This is something I have been wondering about for awhile. What do you guys feel will be Joe Quesada's legacy at Marvel?
Joe Q has done some very controversial stuff, such as bringing in Dark Reign, the recent spat of epic crossovers and, of course, the pretty much universally loathed One More Day. Quesada has earned many comparison's to one of Marvel's old EIC's Jim Shooter, who was reknown for his interfering in storylines, and some of the ideas he forced on the writers.
But also, some pretty good stuff has happened lately at Marvel. We've seen the revival of Marvel's cosmic stories, plus several B and C-list characters are now in some of the best books Marvel puts out. Plus, who would suspect that BUCKY coming back from the dead would do so well?!
But how much can Quesada be involved in the good stuff going on? What, in the end, will be the final word on his reign once he inevitable leaves? I'm still trying to think of it. Perhaps it's too early too tell.
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So, y'know, I think he's all set.
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This is probably the most correct
I think someone else should be EiC but keep Quesada on in an advisory role, because he did bring in INCREDIBLE talent, and generally has good ideas, but most of the time doesn't know when to quit
Then Buckley came on board and Marvel didn't want to try and do anything new anymore, they were in a holding pattern as they finally got out of bankruptcy and paid off their old debt.
But yeah, OMD is going to be what Quesada is known for even above his art by the time this is all done.
I think you gravely underestimate the bitterness of Comic book fans.
personally i stopped reading SpiderMan then, but its obvious that they could have just done something more in tone with that book
I tend to agree. Jemas was a weird guy, but I think of him as the unsung hero of the company's recent years. For myself, anyway, at the most fundamental level, the Quesada/Jemas era was one where I bought and read a lot of Marvel comics, and the Quesada solo era has been one where I haven't.
That's where I stand pretty much. When I got back into comics in mid 2001 I was pretty much buying all Marvel save for JLA and some Superman issues, but around House of M Marvel kept doing things that I didn't care for anymore. Now, last I check, I roughly buy 75% DC/25% Marvel.
I think you are the bizzaro me, because when I first came back into comics it was right into that same era, right when Geoff Johns was becoming the main star at DC, and I read mostly DC books aside from a few Ultimates/MK titles. I started buying more Marvel right around the Avengers relaunch and by the end of House of M and Infinite Crisis I was buying more Marvel than DC.
OYL and Countdown then further ground my DC list into nothingness.
-Shooter had Secret Wars II
-Tom DeFalco had the acceptance of the grim n' gritty Jim Lee/Rob Liefield house style as well as fueling the speculation boom/bust.
-Bob Harras seems to get more and more blame for the Clone Saga as time goes on
-Quesada has One More Day
TylerJ on League of Legends (it's free and fun!)
Red/Blue Superman would probably be the biggest miss.
I would throw Identity Crisis out there but I think Kahn left before that was created I think. Maybe Munch could point out something.
Didio's would be Countdown, so far. Final Crisis, maybe, just from an execution standpoint and how it was to be that big, final event and DC would never have something bigger than that because it was the Final Crisis.
The first time I checked into that, I was absolutely blown back by how long she had stayed with the company, everything she had accomplished, and how at this point in time her name is almost completely forgotten by the fans. You constantly hear about the parade of Marvel EiCs, but never about Jenette Kahn.
But I do agree with it being more about the stories and creators than the EiCs.
jkylefulton made the point of the characters being the most relevant that they have since their creation. That's absolutely true, but I automatically attribute it in my mind to what Bendis has done with the Avengers and Ultimate Spidey, what Millar did with Ultimates and Civil War, Brubaker on Cap, and JMS's 9/11 issue of Spider-Man. While DC is finding all of their success in taking characters back to their iconic roots and silver age mythologies, Marvel has become the real modern comic due to the above stories transplanting the characters into believable (as much as superhero comics can be, at least), modern stories.
If not specifically what he's remembered for, I'd like to think that'll be what the era is remembered for.
I'm not sure how well the "vote to kill Robin" game went over, but that's a tail you can pin on Kahn, I think.
Was it really a "ton" of people? I don't recall the numbers. But regardless, wasn't it really a cheap, heartless publicity stunt? I mean, even leading up to the vote, the pure savagery of those scenes with the Joker are right on par with the worst that Identity Crisis had to offer.
But it worked
Joker becoming UN Ambassador to Iran the next issue was almost just as bad.
What a crazy crazy story.
Jim Starlin is a crazy, crazy man.
Here's what Wikipedia said about Death in the Family:
You shut your whore mouth about Marvel vs DC or I'm sicking Dark Claw on you.
Amalgam was fun, but Marvel vs DC was a trainwreck.
I've done a lot of thinking about Amalgam, and I'm pretty sure they could have upped the awesome by about 300% by introducing the Blue Beast and Wonder Gold. One's a scientist! One's a celebrity! Together they fight crime!
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Perhaps, but it was a fun kind of train wreck. I remember going on message boards and some people's reactions to the fight outcomes gave me a true "Palm-to-forehead" moment. My reaction was basically "They let you the fans vote on the outcome, and you're "Surprised" that Wolverine beat Lobo?"
Basically they complained that it was only a popularity contest. Duh. Of course it was a popularity contest, they allowed the FANS to choose the winners, there's no way it could NOT be a popularity contest.