Tidbits from WW Philly

[Jan]

Some items of interest from the Wizard World Philadelphia convention this weekend. With thanks to Newsarama.com:

The Marvel Cup 'O Joe panel began at WizardWorld: Philadelphia, and the with the announcement that Greg Land has been named as the artist on the October-launching Ultimate Power miniseries that has the Ultimate Universe meet the world of J. Michael Straczynski's Supreme Power.

For those coming in late, Ultimate Power will run nine issues, and will be written by (three issues each) Jeph Loeb, Brian Bendis, and Straczynski. For Newsarama's earlier report on the miniseries, click hereclick here.

Inevitably, the issue of Spider-Man's marriage came up, and ate up nearly 20 minutes of the panel. Quesada reiterated his earlier points and feelings about the wedding between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, and this time, added the history behind the nuptials for those who may not be familiar with what happened 20 years ago. According to Quesada, the wedding had nothing to do with what was going on in the Spider-Man comics at the time, but rather, was based in the Spider-Man newspaper strip that Stan Lee was writing.

When the syndicate decided it would support the marriage of Spider-Man taking place in the strip, then Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter (rather than facing down Stan Lee, apparently) decided that the marriage would happen in the Marvel Universe as well, and the comic needed to get in front of it (long-time readers of Amazing Spider-Man will no doubt remember the relatively sudden reappearance of Mary Jane into the title at the time, and whirlwind "seriousization" of her relationship with Peter, and rush to the altar). Quesada made a point that the wedding wasn't creatively driven by anyone at Marvel creative or editorial, but rather was Stan Lee and the syndicate.

As he did in previous panels, Brevoort backed up Quesada's reasons for not being the biggest fan of the marriage, saying that a married Spider-Man is operating "at 40%" compared to a single Peter Parker.

Still carrying the thread, talking more about the marriage, and echoing Brevoort's sentiments, Quesada, perhaps not even realizing he said it, and not phrasing it as a hypothetical, said (paraphrasing) he'll get back with Mary Jane, it may be a year, it may be two years, but it's how you get there. This was the most direct, albeit inadvertent, indication of where things are headed for the Spider marriage.

Sigh...how long were they separated last time?

EDIT: I just read over on RACMU that the quote avobe may have been about the Ulitimate Universe Spidey, not Amazing. Guess I'll just wait and see.

Jan

[Garibaldi's Hair]

Sigh ...

You know one of the reasons that Spidey has always been my favourite super-hero character is that he seems more like a genuine human being than any of the others.

The fact that, as a married man, Spider-Man can only operate at 40% of what he could as a single guy is precisely what makes him interesting as a character. Everything he does has potentially serious consequences not just for him, but for MJ and his family.

That only serves to make him more like the rest of us.

Just my $0.02.

[Karachi Vyce]

Yep. It's about time that I finally cancel what few Marvel books I still collect, and just go about stealing them illegally. Because they don't deserve my money.

The more important news coming out of WW Philly is that DC's "Manhunter" is going to be getting at least five more issues, which is more exciting news than anything the idiots at Marvel are doing right now.

[Dr Maturin]

This is why I can't stand comics anymore. I got sick of the three Rs: retcons, restarts and resurrections. It's nice to read some good stories every now and then, but it's impossible to follow a series over the course of several years without getting at least one major change due to a new editing team or writer.

However, the Batman family has been pretty decent about continuity for the past ten years.

My money goes to DC's 52 right now. I have yet to read the prescribed Robin "One Year Later" titles that I bought. And of course, GI Joe: America's Elite.

[frulad]

Sigh ...

You know one of the reasons that Spidey has always been my favourite super-hero character is that he seems more like a genuine human being than any of the others.

The fact that, as a married man, Spider-Man can only operate at 40% of what he could as a single guy is precisely what makes him interesting as a character. Everything he does has potentially serious consequences not just for him, but for MJ and his family.

That only serves to make him more like the rest of us.

Agreed. There are no really bad ideas, only bad execution. (Case in point- For sheer dramatic weight, compared the original Battlestar: Galactica to the new version.) This "Spidey Marriage cripples the character" attitude is what makes me believe that Joe Q. is a crap editor.

[Joe Nazzaro]

Quesada could just as easily have said Aunt May has been holding the character back for the last four decades, but it took JMS all of about two issues to revitalize the character. I tend to think Peter works better as a character when he has something to lose. Take away Aunt May and/or Mary Jane and he becomes somebody who doesn't give a s**t about anything. And frankly, I think it's bad editorial policy to dictate these things to a writer, as opposed to just coming up with good stories and let the chips fall where they may.

[manwithnoname]

Agreed. There are no really bad ideas, only bad execution. (Case in point- For sheer dramatic weight, compared the original Battlestar: Galactica to the new version.) This "Spidey Marriage cripples the character" attitude is what makes me believe that Joe Q. is a crap editor.

I agree about a story's execution. I disagree about the Joe Q. being a crap editor, though. I also disagree with Joe Q. on Spidey's marriage.

If you remember, Marvel started an imprint called Marvel Knights. The Marvel Knights imprint's editors were Joe Q. & Jimmy Palmiotti. They would recruit, edit, and pay creators to work on certain characters/titles Marvel greenlight. Marvel decided to go ahead with this b/c after many, many years of treating creators like crap, well, surprise!, good & great creators were hesitant and reluctant to work for Marvel. Marvel alienated & pissed off a lot of creators and fans.

The creators didn't have to deal with Marvel, only Joe & Jimmy directly. Joe & Jimmy picked an unknown comic writer named Kevin Smith to write Daredevil. They picked Paul Jenkins & Jae Lee to do the mini Inhumans comics. They tapped Garth Ennis to revitalize the Punisher.

Joe Q. (with Jemas approval) personally picked Bendis to write Ultimate Spider-Man & Daredevil. Bendis' Daredevil took the character closer to crime noir than Frank Miller's Daredevil run; IMO, Bendis' Daredevil surpasses Miller's Daredevil.

Joe Q. was the one to woo JMS to write Amazing Spider-Man.

Any editor, given enough time, will not be perfect. I list the above b/c although I really, really want Peter & MJ to stay married, and this contradicts Joe Q.'s attitude/feelings, doesn't mean that Joe Q. is a shit editor.

Some of my favorite writers sometime turn in mediocre work; it's natural that it happens. A novelist has, sometimes, years to develop and write their novel, getting it just right. A comic book writer has to have a thousand ideas, every single month, every single year. And sometimes they stink. Sometimes they stink to high heaven.

Stan "The Man" Lee the fountain of ideas and creativity wrote a lot of comics that today's creators cite him as the reason for their love of comics. I've cringed while reading some of his writing. That doesn't mean he sucks.