I was just poking around Monsters in Motion and discovered that there is now a 1/4 scale “bust” of Doctor Doom being offered. Looks way too much like the movie version, which is bad enough, but just to make things even worse, a selling point is that the mask is removable. The catalog entry is accompanied by an animated graphic in which the mask fades away, and there is Doom’s heavily scarred face for all to see.Who thought this was a good idea? Who the hell approved it? Matters not, I guess. This makes it official. MARVEL is dead.
He goes on to explain his rancor:
This is the fanboy mentality I bemoan so often these days. So many fans are convinced they could write the books every bit as well as the pros hired to actually do it, yet in most instances when they display their wares they demonstrate an amazing capacity for completely missing the point. They think it would be great if Wolverine dissected Cyclops. They think it would be terrific if Ben Grimm could swith the Thing on and off at will. They think Superman should stop being such a big wuss and really kick some ass. And, of course, they think it would be “cool” to see Doctor Doom’s face. Not a month went by, when I was working on FANTASTIC FOUR, that I didn’t get at least one letter saying exactly that.Now, the people who wrote those letters are, in large part, running the show. And, in reaching that level, have shown absolutely no ability to leave their fanboy brains behind.
Mind you, if you thought he was appalled, his fans are physically affected by this news:
“I’m just threw up - Marvel’s gone too far.”
“I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.”
People. It’s just a statue based on a comic book. Save the heaving for something more important, okay?
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:40 pm
I wonder how many days out of the year Byrne has where he isnt bitchin about something.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:50 pm
Having John Byrne bitch about “the fanboy mentality” while complaining that the Dr. Doom bust looks too much like the movie version is funny on so many levels I can barely breathe.
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:21 pm
who is John Byrne?
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Uhm… dood. For reals. He sounds like the fanboy. An old fanboy. An old fanboy scared of change. An old fanboy scared of changes enacted by people younger than himself. Get off his lawn, by cracky!
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:38 pm
They think it would be terrific if Ben Grimm could switch the Thing on and off at will.
Didn’t Secret Wars leave Ben on a planet where he could control his changes, and wasn’t Byrne writing The Thing at the time?
(I freely admit that I could be wrong about both of those….)
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:41 pm
I just threw up on a pile of Next Men comics. And now they’re worthless. WORTHLESS!
November 22nd, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Somewhere in all that old-man-bile is a point.
It’s happened to the Simpsons a few times. Die hard fans become writers and next thing you know; Apu has a lame family and baggage.
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:01 pm
What, but nobody complained when they made a scarred-faced Doctor Doom Marvel Legends figure four years ago?
Mind you, they went to the trouble of giving Doom a comics-accurate jetpack and Mauser pistol.
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Dr. Doom is the Red Skull ???!!!???
*BOGGLE* ;^D
Here’s a link to the item in question:
http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=9505
I’m ‘a throw-up nows!
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:11 pm
“People. It’s just a statue based on a comic book. Save the heaving for something more important, okay?”
Right, save the barfing for Keanu Reeves playing John Constantine again.
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Ugh. Can we please declare a moritorium on “threw up a little in my mouth?” I don’t know what kicked it off to become so popular, but I’m sick of hearing it. Was it FAMILY GUY? Was it a movie trailer somewhere? So annoying.
November 22nd, 2006 at 2:51 pm
And then we can declare a moratorium on moratoria.
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:05 pm
And then a moratorium on Morey Amsterdam. Oh, wait.
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Hey now! What did Morey Amsterdam ever do to you?!
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Augie: I think it was The Spy Who Shagged Me, when Dr. Evil’s chair spun around and he said, “I just threw upp in my mouth!”
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:42 pm
When did Wolverine dissect Cyclops? Is he a scientist now?
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:08 pm
I want to throw up on people who say, “threw up a little in my mouth”. I want to wrestle John Byrne…and Meredith Baxter Birny.
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:37 pm
I think it was Christine Taylor in Dodgeball, when Ben Stiller tried to kiss her or something. Things like that tend to be a lot better if you imagine Christine Taylor saying them.
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Why is this blog so obsessed with what John Byrne says?
November 22nd, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Why is John Byrne so good at being an total jackass?
November 22nd, 2006 at 6:55 pm
Marvel is dead, huh? Funny… John Byrne’s been dead for years now.
November 22nd, 2006 at 7:54 pm
I love this stuff…
November 22nd, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Marvel may be dead but he’d jump at the chance at working there again.
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:25 pm
This blog alternates shots between Byrne and Millar to keep their respective followings on the alert. Homeland Security would do well to do a case study analysis…
Kevin, I’m impressed with the Dick Van Dyke show reference.
And Tom, yes Byrne wrote that Thing series where Ben Grimm was able to dress like a pro wrestler. If only Slott had had that long to play with the character…
November 23rd, 2006 at 1:56 am
I thought this blog exists because if it didn’t, I’d have nothing to do but wander around unattended. And believe me, you all don’t want that.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I’ve been throwing up in my mouth for a good 20 years now. It’s the only way to eat!
November 25th, 2006 at 1:47 am
—Ugh. Can we please declare a moritorium on “threw up a little in my mouth?” I don’t know what kicked it off to become so popular, but I’m sick of hearing it.
I threw up in my mouth a little when I read that.