys the Ring Colony and in the end Eiji realises that the memories of Amuro Ray are not necessary for mankind's future. Basically the message is to move forward you have to let go of the past that includes long time franchises. What do you think are the memories of Marvel and DC necessary for the future when there are so many other ways that comics could survive? Is there anything to learn from them other than what not to do at this point? Should the superheroes just fade into the same obscurity the pulp heroes that preceded them fell into? And should new blood just take all their ideas from other archetypes and genres instead of having to use the superheroes?

PS: I know characters like Superman, Daredevil and Batman took ideas from different genres and archetypes as well but the superhero has evolve into an archetype and genre of it's own and maybe the superhero genre and archetype might not be needed for the future of comics at this point either. Especially when they have been appearing in movies and television shows a lot these past few years which is creating a massive amount of over-saturation.

[Carabas]

I don't know about the memories, but the business practices of Marvel and DC are pretty much why the American comic book industry is in relatively poor shape compared to Europe's or Japan's.

[The Dying Detective]

I don't know about the memories, but the business practices of Marvel and DC are pretty much why the American comic book industry is in relatively poor shape compared to Europe's or Japan's.

I admit it maybe down to mainly Marvel and DC's business practices are why they are an inch away from rock bottom. Memories are simply an allegory for the franchises of Marvel and DC because a lot of what has been seen has technically been seen before. The message of Ring of Gundam is that to move forward you have to let go of the past that includes beloved franchises. I agree with that message actually I have done ideas for comics that does take a few ideas from Marvel and DC but I took more from old detective novels and other media and I find it so fresh and liberating. I know I kind of undermined my question but what if you were to take exclusively from different media and genres would it be for the best? But more importantly do not repeat the same broken business practices Marvel and DC do.

[dancj]

If Marvel and DC collapsed overnight then most of the comic shops would go bust, and the businesses would be in serious trouble.

A gradual shift away from Marvel and DC though, could be positively good for the industry.

[The Dying Detective]

A gradual shift away from Marvel and DC though, could be positively good for the industry.

That would only work if there was adequate competition for the comic industry throne.

[Carabas]

That would only work if there was adequate competition for the comic industry throne.

There isn't even supposed to be a throne.
And there already is massive competition.

The main issue is that Marvel and DC made comics all about those precious corporate IPs, and the Big Two ending wouldn't be enough to stop that.

[dancj]

That would only work if there was adequate competition for the comic industry throne.

No throne needed. If Marvel and DC gradually die and other publishers increase their sales then it's all good.

Yet some of these smaller companies have fallen prey to social justice the poison that is helping speed up the death of the comic book industry.

Social justice is not poison and it's not damaging the industry.

And either no one had the brains to realise this or the stories were less about annoying things like identity politics, black lives are the only thing that matters, et cetera, et cetera and more about helping people.

I've never heard anyone even imply that "black lives are the only thing that matters".

Right but even the vacuums are held together by the Lord Most High

What???

[The Overlord]

I don't know about the memories, but the business practices of Marvel and DC are pretty much why the American comic book industry is in relatively poor shape compared to Europe's or Japan's.

But does that even matter any more? For Marvel and DC, the real money is made merchandising and other media, it doesn't matter that much how the comics are doing. Marvel could take the profits from one of their movies and use it fund the comic book division for several years if they wanted to.

[Carabas]

But does that even matter any more? For Marvel and DC, the real money is made merchandising and other media, it doesn't matter that much how the comics are doing. Marvel could take the profits from one of their movies and use it fund the comic book division for several years if they wanted to.

It matters a great deal for comics publishers other than Marvel and DC, who see their industry being wrecked by two giants who don't even need to do comics to rake in the big bucks.

[The Dying Detective]

It matters a great deal for comics publishers other than Marvel and DC, who see their industry being wrecked by two giants who don't even need to do comics to rake in the big bucks.

That was a whole other story when then publisher Martin Goodman first saw the sale for Spider-Man whose first story came out in a dying magazine and when he saw the sales figures fireworks exploded. And Spider-Man got his own comic.

[Carabas]

That was a whole other story when then publisher Martin Goodman first saw the sale for Spider-Man whose first story came out in a dying magazine and when he saw the sales figures fireworks exploded. And Spider-Man got his own comic.

And the relevancy of this in 2018 is ?