Marvel Comics, despite nurturing a swath of new, diverse characters and socially inclusive storylines, has seemed to be the recipient of more bad press than good over the last few years. Now, as 2017 winds down, the publisher has shaken things up in a big way with 15-year Marvel veteran C.B. Cebulski replacing Axel Alonso as the new Editor-in Chief, effective immediately.

RELATED: C.B. Cebulski Named Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief

Cebluksi's last position was VP, Marvel Brand Management and Development, Asia, where he was tasked with helping to further the globalization of Marvel and its properties. Now, he's being charged with steadying the ship in New York. With all this faith placed in him, by fans and peers alike, CBR runs down some of the things we expect Cebulski should and will attend to ASAP.

More Escapism

Many fans turned on Marvel over to the politically-charged Secret Empire, with a number of them claiming they felt that Nick Spencer rewriting Captain America's history into that of an undercover HYDRA operative supported Nazi philosophies. Given the current political climate in America, and the fascist behavior of the "new" Steve Rogers (which included concentration camps, mass genocide and media censorship) and other iconic heroes who joined him, more than a few readers felt the vent's storyline not only disrespectful to what Captain America stands for, but to the legacy of his Jewish co-creators, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, as well.

As the event ended, Spencer's intended message became crystal clear -- to stand tall in the face of adversity and dictatorship -- but the journey to get to there took too long in the current climate, and was pretty much a public relations disaster. The damage was done and Marvel's image took a hit.

RELATED: Yes, Secret Empire Was Worth the Controversy

While the role of the artist is to hold the mirror up to society, in the wake of Secret Empire, Cebulski should temper things down a bit and balance these real-world issues with pure escapist superhero adventures once again. While comics can and should make big statements, a lot of readers come in to escape the troubles of the real-world and live vicariously through their favorite superheroes, away from the everyday stress and drama of life. Perhaps the next super-political superhero tale Marvel releases should be more limited in scope than Secret Empire, which touched virtually every Marvel series, making it impossible for readers to ignore.

Return to Creator-Driven Stories

Marvel riled up a lot of the industry this year by downplaying the ability of artists to move books as opposed to writers, barring exceptions in high-profile names like Olivier Coipel (House of M, Siege) or Steve McNiven (Civil War, Old Man Logan). The thing is, when the events these artists illustrated were marketed, they were presented as creative partners, on a 50-50 par with the writers.

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Then you've got Avengers vs. X-Men, with writers Brian Bendis, Hickman, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and Jason Aaron, as well as artists like Frank Cho, John Romita Jr. and Adam Kubert, all promoted as the series' driving force. However, this event didn't come off creatively focused at all, and as it unfolded, it felt like a very editorially-driven storyline, designed to put the pieces into their intended positions to drive the next event, by any means necessary.

RELATED: DC Comics We’d Love to See Brian Michael Bendis Write

Making things creator-driven once more should be a priority, especially when it comes to shaping strong teams and promoting more artists as A-listers. Just look at how DC Comics has been promoting Geoff Johns and Gary Frank (Doomsday Clock), and Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo (Batman, Dark Nights: Metal) as one of the main reasons to buy into their events. Marvel could, and should, do well to emulate this approach is it shapes its gameplay for 2018 and beyond

With Hickman no longer at Marvel, and Bendis coincidentally switching to DC, Cebulski clearly has his work cut out for him to reestablish a creative equilibrium where writers and artists can pull sales together even greater than they can independently. More importantly, Cebulski needs to figure out how to re-streamline Marvel's creative engine to ensure high quality storytelling, making art and not just products. A big step back towards this would be to ensure that all artists get their time in the spotlight.

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Continue to Diversify Marvel's Superhero Line-Up

Senior VP of Sales and Marketing, David Gabriel, as well as previous EiC Alonso, garnered heat earlier this year for stating that Marvel had "too many new characters." Though the quote was initially presented out of context, the statement led to backlash as people thought this meant that the publisher was walking back on its recent diversification drive.

Kamala Khan leads the Champions on a mission, featuring (left to right), Viv Vision, Totally Awesome Hulk, Miles Morales, Ms. Marvel, Cyclops (teen), and Sam Alexander

Bendis was a big part of this initiative to expand the social aspect of the comics, pushing gender equality with Jessica Jones, and then going on to create a hispanic Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and a female black teen as Iron Man's protege (Riri Williams). In recent years, Marvel also introduced an Asian Hulk (Amadeus Cho) taking over from Bruce Banner, and a Muslim Captain Marvel in Kamala Khan.

RELATED: Marvel Has Riri Williams Plans Following His Exit, Bendis Assures

This, obviously, is a course that Cebulski has to maintain and champion. This vast array of new characters, especially ones of color as well as of LGBT orientation, are inspirations to a modern generation of readers who all live in a rapidly evolving and more self-aware age. We relate to these kinds of characters and having them present increases inclusivity. The world is more of a kaleidoscope than ever, and comics should reflect that as accurately as possible.

Balance The Classic Feel with New Blood

Just because Marvel is introducing more diversity into its stable of characters, that doesn't mean classic characters can't maintain their roles and help lead the fight against injustice. The world changes everyday, and while diversification is essential to the publisher's evolution, there's no reason why a female Thor (Jane Foster), a female Wolverine (X-23) or a black Captain America (Sam Wilson) can't coexist alongside the classic Odinson, Logan and Steve Rogers.

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This balance won't be easy to achieve, but now's as good a time as any to have main figureheads such as Rogers and Tony Stark (currently comatose and existing as artificial intelligence in the books) standing alongside the new breed. With the comics now leaning more and more towards alignment with Marvel Cinematic Universe in certain key storylines (as seen through the importance of the new Infinity Stones), this approach could also help partner up both old and new characters on the big screen someday in an organic manner.

Marvel Legacy has already hinted towards this balance. Truth be told, Marvel is a business at the end of the day, and it's always been a bigger sell with the classic heroes at the fore. Blending generations, though, is the best way for Cebulski to ensure that progress is made for the future while still honoring the past.

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Continue to Cut Back On Events

In recent years, fatigue has set in thanks to a seemingly series of events such as Secret Invasion, Siege, AvX, Inhumans vs. X-Men, Secret Wars and Secret Empire. Despite the publisher's "no events" pledge, with the weekly Avengers: No Surrender now looming, it just feels like non-stop mega-storylines continue to be the order of the day, every day. Cebulski ought to take a page out of DC's playbook by sticking to more mini-events and fewer line-wide ones. Marvel's rivals have taken this approach to great success in recent years, leading to fan-favorite storylines like Court of Owls, Death of the Family and Suicide Squad vs. Justice League As a result, when the publisher went big with Metal and the current Watchmen crossover, fans were refreshed and eager to embrace the DC Universe-affecting events.

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RELATED: Comics Industry Reacts to Marvel Hiring CB Cebulski as Editor-in-Chief

Meanwhile, Marvel's mini-events. like One More Day (set during Civil War) and even Vanishing Point (set during Secret Empire) have felt like the publisher was shoehorning events within events, reducing already waning fan interest even further. Cebulski has to recognize that the events need to be cut back on, not stacked one on top of the other. Fans can only take so many events that shift or shatter the status-quo, after all.

Get Fantastic Again

At the end of Secret Wars, the Fantastic Four went off to rebuild a fractured multiverse. Fans felt that this was the publisher's way of getting back at Fox for its mishandling of the property in the movies, while Marvel attributed this move to a lack of sales. That said, whatever cinematic beef exists, if any, it needs to be put aside, and the FF has to return to comics.

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The Legacy one-shot featured Franklin and Valeria, the children of Reed and Sue Richards, apparently casting an eye towards Earth. Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, for their part, never actually left the Marvel Universe, though they went their separate ways and are only poised to reunite in the upcoming Marvel Two-In-One series. Cebulski has to remember how important the entire Fantastic Four, including Reed and Sue Richard, has been as a united front in so many storylines over the years.

RELATED: Why We Think Marvel Two-In-One is a Stealth Fantastic Four Relaunch

Whether it's the classic Fantastic Four (or even their spinoff team, the Future Foundation) coming back to help the Avengers, whether it's Spider-Man and Human Torch babysitting Valeria and Franklin, whether it's Reed and company aiding the X-Men, or whether they're trying to make better men out of Doctor Doom or Namor, it's clear that with this family, the entire Marvel Universe is stronger together.