Comments on: What A Marvel Editor Does (And Doesn’t Do)

By: Captain Temerity

Captain Temerity — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:09:01 +0000

K-Box pretty much said it all in the first post (although the second and third posts were great for hilarity alone!). My first thought was the “if he didn’t write it, we would’ve found someone who would have” comment. Nothing, to me, is as blatant a statement of Editorial over Creator. That and the “kill off a character a quarter” comment I’ve also read around the net.

I sometimes wish I could just go back to the time in my childhood where I didn’t know who ANYONE was that worked in comics. They were just these magic books full of wonder that wound up in my hands month after month that brought me new worlds, amazing characters, and joy. I didn’t know who wrote Batman… I just heard “Batman” speaking.

I know, I know… that puts the characters above the creators, and I sometimes complain about just that… I believe creators (and editors) deserve some recognition for good work. It just seems like they’re more about being pitchmen and celebrities a lot more lately than they are storytellers.

Sufficed to say, if Marvel feels like they have to put out an official statement about what their Editors’ actual jobs are, it’s a pretty bad sign of what the Editors must have been doing up til now.

By: mbsprime

mbsprime — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:13:14 +0000

Editors don’t write the books, yes. The marketers do.

Just take a look at that glut of unnecessary Marvel product put out there solely to grab market share.

By: Darth Kidriss

Darth Kidriss — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:44:11 +0000

Actually, I always looked at Marvel as being more editorial driven than DC in the last few years, but that’s because I think Quesada couldn’t handle not being a creator. I always saw him and Bendis as an evil brain trust who set out to ruin the Marvel; Universe I love so much.

By: ThePants

ThePants — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:43:17 +0000

“Is Marvel going to become the new DC, in terms of being the creator haven that DC used to be…?”

When was DC considered a creator’s Haven more than Marvel? pre- 2000 sometime?

By: K-Box

K-Box — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:21:35 +0000

“watch my get a typo in this post”

Never fails.

By: K-Box

K-Box — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:20:56 +0000

What’s funny is that Marvel editors are micromanaging in the worst ways — by their own directly stated admission, they dictate the creative content of the books through endless line-wide crossovers, and yet, they can’t be bothered to do simple copy-editing (watch my get a typo in this post).

I’ll never forget the issue of USM where Bendis gave Mary Jane’s dad three different first names within a single page.

By: K-Box

K-Box — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:18:17 +0000

Talk to me when the Mephisto marriage retcon is undone.

Or when Tom Brevoort stops saying things like, “If Brian Michael Bendis didn’t want to write the death of Ultimate Spider-Man, we would have hired someone else to do it.”