Salesmanship, Sailed

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Bill Jemas.

In the early days of what came to be known as the "Quemas" era, there seemed to be an air of spontaneity to how Marvel was run. It wasn't anarchic, though; it wasn't exactly as though the inmates had taken over. There was a sense of order, it's just that this sense was driven by courage, and matched by a sense of adventure. And that's just what was going on inside the books.

Outside, in terms of how the books were produced, marketed, and discussed inside the company, seemed to be just as exciting--if not as fantastic--as what the X-Men or Spider-Man experienced from month to month. And at the center of it all was Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada. As odd as it seems to consider now, Quesada was actually the more well-behaved of the two, the good cop, if you will. When Jemas called DC out, identifying story elements and even creative personnel, it was Quesada that came out as the PR guy, allowing for the possibility that anyone who bought DC Comics in addition to--or, Heaven forefend, instead of--Marvel Comics might still be respectable.

Now, though, Quesada's a ship without a rudder.

Consider the latest of Quesada's weekly press-releases-as-interviews over at Newsarama, Joe Fridays. At the end of this installment, one reader called Jab invites Quesada to sell him on Marvel's wares. He identifies himself as among the unconverted, even stating that he had recently dropped his only two monthly Marvel purchases, the 616 and Ultimate Fantastic Four books, for unspecified reasons. It's not the most original of questions, nor is it the most difficult, but it's still fair to ask the editor-in-chief of a line of major comic books to be able to convince an average (by all appearances) consumer to try one of his books. Here's Joey da Q's response:

Well, Jab, I don’t know that there is anything I can say? Right now I feel that Marvel books are at an all time high and certainly at the best point they’ve been since I’ve been Editor-in-Chief! There are just so many incredible stories that are just getting rolling and so many amazing creators that are coming on board. With books like New and Young Avengers, Ultimate Iron Man, Runaways, Astonishing X-Men, Supreme Power, Black Panther, Punisher and Wolverine just to name a few, If we can’t grab you at this point, then perhaps we never will. Perhaps Marvel books just aren’t your cup of tea or at least the ones we’re producing currently. But, hey that’s okay, we can dig it.

But more to the point, although the brilliant Mark Waid and just as brilliant Warren Ellis are exiting their respective FF titles, JMS is taking over FF and Mark Millar is taking over Ultimate FF, why not give them a shot again?

Which I thought was just lazy as Hell, not to mention insulting. It seems as though he's basically saying, "Well, if you have to ask, you probably couldn't understand the answer." Quesada's defeatism--"If we can’t grab you at this point, then perhaps we never will"? Are you kidding me?--not to mention his implicit elitism are simply inexcusable. My man Jab is essentially asking Quesada whether or not he should give him his money, to which Quesada warns him not to be too rash. What?

Now, I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Marvel right now. My regular purchases from the House of Ideas basically now includes only The Incredible Hulk. But if I had to, I bet I could get at least a few titles on your subscription list. I'd stress the pedigree and diversity of the characters, stressing that they're so well-developed that some of them are still supporting stories forty, fifty, sixty--if you count Captain America--years after their creation. I'd identify the breadth of the different creators, naming not only those that will be familiar to any long-time comics reader--Peter David, say, or Kurt Busiek--but those who might be new--maybe Greg Pak, or Allen Heinberg. If I wanted to mention "JMS," I'd refer to him not as "JMS" but by his full name (assuming that, unlike me, Quesada can spell it), and go on about his history working in television. I'd indicate how the different characters can be enjoyed autonomously, in their own titles, as well as in great, big, universe-spanning epics like House of M. I'd name every single creator who has an exclusive contract with Marvel, saying after every name that the only place to see what these writers and artists create is at the House of Ideas. And finally, I'd say that if Jab still hasn't found anything of interest at Marvel, he should check back in a month or two, since Marvel is constantly growing and adapting, and its most useful tool to that end is the input of fans. And furthermore, I'd say all of this with an eye toward grammar.

After all that, I'd have a question for Jab: "What's you address?" 'Cause I'd send him a big ol' box of Marvel comics, every book that I think forwards the creative success of the line and might be able to bring in a new reader. And I'd pay for it out of my own damn pocket if I had to.

But hey, that's just me. I suppose that "Perhaps Marvel books just aren’t your cup of tea" is an equally valid response.

Is Jim Shooter still looking for his job back?