So I certainly wouldn't classify this venture as a period of time (1991) in which Marvel would want to look back at and emulate.

True, but isn't it a sound idea to target the glut of new readers (amoung the speculator throngs <g>) who were turned onto comics at that moment in history? For example, as someone who started reading in the early 80s, my interest was piqued by recent books by Johns and Metzger (fans of the same era), although the quality of the work remains the main 'selling factor' for me.

I had no specific number in mind, but in a perfect world I'd still be working on it.

Greg Woronchak wrote: isn't it a sound idea to target the glut of new readers (amoung the speculator throngs <g>) who were turned onto comics at that moment in history? For example, as someone who started reading in the early 80s, my interest was piqued by recent books by Johns and Metzger (fans of the same era), although the quality of the work remains the main 'selling factor' for me.

With a few books, maybe.  As a mandate to return to a specific period of time, in this case 1991, because a large chunk of your readership became fans then, no.  That way, to me, lies madness.  It would be appealing to the same aging fan, with all the same problems, as we're seeing now.  In addition, I don't know that there really was a "glut" of new readers at that time.  How can we really tell being in the middle of the speculator boom market?  Tons of those comics were left on the shelves as evidenced by millions of copies of X-MEN 1 being currently available for less than a dollar.  Still more were snatched up in the multiples, often exceeding 100 copies per, by individual collectors hoping to have discovered gold but only came away with fools gold.  After the bust of the speculator market, we were left with fewer readers than we were before the boom, so I'm not sold that there ever was a glut of new readers who discovered a love of the medium over turning a quick profit.  Is that really where we want Marvel to return?  Do we really want to cater to that group of people simply because they may have come aboard our decidedly small train?

I say just worry about staying on model, telling good, compelling stories, getting your product in front of as many eyes as possible (preferably young ones) and not concerning yourself with mega crossovers, event-style storytelling, and the latest shock twist, and the audience should come.  I think targeting an entire comic book company to one audience that came around nearly 20 years ago spells certain doom.

I don't like the time period on comics, per se, but I do like old school writers that don't do all the decompression you see now.

Perhaps equally important -- and possibly most difficult to get thru to some lunkheaded fans and pros -- would be that the stories would not be set in the Past. Everything would continue to happen now.

Rick Whiting wrote: Well judging by the falling sales figures for most of Marvel's books, I think that they MIGHT rethink some of their recent and past creative and editorial decisions. Of course, a change in EIC (and maybe even a change in publisher) would most likely have to happen for things to change at Marvel. is it a longshot, of course, but it is not out of the realm of possibility.

It's not just falling sales for Marvel.  It's falling sales for comic books across the board.  In other words, it's not just a Marvel thing and DC, Image, Dark Horse, etc. are doing just fine. 

Also, "rethinking some of their recent and past creative and editorial decisions" is far different that a wholesale change where the characters are all magically transported to some point in time where they weren't "screwed up".  The former could most certainly lead to a lessening of event books, although no matter how much we might scream and wail about them they do almost always sell better than a standard run on any book.  The latter, however, is totally subjective.  I mean, what isn't screwed up for Character A to me might be totally screwed up to you.  Where does that line appear?  JB isn't a fan of a lot of Marvel in the 70s, but that's the point in time where I jumped aboard so I love it.  If a company wide mandate was to reset all characters to 1967, I'd be left out as would millions of others.  If you reset one character to 1967, another to 1973, still another to 1981, and a smattering to 2000, I think it would be totally confusing.

So no, I do think it's out of the realm of possibility especially when Marvel, like DC, is nothing more than R&D for everything but the comic books themselves.