Mighty World of Marvel

 
 Yesterday, in response to the line-wide DC Comics reboot to win over new audiences, I posted a blog arguing that the tone of the material had to change too. Also, the product had to be disseminated more widely to get superhero comics out of the ghetto of specialist shops before the characters become merely licensed brands salvaged from a dead medium.
 I suggested a three-tier system catering for kids, teens and mature markets. You can still have a psychotic ninja Batman for 18-24 -year-old guys; he just doesn't appear in a Christmas issue with the Flash or Supergirl.
This time, I'm going to apply the same principle to Marvel, who will doubtlessly follow DC's lead next year and refocus their titles too.
 The grim and gritty/ hack and slash/ torture porn/ poster cover comics have their market and arguably, the Mature Readers themes -while a contradiction in terms-have driven Marvel's film adaptations. So, the Max Line consists of the following titles. (As with DC's Vertigo, these characters don't interact with the All-Ages line.)
Daredevil; Wolverine; Black Panther; Ghost Rider; Blade; Elektra; Heroes For Hire (a team-up book, like the old Marvel Knights and starring Shang-Chi); Tales of the Zombie; and a sci-fantasy book featuring Warlock and the Surfer.

Marvel Knights, the next imprint, is inspired by the Tsuanami line from 2003. It targets a diverse teen audience and includes Namor, Werewolf By Night and Marvel's longest-running super-heroine, in publication terms.

 Other books include Spellbinders, Dr. Strange and Teen Machine ( reworking Machine Teen -a series featuring Kirby's Machine Man- with a nod to Bowie).

 The third imprint, Marvel Age, is an all-ages line- and since this is a wish fulfillment exercise, I'd love to have Jim Shooter and John Byrne shackled together to oversee it.
The core titles are FF, Spidey, Hulk, Thor, Avengers and X-Men (with a focus on the school aspect). Reprinted  as digests and with Treasury-sized issues for the Xmas market.

 

 That's Marvel Avengers, pilgrim.

Plain vanilla, fun comics. The way they used to be. It can be done- here's the proof. Maybe the digital platform really is the way forward but I think people like to have the comic in their hands.
So- thumbs up or thumbs down? Is there a future beyond a declining market of ageing fanmen?

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