Left to my own devices

During the mid-late 1980s, I read a ton of comic books, most of them Marvel. There were a few DCs in the mix. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight , and 1989's Batman movie with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, were popular enough to have me check out some of their stuff. But Marvel seemed to have the fuller, more compelling universe of superheroes and villains (as it does now in the cinematic world). I used to read and compare the comics with my friend Derrick. Thor was our favorite. This was during the Walt Simonson era, which featured some powerful storytelling and unique artwork. Spider-Man was another good one, along with  The Silver Surfer , Secret Wars , and of course The Avengers . My interest in reading and collecting comic books ended about as abruptly as the intensity of my liking for them had burned. After a few years of enjoyment, and the end of a few tenures of creative teams across various titles, it became apparent that these stories would never end. Duri...

It is my contention that the lackluster box office performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story , and the boffo reception for Avengers: Infinity War are potentially harbingers of the same future for what is now termed the 'cinematic universe' existence for both the Marvel and Star Wars franchises. That may sound odd, so of course some explanation is in order. Part of what follows necessitate going back a few years. As is well-publicized, Marvel has different "phases" of its cinematic universe. Everything is planned-out (something which Star Wars could benefit from greatly). It could be (and has been) argued that Marvel's template is very much rote by this point, even with the inclusion of fresh directorial blood with recent films. Nevertheless, the process seems to have done well for them. The movies have almost always done well at the box office, and the average moviegoer seems genuinely invested in what happens with the characters.