http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/05/19/ ... -in-septe/

On one hand, I'm excited because it's the endgame of Hickman's fantastic runs, however, my enthusiasm decreases rapidly as we approach the possibility of a reboot.

Suck, this will. If happen, it ever even does.

That's certain beyond doubt. But I wonder if it will be good.

I think a reboot, or a reset, is long overdue for Marvel. Hell, go all the way back to the day before Peter's parents returned in Spider-Man and call it a Bobby Ewing shower dream.

I don't think there is anything more creatively bankrupt in comic books than a line wide reboot, so I hope it's not true.

I kind of wish I still cared about this stuff, but I'm long past it.

If this reboot is designed to help them produce better comics, then they should do it. If it's just another 'event', then yeah, it's definitely going to stink.

I suspect the second option will be the case, but I'd like to be proven wrong.

Every time I read about one of these new events, the more glad I am that I don't really care about Big Two comics anymore outside of reprints of classic material (which I think I'm all set on) and buying books solely for the art (Frank Cho, Joe Mad, etc.).

A reboot seems stupid. If anything, they should reboot their Ultimate Line and make it the civilian-facing line of comics. I loved Ultimates but it's probably not what a non-reader is looking for after seeing Marvel Studios' Avengers.

I think the MU is currently in a kind of schizophrenic state - the movie versions of these characters have become what the general public (who buy movie tickets and toys for their kids) expect the characters to be, so I'd be inclined to think they'll just 'reboot' everything to resemble the MU movie universe, so they can 'streamline' things and politely ignore stuff they don't see as 'commercially viable'; the things they don't want associated with their 'brand' like 3D-Man, Howard the Duck or the Hypno Hustler, etc. You get my drift.

They better be sure -- they just witnessed DC fucking itself with their reboot.

Yeah, for sure - but once the Marvel Studios movies became popular, this was on the cards.

It has only happened once in big 2 history, and was done terribly. I suspect it will be done terribly if attempted again, but who knows? Soft reboots like all the DC Crises have been the traditional way of streamlining (or Peter Parker making a deal with the devil, for Marvel).

I suspect that any Marvel reboot will be to get their comic universe in line with the movie universe.

They don't mind Howard the Duck. He's in the Lego Marvel game. They just hate the movie (which is terrible).

Look for Samuel L. Queseda to appear with eyepatch.

Well, I'd still be surprised if Howard the Duck and Beverly Switzler showed up in a reboot.

The DC reboot rejuvenated the line and the comics industry sales across the board, and got a ton of new readers in there. The numbers finally faded after two years. So the reboot was a success all around. This info comes from the co-owner of Graham Crackers comics in Chicago, who has I *think* the largest chain of stores in the US with 9.

A reboot for Marvel would be great if it meant simplifying the MU and reducing the number of books, just having it all start up again. But they can't do that because cutting back on the books/simplification would surrender their footprint in the stores and the market, so if they reboot, there'll be just as many books, just as much junk flooding the market. Considering they keep rebooting individual titles back to number #1's every time there's a change in the creative team, it's all a bit pointless and confusing anyway.

the big two are now in a perpetual scramble to maintain their foothold in the market with as much razzle dazzle/BS as human possible.

I agree that it's more about hype than it is about content - they still won't sell comics if nobody wants to read them though. The people buying the comics want one thing, the movie audience expects another, and the corporate types in charge want something else again.

I doubt that the MU would really be well served by a reboot, but I think we all knew it was likely to happen as soon as the movies became profitable.

It is? I'd assume the point of a line-wide reboot would be to boost sales longer than two years -- to me, if numbers go back down to the previous levels before the reboot (which were deemed unacceptable), then the reboot is a failure since rebooting every two years doesn't seem like a realistic option.

Based on the huge numbers the reboot started with, it looks like a lot of readers gave DC a try, but they didn't snag any new long-term readers (or just alienated older readers who dropped the line who were then were replaced by new readers in no greater numbers). The only books that seem to be selling well were the books selling well prior to the New 52 -- Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, etc.

Three years later that top ten books are about 30% higher in sales than the top ten pre-reboot. Every industry from coffee to computers to chairs to clothing to cars would LOVE a shot in the arm that hits immediately and maintains a 30% increase three years later.

I disagree. Most companies demand constant growth. Boosting sales by 40% one year and then going backwards by 10% the following year would be seen as a very bad thing. Staying stagnant for multiple years after a big boost is also seen as a very bad thing.

Though, most orgs don't set a one manth strategic plan. They tend to look five years and beyond. If they didn't expect numbers to drop after initial release, they haven't paid attention to reality. So the question becomes, what did they expect numbers to look like at 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, 48 months, and 60 months after the initial event? How fast did numbers drop to market comparison? Ho fast did they expect numbers to drop to market comparison? Where is the market as a whole? what are the outliers that impacted the market numbers? These are just a few of the questions that have to be considered when comparing reality to the likely strategic plan.

Either way, I don't see any potential MU reboot to be intended to do anything other than makes the comics into vehicles for the movie characters; 'Nuff said.