2. Accessible Titles
If you watched The Avengers without watching Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, or Captain America: The First Avenger, you could still follow what was going on pretty easily. You learn everything you need to about each of these characters when they first appear: Captain America is a man out of time, Iron Man is a rich genius with a suit of armor, Thor is a demigod who can control the weather, the Hulk is a scientist with an anger management problem, the Black Widow is a kick-ass spy, and Hawkeye is a soldier who sees all the angles. Sure, it helps if you saw the preceding movies, but its not necessary. Now imagine this movie was your first real exposure to The Avengers. Youre pumped and knowing that this is a Marvel movie and Marvel publishes comics, you go into your local comic shop, or maybe you just fire up your smartphone or tablet and download the Marvel app. You search for Avengers and what do you find? For arguments sake, lets say youre just looking for new comics. Youve got Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Secret Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, New Avengers, Young Avengers, Dark Avengers, and Avengers Arena. Each one is priced at $3.99 per issue, and single-issue stories have become the exception to the rule. Pick up a random issue of any Marvel comic, and youre likely to find yourself right in the middle of some big event crossover or in the middle of a story-arc that began several issues ago and filled with characters you probably dont even recognise. Look at the above image. That's the roster for just
one Avengers book. Its become accepted wisdom in the comic industry that movies dont offer any significant boost to the comics beyond the short-term, and its because the books just arent friendly to new readers. Stan Lee used to have a philosophy that every comic book was somebodys first. But over time, Marvel stopped following that philosophy and now, if youre just a casual reader looking for a quick fix, youre pretty much out of luck. Even Marvels Ultimate line, which was once created to appeal to readers who didnt want to be bothered by all the continuity, is now chock-full of its own continuity, much of it completely different from the Marvel Universe proper. Streamline the books, bring back single issue stories, and try to see if you can do something about the price.