I remember Marvel when it was the House of Ideas. When they were considered the rebel to DC/Warner's establishment. I remember when Uncanny X-Men and Avengers were my first two titles I ever put on a pull 'n hold file at a comic shop in Scarborough, ON. Then came Alpha Flight, Transformers, G.I.Joe, Micronauts, New Mutants, West Coast Avengers, the list goes on and on. Here was a company that showed us the most amazing stories taking place were in "our" world.
I remember when an event occurred like Secret Wars or the Mutant Massacre or Avengers Under Siege it was big because the story was exciting. Not because of 101 tie-ins or that it promised to change the face of the universe year-after-year-after-year.

I remember when Marvel had integrity, spirit, identity and took risks. Since the early nineties I've seen all of this slip away little by little from my once fave comic publisher. More and more it was about the buck, the fans were only consumers and no longer had a face. 20k fans reading a comic is apparently not enough to appease their shareholders or the House of Mouse? that's too bad.
No longer the House of Ideas it's more of the House of Cloned Franchises. Where is my Alpha Flight? My Atlas? My Captain Britain? No, they aren't X-men, Avengers or Hulks. I'm sorry if they don't rack in as much as those books. Is it really fair to expect them to?

I remember when Marvel gave me a diverse line-up of comics to choose from.

But I'm starting to forget.