You make a good point. I guess it feels that the manga-to-anime pipeline feels more about straight adaptation, while the comic-to-MCU pipeline is much more abou

You make a good point. I guess it feels that the manga-to-anime pipeline feels more about straight adaptation, while the comic-to-MCU pipeline is much more about picking over a buffet of characters, beats, "things you know", etc to create "an MCU movie." I find that this didn't exactly drive people backwards to appreciating or supporting the comics more. I'm more of a manga reader than an anime watcher, and I can still find enjoyment in reading manga pre-adaptation and then choose not to watch the anime; I guess the same thing can be said about comics ("and then choosing to not watch the movie"), but it somehow feels more authentic, as if they can co-exist separately with the same amount of care from the rights holders? Perhaps I'm confusing the feeling of authenticity with the idea of there just being so much history for something like Spider-Man, that you're going to have to condense or adapt or like, merge different things into one movie. I don't know for sure; I still think that the work-for-hire nature of Marvel/DC really leads to a cynicism on my part. You've still got stuff coming out from Image and Dark Horse and the indies that you can "read comics for the comics", but something just feels off. It's probably a bit of idealizing Japan for being Japan, but I never get the feeling of "if you don't watch the MCU, we don't care about you" like I do with Marvel Comics. If an MCU concept does well enough on film, they're going to backport it back into the comics regardless, so why should I invest in the comics when they're going to be manipulated by something I don't enjoy?