Do you see Joe Quesada ever stepping down?

[leftblank]

He's been editor in chief for almost 7 years now, quite awhile. I'd really like to see him step down and have someone else take the role because I'm really not liking the direction he's taking Marvel but unfortunatly i'm afraid he's going to stay on as long as he possibly can.

 

[PhotoJones]

editors in chief at marvel usually don't last long.

and at the very least, he's not bob harras.

 

[leftblank]

But he's lasted longer than most of the editor in chiefs, that's what worries me.

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

He's been editor in chief for almost 7 years now, quite awhile. I'd really like to see him step down and have someone else take the role because I'm really not liking the direction he's taking Marvel but unfortunatly i'm afraid he's going to stay on as long as he possibly can.

Im one of those people who never thought he did a real good job at all,if at all..only average.But i put the bold on that comment because it makes sence.Usually EIC`s only are around for 5-7 years,but i seriously dont see him going past 10.I hope he gets taken out and Chris Claremont becomes the next EIC or Stan Lee returns to fix the mess Joe Q did.

 

[PhotoJones]

well, he's said that if he could pick his successor (which he probably will), it'd be jeph loeb. i'd be happy with that. jeph's a very smart man, and his love of character-driven stories really shows. i'd be down.

 

[leftblank]

I never thought he's done a good job either Jourmugand.

 

[Darthphere]

Yeah, eventually.

 

[CConn]

Well, obviously, he'll step down eventually. He's an EIC, not Pope. That said, I doubt it will be anytime in the immediate future given Marvel's financial success. Not to mention some bad events, Marvel still has quite a few damn good books and creative teams he can claim responsibility for.

well, he's said that if he could pick his successor (which he probably will), it'd be jeph loeb. i'd be happy with that. jeph's a very smart man, and his love of character-driven stories really shows. i'd be down.

That'd be really awesome.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

I'm not sure how it all works...but I've heard Bendis and Millar's names thrown around.

 

[RockSP]

I hope he gets taken out

So you want the mafia to get rid of him?

 

[PhotoJones]

bendis would probably jump at the chance. millar on the other hand would never take the job. he's got too health problems for them to even offer it to him. plus, he's seem to really value time with his family.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

bendis would probably jump at the chance. millar on the other hand would never take the job. he's got too health problems for them to even offer it to him. plus, he's seem to really value time with his family.

Bendis is my guess.

 

[ang_hulk]

no hes immortal.How do you think stan lees still around?

 

[GNR]

Of course he will.

 

[Doc Destruction]

Bendis....wow. Then I'm out of that crap pile.

 

[Dread]

He's been editor in chief for almost 7 years now, quite awhile. I'd really like to see him step down and have someone else take the role because I'm really not liking the direction he's taking Marvel but unfortunatly i'm afraid he's going to stay on as long as he possibly can.

Of course, eventually every EIC steps down. The question is what are the circumstances?

Many of his decisions have been dubious, and he'd not had the best knack with being able to communicate honestly or realistically to the fans, and all but lives to goad them. But, just as all the bad comic stories and decisions happened on his watch, so did the good ones.

If Joe Q wanted Loeb as his successor, then he'd be a good choice. An industry vet with knowledge of what works well in both Marvel and DC would bring a well rounded view to the task.

I actually feel Bendis could be better when he's not actually writing ideas, simply brainstorming them. The NEW AVENGERS can work...when anyone else writes it. USM is all but waiting for another writer. Even a plot like HOM would have been godly if, say, Gaiman or someone else wrote it. The job is probably his if he wants it, although Bendis has claimed he doesn't in the past. But years down the line?

I'd prefer Loeb, though.

Still, bottom line wise Joe Q has been successful, which is all that matters. When he steps down is on his terms unless things go wrong, or come to a head like a house of cards, in the near future.

 

[Ben Urich]

I don't think Joe would ever voluntarily cede power. He's too pompous.

As for his successor... Jeph Loeb would be a great choice. If it's Bendis, though...

no hes immortal.How do you think stan lees still around?

Lazarus Pit

 

[Grim Goblin]

No way will Joe Q step down...EVER! He's way to happy with himself to do that.

Sooner or later though, he'll have to be brought down!

 

[Fading]

Honestly I don't mind if he doesnt' for a while longer. He helped Marvel get profitable again, and he has made some good choices. Lately more bad than good, but who's to say the next guy in charge won't be worse. I get the feeling that he does care for comics, he just seems to want comics to go in another direction than most of us do . If he gets someone who loves comics to replace him then I'd be happy, but there's the chance that it could be some guy in a suit that knows nothing about comics and just sees green taking over.

I wish that Marvel would just hire some guy to carry around a whip, and watch over every writers shoulders and everytime they mess up continuity, retcon a major character, make a character go OOC like Reed in CW, or come up with a story like Sins Past he gets to lash them with increasing intensity for worse offenses.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Quesada lives to move things forward, or so it seems. Ultimate, Civil War, Supreme Power, Astonishing X-Men are all series focused on moving these characters out of the traditional status quo.

He is certainly not a fans editor, and while some may prefer stories of the eighties and ninties...Joey Q is far more profitable. I think it's a sign of the changing times. There was a time when serial comics were able to sell in high numbers, probably linked to the fact that these characters and the amazing things they did were unseeable in other forms of media (certainly not to the extent).

Kirby and Lee, with Fantastic Four, for example could illustrate those stories of time travel, space, Galactus, aliens, and a number of other things nearly impossible to see elsewhere in visible media. However with the advent of video games, high quality SFX movies and TV, and the internet comics have really lost their novelty or at least their ability to be separate from other forms of media.

The sales slump in the ninties is really where Joey Q makes his landmark stand. His ability to re-generate interest in the comics media is his strength.

I think one of the reasons he seems to "piss off" fans so much is because he is not trying to cater to them in the first place. With his range of crossovers, minis, and other trade generating comics he takes the daunting nature out of comics. I think a Marvel weakness brought up in another thread is the feeling that you have to be familiar with 40 years continuity to be caught into it. Like trying to weight lift with a bunch of pro bodybuilders, people are embarassed to ask "what comic books have good Wolverine stories in them?". Now "Wolverine: Enemy of the State" sits on the rack saying..."this is where Wolverine kicks ass". And on the flip side a comic store owner doesn't have to worry about missing that ONE issue of Wolverine that completes the set.

I think he's is tapped into another thing as well: fans are easy, new audiences are hard. The myth we tend to believe is fans will leave if a character is violated. And why not at the end of old letters page they used to jokingly say "until this happens...Make Mine Marvel". And Stan Lee all the way up to even Jim Shooter were pretty hesitant to make the huge changes abruptly (compared to Quesada). Whereas it used to take years of relationship to wed two characters, now all you need is a mini called "Storm and The Wedding of Black Panther" and you're set. However fans have far to much time invested in these comics to simply go cold turkey. Quesada does "goad" us as Dread points out, but if anything he is right: WE will buy A-N-Y-THING. We'll complain about HoM while buying every last tie in...the bought/thought thread seems indicative of this....the biggest complainers have the biggest pull lists (of course I supposed you'd have to read it to really complain in the first place). However new fans are hooked by these interesting new plotlines and Ultimate Universes, they are more accessible than issue 161 of Uncanny X-Men or 243 of Amazing Spider-Man.

Do I dislike him, yes...but I may not dislike him because he does what I don't want...but maybe because he shows us for what we really are (but moreso because he does things I don't like )

 

[Fading]

Quesada lives to move things forward, or so it seems. Ultimate, Civil War, Supreme Power, Astonishing X-Men are all series focused on moving these characters out of the traditional status quo.

He is certainly not a fans editor, and while some may prefer stories of the eighties and ninties...Joey Q is far more profitable. I think it's a sign of the changing times. There was a time when serial comics were able to sell in high numbers, probably linked to the fact that these characters and the amazing things they did were unseeable in other forms of media (certainly not to the extent).

Kirby and Lee, with Fantastic Four, for example could illustrate those stories of time travel, space, Galactus, aliens, and a number of other things nearly impossible to see elsewhere in visible media. However with the advent of video games, high quality SFX movies and TV, and the internet comics have really lost their novelty or at least their ability to be separate from other forms of media.

The sales slump in the ninties is really where Joey Q makes his landmark stand. His ability to re-generate interest in the comics media is his strength.

I think one of the reasons he seems to "piss off" fans so much is because he is not trying to cater to them in the first place. With his range of crossovers, minis, and other trade generating comics he takes the daunting nature out of comics. I think a Marvel weakness brought up in another thread is the feeling that you have to be familiar with 40 years continuity to be caught into it. Like trying to weight lift with a bunch of pro bodybuilders, people are embarassed to ask "what comic books have good Wolverine stories in them?". Now "Wolverine: Enemy of the State" sits on the rack saying..."this is where Wolverine kicks ass". And on the flip side a comic store owner doesn't have to worry about missing that ONE issue of Wolverine that completes the set.

I think he's is tapped into another thing as well: fans are easy, new audiences are hard. The myth we tend to believe is fans will leave if a character is violated. And why not at the end of old letters page they used to jokingly say "until this happens...Make Mine Marvel". And Stan Lee all the way up to even Jim Shooter were pretty hesitant to make the huge changes abruptly (compared to Quesada). Whereas it used to take years of relationship to wed two characters, now all you need is a mini called "Storm and The Wedding of Black Panther" and you're set. Quesada does "goad" us as Dread points out, but if anything he is right: WE will buy A-N-Y-THING. We'll complain about HoM while buying every last tie in...the bought/thought thread seems indicative of this....the biggest complainers have the biggest pull lists (of course I supposed you'd have to read it to really complain in the first place). However new fans are hooked by these interesting new plotlines and Ultimate Universes, they are more accessible than issue 161 of Uncanny X-Men or 243 of Amazing Spider-Man.

Do I dislike him, yes...but I may not dislike him because he does what I don't want...but maybe because he shows us for what we really are (but moreso because he does things I don't like )

Very good post.

I realize that comics won't last long without newer fans, and you're right that to appeal to them they have to sometimes do things that don't appeal to current fans. Eventually the crowd that liked the Golden and Silver ages of comics is going to go away, stop reading, or pass on, and all that's going to be left is those picking up comics today. I hate characters being screwed with, and I think some things have been negative in the long run for the comic buiz that he's done in his time in charge, on the other hand I see him as doing major damage control while getting new readers. He's been in that tough spot of making Marvel go from when it had bankruptcy (or a bit after that) to a money churning machine, and to do that he had to try to get ppl excited to read comics agian. Which means those shock moments of killing or raping a characters history sometimes.

I'm with you that I don't like everything that he's done, heck maybe not even half of it. I just understand there could have been worse ppl in his place. Not to count the current fans may know what they want, but that may repel new readers from an already shrinking pool. If a true fan was in charge doing what we all wanted, there's a chance Marvel could go back under even if we all enjoyed the direction it was taking. I still think that Others and Sin Past didn't need to happen, or Reed's characterization in CW tho heh.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I'm not sure how it all works...but I've heard Bendis and Millar's names thrown around.

I can see Bendis taking over. Whatever he wants, he basically gets.

Millar, no. I see him working with both Marvel and DC in the future. He may extend his exclusitivity contract with Marvel, but I don't see him renewing it. I remember him saying that he'd love to write Superman.

 

[Spade]

I personally see Quesada's flaw to be his inability to connet with the fans. Joe Fridays shows clearly that if he can sense his ideas coming under fire he can get a tad irate (see the remarks to fans who don't like CW's progression). He just can't understand why his altercations and new ideas are negatively viewed by many and it comes out when he's pressed for answers. I'm surprised he's even doing Joe Fridays outside of the purpose of marketing. In contrast Stan Lee made the fans feel like they were part of a special club, however lame that may sound, and followed up with a verbose yet logical progression to the universe he was making. Stan was in it for the money too, but you could really sense he thought the fans were much more important. Hence the reason why he's so synonymous with comics. What Quesada has basically done is taken the boulder already eroded by the EIC's before him and has relied on it not breaking into a million pieces as he frantically rolls it around. I doubt he will ever be rememebered fondly. He lacks interest in creating the reader-storyteller bond Lee introduced, and when push comes to shove I'm sure there will be many more Quesada haters than fans.

I don't see him stepping down. Do I think he should? Yes; Quesada may be offended by the notion, but we don't need him or Millar in the big picture. I dislike putting other people down or suggesting they get fired, but the more I see this man in charge the more a future without him becomes less fanciful.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Very good post.

I realize that comics won't last long without newer fans, and you're right that to appeal to them they have to sometimes do things that don't appeal to current fans. Eventually the crowd that liked the Golden and Silver ages of comics is going to go away, stop reading, or pass on, and all that's going to be left is those picking up comics today. I hate characters being screwed with, and I think some things have been negative in the long run for the comic buiz that he's done in his time in charge, on the other hand I see him as doing major damage control while getting new readers. He's been in that tough spot of making Marvel go from when it had bankruptcy (or a bit after that) to a money churning machine, and to do that he had to try to get ppl excited to read comics agian. Which means those shock moments of killing or raping a characters history sometimes.

I'm with you that I don't like everything that he's done, heck maybe not even half of it. I just understand there could have been worse ppl in his place. Not to count the current fans may know what they want, but that may repel new readers from an already shrinking pool. If a true fan was in charge doing what we all wanted, there's a chance Marvel could go back under even if we all enjoyed the direction it was taking. I still think that Others and Sin Past didn't need to happen, or Reed's characterization in CW tho heh.

And I hate the Other, Sins Past (despite having both to the best of my recollection) and CW. However I think you make a good point here. A fan could be in charge, but there is a good chance if they went back to Stan's "tried and true" (put in quotations intentionally) method you'd lose a ton of readership.

I remember an early issue I bought was X-Men no. 153, and I had no f***ing clue what X-Men was about. As far as I could tell they spent time in fairy land.

So yeah those stories that were just kind of intimate, lulls in between bigger events were great. You really got to know the characters. But in the end it would be hard to attract new readers these days with this.

 

[Darthphere]

It doesnt matter who Joey Q wants, or who wants the spot. Wouldnt that decision come down to Dan Buckley or the Board of trustees or whatever?