It's on the table:
https://cosmicbook.news/disney-shutting-down-marvel-comics
Sales have been going down, while increasing the number of releases (costs). Marvel comics is right now losing money and it doesn't seem to this will change in a near future. Business is business, and the debate is on the table.
I read the article and the article it links to. It's unclear to me from the data provided that Marvel comics is losing money. Revenue for publishing in 2018 was down 2%, but they don't break out the costs by division in the same way that they do for the revenue.
Even if the comics are losing money, it might be considered a worthwhile investment because of the fan support it provides to the other divisions like gaming and movies.
I hope they shut down. I hear they've become an SJW cesspool.
shareI think the problems began when comics became a specialist, collector-only type of thing. They used to be sold in supermarkets, pharmacies, even gas stations and airports. Comic book shops existed, but were a niche place for collectors, and most comic sales were made to kids, and some adults, who read them for enjoyment.
The largest factor is price. When I began reading comics in 1978, I bought Amazing Spider-Man #186 for 35 cents. That was the going rate for all Marvel's titles. In today's dollars that is 1.36. Yet, when I bought an issue of the Amazing Spider-Man in January it cost me 3.99. That is .97 in 1978 dollars. If comics had been .97 back then, I'd not have bought many, if any at all.
As an aside, I saw another new Marvel title selling for a cover price of 7.99. It had more pages, but was a normal, paper comic like any other. That would have been a 2.05 comic in 1978, and nearly no one would have bought it.
If Marvel wants to see sales increase, I think they should go back to printing less expensively (comics used to look and feel more like newspapers), lower the price drastically, and get comic books back into places where kids will see them when out with their parents, i.e. supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations, airports, etc.
I don't think they can go back there.
Notice that there's a common pattern both in Marvel comics and Hollywood: there used to be good storytelling and good stories back in the day. Nowadays characters have become black-and-white archetypes whose behavior can be predicted knowing their race and gender. Stories are full of taboos about what should and shouldn't be told, they have became repetitive, predictable, boring and cliché.
So... what do you do when you don't have good stories anymore? You stand out using production values. Holywood did. Marvel comics did... but that's expensive. As long as you keep high production values, you keep and edge over the rest of the market. However, you become VERY vulnerable to low sales. How many flops can Hollywood handle? How long can Marvel comics handle low sales?
You don't have any more Chris Claremonts. Imagine modern comic stories printed in normal paper and flat colors. Imagine modern Hollywood movies using a fourth of their budget. How much appeal remains?
Ahhhh, nostalgia!
Loved comics back in the mid-70s thru the early-80s ...(aka bronze age)... back when they were .25 - .75
I'd also buy older ones from the '60s that were cover priced at .10 to .12, but depending on their condition could cost as much as $10 to $15. I remember seeing a #3 Fantastic Four in practically mint condition that they were asking $40 dollars ...a little too rich for a kid without a job.