Joe Quesada is no longer the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, instead we now have Axel Alonso who will take over while Quesada focuses on his duties as Chief Creative Officer with an emphasis on the media division. Is this a good thing? Of late, Quesada has taken a drubbing from comic fans over what was perceived to be his strong mandate for the events of One More Day in Amazing Spider-Man which broke up Parker’s longstanding marriage to Mary Jane. But despite whatever problems one may have with him recently, we can’t deny the fact that he was an instrumental figure in putting Marvel back on track in the late 90’s and early 2000’s with projects like the Marvel Knights and MAX lines as well as the Ultimate Universe. But personally? I’m gonna mainly remember his tenure as EiC for: One More Day and the mess that was Brand New Day and for drawing what looked like Captain America taking a dump as a Reborn variant cover. As for his new role as Chief Creative Officer…I honestly had no clue what that entails specifically, but according to Quesada himself
It’s actually not much different from being the [Editor-in-Chief], except it’s a lot more stuff, and [that is] one of the reasons I eventually had to give away the chair of the E-i-C. Every day is really different, which is really fantastic for me because I get bored very quickly. This morning I woke up, I worked on a couple of “Ultimate Spider-Man” scripts, making notes for those, making plans for my trip to [Los Angeles] in two weeks where I’ll be watching a screening of “Thor” and dealing with some other “Avengers” movie-related things. Every day is a completely different day and there’s different stuff that comes by my desk. I can’t even tell you what Wednesday or Thursday is going to be like. It’s literally a matter of who e-mails me first and that’s what I’ve got to get to next.But I’m involved in all creative aspects of Marvel. How that differs from being E-i-C is a subtle change, but a big change; [as] E-i-C I used to have to worry about CAPTAIN AMERICA coming across my desk today, then tomorrow it will be IRON MAN, then the next day it will be DEADPOOL, oh and we’ve got a big event coming up—we’ve got three big events coming up—and talent’s visiting tomorrow; so every day was different in that respect as well. Today now as CCO, I can only handle so much of the publishing stuff. I’m spread too thin so I had to relinquish some of the responsibilities there. I’ll still be involved in publishing to some extent; probably to the same extent I’m involved in animation, television and movies.
So it looks like he’s still going to be having a heavy hand in crafting stories.
I don’t really know much about Alonso so I can’t really form too strong of an opinion on him as many times you don’t really spot an editor’s hand in a comic book. Unless it’s something that is a big deal and happens to be aired in public like the OMD thing. I do know that he did play a role in the revival of the Rawhide Kid as the part of the MAX imprint and based solely off of the peripheral attachment to an entertaining read I’m willing to give him a shot. Here’s hoping that in 2011, Axel Alonso will make Marvel better than it ever was.
Let us know what you think of Quesada’s decision to step down as Editor in Chief!
Marvel really needs a shake up, that’s for sure. I for one am glad they didn’t go with Bendis, who everyone just assumed would get EIC. Yes his hand is in all the event pots and he writes a lot of big titles but I’ve found his stuff is just getting so flat. I just see him keeping with the status quo, which is definitely not what Marvel needs right now. Have you seen their solicits for the next few months? It’s just god awful. Hopefully Alonso will turn things around, change things up, and give Marvel fans something to get excited about.
Marvel really does need a shake up. Not the kind of shake up that you get from dramatically “killing” characters in a big event, or retconning a flagship character into oblivion either. The kind of shake up that comes from great vision and direction for the future while staying true to the heart of the characters that so many love. Also I wish editors and writers at Marvel would remember that status quo isn’t a dirty term. Even if it’s a new status quo something we can rely on from characters allows us to connect with the stories. One last thing is to give misused and abused characters like the Silver Surfer good writers and artists for a change, and give them a status quo. Is he dead or alive now? Or both? The toy box is a lot bigger and should be taken a lot more seriously than it has been of late at Marvel. Those are my hopes. Now will they be realized?
Isn’t that what they did to Stan the Man when the said he got too old?
I totally agree. I will always have respect for Quesada, as Marvel might not now exist without him. However, it was definitely time for him to move on to other things, so this works for me.
As an artist I can say doing the same thing day in and day out can get more the boring. It can lead you too make brash choices just to stir the pot, like the OMD thing. Quesada needs to be in a creative position, that’s where he is most successful. He’s a fantastic artist and writer and needs to be in the creative field, so I do agree with him stepping down to CCO. I also agree with the sentiment that if it weren’t for him, marvel would be dead.
Marvel needs to do something yet again to revive themselves though. Their competitors are starting to jump ahead with quality while Marvel is just pushing quantity. I think they do need to focus on revisions of some of their characters that could be real competitors like Silver Surfer, Captain Marvel, Cable, hell they could stand to reboot the X-men story line. It’s gotten so muddled over the last 5-10 years that it’s not even worth trying to follow anymore.
Even their movie releases while pretty, are focused in the wrong direction. What with changing story arcs “To make it more people friendly”, if anything can be learned from the comic movies that have been made it’s that if you leave it the way it is people will watch it. Also if they would just pick decent characters to make movies out of it might be nice. Also make movies of those characters that don’t go so far off of the story-line it’s ridiculous. Maybe even have the writers for the comic those characters are from write the actual script.
Imagine it, a Frank Miller written Dare Devil, perhaps directed by Kevin Smith. Just my two cents.
F*** Kevin Smith. Mr. I-can’t-finish-anything-I-start-but-somehow-the-fans-think-I-am-some-kind-of-comics-god. And he’s a s****y director. Jeez. I am sick of this guy. And Quesada has ruined Marvel. What nobody says is this: Marvel doesn’t give a fuck about fans. THey don’t give a s*** about the soul of comics in general. Its about the money and thats it. They can’t even put out a series on time anymore. S***, remember Spider-Man/Black Cat by lard ass Smith? He did 3 issues then 3 years later did the other half of the MINI series. Thats when I started noticing the direction Marvel was taking. It happens with all titles. Seriously, why start something you can’t finish? “UMPTEENTH” printings? Are you serious? For f***s sake. I miss the good ol’ days where writers/artists respected a commitment, respected the fans, and had respect for characters that have been around since before they were s****ing their pants. They have ruined comics for me. I have been a loyal comics fan since I was a little kid. I am 33 now. And I look at the stands today and I want to vomit. It disgusts me.
I disagree with the Joe Queseda rantings. I think the 90s was the darkest most disgusting age of comics. The age of commercialism and the overrating of such artists as Liefield and Mcfarlane and that other cheezy Ba****rd Eric Larson.Joe took us out of that horrible decade and brought Marvel out of the depths of Bankruptcy and built anew. I hated Mary Jane and the fact that Peter Parker Married her. Give me Gwen Stacy any day. The One more day story line/Brand New day worked for me.
What I think comic books need is less elaborate story lines. WE DONT need 20 issue crossovers anymore. Its too much and less is better. There is a toychest of forgotten characters not being used. Bring back the Green Goblin for Gods sakes. Marvel doesnt need a shake up like DC . It just needs to be less confusing. I dont think Joe Queseda was the problem.
Are you effing kidding. Joe Quesada took a relationship that stood for twenty years and took a dump all over it. MJ is as much a part of Spiderman as Peter Parker. I stopped reading Spiderman because of OMD. It has been classified as one of the worst stories Marvel ever wrote and it was all because of the piece of $h1# Joe Quesada. He made it his personal goal to dissolve the marriage without any regard to the fans. It still continues today. Until he and Dan Slott are gone Spiderman will be crap.