Why is it that a number of Marvel titles just seem boring nowadays?

[Username taken]

Seriously, a lot of Marvel titles feel so decompressed that they flat out become boring. Thor and Black Panther are prime examples of this. It’s like writers took the Bendis approach and ran with it without Bendis “wit” that keeps some of the books interesting within the decompression. Coates Black Panther reads like prose that was crammed into a Marvel comic and Cates Thor is regurgitating past storylines while stuck in a holding pattern of nothingness.

Even besides the decompression, some titles nowadays are just so dull that’s it’s hard to get into them.

I really struggled with GoTG and dropped it after its first arc, Slott’s FF has been dull (which is a bit of surprise considering how fast and snappy his past work was), Avengers has been all action but when said action doesn’t make sense, it just loses me as a reader. Cantwell’s Iron Man is terribly and unnecessarily decompressed (we didn’t need a full Hellcat issue and Tony’s side quest into the alien planet didn’t need multiple issues) and Saladin Ahmed’s Miles Morales isn’t as good as Bendis’s. Outside of this, some X-titles like X-Corp and Excalibur are also boring and the last Cable run was an utter failure IMO.

That’s not to say all Marvel titles are bad. I’ve enjoyed Spencer’s Spider-man and Immortal Hulk has been brilliant. Captain Marvel’s current run has been much better than what’s come before and Gillen’s Eternal is probably one of the better books on the stands. The main X-book has been good and X-Force and Wolverine not far behind.

I think writers sometimes need to understand that for its cost and length, the Jim Shooter/ Stan Lee classic Marvel approach is preferable. An issue should have a complete story i.e a beginning, middle and end. Yes, with serialization this could be a challenge but writing a title for trades alone (it seems it’s gone from writing for a single trade to writing for TWO trades) creates rather uninteresting comics.

[Alpha]

I'm sure that's necessarily true. But then again, I read a lot more DC than Marvel. It's probably just about what you're picking up. When I was reading Hickman's X-men there were dozens of new threads with every issue of the book, but it always felt like major events had taken place by the end of the story, even if it was just the beginning.

[matt levin]

For me it's due their seemingly run out of characterization, dropping the 'who they are' for bigger, vaster 'special effects/events' neglecting actual human interactions on the smaller, personal scale. And, yes, for me, too, the six-issue (or longer) single story has become so much the norm that the single-issue emotional grabber of a story seems a forgotten, lost art. Must admit I moved on from almost all Marvel and nearly all DC long, long ago.

[Username taken]

For me it's due their seemingly run out of characterization, dropping the 'who they are' for bigger, vaster 'special effects/events' neglecting actual human interactions on the smaller, personal scale. And, yes, for me, too, the six-issue (or longer) single story has become so much the norm that the single-issue emotional grabber of a story seems a forgotten, lost art. Must admit I moved on from almost all Marvel and nearly all DC long, long ago.

I’m pretty much moving on from most Marvel and DC stuff too.

[Tofali]

I agree with your views on Coates, Cates and Ewing on BP, Thor and GOTG but it is funny that I felt the opposite from you with Spencer's run on ASM, Ewing's Immortal Hulk and Gillen on Eternals. Their writing on these titles TO ME has been mind-numbingly dull but I know a lot of ppl enjoy their runs

[Captain M]

I've come to the realization a couple years ago that Marvel stories are just irrelevant. Creative teams will always keep replacing creative teams, this is an ongoing line but it's not some overarching story. Characters hardly ever carry any development or change that have occurred in their stories. It just simply does not matter what any writer does with a character because the next one might just ignore it, and if they don't, the next one surely will. Nothing matters in marvel comics and I've long stopped consuming marvel comics to satisfy my need for well crafted stories and characters. I just read whatever my favorite appears in, which is hardly anything, and that's it.

Pick up independent comics or manga or novels if you want to read things that actually matter at all

[Chris0013]

For me it's due their seemingly run out of characterization, dropping the 'who they are' for bigger, vaster 'special effects/events' neglecting actual human interactions on the smaller, personal scale. And, yes, for me, too, the six-issue (or longer) single story has become so much the norm that the single-issue emotional grabber of a story seems a forgotten, lost art. Must admit I moved on from almost all Marvel and nearly all DC long, long ago.

I would agree on this...they went away from character driven stories to events.

[Triniking1234]

Mostly because some of the creators aren't that good and there's poor quality control from editorial.

Like seriously, Tony is STILL fighting Korvac. Someone poke Cantwell with a stick and tell him to hurry that **** up.

Then there was Coates' Black Panther that went on a Hunter x Hunter hiatus for no reason. If the writer can't put out a story monthly and he's not dying, fire them.