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Post by paulpogue on Jun 25, 2011 9:05:52 GMT -8
I think this has been linked here once or twice, and it's all over Kirk's blog, but I think it warrants its own thread. Over at www.jimshooter.com, former Marvel Comics EiC Jim Shooter, who oversaw the line through most of the 1980s, holds forth on just about EVERYTHING. Currently he's going through the ins and outs of how he got the EiC job and all the hell that broke loose. At other times he's talked about crucial points in comics history, the Phoenix story, how the Hank Pym thing went so terribly wrong, and spent two weeks and tens of thousands of words deconstructing a Jack Kirby Human Torch story, panel-by-panel, describing how so much of what made Kirby/Lee era comics so great did not happen by accident. It's definitely worth going through the archives. Whatever you think of Jim Shooter -- and to be honest, after reading this blog I can't see how anyone couldn't like him at least a little -- this is a goddamn masterclass in the most important era of comic book history, from the guy at the eye of the storm. www.jimshooter.com |
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Post by paulpogue on Jun 25, 2011 9:32:39 GMT -8
A thought I realized today: The creative chaos of Marvel circa 1977 is actually very much like the mayhem of today, except that it extends to the top levels of editorial. No respect for deadlines, little respect for continuity, and favored writers getting their own "fiefdoms" in which they can do pretty much whatever they want with no regard for anything else. It's all so confusing that most of us just assume Quesada is still running things even though he hasn't been EiC for several months.
Which means, I think, that the inevitable course correction is going to be BRUTAL. Sooner or later, Bendis/Quesada/Millar/Slott/et al are going to fall out of favor (and I don't say this maliciously, it's just a fact of comics life) and what follows will either be absolute mayhem or a regime that leads to so many hard feelings you'll have John Byrne begging to have Shooter back. As it stands now, we're at the tail end of the Quesada And His Amazing Friends era, and most of it is just continuing that era on autopilot. I mean, hell, we're halfway through the big crossover event of the year, and I still CANNOT BLOODY TELL YOU WHAT THE POINT IS. And this is coming from Fraction, who has been one of the more reliable Marvel writers of the post-Civil War era. The best that can be said is that it's "The Eighth Day" reheated, only less creative.
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Post by Mario Di Giacomo on Jun 25, 2011 10:25:47 GMT -8
I mean, hell, we're halfway through the big crossover event of the year, and I still CANNOT BLOODY TELL YOU WHAT THE POINT IS. It's the same point of every Marvel event of the last 7 years: "The good guys never win. If someone wins, odds are they are evil in some way." |
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Jun 25, 2011 15:14:58 GMT -8
Which means, I think, that the inevitable course correction is going to be BRUTAL. Yes, yes it will. For both Marvel and DC. Actually, I think what you are seeing with DC right now is something like that - or at least, it's a gasp at what a much more iron-clad editorial direction looks like - the filling in of so many Harras holdovers is a clue there. But yeah, the correction will be brutal - and quite frankly, if Bendis and Millar et al. are brutally cast out - well, I'll shed no tears. Not because I don't like them - that's just a bonus - but because they've had over 50 years of history lessons about how the industry works, and if they didn't know it was coming and didn't try to change it - well, too fucking bad. |
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Post by jensaltmann on Jun 25, 2011 22:30:02 GMT -8
Sooner or later, Bendis/Quesada/Millar/Slott/et al are going to fall out of favor (and I don't say this maliciously, it's just a fact of comics life) Any day now, and I also say that without malice. If you look back at Marvel and DC since the sixties, while there was always a coming and going of creators, there used to be fairly big changes in who the big names were roughly every ten years. A generational change, if you will. By that standard, the current regime at Marvel are on life support. I think that the changes at DC, where I see in the reboot a lot of names I don't know, are an effort to make a controlled generational change that will leave the oldtimers in charge. |
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Post by jensaltmann on Jun 25, 2011 22:32:28 GMT -8
But yeah, the correction will be brutal - and quite frankly, if Bendis and Millar et al. are brutally cast out - well, I'll shed no tears. Well, Millar has (by his accounts) left on his own accord, because apparently he's making more money by selling his ideas to movie studios. I wouldn't be surprised if a big part of his voluntary leaving, however, is that he's aware that change is coming, and he doesn't want to be caught under the bus when it happens. That's the one thing he's good at: reading the zeitgeist. |
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Post by paulpogue on Jun 26, 2011 9:24:40 GMT -8
Hell, just the passage of time indicates this gang is on their way out. Nobody has ever held such an influence on Marvel's destiny for so long. STAN didn't run things as long as the current crowd. If nothing else, the corporate types who want to see increasing returns will see to a changing of the guard.
That said, I always thought BND was going to blow up in their face a lot more than it did. In between the world not remotely noticing the Mephisto thing and the suits apparently not caring about the massively declining Spider-sales, I've concluded that when the current regime is replaced, it will have little if any to do with Spider-Man.
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Post by paulpogue on Jun 26, 2011 9:28:01 GMT -8
Addenda: I actually think the changing event is going to be DC's massive relaunch and, more importantly, same-day digital. The relaunch will be short-term, but the likely uptick in sales is going to make the bean-counters take notice. But same-day digital is a gigantic game-changer, in which comics catch up to where everyone else was years ago, and I think it will work very well for DC. I expect Marvel to go same-day within a year. Sooner, if I didn't think the infrastructure would be too time-consuming to institute.
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Post by paulpogue on Jun 28, 2011 18:49:36 GMT -8
Incidentally, the comments section is probably more informative than the blog itself. It's practically Marvel Comics Creators Secret Wars in there, as a LOT of old-timers keep popping in with their recollections. Peter David, Tony Isabella, John Byrne-by-Proxy, Priest-by-proxy, and even Larry Hama just showed up, all part of a widely encompassing discussion of the veracity of the old "Jim Shooter screwed me" stories. I expect Claremont and DeFalco any moment now.
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