Marvel assistant editor Nathan Cosby makes a surprising admission over on his Marvel.com blog:
If you know me (and I’m sorry if you do), you know I don’t really like to read comics. They were fun when I was little, but they’ve lost some mystique over the years. Distractions such as girls, football, trying to see how long I can go before having to cut my toenails…this stuff takes time. Comics were the first to go.
Luckily, he’s made non-comics lemons into comic blog lemonade:
I figure that you’re on Marvel.com because you like comics (or you went to Google and typed in “marvel,” thinking you’d get links to sites devoted to Marvelous Marvin Hagler, an old bald boxer). So it is in keeping with that spirit that I allow Jordan to enter my blog and attempt to explain old comics that I have no interest reading. After he’s explained it to me, I then give his performance a WR (Worth Reading) or WFI (Watch Football Instead).
So far, Jordan has explained the Clone Saga (failing to do so in under 100 words), and Inferno:
JORDAN: Well, this featured Madelyne Pryor, who was a clone of Jean made by Mr. Sinister, and the real Jean. The one who’d been sleeping at the bottom of a lake in a magical healing pod, was the one who kicked her butt. I’m pretty sure it was in this story-line that they reveal that Madelyne was made from the bit of Jean’s soul that the Phoenix had stolen, and then, in the end. Jean gets back all the memories of Phoenix and Madelyne (but not the powers). The verdict is still out on whether that absolves Cyclops for ditching his wife, Madelyne, to run around with Jean. Oh! There you go–in a way, it erased Cyclops’ marriage. Though Mephisto had nothing to do with that part of it. He was just in DAREDEVIL.
NATE: Y’know what? I’d have to read what you just wrote eight times to figure out what you’re talking about, and I have a feeling it wouldn’t be worth it.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:07 pm
This is why I work with them so much. One day I’ll share audio of one of our conference calls, which get much nastier.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Hilarious.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Why is someone who doesn’t like comics writing a Marvel blog?
Actually, you know what? Nevermind, that explains alot about Marvel lately.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I think the best part of that blog are the guys who are so upset about Nate not reading comics.
In most interviews with pros, they tend to say “I don’t read comics regularly, except the ones I have to read.” But, you know, somehow that comes across as “I hate comics and am only editing them to ruin them. Bwa-ha-ha-haaaaaa.”
The blog posts are great, too, don’t get me wrong! But these completely out of whack fan reactions are solid gold.
January 21st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Hey, lots of pros, editorial and creative, don’t have the time or inclination to read comics. When it becomes your job it becomes a little less fun, that’s a fact of life.
And when it becomes no fun at all, you go to work for DC.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:31 pm
He reads ‘em, he doesn’t, no skin off my back. But is it smart, as an employee of a business looking to sell comics, to say: “I don’t really like to read comics. They were fun when I was little, but they’ve lost some mystique over the years. Distractions such as girls, football, trying to see how long I can go before having to cut my toenails…this stuff takes time. Comics were the first to go”?
Funny? Sure. But I can’t think of another entertainment medium where it would be OK for someone, writing on a company-administered blog, to: A) Say that he doesn’t like the company’s output (I realize he says he doesn’t like comics in general, but that includes Marvel’s stuff); B) Imply that his readers are maturity-challenged nerds who can’t get a date (however true); and C) State that seeing how long he can wait to cut his toenails is preferable to sampling his employer’s output.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it was funny, but somehow I don’t think Stan Lee woulda done it this way.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
He never said he doesn’t like comics per se, just that he doesn’t like to read them (as in, during his free time). His job is a job - there’s a reason they call it work. I work in insurance, am very good at my job and make a decent living at it. But I don’t have a passion for it, and don’t take it home with me. You don’t necessarily have to have a passion for your job in order to be good at it.
I think the blog is hilarious, and the possibilities for future entries are endless.
January 27th, 2008 at 4:32 am
I’m forced to wonder, however, if he wouldn’t have a much better output if he was a big comic fan that enjoyed reading comics in his free time.