Paging through Marvel’s Illuminati, the Fortress Keeper can’t help but think how much better the story would be if it involved a different cast of characters in a different setting.

Then, there wouldn’t be concerns about ignoring continuity or changing characters’ personalities to suit the needs of a particular author. The creators could tell the story any way they see fit, and longtime fans wouldn’t feel cheated by seemingly random alterations to fondly remembered comics and characters.

Of course, then it wouldn’t have the “New Avengers” tag and resulting sales figures. As DC’s Identity Crisis proved, sordid secrets that cast a sinister light on beloved heroes sell comics these days.

Spectacle takes presence over subtlety, so who cares if Batman or Iron Man are suddenly pompous jerks when you’re presenting an event that will CHANGE COMICS FOREVER ?

Not being an economist or Eisner award-winning writer, the Keeper won’t presume to tell the House of Ideas how to conduct its business. But we can’t help but remember the days when the key to success was creating new characters and concepts, rather than rewriting old ones in a darker, more “realistic” manner.

Bronze Age Marvel, in particular, was willing to throw any old idea out there - be it super-heroes, horror, science fiction or fantasy. In the Keeper’s idealized version of the ’70s Marvel bullpen, he imagines conversations between editors and writers going something like this:

Creator: “Let’s try a hero who is bestial as the Hulk, but is made out of wood!”

Editor: “Sounds great.”

Creator #2: “How about a living scarecrow who pops out of an oil painting? “

Editor: “Solid gold.”

Naturally, your humble narrator bought all of these one-offs back in the day (usually contained within the pages of Marvel Premiere, Marvel Spotlight or Marvel Something-Or-Other), convinced that this hero or heroine was sure to be the next Spider-Man - or at least the next Jack-Of-Hearts.

The advent of creator’s rights has ended such free-wheeling experimentation, at least among the majors. Many writers and artists save their most innovative characters for themselves, hoping (and rightly so) to reap the benefits if mainstream success ever hits.

Still, those wild and wooly days at Marvel were fun while they lasted.

So, rather than focus on the negatives of Marvel’s latest and greatest opus, the Keeper will instead look back (once again) at the days when comics didn’t bother being cool and just did whatever - making them all the more cool.

(It’s the Paul Westerberg law of relativity, but that’s another post for another blog…)