8 Ways DC And Marvel Make It Impossible For Fans To Read Their Comics

2. Constant Artist Departures

Black Widow Chris Samnee
Chris Samnee/Marvel Comics

One of the biggest problems with collecting comic books today has to be the regular and often infuriating artistic changes that happen on most monthlies. Apart from the odd exception, like Greg Capullo's stint on Batman with Scott Snyder, it's often been the case that books struggle to nail down a given creative team. Artists struggle to meet the demand of regular releases and, when a switch does occur, it can often mark a massive tonal shift in a given series. Indeed, not only does it seem as though artists have gone unappreciated by the likes of Marvel, it feels as though artistic rotation is deliberate. Given how many fans check out books specifically because of certain artists they follow, it's a bad move, and only serves to damage the creative autonomy of popular projects in the process.

I think it's more than likely that Marvel don't even realise just how much pull artists have on the projects they lend their talents to. As a fan, I can attest to having checked out certain series just because of the artist attached (I would've never picked up Snyder's stint on Detective Comics if it hadn't been for Jock being involved), and I've had friends do the same for other books on countless occasions.

The fact of the matter is that a solid creative team will do more to entice new readers than any contrived plot twist or big-name event will, especially when they're invested in the heroes they're tackling.

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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.