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8 Things Marvel Is Doing Wrong With Their Comic Book Universe

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to dominate the superhero genre on the big screen, the comic book universe leaves a lot to be desired. As sales plummet and retailers voice concerns that the company's decisions are hurting them, it's become clear that some changes need to be made.

7) Too Many New #1 Issues

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Rocket

We recently learned that after just five issues of Rocket Raccoon, Marvel is relaunching the title as Rocket with a brand new #1. Yes, the series has a new creative team and direction, but for decades, that just marked a new story arc for a title; it didn’t require a brand new series.

For collectors, this trend is particularly irritating, but it also just so happens to be extremely confusing. A comic book fan – or even a complete newcomer who may have just watched Guardians of the Galaxy, for example – now faces the prospect of walking into a store and seeing several volume 1, 2, and 3s for any number of characters, leaving them with no clue as to where they should start.

A new creative team should not automatically lead to a relaunch and this annoying attempt to boost sales clearly doesn’t pay off for Marvel, something that figures and comments from retailers prove. Marvel has decades worth of history, and not a single title in the triple digits and only a handful in the double. That’s an insult to the history of these characters and in many ways makes it feel like what’s come before is worthless.