If you remember the faraway time of July 2010 — Inception fever was sweeping a slightly confused nation, and Mel Gibson was teaching the world that there is indeed such a thing as bad press — then you might remember NBA superstar LeBron James made the notable and rather well-publicized decision to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers and join the Miami Heat as a free agent.
People in Cleveland were unsurprisingly miffed about that, and they’re still so upset that they can’t even find the humor in this image:
That is, of course, from ESPN the Magazine’s Marvel-themed NBA preview issue, on sale now. Not only is that a pretty clever homage to Amazing Spider-Man #50, it’s actually drawn by John Romita Sr. himself, the legendary artist who drew the original “Spider-Man No More” cover back in 1967. That is, as Miley Cyrus might put it, pretty cool. But as no less of an authority than cleveland.com reports (which calls the image a “gut punch”), some folks disagree. Well, at least the one folk quoted in this article:
But Cavs season ticket-holder Brian Barney, a downtown ad executive who saw the images online, was upset at what he considered a cheap shot.
“It’s belittling,” he said. “It seems mean-spirited.”
Every team gets a Marvelized pic in the issue, though as that article points out, the Cavs are “the only team report not to have an illustration of a current player or owner.” Other artists participating include Kaare Andrews, Skottie Young and Joe Quesada, an exciting prospect no matter who you root for, or which beloved hometown heroes you’ve lost in the off-season.
October 26th, 2010 at 2:21 am
Gotta say, if all but one team have positive covers, it’s unfair to that one team. And odds ares that most fans have no clue what this is referencing.
Indeed, I suspect a lot of readers probably don’t care for these covers, since the overlap between sports fans and comics fans is, in my experience, far from common.
October 26th, 2010 at 9:06 am
People got upset because someone changed his job. Nothing like perspective, is there?
October 26th, 2010 at 9:53 am
PS
HOW DARE THEY BRING HAL BACK?
October 26th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Sports are serious business apparently.
October 26th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
What did the Cleveland or the Cavaliers ever do to ESPN or Mr. Romita, Sr.? For James it may be business, but for ESPN it seems personal.
October 26th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
They’re definitely not the only one with a negative cover. If all the covers were happy and positive, it wouldn’t be telling the true story of the nba.
October 27th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Ouch
October 27th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
@Cisco:
Just about as serious business as comics.
October 30th, 2010 at 10:49 am
This is the problem with writing today. The author takes no stand whatsoever, and if he sneaks one in by commenting on cavaliers’ fans lack of humor, then it’s the weakest piece of editorial I’ve ever read. We have enough legitimate news sources where we don’t need fifth-rate authors to merely report something. The beauty of the Internet is in the ability to exchange unique ideas and opinions. This writer does neither. Albert Ching, you should be ashamed for putting out such drivel.
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