The Reappointment Artist

You've probably already heard about this, if you're inclined to pay attention to these sorts of things. But, for the sake of continuity (a loaded word, I know), a bit of reiteration: Jonathan Lethem is set to revisit the aptly-named character Omega the Unknown for Marvel Comics, to be published in 2006 (here's the link to the corresponding piece on Newsarama, which disappointingly provides little more information). Which I thought was a curious piece of news, both somehow surprising and, in retrospect, inevitable.

My initial reaction was to think about who this is meant to appeal to.

My secondary, closely following, reaction was to realize that I'm who this is meant to appeal to.

Lethem's hardly the first to have made a name for himself in the outside world before taking advantage of an opportunity to revisit childhood friends (to be overly romantic). Kevin Smith's been here (and was supposed to come back...), as has Straczynski, and lately Brad Metzler and Joss Whedon, amongst others I'm probably forgetting. But Lethem's the first novelist in recent memory to have made the jump. (Michael Chabon's a notable exception, but one with a necessary asterisk next to his name; The Escapist is a new property borne, improbably, out of Chabon's novel, making the "childhood friend" proviso not applicable, save through a brief contribution to the negligible JSA All Stars miniseries a few years back. But I digress.)

I suppose the fact that Lethem's jumped the generic shark isn't so surprising, given his history. Certainly, the fact that he had previously made his Marvel is all over Fortress of Solitude (the book's title notwithstanding). And shorter pieces--like the essay "Identifying With Your Parents", collected in both The Disappointment Artist and the excellent Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers, or stories like "The Vision"--have dealt with his passion more directly, if less artfully. And since Motherless Brooklyn, casual Lethemites seemed to have forgotten that author's start was very much embedded in a science fiction tradition; As She Climbed Across the Table revolved around a love affair between a scientist and a black hole, and my favorite, Girl in Landscape, mined the same post-future westernist vein that Joss would tap for Firefly. So it's certainly not uncharacteristic of Lethem--or, more accurately, uncharacteristic of the character he's shaped on his pages--to be interested in putting his proverbial money where his mouth is.

But.

I find it hard to believe that this constitutes a good business decision, at least in the short term. It certainly buys the Marvel name some artistic cred, irrespective of the book's ultimate quality (which will probably be good, and will certainly be regarded as good, even if it's not). But I'm more interested in what comics readers will be buying than with what Marvel will.

(By the by, I know it's curious to raise an eyebrow at Marvel having made a decision seemingly motivated by creative impulses rather by finances, but the fact remains that such a decision is uncharacteristic.)

I like Lethem. I've read a number of his books, and enjoyed most of them, some very much so (and even got paid to talk about one once, for the Village Voice). I'll certainly be buying the book, given that I'm already inclined to read the man's work, and am particularly interested in seeing what he's capable of creating for this medium. I'll be there. But I cou;dn't guess who'll be there with me.