Things Marvel Did in the 60s and 70s you wish they did now.

[MyriVerse]

Psychedelic Dr Strange

Tell a story in every issue, even in ongoing arcs, rather than present decompressed segments of the eventual collected edition.

Less fixation with MU-wide crossovers.

These. Plus more thought bubbles, please.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Character development, resolving subplots regardless of who started them and supporting casts that are useful.

[Frontier]

Superheroes had lives outside being Superheroes.

[Riv86672]

Superheroes had lives outside being Superheroes.

That’s a huge one and personal pet peeve of mine.

Characters like Hawkeye (who seemed to live off their Avengers stipend and in the Mansion and be full time heroes) used to be the exception not the rule.

[stingray]

Corner boxes are a big one for me too. Also, popular characters didn't appear in five or six titles a month, with no explanation of how they got from 'A' to 'B' with any coherent time line. In the older books, if Daredevil appeared in Amazing Spider-Man, there would always be a footnote saying when the story took place and how DD got there, so that it made sense. I am so sick of seeing Wolverine in space and fighting ninja's in Japan in the same month, with absolutely no attention paid to continuity.

[DrNewGod]

I was the other way - I didn't like those because I liked seeing the line-up displayed in the box. I used to like to compare the cover boxes to each other.

You know, I hadn't really thought of it this way, but that pose at the end of the opening credits of Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes, right before the camera pulls back to the logo, showing who the episode would feature?

Image.jpg

Those were basically cornerboxes.

[Snoop Dogg]

Ooo! Yes!

Make room for some characters by alleviating their need to sell 12 issues a year.

I also loved the anthology titles. It takes a different kind of story-telling, but Dr. Strange, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man had some ripping adventures when they had only half an issue to work with. But then, if you cut the decompression out, there's room for at least two features per issue in most modern comics.

Ongoings for characters like Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, Ghost Rider that actually lasted more than 20 issues.

The wider diversity of characters, A, B and C level types, all getting shots at ongoings.

marvel consistently and constantly attempts these things, people just don't buy them

[Reviresco]

Publish and support a Namor book with A list talent.

[Grapeweasel]

I miss when women were properly focused on keeping a neat home, trying new hairstyles, and having babies.

[PCN24454]

I miss when women were properly focused on keeping a neat home, trying new hairstyles, and having babies.

I don't know how much you're joking and how much you're serious about.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Tight continuity and dead characters stayed dead.

[phonogram12]

Superheroes had lives outside being Superheroes.

For some I definitely agree. That said, I've recently read some old issues of the Byrne and Zeck runs of Captain America and while fun and obviously gorgeous, Steve attempting to maintain a secret id was absolutely cringeworthy.

[PCN24454]

For some I definitely agree. That said, I've recently read some old issues of the Byrne and Zeck runs of Captain America and while fun and obviously gorgeous, Steve attempting to maintain a secret id was absolutely cringeworthy.

It's interesting to think that nowadays, the idea of a superhero retiring or going on genuine leave is ridiculous.

[phonogram12]

It's interesting to think that nowadays, the idea of a superhero retiring or going on genuine leave is ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, secret ids are absolutely essential for characters like Spider-Man and Daredevil (well, at least the attempt to maintain a secret id in his case), but for others like Cap they just seem like a distraction from the real story. Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run from a few years ago, though, I thought was a pretty entertaining attempt at what trying to maintain a secret id would be like today. Like, everyone knew he was "Hawk Guy," but everyone just went along with it to humor him.

[DrNewGod]

marvel consistently and constantly attempts these things, people just don't buy them

They are also WAY faster to cancel these days. I'm not sure The All New X-Men would have been given enough time to make it in today's environment.