Tom Brevoort is asking for trouble:
It’s fun to gripe! We all do it! And it can be educational and enjoyable!
So let’s all gripe here for a second. What is there about what we’re doing at the moment that you don’t like? You can be specific if you like (although I don’t really need to read the same four posts about “One More Day” again), but I’m speaking more in broad strokes, in generalities. By the same token, I’m not really looking to control the terms of your gripes.
So what could we be doing better? What frustrates you about Marvel Comics right now?
The fans respond with some surprising suggestions:
“Not enough old school talent. You’re just now throwing bones to David Michelinie, Bob Layton, and Roy Thomas, but ‘new Marvel’ has turned it’s back on it’s history, regardless of how very qualified they are. Where is something new from Roger Stern, J. M. DeMatties, Larry Hama, JOHN BYRNE, Jim Shooter, Walt Simonson, or Gerry Conway? There’s a bit too much ‘good old boys club’ stuff going on right now at Marvel. I don’t think cliques are healthy.”
“Inexplicable creator ‘pushes’. Mark Guggenheim has bounced from Wolverine to Spider-Man to Young X-Men, while not displaying a damn bit of talent, and all the while bleating about how he hates ‘decompression’ and wants to work with John Byrne – neither of which is appropriate conduct for a Marvel Writer.”
“Please don’t adress Peter’s marriage and/or Mephisto again. ‘The past is past, so don’t look back– look forward.’ I liked that sentence in #546. It’s important.”
“Glossy paper. I guess I would need some more information on this one, but I’ll throw it in anyways. I think glossy paper and computer coloring have really driven up prices. I love Fables and Gotham Central, they weren’t any cheaper, but the paper quality didn’t ruin the storytelling. You can get back to blowing our minds with all the Photoshopped HD art you want when it all goes digital in a few years, but lets figure out a way to put comics in my hands for cheaper in the mean time. haha.”
“I guess my biggest gripe about Marvel right now is the lack of “counter-programming” in their takes on their characters. Don’t like Bendis Avengers? Tough. Want Spider-Man with intact continuity? Tough. I liked when we had a choice between Kurt Busiek’s Avengers and Mark Millar’s Ultimates, between JMS’ ASM and Bendis’ USM, and so on. These were real differences in both setting and tone. It gave readers an alternative.”
Many more at the link.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Shame on you, Graeme, for picking on Brevoort.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
“I guess my biggest gripe about Marvel right now is the lack of “counter-programming” in their takes on their characters. Don’t like Bendis Avengers? Tough. Want Spider-Man with intact continuity? Tough. I liked when we had a choice between Kurt Busiek’s Avengers and Mark Millar’s Ultimates, between JMS’ ASM and Bendis’ USM, and so on. These were real differences in both setting and tone. It gave readers an alternative.”
Huh. Good point.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:29 pm
There are quite a few good points in there actually – that’s unexpected.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:51 pm
“Glossy paper.”
Yeah. Damned stuff is too slick for emergency use as toilet paper.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:17 am
… or in the case of OMD, COMMON use as toilet paper.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Chad,
Absolutely agreed.
Regardless of all my (many) problems with the Ultimate line when it first came out, the one thing I had to give it credit for was offering a different take on the characters than the regular continuity. Didn’t like a married Spider-Man who was no longer in school? You could check out Ultimate Spider-Man. Did you want darker, more “edgy” and “realistic” takes on the X-Men and the Avengers? In spite of my opinions on his actual talent, Millar was definitely offering those on the Ultimate line.
But of course, Marvel made the same mistake as every stupid corporation in the history of ever, which was to say, “Hey, this product is really popular, so let’s force all of our other products to mimic it.” And thus, Marvel hired the two writers who had made the Ultimate line so popular, to turn the preexisting line into an imitation of the Ultimate line, and now, because no one at Marvel understands the laws of supply and demand, they’re suddenly wondering why sales on the Ultimate titles are plummeting …
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
And it’s interesting to see the “Don’t bring up Peter’s deal with Mephisto again” comment, because anyone who thinks that this won’t happen is smoking crack.
I mean, quite seriously, has it not been telegraphed strongly enough yet that at least one of the people behind Jackpot’s mask is Mary Jane, and that she alone remembers everything from the pre-OMD reality?
This will be used to try and appease the marriage fans, without actually giving them what they want, and in so doing, it’s simply going to piss off both them AND the BND fans who don’t want OMD to be touched upon again.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I want Joe Quesada to stop raping me.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Really, Smax, you have the Strong Light. You can take him.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Ditto to the comment on paper and coloring though I’d also add distribution to the mix. Comic books are monthly consumables and as such should be cheap and accessible neither of which they really are. I can’t buy them in my local store like I could 15 years ago and even if they were availible there I couldn’t afford to buy half a dozen at a time like I used to.
Publishers can always collect stories and publish them in higher quality formats but shouldn’t the initial run be an open door that welcomes people into the genre?