Magic Bullet game

[RichBamf]

So, I've been thinking about the modern state of comics a lot recently. I have a cyclical return to comics every six months or so and then realise that they're not really geared to me anymore, usually around the time of the latest Morrison, Bendis, or Millar galaxy changing event that will 'shape the Marvel/DC for years to come' paired with the hyperbole that 'nothing will ever be the same again.'

That doesn't effect me that much, I feel much better dipping in and out, and if the medium continues and thrives, then actually I feel it should do what it needs to (deferred gratification though it may be).

HOWEVER...If you had three bullets, three magic, problem solving bullets to make comics more in line with what you felt was more what you wanted, what would you use them for?

1. I'd get rid of event books, they derail major stories and really hamper creativity. When every book is getting geared up for a new summer event, the writers are writing themselves into corners and limiting their storytelling based on the next momentum shift. Not to mention that since as early as Civil War, the only event that has been really any good IMHO is Flashpoint, which was a great story.

2. Good God, the sheer impenetrable nature of X-Men books is just ridiculous. The team dynamics are all over the place, characters act in ways that just simply aren't in keeping with their personalities. If we take the viewpoint that in THEIR time it's been probably been no more than 25 years since the X-men were formed, characters abandon their friendships over things that genuinely could be solved with conversation. The whole IvX event could have been completely avoided with Beast talking to Medusa, instead these characters seem determined to fight. I think over 70% of the characters in the X-Teams are alternative versions of themselves, because the characters have gradually been killed off (the x-men writers love dipping into that particular well). If there was ever a need for strong editors at Marvel, it's in the X-Men books.

3. D.C. - just stop alienating your readership. Every time you go to the ever present retcon option that has become Crisis, you confuse the audiences because they don't actually have a foundational basis of history. What events happened? What has been erased?

Those would be my three own retcon bullets.

[LegendaryOutlaw]

Wish I have the ol painless from Predator full of magic bullets.

Sounds fun this 'challenge' of only three bullets.

And about your number 1 the best example is the Thor of Straczynski, how abruptly he got out of book just before Siege; Kieron Gillen did a great job but I still wonder what if JMS was able to keep writing the book then.

[Peter-Vell]

Only three bullets?! Ok, but some may be very similar...

1: I wish that whomever is writing whatever comic first learns what their character(s) is(are) about, and what they are capable of...(I'm really, really tired of ridiculous stuff like the Black Panther beating the Silver Surfer, Wolverine beating everyone, Luke Cage fighting WAY above his weight class, or that Nova (rich rider) suddenly needs his helmet to activate his powers, what the present comic seems to imply...HE DOESN'T. Whoever is writing Nova now needs to re-read New Warriors #1)

2: I wish they would stop remaking/changing characters that have been around for decades...Suddenly Quicksilver is no longer a mutant, but an Inhuman (so why did he lose his powers when Wanda said "No more mutants"?...). Suddenly Iceman is gay (not that I have a problem with gay people). Cyclops as Hitler...Tony Stark a total control-freak who starts a Civil War...
Even a great comic like Matt Fraction's Hawkeye for instance: Sure, the story & art where fantastic, but it simply WASN'T the Hawkeye I have known and loved for almost 40 years...Here he is kind of a fool, he wears a movie-like t-shirt, and many times it is implied that Kate Bishop is actually a much beter Hawkeye than Clint ever was...
No, I firmly believe in what Stan Lee said: Stop changing existing characters so much, and simply create new ones.

3: I wish they invested more time & effort in simply making the comics better. Instead of 20 different (and crappy) X-titles, Make it 3: X-Men (The old guard...), New Mutants (some fresh faces...)and one other, like Wolverine or X-Force...Then make sure the writer/artist duo are invested in their comic, so that they continue to make interesting comics for many years, instead of only 6 issue's...And the whole continuity-thing is great, it makes the whole Marvel/DC Universe feel connected, but those events shouldn't dictate how individual comics are to go...Example: In 2015 there was a DC comic called "Green Lantern - Lost Army"...I LOVED IT. The art was fantastic, the storyline was very interesting, the characters where a nice combo of old & familiar, and new & exciting... It had everything I ever wanted in a comic (a.k.a space stuff)...And after only six issue's they cancelled it, because DC needed to have another reboot or something...Great move, guys, this was my R.O.A.R...

There are many, many more things I love to nag about, (Like how the movies & tv-shows are starting to dictate the comics) but these are my 3 top grievances...(No. 1 & 2 may overlap...)