Is Marvel Comics Ending Print?
Comic Reviews for the week ending 7/19/2026
Good morning, my friend,
The short answer to the headline is yes… and no. No, Marvel Comics isn’t ending print comics as a medium anytime soon. Yes, the print comics you get from Marvel today will look significantly different in the next 12-18 months.
The Marvel Cookie Has Crumbled
If you’re keeping up on the latest news, The Hollywood Reporter broke the big announcement that C.B Cebulski, current Marvel Editor-in-Chief, is stepping down from his role. He’s not leaving Marvel, but his new position as head of comic development in the APAC regions is a step down, by all accounts.
Next, Stephen Wacker is stepping in to take Cebulski’s place as the EiC of Marvel Comics. Readers who keep abreast of the Comics Industry know that Wacker has been around for a while. He was one of the key editors at DC during the early 2000s. Wacker then moved to Marvel, where he was a significant editorial force during the Axel Alonso years.
Wacker started pulling double duty with the streaming and animation side of the house around 2014, until now.
Most people seem to agree that Wacker is a “get it done” kind of guy, easy to work with, and a corporate man. That said, the projects Wacker is attached to, both in film and print, are some of the worst-regarded projects under the Marvel umbrella, including the modern Captain Marvel update, Ms. Marvel, and the now-infamous Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In effect, Wacker was nested right in the middle of Axel Alonso’s All-New, All Different era, which marked the beginning of Marvel’s biggest downslide in years.
To be clear, the blame for All-New, All Different can’t be placed solely on Wacker, but it’s fair to say his name isn’t synonymous with “Winning Comics.”
Furthermore, Wacker has been publicly called out in the past for inappropriate behavior toward women in the office. It’s unclear if this was a one-off incident or a pattern of behavior, but it bears keeping an eye on.
Source:
Lastly, the icing on top of this crumbling cookie is the announcement to move Marvel HQ from NYC to Burbank, California. A move that all but confirms the autonomy of the Comics division is gone. It’s MCU synergy all the way. However, it remains to be seen in which direction the synergy will flow.
That’s a lot of big changes, but what does it really mean from the print side of the house?
In a nutshell, print is NOT going away. But…
The way stories are written will be significantly different.
Stephen Wacker, much like incoming President Brad Winderbaum and incoming General Manager Dan Abdo, is all about digital, monetization, product alignment, and synergy. The illusion that print comics will just do their own thing and have complete idea autonomy is gone.
When plot ideas are conceived, there will now be extra layers of consideration beyond “Will this get new readers on board?” For example:
Which characters are and are not being used in upcoming animation/shows/film, and how do we ensure no conflicts? (Some of this happens today but post-pitch. Now, it will be part of the ideation.)
Alignment with miniseries and events will be much tighter and more aligned, as if the comic were an extension of the show or film.
It’s very likely that costumes, origins, race & gender, and a myriad of aspects of existing characters will be retrofitted to ensure what’s on the page matches what’s on the screen.
The tone and vibe described as the Disneyfication of the MCU will permeate the print comics.
I suspect the current talent pool of writers, barring a handful of exceptions, will be replaced with screenwriters who can create comics that are easier to adapt for the screen.
So, yes, print will continue, but what you see on the page, who writes it, and how it “feels” compared to the Marvel comics of old will be a lot more like it came from a typical Hollywood writers’ room.
Is This Good Or Bad?
Again, it depends, but it depends on you.
I’m not a fan of the All-New, All-Different era at Marvel. At the risk of skirting up against culture war nonsense, that period is an easy target for identifying when Marvel leaned into the now-reviled over-jokiness, heroes sitting around and eating for multiple pages, and the big push to replace legacy characters with so-called diverse variants in the name of being “woke.” Again, Wacker isn’t responsible for the catastrophic damage of All-New, All Different, but he was nestled squarely in the middle of it.
So, it’s good that Wacker has a lot of experience with comics and animation to enable the synergy Marvel wants, but it’s not good that Wacker’s association with comics is either incredibly concerning or incredibly unlucky.
More Good News?
Let’s take a look at the lesser piece of news that leans into confirmed information recently announced about the expanded relationship between Marvel and Webtoon.
Webtoon readers are not Marvel readers. They’re a different audience with different tastes. The traditional Marvel reader likes action-adventure with big stakes and plenty of energy. The Webtoon reader is… not that. They tend to be focused on romance, family drama, slice-of-life, and more in a similar vein. We now know that Marvel is pushing to expand their offerings on Webtoon, possibly with one eye toward shutting down Marvel Unlimited, but a simple forklift won’t cut it unless the digital comics Marvel publishes are revamped to meet the tastes of a very Tumblr-esque audience.
C.B Cebulski’s role as the lead for APAC and Manga-ish variations of Marvel Comics could be the play into that Webtoon crowd, since a lot of successful Webtoon comics are Manga-ish in nature. It’s likely the role change is a graceful way to let Cebulski leave Marvel in a year or two without the public shame of a firing and a way to get a seasoned editor to kickstart the Webtoon efforts.
“What does that have to do with print comics?” you may ask.
Historically, Manga comfortably adapts to Anime (animation). Wacker and Winderbaum both have a background in the digital side of Marvel. It makes sense that the future push for Marvel is digital, highly positioned for adaptation.
If… and that’s a big IF… the digital efforts become successful (read: highly profitable), the digital comics could become a competitive threat to the print comics.
Think about it. Why would Marvel spend more money to make profits from thin margins with print comics when digital is cheaper to make, faster to produce, has less overhead, and higher profit margins?
To be clear, I’m not saying print is going away.
I’m saying a big push to make digital a primary revenue stream, and therefore a competitive threat to print in terms of budget and resources, may force a shift in how print comics are made, or at the very least, what and how stories are told.
In the most extreme case, the print comics could become the print version of Webtoon, Tumblr-esque, Manga-styled comics to complement the digital side.
In the grand scheme, this approach would match the pipeline of Manga today. All synergy across the board between digital, print, and adaptation to screen.
Final Thoughts
So, yes, print will continue, but what you see on the page, who writes it, and how it “feels” compared to the Marvel comics of old will be a lot more like it came from a typical Hollywood writers’ room.
Are Marvel Comics in print going away?
No, at least not for years to come, if ever.
What is happening is a massive push for the big ‘s’ word - Synergy.
Print comics will be aligned more with the MCU in film, streaming, and animation.
The new, incoming administration is heavily focused on making that synergy happen AND increasing the digital presence of Marvel, which will likely provide heavier competition for the print side.
What’s clear, no matter how these changes shake out, is that Marvel Comics in print will be significantly different a year from now. Whether those differences are good or bad is too soon to tell.
Well, these are my opinions. What do you think? Are you looking forward to a new and improved Marvel Comics? Do these corporate shakeups give you hope or make you want to run away and hide under your covers? Answer the reader poll below, and submit your opinions in the comments.
-Gabe
Author’s Note: The original version of this newsletter cited Stephen Wacker’s involvement with the New 52 era of DC Comics. However, we have received updated information that confirms Wacker left DC before the new 52 began. The newsletter has been updated to remove any attribution between Wacker and the New 52.
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