We may have some further proof of my theory that the Marvel comics are booting the movie and TV influence from their pages as now Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada comes out and actually says the comics should not be like the MCU films.
I’ve been stating this for near ten years, and I just wrote in my article about the death of Thanos, that the comics should be the influence on the movies, video games and TV, and not vice versa.
Now Joe Quesada says similar:
“Sometimes we get a little too deep in this because as creators we’re influenced by television and movies, not just Marvel stuff but everything on the outside. I think comics need to do their own thing because ultimately comics are…I always compare Marvel as a wheel. There’s a hub and then there’s spokes that come out of the rim and then there’s the wheel. Publishing to me is that hub. Publishing is where all the ideas are generated because you can get as crazy as you want right? You don’t have to worry about who the star is and all that stuff, and you don’t really have to worry about budget, because it’s just the artist and writer’s imagination, and you can go as crazy as you possibly can. That to me is such a value, as opposed to echoing too much of television. Because to me what happens is you become a snake that’s eating its tail. One thing is influencing the other and we become really insular and we forget about the world at large. So to me, I like the idea that it’s all as separate as possible.”
Joe Quesada continues with Black Panther as an example (via cb):
“I think the beauty of studios and what television does is it takes 50, 60 years of publishing of a character and cherry picks. ‘Okay, these are the best moments’ right? Like Black Panther for example. Black Panther took a lot from the Stan Lee Jack Kirby era but then also started cherry picking from Priest and Reginald Hudlin and then they make this sort of melange of a beautiful movie. That’s cool to me. Ya know I don’t want to see them literally do the comic book.”
My question for Joe would be, but what about Marvel COSMIC and Guardians of the Galaxy in particular?
You literally fired Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning off the Guardians of the Galaxy 2008 comic book and 2007 Nova series that inspired the Disney James Gunn multi-billion dollar franchise and movies, put Brian Bendis on the comic, a then-member of your Marvel Comics Creative Committee who worked on the films (and had Loeb on Nova), and totally changed the tone and everything about the characters–including making Star-Lord to look exactly like Chris Pratt and just as goofy (“You don’t have to worry about who the star is and all that stuff” -??). Ditto with Nova: You killed off Richard Rider Nova, and Loeb came on with a teen angst wannabe Spider-Man that failed miserably despite all the tons of marketing you put into the character, none of which Richard Rider ever received, but Rider was still more successful.
I will say, all that happened under the Axel Alonso era, which saw Alonso take the blame and get fired, but Alonso is hardly the one to take all the blame for the disaster at Marvel Comics from the past six or so years as Joe Quesada was involved, as was Dan Buckley, Stephen Wacker, Jeph Loeb, Brian Bendis, David Gabriel and probably Ike Perlmutter.
The good news is that three of the negative influencers are actually gone from Marvel (Alonso, Bendis, Gunn), C.B. Cebulski is the new EIC, and the new issue of Infinity Wars Prime was light years ahead of anything since the DnA glory years; so hopefully Marvel Comics has rethought its approach and will be returning to the comics and characters that we all know and love (Marvel Comics is also returning to the classic characters after going the failed PC route and seems to be taking a a back-to-basics approach).
Make mine Marvel COSMIC! Let’s go, Joe!
