8 Things Marvel Is Doing Wrong With Their Comic Book Universe

7) Too Many New #1 Issues

We recently learned that after just five issues of Rocket Raccoon, Marvel is relaunching the title as Rocket with a brand new #1. Yes, the series has a new creative team and direction, but for decades, that just marked a new story arc for a title; it didn’t require a brand new series.

For collectors, this trend is particularly irritating, but it also just so happens to be extremely confusing. A comic book fan – or even a complete newcomer who may have just watched Guardians of the Galaxy, for example – now faces the prospect of walking into a store and seeing several volume 1, 2, and 3s for any number of characters, leaving them with no clue as to where they should start.

A new creative team should not automatically lead to a relaunch and this annoying attempt to boost sales clearly doesn’t pay off for Marvel, something that figures and comments from retailers prove. Marvel has decades worth of history, and not a single title in the triple digits and only a handful in the double. That’s an insult to the history of these characters and in many ways makes it feel like what’s come before is worthless.