Fixing Key Comic Book Problems

The comic book industry is in a bad place.

Sales are terrible and continue to trend toward the inevitable bottom of the current cycle. Few books are generating any excitement or engagement among fans or critics. Potential new readers have gone to other genres and formats while veteran fans have been systematically alienated.

There are no easy solutions or silver bullet fixes to the industry’s multitude of problems. Many things need to change for a rebound to take root in earnest.

But when looking at several flagship franchises at DC and Marvel, each has a key problem that, if addressed, could go a long way toward bringing eyeballs back to those crucial books.

Avengers

Problem: Avengers Mountain

In their time, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have set up shop in places as ritzy as a Fifth Avenue Mansion or SoCal beachfront estate and as humble as a Brooklyn apartment or a tin shack in New Jersey. While Avengers Mansion remains the team’s gold standard, other HQs have worked over the years. The current team sports a large and interesting line-up, but its meeting place is…odd: the hollowed out armored shell of a dead space god, half-buried near the North Pole.

While it’s certainly one of the more unique superhero bases, Avengers Mountain seems like a…