1. I have to say, I thought I'd never want to read another word on Scorsese & Marvel movies. I was wrong. This Scorsese op ed is excellent. nytimes.com/2019/11/04/opi…
2. Scorsese's real concern (obvious from his original remarks) wasn't about Marvel movies but about the diminishing theatrical spaces for non-franchise movies. That's a legitimate concern -- one that you don't have to dislike Marvel movies (or like Scorsese movies) to share
3. In terms of the dilemma of directors like Scorsese, Coppola, Bill Forsyth etc. in the age of franchise, it strangely mirrors the experience of artists like Don Heck (1929-1995) & Gene Colon (1926-2011) in the comic book industry as superheroes came to dominate.
4. Heck & Colon started off as comic book artists in the 1940s, when superheroes were one genre among many. The industry cycled through romance comics, horror, crime, funny animals, westerns, etc.
5. As journeymen artists, Colon & Heck were among the first artists Stan Lee brought on when the superhero line was expanding beyond even the prolific abilities of Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko.
6. Anyways, Colan (Sp!)& Heck were fine artists but they weren't natural superhero artists like Kirby & Ditko. Colan in particular seemed constrained by superheroes, since his shadowy style suited horror & gothic stories more. He did find a niche in Daredevil, Batman & Dracula.
7. The point is that Colan & Heck adapted (as other artists did) to the new domination of superheroes as best they could. Marvel made Kirby their "house style." Some artists could adapt to that, some couldn't. But ideally there would have been greater genre diversity for artists
8. Another artist who came to have doubts about the dominance of a single genre owned by two companies was Jack Kirby, who did more to create the superhero genre than anyone else.
9. Late in life Kirby (working with Steve Gerber) created a series called Destroyer Duck which parodied Marvel Comics as GODCORP LTD. It had the slogan: "Grab it all, own it all, drain it all." That could be Disney 2019. 
