Comics Tom Brevoort doesn't care what you think

[kainedamo]

Tom Brevoort wrote:

This question was vetoed, but I get to make the rules, so I’m going to answer it anyway.

No, there are no plans. That was kind of the whole point.

I think we care about and respect our fans a great deal, but that doesn’t extend to doing everything any of them wants. We’ve been over the argument for why an unmarried Spider-Man is a much more vital character than a married Spider-Man, and how the marriage itself started as a circulation-boosting stunt for the newspaper strip that got out of hand.

We didn’t go to all of the effort and brace to deal with all of the agita simply to cave in and reverse ourselves because some fans are upset. This is a long-term game we’re playing here, and everybody agrees that an unmarried Spider-Man will be much more vital over a much greater period than a married one. We knew there’d be people upset in the short term—but we’re also taking the long term into account.

Now, you never know what might happen in the future. But given that Joe Quesada has no intentions of ever reversing this, Dan Buckley has no intentions of ever reversing this, I have no intentions of ever reversing this, the Marvel West guys are completely supportive of this decision, and upper management is very happy with it, if you’re waiting for a turn-around, you’d better settle in for a long wait.

Guys, like it or hate it, this is the world now. Sorry.

What seems to be the tactic here is to take the hope away from anti-BNDers that changing things back is possible.

But they've tried getting rid of MJ before, and it didn't work, we can show them it won't work now.

Stay strong, guys. I do actually think we're getting to them. All of the negativity surrounding the books can't be good for them.

 

[farmernudie]

Well, they can choose to ignore the majority until they've got a handful of people buying...but at SOME point they're gonna have to take notice to what the fan wants.

Until then, they'll keep hyping the book every way possible, to make it sound swell, even while the numbers keep dropping and they PRETEND they're not in their solicits hyping the book.

The customer is always right.

THat is most people's slogans.

"SINGLE SPIDEY IS MUCH MORE VITAL"

Hmn.

Ok???

Hope everyone is ready for SPIDEY STUCK IN A BOX..."FOR THE LONG RUN".

Meh.

 

[Themanofbat]

As farmie once noted to me in a BND thread, he wants closure to Spider-Man at some point, seeing as he was there from the begining, and he wanted to see Peter & MJ walk off into the sunset with kids at hand...

Having said that, of course that could never happen...

I've made this claim since this all started that Marvel Comics Inc. wants a single Spider-Man for the long-term haul.... which means long after each and evryone of us are all in old folks' homes being spoon fed out daily pablum... Spider-Man is their character, and they can do with him as they please, and they firmly believe that in the long term, this is the best approach. I know that some of you will disagree with this, as it is your entitled opinion to do so, but as mentioned in that interview (I'd like to have a link if possible), Marvel wants to go this route and sales numbers can be damned.

Back from 1999 to 2001, Spider-Man comics were selling on average less than 50k to 45k per book, and if they sustained that for such a period of time, then I see them having no problem waiting for this storm to settle, because ultimately, it is WHAT MARVEL HAS WANTED for over 15 years, going back to the Clone Saga back in 1993.

Just my opinion...

 

[Brand]

(I'd like to have a link if possible)

http://www.marvel.com/blogs/Tom_Brevoort/entry/1245

 

[Brand]

Double post.

 

[Donald Thomas]

As farmie once noted to me in a BND thread, he wants closure to Spider-Man at some point, seeing as he was there from the begining, and he wanted to see Peter & MJ walk off into the sunset with kids at hand...

Having said that, of course that could never happen...

I've made this claim since this all started that Marvel Comics Inc. wants a single Spider-Man for the long-term haul.... which means long after each and evryone of us are all in old folks' homes being spoon fed out daily pablum... Spider-Man is their character, and they can do with him as they please, and they firmly believe that in the long term, this is the best approach. I know that some of you will disagree with this, as it is your entitled opinion to do so, but as mentioned in that interview (I'd like to have a link if possible), Marvel wants to go this route and sales numbers can be damned.

Back from 1999 to 2001, Spider-Man comics were selling on average less than 50k to 45k per book, and if they sustained that for such a period of time, then I see them having no problem waiting for this storm to settle, because ultimately, it is WHAT MARVEL HAS WANTED for over 15 years, going back to the Clone Saga back in 1993.

Just my opinion...

Aloha,
I was holding out from commenting on this, but I can't wait any longer.First, THANK YOU for quoting Breevort, not JoeQ. I've been trying to get it across for some time now that the man in charge of day to day Spidey is TB not Joe Q. Second-This is a change that has the blessings of The Board-The guys who own and operate Marvel.Who are millionaires and billionaires who can stand to take a sales hit for a few years, if need be, in order to put their character on the road they they want it on.As long as there is a Marvel comics there will be a Spider-Man.TMOB you hit it on the head when you say that when we are old and gray, Marvel will still be putting out Spider-Man. And Peter CAN'T be old and gray!As many times as I have referred to it, I've never been able to engage anyone in a conversation around Swing Shift-The Director's Cut. Specifically the Breevort Bible. He's not telling you anything he hasn't told you before.
Spidey rules

 

[Dangerous]

Second-This is a change that has the blessings of The Board-The guys who own and operate Marvel.Who are millionaires and billionaires who can stand to take a sales hit for a few years, if need be, in order to put their character on the road they they want it on.

And there I was thinking that if sales continued to drop, and if they dropped dramatically, Marvel would have to acknowledge they were wrong and then undo this mess.

 

[kainedamo]

It's a good point that the guys that want this to happen are above Joe Q and they can stand to take a loss...


But they've tried this before. They tried making MJ unlikeable. They tried killing her off. It hasn't worked.

We can show them that it won't work now. We do have some measure of power.

 

[Jack O Lantern]

Wait a minute. I always thought the issue was about how they did One More Day. Are people really upset bevause they took MJ away? Seriously?

That was always going to happen at some point. Comic characters are always evolving and changing, Spidey was always going to be single. And the fact is that it is out of character for Peter to be Spidey when he has people depending on him

 

[farmernudie]

I don't want spidey comics to come to an end...and there is no reason for them to hit the panic button yet and reboot the series.

YEs, i do think there should be some sort of prorated progression, just as there always has been.

He is not that old and look how many years he has been published!

He won't be that old after another 20 years or whatever either.

Instead, how many people are going to stick aorund another 20 years loyally to read Peter Pan, still dating MJ, his wife, in a devil created world?? This isn't a comic strip like Garfield or Snoopy, despite the fact that Joe stated he'd make spidey timeless like a comic strip.

Is this devil created world and spidey trapped in a no progression box creatively something that is classic and gonna last?? I think not. THey'll have tor eboot it every couple years because the hype will die down and you're left with what?? A crappy reboot world.

IT IS A HORRIBLE FOUNDATION FOR A REBOOT IF YOU HAD TO PICK ONE.

This reboot will continue to dwindle and hit numbers lower than what the creative teams have already predicted because it is poorly written, porrly constructed, out of character and it altered spidey's history so he now has TWO of them. I don't think that is what the majority of fans want.

Most fans i think do want some sort of progression and all.

 

[Jack O Lantern]

I don't want spidey comics to come to an end...and there is no reason for them to hit the panic button yet and reboot the series.

YEs, i do think there should be some sort of prorated progression, just as there always has been.

He is not that old and look how many years he has been published!

He won't be that old after another 20 years or whatever either.

Instead, how many people are going to stick aorund another 20 years loyally to read Peter Pan, still dating MJ, his wife, in a devil created world?? This isn't a comic strip like Garfield or Snoopy, despite the fact that Joe stated he'd make spidey timeless like a comic strip.

Is this devil created world and spiey trapped in a box creatively something that is classic and gonna last??

IT IS A HORRIBLE FOUNDATION FOR A REBOOT IF YOU HAD TO PICK ONE.

This reboot will continue to dwindle and hit numbers lower than what the creative teams have already predicted because it is poorly written, porrly constructed, out of character and it altered spidey's history so he now has TWO of them. I don't think that is what the majority of fans want.

Most fans i think do want some sort of progression and all.

But the thing about 20 years from now is that there will be a whole new generation of comic fans, who won't care/know that he was married. Character development and marriage don't go hand in hand. You can develop the character in other ways.

 

[shinlyle]

They can honestly do whatever they want to with Spidey. That's their right, as they do own the character.

I'm at the point of not caring. I've got Invincible for my monthly superhero fix, and I've got USM and Amazing Spider-Girl for web-action. I've got tons of FAR better books to read, and that's good enough for me.

Besides, Marvel's "Screw the fans" attitude is something I am NOT rewarding. They can scream "it's for the best" until they are blue in the face...I'm not buying it.

Also, as I've said before, I'm a fan of the marriage, but if they had ended it with MJ dying, them getting divorced, or somethign simple like that, then I would have kept buying, and eventually gotten over it. As it stands, this is just too dumb for me to support.

My 12 dollars a month is better spent elsewhere.

 

[Dmain_Event]

^^^ exactly. Why couldn't they have made a breakup story that made sense... I.E the mj that he married was replaced by a skrull or something like... Bingo Ended marriage. Why the hell did they have to make him deal with the devil?! Now he is living in some crazy mixed up world where the devil might be his best friend!?!?!? I just want regular continuity back... forget the marriage (although I was a fan at one point), just give me back the Amazing Spiderman.

 

[Dangerous]

^^^ exactly. Why couldn't they have made a breakup story that made sense... I.E the mj that he married was replaced by a skrull or something like... Bingo Ended marriage. Why the hell did they have to make him deal with the devil?! Now he is living in some crazy mixed up world where the devil might be his best friend!?!?!? I just want regular continuity back... forget the marriage (although I was a fan at one point), just give me back the Amazing Spiderman.

Well, if they revealed that the MJ whom Spidey married was a skrull, that would still have been a massive s**t sandwich for the fans to eat.

To get rid of the marriage, all they needed to do is have PP & MJ divorce.
The reason they did not do that is because Joe thought making Peter a divorce would age him too much, plus he wanted Harry back.

So, he cooked up the biggest pile of non nonsensical crap ever seen in a Spidey comic called OMD and in doing so, was essentially saying- 'f**k you loyal fans for reading Spidey for decades, here's my version of Spider-Man.'

 

[Blader5489]

What seems to be the tactic here is to take the hope away from anti-BNDers that changing things back is possible.

It's not about taking away hope, it's about injecting a dose of reality into delusional people such as yourself.

 

[kainedamo]

It's not about taking away hope, it's about injecting a dose of reality into delusional people such as yourself.

Uh, Blader, why the personal attacks?

And delusional how? Marvel tried this before, and they failed, so they could fail again now.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Enough negative response and marvel will correct their horrendous story into something acceptable. Completely undo things a la Norman Osborn Night of the Goblins? I doubt it, and really don't want them too. But they're still getting tons of negative mail and sales are still dropping, if this continues no matter how entrenched they are they'll change things. As everyone who's pro-OMD keeps mentioning they are a company above all else.

If you're boycotting don't stop, don't get discouraged. We rode out the clone saga, this too will pass and Peter Parker will someday in the future be an actual hero again.

 

[ragingdemon155]

They can honestly do whatever they want to with Spidey. That's their right, as they do own the character.

I'm at the point of not caring. I've got Invincible for my monthly superhero fix, and I've got USM and Amazing Spider-Girl for web-action. I've got tons of FAR better books to read, and that's good enough for me.

Besides, Marvel's "Screw the fans" attitude is something I am NOT rewarding. They can scream "it's for the best" until they are blue in the face...I'm not buying it.

Also, as I've said before, I'm a fan of the marriage, but if they had ended it with MJ dying, them getting divorced, or somethign simple like that, then I would have kept buying, and eventually gotten over it. As it stands, this is just too dumb for me to support.

My 12 dollars a month is better spent elsewhere.

Thats pretty much the same way I feel at the moment. I'm collecting a ton of other good books right now which eases the pain of not collecting my favorite superhero. I mean I would love to collect ASM, but damn the stories are just awful right now. Marvel seems a bit confused as to what to do with the character at the moment. Have I gotten over the whole "Screw the fans" mentality that Marvel had with OMD? Yes. I've forgotten about that. However, I don't want to waste my money on the crap that is called "ASM" at the moment. The flagship character deserves better then this.

One positive thing did come out of me dropping ASM though....It allowed me to branch out and check out other characters/titles that I'm loving right now.

 

[kainedamo]

What address should I post a letter to concerning the mess?

 

[Dangerous]

The letters page- [email protected]

 

[kainedamo]

What about snail mail?

 

[Hobgoblin]

Well, they can choose to ignore the majority until they've got a handful of people buying...but at SOME point they're gonna have to take notice to what the fan wants.

Exactly. They need us to buy their comics. Their jobs depend on it. We dont have to buy anything. Lots of other comics out there to buy.

 

[farmernudie]

I love how some editors and some fans say this reboot is done for spidey fans 20 years from now.

Who says comics (or even us) will exist 20 years from now???!!

Why isolate and be devisive with your CURRENT customers???

Why hit the panic button NOW???

I hope Marvel gains a lot of possible ghost customers on their $20 an issue spidey comics in 2028 when spidey is still single and dating MJ who still can't remember that she is married to the guy that she keeps pulling the football out from when he tries to kick it.

But for NOW, for us loyal buying fans that WANT to buy NOW...(spidey that is...)....there is no 616 Spidey anymore. No choice, unless you're into reboots, alternate histories, new worlds created by the devil, etc.

Maybe Joe can start doing the "DOWN THE ROAD/FOR THE FUTURE REBOOT" plan with all his characters. Bring in the devil, and have a heartwarming little chalk board cleaning.

Maybe Captain America can fight in WW2 again and float around stuck in an ice cube again with a wheatcake in his mouth, except he needs to get MARRIED first so that the devil can take it from him and make Steve Rogers elderly aunt live longer too in trade for this reboot.

Good luck to those fans 20 years from now.

 

[Miken Ayers]

It's not about taking away hope, it's about injecting a dose of reality into delusional people such as yourself.

They've tried this tactic with Fightbolts and Waid's firing from FF. Who's delusional now? Besides that tool that starts all his posts with ''Aloha''

 

[Blader5489]

Uh, Blader, why the personal attacks?

And delusional how? Marvel tried this before, and they failed, so they could fail again now.

I don't meant to sound antagonistic (or maybe I do, I don't know) but the whole "stay strong, guys, I think we're getting to them" reeks of false hope and self-delusion. The only way, the only way, you'll get anything to change is with sales. And if Buckley and the rest of upper management or supposedly happy with ASM as of now, then that means they're satisfied with the sales numbers.

To my knowledge, the only time Marvel reversed a controversial decision regardless of sales was when during the Clone Saga--and that's only because the writers and editors were unanimously unhappy with Peter Parker being a clone. Unfortunately for you and others like you, the good majority, if not entirety, of Spider-Man writers/editors prefer the unmarried Spidey.