10 New Year 2018 Resolutions Marvel Comics Should Make

10. Out With The Variants, In With Something Else

Marvel Legacy 1
Marvel Comics

Variant covers are, for the most part, a neat little bonus. They add extra value to certain collections, give fans a chance to opt for another, well, cover, and shine a spotlight on certain artists. The problem for Marvel last year, however, was that they kind of overshadowed the books themselves, so much so that - prior to the release of Marvel Legacy - certain retailers opted to boycott the event altogether, owed to the company's insistence that they order even more comics to guarantee stores would get the variants themselves.

It was yet another controversy that Marvel could've avoided, but the strangest thing about Legacy's launch (apart from the fact the publisher managed to actually spoil their own reveal in an online preview), was that it felt out of touch. Fans just aren't that fussed on variant covers, and would much rather Marvel focussed on what's actually in their comics rather than what lies on the surface.

Legacy could've been Marvel's answer to DC Rebirth, but instead, the publisher opted to make variants the focus in the months leading up to its release. It's totally needless, and while variants continue to populate store shelves everywhere, they should be considered a bonus, rather than the crux of the entire platform itself.

It's not guaranteed that Marvel will force another rebrand of their comics going forward, but given the lukewarm reaction to the Legacy brand itself, don't be surprised if Marvel Now! redux makes an appearance.

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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.