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To be, EIC
2006-11-07 08:23:51

The Editor in Chief of Marvel is, by definition, the most hated man in comics. Doesn't matter who it is--you look back for the last three decades or so, and the description fits. Joe Quesada. Bob Harras. Tom DeFalco. Jim Shooter. All hated in their day by a certain segment of the audience.

And it comes with the chair. Being the EIC means that, every day, you're going to be making decisions that somebody out there isn't going to like, or is going to have a different viewpoint on. But as the guy in the chair, it's your job to make them, and to see them through to a hopefully-successful conclusion. And by virtue of that process, by virtue of the fact that you're the guy who gets to implement policy, rather than just wanting to, you're going to wind up hated.

I think almost everybody goes into the job thinking that they're the guy who's going to be able to beat the odds--that simply through blood and sweat and tears and love and devotion, he's going to be able to sway the masses to his banner and keep them there. It's a bitter lesson in self-delusion for most of these guys. I think Joe Q has done a better job of this than anybody else in recent memory, and yet you don't have to go far to find people saying nasty things about him, or counting the days until he's replaced, or whatnot.

And also just like clockwork, ten or twenty years down the line, there'll be fans clamoring for the good ol' days, when the guy who was hated back then was in charge, and all of the comic books were great. Which is self-delusion of a different sort--but human nature is what it is.

For myself, I have no desire to be EIC--I'm having too much fun with the nuts-and-bolts of comic book editing. But I'm also well aware that, if the position is ever offered to you, you pretty much have only two choices: you can take it, or you can get out. Because if you turn it down, you'er inevitably going to find friction with whomever sits down in the chair instead of you.

More later.

Tom B

If you have no interest in being EIC, I hope the "you can take it, or you can get out" day never comes.

Posted by J.Williamson on 2006-10-16 20:12:37

Yeah, what J. Williamson said
Henchmen are key! You guys don't get enuff respect. You carry the banner, carry the water buckets, jump the shark tank, appear to drink the Kool-Aid, and you're all in the pit stop breathing Indy fuel fumes, changing tires, turbofilling your driver's tank. You guys are like Special Teams - you're gung ho, ALMOST TRIBAL chasing the ball, frenzied and yet always disciplined. Then you get up, dust yourselves off and do it again the next day. You guys are troopers, strictly professional. Break some legs!

Posted by on 2006-10-16 20:47:35

I'd wager that, at this point, Didio has Joe Quesada beat in the 'most hated man in comics' depatment.

Posted by vowels on 2006-10-16 21:01:07

Welllll....
I'm not sure I'd want anyone else to be the next E-I-C other than you, Tom, and I haven't felt that way since around ten years ago when I thought about Mr. Gruenwald.

That said, I bet you could come up with a few interesting things for the Distinguished Competition.

Posted by MattDiCarlo on 2006-10-16 21:42:59

interesting
Tom,
Are you trying to tell us something without telling us something? Why would this be on your blog radar?

Posted by bigdaddyhub2 on 2006-10-16 23:17:56

Hmm.. Now I'm curious. Are you saying that you would take it because you had no other choice or that you would leave?

I would like to see you as EiC someday Tom.

Posted by IanZL on 2006-10-17 16:37:46

Current EIC
I have nothing against Joe Quesada as a person. Actually I have no negative feelings toward him or his position at all. I have just found that his creative direction or influence at Marvel is something that doesn't fit well with my personal tastes as a reader. As long as I've been reading Marvel comics I've always have found at least several books that I could read and enjoy, but recently I've found myself slowly removing Marvel title after Marvel title from my pull list. There never was a conscious decision to "stop reading Marvel", I just found my self disinterested in each book for various different reason. Now I know that there's a lot of factors that go into a book from the Artist all the way up to EIC, but the more I've been reading recent Marvel books and reading various interviews of Joe Quesada, It has seemed to be that his overall vision of Marvel is what I'm not enjoying. His various "genies" that he had to be put back into bottles (or maybe the way he went about doing it). His viewpoint on characters and books. Everything he has mentioned publicly about how he saw the direction of Marvel has matched with a lot of the reasons I haven't enjoyed various books. I understand that it's part of the EIC's job to set the tone for the publishing line, but to be tied to one vision for so long, I can't but help wonder if stagnation doesn't begin to set it. Nothing against the jobs the various editors that work underneath Mr. Quesada, and it maybe just his online presence that influences my perception of Marvel, but I'm seeing Mr. Quesada's "fingerprints" far to often in Marvel books.
I know that art is subjective and it's hard to please all the people all the time, but I find it uhm, interesting, that there's such a consistent Editorial feel to a lot of the Marvel books that it's almost tangible or at the very least noticeable.
I originally started with Marvel and have a Marvel fan for a long time, that's why I'm expressing this to you. I could get into about DC Comics and how they compare, but it's Marvel that's my first "love" so that's why I'm more concerned when I notice these "problems".

Thank you for your time,
David Doub
ex_mutants@hotmail.com

Posted by ex_mutants on 2006-10-17 17:46:36

I think it's true to an extent, but it's overstated. Sure, you're always going to get flack when you're in the hot seat. But at the same time, job performance counts. Jim Shooter got a lot of grief over his dealings with creators, but there was also plenty of praise for the way he innovated Marvel. Tom D. was criticized for the advent of gimmick comics, but was appreciated for his universe-building and memorable events. Joe is criticized for mischaracterization, but he's praised for creating a friendlier and more successful working environment. Bob Harras--- okay, well he doesn't really get praised for anything during his EiC tenure, but that objectively relates to job performance. So it's not as much of a no-win position as all that, and I think often that "Catch-22" claim is made in order to deflect legitimate criticism.

Posted by CylverSaber on 2006-10-18 13:07:55

I think you're being a little too generous. Certainly you can't please everyone, but there are decisions and directions that are genuinely bad(just as there are bad EICs). Joe's made a lot of decisions that can't just be chalked up to the "you can't please everyone" excuse.

Posted by Canemacar on 2006-10-18 18:48:36

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