Marvel Comics after "Time Runs Out" feel pointless

[Ultimate Captain America]

Regardless of threat magnitude, if someone left comics after Secret Wars, he would have missed some good stuff. In no special order:
* Hickman's X-Men
* The robot revolution in the Iron Man 2020 comics
* Donny Cates' Venom
* Old Man Logan around the 616 world
** Dead Man Logan
** Old Man Hawkeye
** Old Man Quill
* All-New Wolverine (Laura, no longer X-23)
* Amazing Mary Jane
* Renew Your Vows
* Asgardians Of The Galaxy
* Black Bolt
* Black Cat
* Black Order
* Ta Nehisi Coates' Black Panther
* Ta Nehisi Coates' Captain America
* Champions
* Hopeless' Cloak & Dagger
* Cosmic Ghost Rider
* Soule and Zdarsky's Daredevil
* Spider-Man & Deadpool
* Waid's Dr. Strange
* Dr. Doom
* Domino
** Hotshots
* Spider-Geddon
* Slott's Fantastic Four
* Spider-Gwen
* Cates' Guardians of the Galaxy
* Immortal Hulk
* Infamous Iron Man
* Miles Morales: Spider-Man
* Nebula
* Punisher: Soviet
* No Surrender
* Rogue & Gambit
* Runaways
* Squadron Supreme
* Superior Spider-Man (except the ending)
* Thanos
* The life of Captain Marvel
* Cloonan's Punisher
* Rosenberg's Punisher
* West Coast Avengers

And so many others...

[strathcona]

The problem is not unique to post-Hickman Marvel.

Comics have always had a problem with over-drawn cosmic bullshit. The best way to deal with it is to skip the comics that are likely to have that the problem.

The problem I think I have with post-Hickman Marvel, is his ideas sometimes seem too big. They work for that story, but then if that concept continues to exist in the MU later, it makes no sense for the characters not to utilize it. For example, the Dyson Sphere that Iron Man built around the sun. First of all it came out of no where, and then, if that was done, why isn't it a technology still being used? I have thought, since my intro to his work in Secret Warriors, that he creates concepts that are too universe changing, and will not continue to be used by future writers (mostly because they can't tell the stories they want to if they have to work in such world changing technologies/events]. I fear that Krakoa is going to be the same thing after he's gone. I have no problem with the mutant nation idea (though I feel it's been tried too often in recent years], but the world changing drugs coming off the island seem to change the MU TOO much... also, I don't feel they have yet been a big enough plot point to justify their existence.

[Celestialbeyonder]

The problem I think I have with post-Hickman Marvel, is his ideas sometimes seem too big. They work for that story, but then if that concept continues to exist in the MU later, it makes no sense for the characters not to utilize it.

For example - The Infinity Gauntlet used by Captain America againt the Beyonders/universes colliding - before that - forgotten. Would have been really usefull during the Skrull Invasion for example.

Or the Molecule Man - post Secret Wars - with this beeing one their side, the FF are basically invincible. Lets come up with an unknown character - never mentioned before - FAR more powerfull than the Molecule Man to even the odds…...

[davew128]

The problem I think I have with post-Hickman Marvel, is his ideas sometimes seem too big. They work for that story, but then if that concept continues to exist in the MU later, it makes no sense for the characters not to utilize it. For example, the Dyson Sphere that Iron Man built around the sun. First of all it came out of no where, and then, if that was done, why isn't it a technology still being used?

Umm, it is?

[davew128]

For example - The Infinity Gauntlet used by Captain America againt the Beyonders/universes colliding - before that - forgotten. Would have been really usefull during the Skrull Invasion for example.

This was addressed tangentially at the time. There literally was a meeting of the Illuminati at the beginning of Secret Invasion. It was shown right then and there that at least Black Bolt (arguably the most physically powerful member) had already been captured and replaced. You immediately take the gauntlet out of play for two reasons: 1) Only the real BB knew where his gem was and 2) If you try to bring the IG back together with the scattered gems held by the members, you run the VERY real risk of another member being replaced and getting their hands on it. No way can you afford the chance that happens.

Or the Molecule Man - post Secret Wars - with this beeing one their side, the FF are basically invincible. Lets come up with an unknown character - never mentioned before - FAR more powerfull than the Molecule Man to even the odds…...

A conceptual being should ALWAYS be more powerful the Molecule Man, no matter the circumstances.

[Celestialbeyonder]

This was addressed tangentially at the time. There literally was a meeting of the Illuminati at the beginning of Secret Invasion. It was shown right then and there that at least Black Bolt (arguably the most physically powerful member) had already been captured and replaced. You immediately take the gauntlet out of play for two reasons: 1) Only the real BB knew where his gem was and 2) If you try to bring the IG back together with the scattered gems held by the members, you run the VERY real risk of another member being replaced and getting their hands on it. No way can you afford the chance that happens.

Just one single stone would have given the wielder enough power to put an end to the Secret Invasion. Not really convincing that None of the Illuminity used his stone independently.

A conceptual being should ALWAYS be more powerful the Molecule Man, no matter the circumstances.

The Molecule Man absorbed the collective power of all Beyonders. He was leagues above the Living Tribunal.

[Personamanx]

Not anymore than they were before Hickman's Avengers run. Ongoing serialized comics stories don't hold much importance beyond the issues/series they appear in. You can use the pretense of a shared universe to create the illusion of importance over another storyline, but at the end of the day things will move on to the next big thing. The previous stuff is only relevant for as long as it's useful to be. Time Runs Out was arguably higher concept than many Marvel comics at the time, but the next story is always just around the corner. It doesn't have to try to one-up or build upon what was left before it. Avengers is just the book the unites Marvel heroes against threats they could just as easily defeat in their own books by themselves.

[davew128]

Just one single stone would have given the wielder enough power to put an end to the Secret Invasion. Not really convincing that None of the Illuminity used his stone independently.

Clearly you never read anything in the 90's. The members of the original Infinity Watch EACH carried a gem on them, and trust me they got beat on constantly. You're seriously overstating the gems abilities as power measures in that manner.

The Molecule Man absorbed the collective power of all Beyonders. He was leagues above the Living Tribunal.

He did no such thing. It also discounts completely, the difference between a tangible person and a conceptual being.

[H-E-D]

Regardless of threat magnitude, if someone left comics after Secret Wars, he would have missed some good stuff. In no special order:

And so many others...

Some weird inclusions on this list, the various Old Man stories etc, but yeah. Nonsense to think there's been nothing good since.

He did no such thing. It also discounts completely, the difference between a tangible person and a conceptual being.

So, what... did the Molecule Man do then, if not absorb the power of the Beyonders?

[Exciter]

Some weird inclusions on this list, the various Old Man stories etc, but yeah. Nonsense to think there's been nothing good since.

Obviously there’s been some good stuff, but a lot of what is on that list wasn’t IMHO. I do feel there’s been a significant decline in the overall quality of Marvel comics in the past few years. I feel there’s been more misses than hits.

[davew128]

So, what... did the Molecule Man do then, if not absorb the power of the Beyonders?

It was never definitively shown. Saying he absorbed the power presumes he was otherwise powerless from the start which clearly wasn't true. It was implied that he detonated and that multi-versal Owen killed them in the manner that they had intended on using him to destroy each reality. But again, it wasn't explicitly stated.

[jackolover]

Not anymore than they were before Hickman's Avengers run. Ongoing serialized comics stories don't hold much importance beyond the issues/series they appear in. You can use the pretense of a shared universe to create the illusion of importance over another storyline, but at the end of the day things will move on to the next big thing. The previous stuff is only relevant for as long as it's useful to be. Time Runs Out was arguably higher concept than many Marvel comics at the time, but the next story is always just around the corner. It doesn't have to try to one-up or build upon what was left before it. Avengers is just the book the unites Marvel heroes against threats they could just as easily defeat in their own books by themselves.

I can understand the ANAD era seems flat when compared to Secret Wars 2015 and Reed Richards holding all the power of the Beyonders. You go to ANAD, and Civil War II is like a side-show in a circus now. Where is the gravitus? That big long list of what happened in ANAD is bland and we are just waiting for when the Universe is broken open to see inside. The ideas that were opened out for the Multiverse as the 8th iteration of some master plan is lurking in the background somewhere, and why Richards scattered all that magical ISO-8 at the edge of everything. Really? Everything in ANAD is just running on the spot compared to what ANAD has become. It’s gossip.