It was a Wednesday, and on Wednesdays, comic fans did what comic fans do: We visit our local shop for new comic book day.

So, there I was, walking the stands as I looked to see if anything was missing from my pull list or if there were any impulse buys I couldn’t resist. As is often the case, conversations about what we’re seeing naturally take place, and two customers looking through Marvel’s wares quickly assessed what they found.

“Are you finding anything interesting?” one asked.

“Some good covers, but nothing worth reading,” the other responded, before his pal agreed and they both walked to the other side of the stands.

As their conversation ended, I moved on to buy my comics, and while checking out, the clerk who was ringing up my purchases said out loud — but not necessarily to me — “Hmm. No Marvel.” Curious, I asked if that was a common occurrence. They assured me it was, and that it was happening with increasing frequency amongst the shop’s Wednesday Warriors.

While comic shop chitchat is hardly an end-all, be-all barometer for the health of a publisher, those engagements felt like succinct reflections of the moribund nature of Marvel these days. And when I say these days, we’re talking at least a half decade of degradation, something I know all too well because I’ve written about Marvel’s struggles nearly every year since 2021. 19 It’s been a slow and steady decline of the long-time King of Direct Market Comics, one that’s resulted in a line that is at best unexciting and somnambulant at worst, with most shops reporting to me that the publisher is seeing diminished sales and interest amongst customers as a result.

That’s not to say there aren’t good comics. Chip Zdarsky’s doing what he can to elevate the line, Ryan North and Humberto Ramos’ Fantastic Four is continuously excellent, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about Infernal Hulk and Mortal Thor. The Ultimate line, should it ever end, has largely proven to be a successful exercise. But when I wrote in 2025 that “short of the time in college when I was no longer reading comics, this is easily my Marvel nadir” in terms of my personal readership, what I didn’t realize then is that number could go down — and it has. I’m currently reading three Marvel titles 20 from a line that regularly eclipses 60 a month, a staggering downturn from when that number used to be my weekly floor.

Why is this happening? I have no idea. I have a million theories, many of which have been posited to me by creators, retailers, journalists, and beyond. 21 It certainly doesn’t help that Marvel recently went through layoffs, which included the loss of three editorial staff members from a team that’s already stretched painfully thin, from what I’ve heard. But I’ve tried to diagnose the problems at Marvel four times in five years, and even though addressing its current challenges is easily the most reader requested piece for the site, the last thing I want to do is write the same article again.

That’s why today, I’m not going to be talking about Marvel’s problems — at least not by design — but the solutions that may be necessary to get the publisher back on track. And I didn’t want to be the driver of these, as I’ve shared my perspective on the topic enough. That’s why I reached out to a variety of folks around the industry to get their perspective on what they think needs to be done to fix Marvel, 22 before using those as a jump off to talk about where things are at the House of Ideas. If implemented, would these actually cure Marvel of its ills? Probably not, as I suspect the problems they face are larger than just what’s happening inside their doors, with corporate pressures fueling many decisions. 23

But it’s still an interesting exercise.