10 New Year 2018 Resolutions Marvel Comics Should Make

New Year. New Marvel.

by Ewan Paterson
Marvel Comics/Mark Brooks

You don't have to search far and wide to see that Marvel, for all their critical success, had a fairly infamous 2017. PR disaster after PR disaster eclipsed any comparative buzz that was making its way through the publisher's books, granting the impression that the year - already set to go down as one of the worst of our time - was unkind to the House of Ideas.

Secret Empires, creator controversies, retailer animosity, fan backlash - there were several of each to name this year alone. That's not good, especially not for a company like Marvel which, until recently, was largely bossing things when it came to just about every medium out there. DC have managed to pull ahead quite spectacularly just by f---ing up less than the competition, to speak nothing of the considerable quality the publisher boasts week in, week out.

But 2018 is a new year, and to repeat an old cliché, a 'New Marvel' can follow it. Marvel Legacy isn't dead yet, and while the year has already gotten off to a cracking start with yet another controversy, this time curtesy of the 'Create Your Own' initiative, things can still be turned around.

Sure, they'll have a few more resolutions than most, but if change is coming, 2018 could be the year Marvel bounce back.

Advertisement
Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.