My local Disney Store sells Marvel Comics teddy bears. So why not comics?

A superhero comic is one of the biggest sellers right now and is a hugely popular property. It just happens to be a manga called MY HERO ACADEMIA.

The Marvel/DC itch is being scratched by video games, movies, and TV, and despite the ready availability of older content unencumbered by the flaws of today's storytelling, younger kids are more drawn to the modern stuff catering to them, not what their parents liked.

I have a bunch of 60s and 70s books I picked up at cons on the power of their cover alone.  I figured out much later that a boatload of them were the work of Neal Adams.  Go figure....

Whether you have a pull list, and are going to buy anyway, wouldn't it be great to pick up comics with great covers?

Also, when I go through back issue boxes, I automatically know what I already own. Oh, I don't own that comic where Gorilla Grodd is holding up a defeated Flash and Green Lantern. I know that. But I do know I own that one where the Grey Gargoyle is battling the Hulk.

But what of something like ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN? The early issues? Completely interchangeable covers for the most part. Look at the first dozen or so covers:

Whilst there are some action covers, the majority are just Spider-Man poses. Which tell you nothing about the story inside.

I’m not a fan of “death of a character “ to spike sales , then find the character is still alive; nor am I a fan of making Thor a woman, Captain America a hydra agent etc. Fifteen gimmick covers for a first issue and the price of a new book too- same books you find for 50 cents to a buck at a comic show a month or two later. Some titles feature quality art but most are uninspiring.

The very premise of WHAT IF? was exploring alternate realities. So Cap as Hydra would have worked for me if it had been explored in that title; but I had zero interest in it being explored over 12+ months, tying into various solo books.

Totally agree with you, actually one of my first newsstand purchases as a young kid was What If? 21- and I still have that somewhere 😀

If Cap as Hydra had been done in WHAT IF?, one or two issues would have sufficed. 

1) There's no way to deconstruct a "What If-" story into six issues for a TPB. So why not just make it an in-continuity event? Or so I believe the publishers think.

2) A one issue story - even in a "giant sized" book - has to present its premise, those changes from "reality", and the results of that change in a single shot. Who can write like that any more?

3) So many of the original (better?) "What If-" stories were based on a signal event or characteristic. Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four. Someone else found Mjolnir. Cap hadn't been frozen during World War II. The Avengers hadn't stayed together. Gwen Stacy hadn't died.

But eventually, those classic elements got used up, and it was time to change other things... Daredevil joined S.H.I.E.L.D. The Punisher became Captain America. And worst, to me: the latest company wide crossover event had come out differently. 

4) They started out with having name creators on the books, and were easily as good as the mainstream books. E.g., Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did "What If... the Marvel Bullpen were the Fantastic Four?" Who CARED about the premise? It was STAN AND JACK!!!

But as the series ran on - especially the second one - it seemed to me to be a showcase book for new talent. "This guy is brand new, has some potential as a penciller." "Great! Let's have him do the next 'What If-' with the X-Men!" "But the next issue is supposed to have Spider-Man." "Then have him do THAT one! Do I have to think of everything? I have coffee to get for the editors!"

4½) "What If-" stopped being about specific incidents and became (mostly) concept books with something different, and (it seemed) mostly with the big titles and characters. "We can't do an Iron Man What If - we have to sell the book! Put in another X-Men story! See if Murray has an idea... ask him after he's done mopping the front lobby."

I feel that comic readers aren't interested in an imaginary story any more. And I think that part of that might be that too many of these stories have been written FOR REAL, and they're no longer entertaining. What If Iron Man's armor came alive? What if Captain America were a Hydra agent? What if Bucky lived? What if the White Queen joined the X-Men? What if everybody declared war on the Hulk?

Those might work for an issue, or even two... but I don't see them as being necessary to be added to the canon. And for the really esoteric ideas, a new reader would have no damned idea what it was about. I think they barely get it when they're NOT imaginary stories!