How To Streamline The Marvel U WITHOUT Rebooting

[maximara]

I think a reboot will upset more fans than attracting new ones, it may start a precedence of continuous rebooting. I think the best thing is to end the ultimate universe and start a new with the original goal of the UU. Make it easier for new fans to get into the universe, this new universe should take a few elements from 616 and 1610 and new takes on familiar stories and completely new stories. The characters don't have to be a cut and paste of their other universes counterparts, so differences in characters can occur. Keep it as concise as possible dead means dead, next to no clones and time travel should be so incredibly difficult to do that it can't be used often if at all. Learning from the mistakes of 616 and 1610 and advertising it well, a new universe could be really good for Marvel.

Unless a reboot involved every book you are right; after all that and little editorial control is how DC got into being so freaking reboot happy. DC had many books where things went along as if Crisis on Infinite Earth never happened (Legion of SuperHeroes) or took what little post-Crisis continuity there was and shoved it head first into a meat grinder (Hawkworld)

It doesn't help that there always is some sliver of the old pre-reboot reality and no explanation of how that happened in the post-boot reality--the letter Thomas Wayne Batman had Flash give Bruce Wayne Batman case in point for the New-52.

As for creating yet another universe Marvel has done that several times-Heroes Reborn as well as Ultimates for it own characters and New Universe for brand new characters.

New Universe got what amounted to a reboot midway through its original run (Justice wasn't an alien anymore for example) and despite still doing well Marvel canned the series. After a lot of nonsense where that realty's Earth was moved into the mainline 616 reality Earth-15731 was produced which was for all practical purposes a reboot of the New Universe.

I should mention the forgotten parallel that DC and Marvel have: Crossover Earth where pre-Crisis Earth-1 and DC heroes coexist. Such fun.

[Choos]

I was figuring one of the timetravel/cross over with the Ultimate event story lines would wind up with a snapping noise at the end and half the titles would wind up in a rebooted newer more Ultimatey universe while the core (still well selling titles) would continue on their merry way in the 616.

[Mutant God]

I can see in 2 years or 3 the 616 and Ultimate universe merging together and giving the Ultimate line to a new universe. Actually if they want the 616/Ultimate universe could be the movie verse/realistic one and the new universe could be the fun and crazy ideas one.

[Rochedalaix]

As long as Magik, and Kamala Khan stick around I don't care what happens.

[TacoKid]

What I find funny is that whenever a conversation about a Marvel Reboot is brought up, all these diehard oppositionists to a reboot spring out of the woodwork saying things like "a reboot is NOT necessary", "continuity is NOT that complicated" or "use the Internet to fill in gaps" etc.

Now I'm not a pro-reboot person in any way, shape or form but let's face it, modern Marvel comics are pretty much IMPENETRABLE to the neophyte. I would suffice it to say that it's probably one of the main reasons why it's so hard to for new fans to get into comics nowadays. There's just TOO much backstory. Too much continuity. I know we here at CBR constantly parrot the line that you don't need to know what happened before to enjoy these stories but we are being hypocritical since all of us are pretty much very well versed with these comics already and already are very familiar with the entire culture and history of the Marvel Universe. To someone who just watched the movies and wants to start reading comics I dare say that unless they're very motivated, they are not going to understand half of what is going on.

How can a new reader possibly understand today's X-Men comics for example? To truly understand and enjoy these stories to the fullest, they would have to know what happened on M Day, the Schism and what it was all about, who Jean Grey was and her tortuous, complicated history, the X-Men's past dealings with the Shiar Empire, the many alternate futures of the X-Men (how else do you explain Rachel Grey? Cable? Raze? Dark Beast?), etc. I'm a comics veteran and I have a hard time figuring out what's what. I can't imagine a newbie picking out All-New X-Men and enjoying it or understanding it. And saying things like "you can look stuff on the Internet" is ludicrous. It turns enjoyment into a chore. I can't imagine what would turn off a new fan faster than telling him or her that they will need to look stuff up on Wikipedia every third page to know what's going on.

And it's not like there are easy jumping on points either. The constant renumberings and recycling of titles makes it almost impossible for a new fan to just effortlessly pick out a self-contained series and start reading. Take "New Avengers" for example. You go on Amazon.com right now and type in "New Avengers Vol. 1" and you'll get THREE different volumes titled "New Avengers Vol. 1", each volume telling a different story, two of them written by the same writer to add to the confusion. And of course, none of them are stand alones, fresh jump in points. The first New Avengers Vol. 1 requires that you know what happened in Avengers Disassembled. The second requires you to pretty much know what happened in the last five years of the previous New Avengers series and the last requires a working knowledge of the Illuminatti. And that's not an isolated incident. If a casual reader hears about the new "X-Force" movie in development and wants to read the comics he's going to be hopelessly confused on Amazon when he sees 4 to 5 different series, all sporting the title "X-Force", all with different members and different raison d'etres. And I pity the fan who wants to read Hulk. It's the single most convoluted mess of retitlings, renumberings and legacy numberings out there.

Again, while a determined fan just MIGHT grit his/her teeth and do some internet sleuthing to find out which volume is which and where to start it would be ridiculous to expect a new casual reader fresh off the theater from watching Avengers to do all that legwork. They would just sigh, shake their heads and just wait for the movie sequel.

Now again, I'm not saying I want a complete reboot...but the argument that comic books are "easy to get into" is false. If you are a reader who wants to know simple, old fashioned things about the characters you are reading about like, why they do things they do what their motivations are, etc. then comics are actually very hard to get into.

I have to give you a hand for one of the most well put post ever on this subject. We live in a different era of comic entertainment. With the movie universe turning it on its head, along with just so many years of these universes constantly trying to be reinvented, it's time for a fresh "refocus" on some level. If it has to be a reboot to some degree, then so be it. I just hope it leads to a more streamlined and less convoluted state of comic affairs.