A post from my Marvel blog of years gone by in which I respond to the announcement that a particular editor is leaving one company to go work for another, and the fan response to that announcement. The editor in question was Stephen Wacker, who left DC in the midst of 52 to come to Marvel and edit AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General
This is not at all what I’d intended to write about today, but life has a way of making a shambles of best-laid plans. The big story of the day is clearly about an editor who’s leaving one comic company to go work at another comic company–and the online fan response has been, how shall I say this?–perhaps psychotically over the top.
I think it’s the nature of fans to try to turn every situation into white-hats-versus-black-hats. There’s a confusion between the characters and the creators: a guy whose work you like wears a white hat, a guy whose work you don’t like wears a black hat.
Frankly, I’m appalled at some of the things that are being posted about this situation, and this editor. Derogatory, insulting, know-nothing posts that really all translate back to one simple idea: “I’m afraid I won’t be able to have the comic book I want when I want it.” I lived this firsthand a few weeks back, when we announced that CIVIL WAR #4 was going to be delayed. There were something like a dozen pages of posts, all rallying support for the beleaguered retailers, and all those new readers who’d come into reading comics with CIVIL WAR and who would now be hopelessly lost forever because the book would now be late. And all of those posts really said the same thing as well: “I’m afraid I won’t be able to have the comic book I want when I want it.”
Guys, enough. This isn’t about you. It’s about a professional making a choice about their career path, and what they want to do with their time and their life and their energy. And don’t worry–all of the projects that are left behind will be fine. Every company has systems in place for when this kind of thing happens, as it inevitably must. It’s not like our titles stopped coming out when one of our former editors went over to DC. Give the guy a break–he’s a human being, after all, same as you.
And I promise, the next time one of you decides to change jobs, I won’t blow my top and start posting about you. Deal?
Today is Wednesday, though, so on a more pleasant note, it’s time to call our Release of the Week. And this week, I’m making the call for CIVIL WAR: YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #3. It’s a tough thing for any creative team to step into the shoes of creators like Brian K Vaughan or Allan Heinberg, creators who are so strongly associated with the series they write. But I think that Zeb Wells has done an outstanding job of marrying the sensibilities of these two series, an incredibly difficult task, made more so by the need to incorporate the elements of CIVIL WAR. And I love the work that Stefano Caselli’s been doing on the art (and have his next project all lined up and waiting for him!)
Sure, I know that some have felt that there are too many characters in the book–but that’s what happens when you pair up two teams with seven or so members apiece. No avoiding it. But I think the cool moments of interaction between the members of the two groups more than makes up for it–and Zeb and Stefano have come up with some very interesting beats for these last two issues, including a high-velocity fight sequence that forms the backbone of this latest issue. So give it a look, and if you like what you see–hey, you could do worse! (The Jim Cheung cover is practically worth the cove price alone–and for those who haven’t been paying that much attention, it fits together with the other three covers to form a single panoramic image of the two teams.)
More later.
Tom B
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