|
|
|
Location: Blogs Atomic FalloutSplittin' Atoms |
 |
| Posted by: Jake Bell |
Monday, April 02, 2007 12:51 PM |
Every Friday, Newsarama slaps on a fresh coat of chapstick, buys a new dress, and sidles up to Marvel's E-i-C for a little "Q & A". On Mondays, Chris of 2 Guys Buying Comics will translate some of the pandering hucksterism interview for you good people. Some text has been edited for brevity's sake. You can reference the actual article at Newsarama here.
NRAMA: Is there anything you personally or Marvel has a whole has taken away from the whole Civil War/Dark Tower/Captain America #25 period now that it's somewhat winding down? Learned something new? Gained some insight? Anything that might carry over to future projects and/or how you release or market them?
JQ: Yes, the overall health of our industry is even better than what we had taken into account. As long as publishers keep putting out well crafted, compelling product, the sky's the limit as I see it.
Translation: Yes, we can make obscene piles of money with the right amount of hype, overexposure, media petting, and by keeping the first one or two issues within reasonable standards so as to hook the completists for the duration no matter how late or poorly crafted the end product is.
NRAMA: How do you prevent yourself from taking on the “we have to top ourselves” mentality when things like Civil War and Cap #25 take off like they did? To prevent yourselves from chasing the attention and sales they got, rather than focusing on the story?
JQ: That's a great question. All I can say is that all we've been doing these last six years is chasing great stories and that's what we'll continue doing. I think that if you chase headlines you'll actually never get them.
To me, everything has to derive from story. It's something that I've said from the very beginning. The times that you start chasing the trends or just do things for marketing reasons is when you end up getting in trouble. Early on in my tenure, there were one or two things that were thrust upon me that were like that, that I knew would fail because it was the tail wagging the dog. Thank God it's been years since I've had to sit through a creative meeting like that.
Translation: And one of these days, we'll actually catch one of these great stories we've been chasing!
Commentary: And those creative meetings of the type that Joe despises? Have apparently been replaced by ones where Millar and Bendis are allowed to hijack Marvel creatives because... well, we're not really sure why. At least we have Joss Whedon to come in and supply the non-endings!
(By the way, this actually happened in the meeting for CW, to hear Millar tell it. Shameless plug: 2 Guys Buying Comics was eerily prescient about the whole thing.)
Q: Spidey616 03-22-2007 12:04 AM: Since Civil War was such a major event, can we expect some "What If...? Civil War” issues in the not too distant future?
JQ: While we have no immediate plans, December seems to be the month that we usually give you some What If? titles, so you never know.
Commentary: This one's a bit like shooting fish in a barrel, but here are my top 3 choices for CW What If...? titles:
1) What If Civil War Had Been Written By Gail Simone?
2) What If Marvel Continuity Had Been At All Relevant During Civil War?
3) What If The Original Marvel Crossover Idea Hadn't Been Smooshed In Favor Of Civil War?
(Seriously. I'd really like to know what that was.)
Q: President Kang 03-22-2007 11:30 PM: Why was Thor talking all Medieval Times-y in Ultimate Power #4?
JQ: While I can't speak too much about this currently, Ultimate Power takes place after Ultimates 2 #13 and the Medieval speak is something Mr. Loeb is adding and explaining in his run, so stay tuned.
Translation: There's totally a great, logical reason for Thor's dialect that I can't give away! No, not really. I have no idea. Who's Thor, again?
Commentary: Good to know Ultimate Power takes place after Ultimates 2 #13. Of course, at this rate, mankind's evolutionary ascension to beings of pure energy will take place before Ultimates 2 #13 comes out, so I'm guessing continuity rewrites are in store.
Q: flyer 03-25-2007 08:59 PM: Do you ever worry about the self-obsession of heroes these days? When's the last time they saved anyone from a crisis that they did not in some way create? This applies to Marvel and DC.
JQ: No, flyer, I don't worry about that stuff at all. Let's be honest, “self-obsessed” heroes is what the Marvel Universe is based upon. Look at how many of our heroes hurt loved ones accidentally or ended up creating their arch rivals. The list is pretty dubious, so I don't think we've reinvented the wheel here or that we're doing something unprecedented.
Translation: What, me worry? Y'all are still buying the damn things, so no -- no worries here! Also, allow me to confuse "self-obsessed" with "three-dimensional characters living in a well-fleshed out world."
Commentary: Nice complete evasion of the real point of the question, which is "When will Marvel heroes get back to saving the world from archvillains and aliens instead of Captain America?"
Q: ApacheDick 03-25-2007 06:29 AM: No, really, here's a new question (which I probably could have put in my last post had I thought of it sooner)... How do you, as the Head Quesadilla of Marvel, explain how dozens of villains were killed in the new Punisher War Journal #4, yet most all are back to life as if the issue never happened? And, more importantly, why is it the writer of said heavily screwed-up issue is rumored to be given the task of taking over the writing chores on Amazing Spider-Man after the curse of JMS is exorcised from it?
JQ: You know, ApacheDick, I would love to answer your question. But, when someone asks stuff in a rude fashion as you have by insulting creators, you couldn't possibly expect me to answer it right? Guess what, you're absolutely right, I'm not answering your question.
Translation: Offense! Shenanigans! I'm floored that in a reader-submitted question from the Internet, someone would lodge so cutting a personal insult to a creator's dignity by referring to their run on a title as a "curse"! I turn up my nose at thee!
Commentary: This question was awesome. I loves me some Matt Fraction, so I don't necessarily agree with ApacheDick, but the question --- "Can you explain a continuity gaffe and why the alleged perpetrator of said gaffe is rumored to be taking over the most continuity-heavy book in the Marvel U" is a fair one. If Joe thinks referring to a writer's run on a title as a "curse" worthy of "exorcism" is what passes for an insult these days, then I need to break some bad news to Joe about the Internet.
Also, this probably explains why I will never, ever land the exclusive Quesada interview. |
|
| Permalink |
Trackback |
Comments (1)
|
Re: New Joe Mondays |
By kelvingreen on
Wednesday, April 04, 2007 8:56 AM |
| Yeah, is JQ really offended by the Punisher question, or does he just not have an answer for it? I wonder... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|