Looking over the Marvel solicits for May, I find myself thinking about the impermanence of creative teams at the Big Two these days. DC’s New 52 has already taught us that artists can change at a moment’s notice, and that writers will swap out within a few months if sales aren’t great, but there’s something about this month’s Marvel solicits that underscore just how interchangable creative teams seem to be, these days: The familiar writers of Marvel Universe: Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (Dan Slott, Ty Templeton and the Man of Action team) are gone by #2, it seems, replaced by Eugene Son & Jacob Semahn (presumably writers on the show itself), for one thing; regular Avenging Spider-Man writer Zeb Wells is mising from the book for a second month, with launch artist Joe Madureira having been absent from the book for five issues now. All manner of books have fill-in artists, including books that are less than six months old, like Scarlet Spider and Defenders (I’m amused by the Daredevil #12 solicit welcoming “new artist, Chris Samnee,” who’s immediately replaced with the double-shipped next issue by Khoi Pham; Samnee’s a great addition to the Daredevil team, but announcing him as the new artist before immediately revolving him back out just reminds me of the fact that Daredevil – which launched with a team of two revolving artists, will have had five different art teams contributing to the first twelve issues of the series), and even Rick Remender is suddenly co-writing Venom – with Cullen Bunn, which is a pretty damn great writing team, really – without any warning.
Seeing changes like this isn’t surprising anymore; in fact, it’s beginning to seem like the norm, making the appearance of Invincible Iron Man‘s Matt Fraction and Sal Larocca (doing two issues in May) feel all the more impressive for the longevity of the pairing. Remember the days when most super-hero books had a regular writer and artist?
February 22nd, 2012 at 11:11 am
Dan Slott is writing Ultimate Spider-Man now? Or is Marvel Universe: Ultimate Spider-Man different from Ultimate Comics Ultimatey Presents: Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Unlimited Edition?
February 22nd, 2012 at 11:36 am
“…even Rick Remender is suddenly co-writing Venom – with Cullen Bunn, which is a pretty damn great writing team, really – without any warning.”
Isn’t three months a fair amount of warning?
February 22nd, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Rick is already writing Secret Avengers and continuing with X-Force (after Dark Angel Saga I doubt anyone would have blamed him for taking a break from it but he keeps going!). His scripts are pretty heavy so any respite he can get is worth it I say.
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Probably a side-effect of all the double-shipping Marvel is doing on a lot of the books each month now, they need the fill-ins to keep everything on that bi-weekly schedule.
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:50 pm
What currently amazes me is how Marvel doesn’t seem to realize why people might have concerns about these moves. Will these books really be able to maintain a certain level of quality with so many fill-in artists? And is it worth it for that extra sale every month?
Which, I guess, is what Marvel is saying. They’re not concerned if the quality drops here and there as long as they get that extra sale from us each month.
Because people buy their books for the characters, not the creators.
February 22nd, 2012 at 7:29 pm
Kyle, On which book listed above has the quality dropped?
Marvel is just the worst! How have they stayed in business…beyond failing upwards i mean.
SW
February 22nd, 2012 at 8:13 pm
Well, it seems that change is the norm these days. So, let’s consider that not having a team around for 2 issues as a bad thing, because then it proves it is too consistent and formulaic.
And Stephen: you forgot to mention that Marvel and DC have both fallen A LOT since the 90s. So there is a fall indeed, especially in the long run. I have stopped reading X-books 15 years ago mostly for that reason (unstable teams and Lobdell, basically).
February 22nd, 2012 at 9:39 pm
90s? Just think how fall we’ve fallen since the 30s!
With this kind of scheduling and planning ahead…comics are doomed!!
SW
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:20 pm
Maybe if editors spent more time editing and less time trolling message boards…
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Stephen, I’m no English major, but the question I posed, “Will these books really be able to maintain a certain level of quality with so many fill-in artists?” would appear to be about the future of these titles.
I love comics and I’m also concerned about the state of the industry. It is possible to love something and be concerned about it.
February 22nd, 2012 at 11:56 pm
Kyle: it’s feigned concern trolling at best. The DD stories have all been planned with the artists involved. It’s what known as decent scheduling and I always love when internet pundits try to teach it to me.
I don’t have the liberty of living in an outdated fairyland where apparently I force Paolo (or whoever the good artist du jour is) to draw 12 issues a year. I schedule based on what I can reasonably expect from the artists involved. Since you claim to like the book, it seems to be working.
You’re enjoying the book…but certain it has “problems”. I’ll ask again…which artist out of the three you’ve seen so far haven’t you liked? Which one has hurt the book in your “concerned” eyes? I don’t know why this is so hard to answer since it’s so horrible to have so many artists on the book. I mean that’s just a fact, right?
Bob: I hear ya. This kind of thing is clearly affecting my work. What can we do to stop me?
Graeme: The all ages books have had rotating teams for quite awhile. (When I ran the JLA Adventures book, I also had the same game plan.) And we never announced Slott and the Man Of Action crew as regular writers. But that goes against the thesis, I suppose.
Back to ruining comics!!
SW
February 23rd, 2012 at 6:04 am
For the most part, these changes haven’t bothered me. Dan Slott needing a co-writer on some random issues of Amazing Spiderman (I can’t remember if Christos Gage wrote the Avengers Academy issues, or if they were co-written) were fine and tonally appropriate. Brubaker’s been using co-writers for Captain America & Bucky, and it’s been good for me.
I’m even okay with the artist changing mid-arc or between storylines. What’s irritating is when Steve McNiven’s art is changed mid-issue to some other artist. I don’t even know who did the fill-in, but it’s not fair to that artist to be compared to McNiven, and it’s irritating that McNiven couldn’t finish on time. That takes me out of the story.
Fraction and LaRocca’s Iron Man is an achievement in this day, but I’d also love to give praise to Humberto Ramos for being such a workhorse on Amazing Spider-Man (I know Wacker’s reading this thread, but I would have said it anyway). Ramos did the first arc of Big Time (jam-packed, with tons of panels and extra pages), Spider-Island, and it looks like he’s doing Ends of the Earth too. I’m always surprised by how much Ramos puts out and how much quality there’s been.
February 23rd, 2012 at 7:10 am
I like the concept of rotating artists so long as they are stylistically related. Chris Samnee on DD? I’m there. If for example, it was Mike Deodato, then no.
By the way, Steve Wacker wants nothing more than to produce bad comics so no one will buy them, and Marvel can finally close it’s doors, all so that he can get some much needed time off of work, and go hang out with his buddies on the unemployment line.
February 23rd, 2012 at 8:31 am
“By the way, Steve Wacker wants nothing more than to produce bad comics so no one will buy them, and Marvel can finally close it’s doors, all so that he can get some much needed time off of work, and go hang out with his buddies on the unemployment line.”
I knew it!
February 24th, 2012 at 7:50 am
I don’t see how the routine shakeups at DC lately are any different. Staggered art teams and the occasional co-writer are a sign of the times at Marvel and DC where everyone chips in to keep shipping schedules on time.
February 25th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Dear god, there is no continuity!
Just make it all up as we go along and lie all the way there.
MarvDC is one big company sharing employees sucking each other off for ideas and profits.
February 26th, 2012 at 8:18 pm
What bothers me most about Marvel, is that we get more and more $3.99 books with only 20 pages of story. That’s a lot to ask the readers to pay. I personally can’t afford it, for those that can, then great.