Marvel came back briefly around the time of X-Men and Spider-Man making headway into theatres, with a smart business plan that accounted for their small reader base. It was really smart. They got new, fresh writers and artists (that were cheap!) that were talented, streamlined their selection by bringing the X-Men and Spidey books down to a very manageable size and pretty much threw away continuity so people could pick up any book. They also got rid of crossovers and SE prints of the same book (four collectable covers omg!).
It brought the company out of bankruptcy, and ushered in a renaissance for Marvel. They were also predicting the demise of the local comic book shop, and started converting their runs into trade paperbacks very, very quickly so people could buy them at places like Borders and Amazon. Combined with the boost they were getting from their icons hitting the silver screen, it was a great turn around. But it was a business model that understood that its reader base was small.
Then, in a matter of a couple of years - they threw pretty much the entire business model out the window. They expanded both the X-Men and Spidey books. Their fresh, new talent became hot, expensive talent, which meant bidding wars with D.C. Comics (which exists solely as a tax write off for Time Warner and a place to mine for cheap movie licenses). They began to introduce old continuity into new books. Mass, universe-wide crossovers began again. SE, collectable covers followed suit.
Now, Marvel is just as bloated as it ever was, and questions why some of its runs suffer such bad sales. Duh. You can't spread your base so thin, when there are so few people that still buy 'em.
It's distinguished mentally-challenged.
