At this point, I don't think anything is going to save the comic book printing industry, at least not as the Big Two are doing it. I only know of one kid under 18 who reads comics (he's on my daughter's swim team), but he only does it by buying TPBs at Half-Price Books or similar discount outlets; he's never stepped foot inside a traditional comic book shop, and he has no interest in buying monthly issues (he sees me sitting in the stands during their practices, reading individually-bagged floppies, and wonders why I bother with that format). Kids know the characters from the ancillary products, but not the monthly comic books.

My own daughter has an entire shelf on her bookcase of Marvel Essentials that I've picked up for her on the cheap, and she's read them all multiple times, but she has never shown the slightest inkling that she wants to read anything new that's being put out by Marvel or DC. However, she rushes out the day that a new Raina Telgemeier graphic novel is released and buys it, then reads it before the end of the evening, and then rereads it 100 times over, on car trips or between events at a swim meet or just sitting in her room.

Even myself, with an entire room devoted to my collection, has little interest in what Marvel and DC are putting out today. I only get three monthly books from those publishers, along with one other independent title (Firefly, and I am on the fence about picking up the new BTVS series). Announcements like War of the Realms or the Kraven event don't excite me, and I don't even recognize the Avengers or X-Men any more. At this point, I'm happier reading the backlog of books that I already own and letting the industry die its slow and inexorable death than trying to keep it afloat buying things I don't really care about. Something like Marvel Comics Presents works for me, because I can get self-contained, quick stories (although the Wolverine one that spanned the first two issues has been good, and I don't even like Wolverine) without having to wait another month to get more of a decompressed story that they're planning to put out in a TPB. This should be the future of the industry, with as wildfire2099 put it, with anthology-style books becoming the norm, maybe cheaply printed at first, then collected in a TPB later.

Cosmicbook is a Comicsgate site. That’s really all you need to know.

It's a pretty ugly alt-right movement made up of comic book fans.

Marvel toyed with the idea of subbing out the characters in the 90's, hence, we got Heroes Reborn.

The characters won't go away, that's for sure.

If I were Marvel, I'd probably blow it all up and re-start.

Seriously

The continuity practically doesn't exist now and is such an impenetrable mess, how many people can keep track of it ?

Call it Marvel 2.0.

I think way more people would be excited about it than not.

I would.

The only Marvel I'm buying is Fantastic Four.

Cherry pick the best ideas / concepts / whatever, wipe the slate clean, and move forward

or

make a separate imprint going forward without re-telling old stories like Ultimate sort of did.

Make it a whole new universe and tell your own stories but keep them in the new continuity without slavish devotion to the old.

Wolverine Avengers, X-Man, Secret Defender, Patch, ....

Make the character great again and keep the silly crap out.

Wanda and Pietro both Avengers and X-Men ? Let's pick one and stick with that.

What if Dark Phoenix destroyed the planet of aliens ? What then ?

Marvel could own the whole she-bang again if they did this correctly, which I'm pretty sure they won't.

Modern Marvel and DC comics are all but irrelevant I'm afraid, even in the context of functioning as R&D for movies and TV. The vast majority of concepts that Marvel/Disney are mining for movies/TV were created during the peak period of 1961-1991--the period that I consider to be the "real" Marvel Universe that we all think about when we consider the world building, strong characterization, relative lightheartedness, history and continuity that appealed to many of us in the first place (I'm well aware that some would cut Marvel's peak period off long before 1991, but there was still great stuff in the late 80's/early 90's that still "felt" like an extension of what Stan, Jack and Co. started. The exist of Claremont from X-Men and the unfortunate rise of the original Image artists, getting far more creative control than they deserved, is the perfect end to the Marvel era in my mind.)

Nowadays, I just can't get into most modern Marvel/DC comics given that all of that is gone outside of occasional nostalgia gimmicks and other fabrications. Even the stuff that tries to be lighthearted and funny seems forced to me. Most of the books are soulless and the art styles have veered too far into "cinematic" presentations while often forgetting the unique language and nuances that made comics interesting and unique. There really is no surprise that comic sales are dwindling. They no longer do awe, grandeur and epic better than video games, movies and TV. There is so much old/classic material that DOES do this just as well, or better, and that I haven't read, that I'm afraid that I simply don't care if modern Marvel/DC publishing goes away.

Thanks for the links, people. I hadn't heard the term. I shall read further.