Marvel's Declining Quality

[ImproveMarvel]

Hey guys, (I actually started this topic somewhere else but I want to know what everyone else thinks)

I'm starting this thread for one main reason. I'm fed up with the declining quality of Marvel comics. Personally, I am a big fan of the X-Men titles and have been for the past 14 years.

Unfortunately, over the past four years Marvel has decided to severely reduce the quality of its comics. Primarily, I'm talking about the words and discussions that take place in the issues. Have any of you guys picked up on the fact that it only takes a few minutes to read a single issue? It used to be that it took 10 or more minutes for me but now it's more like 3 because the "word count" has significantly dropped. I counted the "word bubbles" and boxes describing what was happening and came up with the following results.

In a random older issue there were 287 bubbles and boxes in total.

A random current issue only had 145.

Is this something that we should tolerate especially considering the price has just gone up 50 cents again?!?! That, plus the increase from last August makes a total of $0.74. Compare that to the previous 14+ years when it only was raised by $1.00.

Please respond. I believe this is an important matter for all of us.

Thank you.


PS
And get this last bit of news. It was announced ~2 weeks ago that Marvel will now be advertising for companies in the stories themselves (and not just those Nike logos). You will soon see specific trucks and products that were never there before. It probably wouldn’t be so bad if not for the fact that those ads are supposed to help fray the cost of production. So what’s up with this price increase? Please, think about what this truly means for the comics that we enjoy.

 

[GNR]

Slamming Marvel just because the muties aren't as big as they once were is totally unjustified.

 

[THANOSRULES]

so your criteria of quality is amount of text?

Books decline and come back..it happens all the time.

IMO the quality is very high right now.

I have my gripes, especially about the "direction" of New avengers, but it seems to be cooking now.

I just dont see it.

 

[ampersand]

So, you claim that Marvel's quality is declining and then back your statement up by saying that the X-books suck and that a random newer issue has less words in it then older issues? That's like conducting a survey by asking one person and one person only what their opinion is.

Besides, if you don't want to "tolerate" it, just don't buy the comic!

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I think you should look at that thread I made about "what if the internet existed in 1985"...its fairly enlightening

 

[THANOSRULES]

I would agree that marvel could cut costs...

But you gotta figure any serial periodical publication is heavily influenced by gas /transportation prices.

The quality of paper stock and covers has also dramatically increased...personally i dont need the glossy paper or the thicker grade covers ...but thats just me.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm not a big fan of most of Marvel's titles right now. There are a few that are still enjoyable, but overall I look forward to my DC titles more these days. Marvel's creative direction is primarily in the hands of those who seem to have very different ideas about what's good and what's not. I've resigned myself to just waiting to see who'll inevitably replace them down the line and hoping they'll be better.

 

[deemar325]

This guy loves him some X-men.

This is a ******ed thread if there ever was one.

 

[herakles]

This guy loves him some X-men.

This is a ******ed thread if there ever was one.

Just another fanboy ranting!

Hey I did the same when "Lard-Ass" Joe Q killed Thor!

 

[Mr. Green]

I think Marvel is kicking ass. I'm loving Planet Hulk. I really like all of the Annihilation stuff. Civil War is going to rock. DD is at it's best. So is Cap for that matter. Thor is coming back.

And hey, the dialogue NOW freakin' OWNS the dialogue of the 90's and before. Quality beats quantity every time. And damn, you read fast because it takes me as much as 30 minutes to read an issue.

There are some awesome titles out right now, you just need to find the ones you are most into.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Annihilation's surprised me by how good it is. Giffen, Abnett, Lanning, and all the other creators have been kicking ass on it. Nova's probably the best mini so far, but all of them seem to be setting up interesting plots, and I'm looking forward to the inevitable showdown with the Annihilation Wave.

 

[deemar325]

Just another fanboy ranting!

Hey I did the same when "Lard-Ass" Joe Q killed Thor!

I know. Guy should have did a search first is all.

 

[deemar325]

Annihilation's surprised me by how good it is. Giffen, Abnett, Lanning, and all the other creators have been kicking ass on it. Nova's probably the best mini so far, but all of them seem to be setting up interesting plots, and I'm looking forward to the inevitable showdown with the Annihilation Wave.

It's good stuff!


I feel like a doofus for not figuring out Anihilus was the main baddie, Although it's feels good to be pleasantly suprised for once.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I didn't think of him because I didn't consider him that big a threat. I figured if the FF beat him routinely, he wouldn't stand much of a chance against the entire universe's forces. I guess an insanely huge fleet of ships will up your rank a bit, though.

 

[Mr. Green]

Annihilation's surprised me by how good it is. Giffen, Abnett, Lanning, and all the other creators have been kicking ass on it. Nova's probably the best mini so far, but all of them seem to be setting up interesting plots, and I'm looking forward to the inevitable showdown with the Annihilation Wave.

I love what they are doing with characterization. Super Skrull as the protagonist is awesome, and same with Ronan. Silver Surfer's mini seems a bit darker than I would have expected and I get the same feeling with Nova.

I'm not experts on these characters from the start but I am loving this so far.

 

[deemar325]

That it will.

I'm just jazzed a villian from the old guard is finally getting to rip it up in a big way.

It's seems some of Marvels bad guys from Stan & Jack's era have been forgotten or down graded to C-level.

It's gives me a happy face to see guys like Red Skull (recent Cap by Brubaker) Kang (albeit briefly in Young Avengers) even Red Ghost (In Black Panther, even if the story was kinda blah. It showed him in a decent light.)

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Marvel has a lot more quality issues other than how much wording goes into each story.

 

[ImproveMarvel]

Yeah, so I checked out the threads you guys had mentioned. Interesting yeah, and your opinions are definitely what I wanna hear, only way I'll find out the average thinker's opinion and all.
My main point to all this is mainly that we've all seen the splash pages where usually some action is taking place that the author obviously really wants to get across to the reader. But, c'mon, I typically think of books as being meant for reading rather than mostly just looking at. That's what movies and television are for, IMO. Yes, this has pretty much been the norm for quite a few years and I only just started to get more attentive to it what with the price hike and all. That's primarily my biggest disappointment but more or less it's the combination that has really just started to bug me. You guys did catch the part where I mentioned the actual difference in price, right? I didn't really catch any responses about that.

Regarding the X-Titles, there's quite a few of them and one would typically think that if a certain trait can be found in practically every single title of one area of Marvel, then logically,you should be able to find it in others. I'm pretty certain that similar types of splash pages can be found in Spider-man and so likely, once more, it's probably more widespread than that. That's how I would tend to see it at any rate.
Anyway, yeah, let me know what you think of the pricing as well. Thanks.

 

[The Watchman]

While I agree somewhat, Marvel still has amazing titles coming out...

Runaways
Marvel Zombies
Astonishing X-Men
X-Factor
Daredevil
Nextwave

...Wolverine 41 was an extremely cool stand alone issue

Captain America
The Thing
X-Men Deadly Genesis (and soon with bru coming onto Uncanny I have faith)
Civil War looks much better than House of M
She-Hulk


...Perhaps you just aren't looking hard enough, there are great titles coming out despite Spider-Man and the X-franchise seeming to be in a rut, and some people's distaste for New Avengers, look at the bigger picture not just the most popular characters.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Also Spider-Girl, Young Avengers, Exiles.

 

[The Watchman]

Yeah, figured I left out a few. Squadron Supreme, the Nighthawk mini was a high point, just get Dillon (Preacher) on any title and I'll likely buy it.

The Illuminati special was cool, mostly because of Maleev.

...like I said, just have to look a little harder to find the good stuff.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Both forgot Punisher.

 

[deemar325]

GLA and Thing is fine Marvel fun!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Titles I still read from Marvel:

Amazing Spider-Man
Annihilation minis
Astonishing X-Men
Captain America
Exiles
Fantastic Four (for the Thor-related arc at the moment)
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Iron Man (just started again for the Knaufs after dropping the boring Ellis arc)
Marvel Team-Up
Punisher
Runaways
She-Hulk
Spider-Girl
Squadron Supreme
Thing
Thunderbolts (dropping this within the next two issues if Niceiza doesn't do something interesting instead of ruining the best characters in the book)
X-Factor
Young Avengers

I actually look forward to about half of those. The rest I just kind of read because I've been reading them. I want to be excited for them, but usually they just sit at the bottom of my pile, under all the DC and other stuff I actually am excited for, until I'm bored and I remember I never finished reading my comics for the week.

 

[XwolverineX]

Marvel has lot's of great books. The only think they're suckin' at is " BIG events. " And it's yer choice wether or not ya buy 'em, if ya rather stick with yer monthlies, that's fine. Like everyone posted above me, the list is rather quite long for Marvel books that deserve some praise.