The idea of a Marvel editor focusing on one book is…pretty outside the realm of possibility. We have a LOT of books to put out. Just looking at my own schedule, I’m currently editing two on-going series and two miniseries while assisting Nick on seven on-goings and three minis. Add to that the fact that a number of those on-going series will put out more than 12 issues per year, and you can see why the idea of focusing on just working on one book is a little foreign to me.One book would not be enough to fill up my day editorially. Sure, I would like to have a little less so I could devote a bit more to each project, but that is natural. We all do our best to get as in-depth and immersed in the world of every book we can. Naturally, I am a bit more involved in the books I edit than the ones I assist on, but I can get pretty deep into those as well. I think it’s all about balance, figuring out how much you can devote to each book without selling any of them short.
That’s Marvel’s Jordan D. White, talking to The Beat’s Steve Morris about what it means to be a Marvel editor; it’s a pretty great interview, which you can check out here.
October 24th, 2012 at 10:58 pm
I think you didn’t mentioned the most interesting part:
“but I’ve heard it said that the job of the editors is to make sure everything gets where it needs to go on time, and that it’s good when it gets there. That’s a tremendous simplification, but pretty true(…) We make the master schedules with deadlines to make sure the book comes out when it’s supposed to’
Notice that during that, or in any other part of the interview, he never mentions “Pay attention to continuity” or “Make sure the story fits with the content of other books being published around the same time, specially in crossovers” or even “In the case of guest stars or characters that appear in more than one book, make sure the characterization fits, and the character doesn’t seem two entirely different people”.
Marvel’s problems in a nutshell.