Having said my piece about Michael Jackson last week, can I just add one more thing?
I hate when famous people die.
Okay – everybody into the pool, and we’re gonna get going with this week’s edition of…
There are about three specific bits of news that I want to discuss this time around, that were going to be a part of my regular feature, KNEE-JERK REACTION THEATRE. Namely, I was going to talk about the firing of Dwayne McDuffie, and two more recent news items: the pending arrival of Iron Fist to THUNDERBOLTS, and J. Michael Straczynski’s departure from THOR. But with KNEE-JERK REACTION THEATRE, the whole point is my initial impression of that news item. But with these three, the more I thought about them, the more I realized I’m going to have a lot to say about them, because they all seem to tie into a larger, more immediate problem that I am seeing in the Big Two right now.
So we’re going to come back to these, after I devote KJRT to the following Marvel solicit for SPIDER-MAN: THE CLONE SAGA:
Solicit Text is as follows:
SPIDER-MAN: THE CLONE SAGA #1 (of 6)
Written by HOWARD MACKIE & TOM DEFALCO
Penciled by TODD NAUCK
Cover by PASQUAL FERRY
You’ve been asking for it…and now it’s here: THE CLONE SAGA!!! Marvel’s most controversial event of all time returns with a vengeance, presenting the Clone Saga as it was originally intended to be told! From the minds behind the crossover that changed comics forever and the artist that introduced Spider-Man to President Obama, it’s six issues of twists and turns that will shock fans old and new alike! Be here as Peter Parker’s worst nightmare begins again…now with an ending you have to see to believe!
MY KNEE-JERK REACTION: My Spider-Sense is tingling…
I’m not sure I trust this new trend. I mean, it should be interesting to see how this all plays out in the mini-series, but there’s a part of me that thinks, “sure…this may be the story as it was intended…but the fact remains, THIS IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED.”
It feels almost as if between this, X-MEN FOREVER and the upcoming IRON MAN & THE ARMOR WARS, Marvel is trying to get its readers comfortable with the notion of re-writing the past. And once that happens, and readers begin to see Marvel less and less as the continuity-driven universe, then before you know it readers won’t expect continuity at all. It seems like a very real strategy at work here, and I like that about as much as I like being manipulated by pretty artwork.
…seriously, Marvel – knock it off.
I mean, in the last ten years both Marvel and DC have managed to train us as readers and consumers not to care if a monthly comic is one, two, six months late, thankyouverymuchKEVINSMITH! - so long as we get our story, right? (Speaking of which: has AMBUSH BUG: YEAR NONE #6 come out yet?) Think about it: why aren’t these stories wrapped around a “What If…?” banner, or something? Why aren’t X-MEN FOREVER and SPIDER-MAN: THE CLONE SAGA part of the reimagined Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Spider-Man that I hoped would happen some time ago? Both Marvel and DC have eroded a lot of my trust in them over the last few years, and this just doesn’t smell right to me…but I guess we’ll see where this goes soon enough.
Okay, now on to our main topic today. As I said before, what touched this off was the Dwayne McDuffie fiasco, wherein he was pretty much fired from JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA for throwing back the curtain and exposing the issues he’d been having with Editorial. I hadn’t been reading his run, although I’m completely mystified as to why so much outside interference was even necessary. I mean, when Kurt Busiek had Kang the Conqueror obliterate Washington DC, there wasn’t any mention of it in any of Marvel’s other comics. Nobody cared. That’s what was going on in THE AVENGERS at the time. Nobody worried about whether or not it was mentioned anywhere else.
When Grant Morrison had Magneto wreck New York City, there wasn’t any mention of it in any of Marvel’s other comics. Nobody cared. That’s what was going on in NEW X-MEN at the time. Nobody worried about whether or not it was mentioned anywhere else.
When Dan Jurgens had Thor take over the world, father a son with the Enchantress and name Loki Sorcerer Supreme, there wasn’t any mention of it in any of Marvel’s other comics. Nobody cared. That’s what was going on in THOR: LORD OF ASGARD at the time. Nobody worried about whether or not it was mentioned anywhere else.
When Peter David had Genis Vell and the cosmic being Entropy destroy all known creation, there wasn’t any mention of it in any of Marvel’s other comics. Nobody cared. That’s what was going on in CAPTAIN MARVEL at the time – and in between issues, no less! - and once again, nobody worried about whether or not it was mentioned anywhere else.
So there’s no reason McDuffie couldn’t have been able to write the stories he wanted to write. Back in the day they had a way of dealing with such things - they called them Editor’s Notes. Remember those? “This story takes place before/after the events of that OTHER story.” Boom. Done. What’s so hard about that?
And what really concerns me with what happened with McDuffie here has more to do with the fact that he is Milestone’s strongest advocate at DC, so as POPCULTURESHOCK.com rightly asks, what’s going to happen to those characters if DC and McDuffie have fallen out with each other?
Then there was the NEWSARAMA.com announcement that Iron Fist and Luke Cage would soon appear as agents of Norman Osborn over in THUNDERBOLTS #136 which I guess, between this announcement and the final scene from THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST #27 answers the question of what’s going to happen to Danny Rand following the IMMORTAL WEAPONS miniseries:
When I read about this, all I could think of was “awwwww crap. I don’t want to see Iron Fist in THUNDERBOLTS – I wanna see him in HIS OWN BOOK!“ And I’ll tell ya, I’d like to think I wasn’t the only one who had that reaction. Marvel has something truly special with THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST, and as much as I realize that newer monthlies have a much shorter shelf life these days, it doesn’t seem worth it to me that Marvel seems willing to let this one go on the gamble that at least SOME readers will follow Danny Rand over to a comic that has, by and large, been rendered redundant by DARK AVENGERS. Sigh, and sigh again.
And then of course, we have JMS leaving THOR, citing the imminent arrival of a THOR-themed event as his reason for leaving the comic for which his writing earned an Eisner nomination. “The one concern at the back of my head was that of being pulled into a Big Event that could affect the forward momentum of the book and alter its direction. I’ve said elsewhere that in many cases — and this isn’t just Marvel, the trend is pandemic — such an event can sometimes result in the individual books serving the event, rather than the other way around, and you have to spend months and issues afterward stitching everything back together. I’m the kind of writer who likes to write in a straight line and know for certain the terrain he’s standing upon. Some writers can handle all that and never break a sweat. For me, it’s just not something I can do competently. That’s a shortcoming on my part and I recognize it as such.”
In my 15th column that I’d already linked a couple of paragraphs ago, I said the following: “I’m of the school of thought that if you’re going to be called upon to work on a property that doesn’t belong to you, then you should be able to have the talent and discipline to look beyond your own desires and do what’s best for the property. If your artistic ego is that big, then create your own property, take your chances and quit bellyachin’.” And to Straczynski’s credit, he is doing just that. Marvel wants to publish an event involving Asgard that (A) he’s not interested in, (B) doesn’t feel he can deliver on – and (C) probably doesn’t care for being asked to make such a compromise a second time; just sayin’! – so he’s stepping aside. But what these three news items make me want to ask is, in a developing climate where it can be argued that readers are getting very, VERY tired of the “pandemic” of events that JMS describes…is it really worth an event to lose the writer that got THOR an Eisner nom?
Is it worth losing a critically acclaimed comic like IMMORTAL IRON FIST – a comic that could last at least as long as SPIDER-GIRL has, if given enough of a chance – just to pull Iron Fist into the DARK REIGN fold? Is it going to be worth it to get those Iron Fist fans who are willing to follow him to THUNDERBOLTS, at the expense of those who’d really rather have IMMORTAL IRON FIST?
And was it worth it to lose out on what could’ve been a definitive run for Dwayne McDuffie and the Justice League of America, all because DC Editorial took on an organizational headache that they didn’t really have to, even in light of FINAL CRISIS, BLACKEST NIGHT and God-knows-what-else?
AND NOW, JUST CUZ I FEEL LIKE IT…
Til next time, everybody – I’m Greg Manuel, and I’m just sayin’, is all…
Zones: Comics Nexus (6284) |
Categories: Columns (6284) | Comics (6284) | DC (6284) | Marvel (6284) |
Tagged as: Avengers (295) | DCU (194) | dwayne mcduffie (5) | Greg Manuel (93) | I'm Just Sayin'... (83) | iron fist (6) | Iron Man (139) | J. Michael Straczynski (12) | JLA (104) | Justice League (7) | Spider-Man (305) | Spider-Man: the Clone Saga (1) | Thor (86) | Thunderbolts (10) | Ultimate Universe (56) |
Facebook comments:
I was more disgusted with the comments about McDuffie and his run that appeared on the net. He will land on his feet. The guy can write his a$$ off. He wrote the best JLA stories since Gerry Conway while working on the animated serious. He didn’t get a chance on the comic.
As for the Clone Saga. I can’t wait. Look I am an old fan. So the Mephisting of the Spidey-verse was horrible, but since its been one good arc after the other. American Son is wonderful. So I am hoping this will be up there in terms of execution. I can’t wait to read it.
-aris
Aside from the possibility that now the returning Milestone characters won’t be used to their fullest potential, I think that was the most disappointing thing about the McDuffie fiasco. Based on the pure, unadulterated awesome that was JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, Didio put the reins on in the wrong places, and over the wrong issues.
As for Spider-Man…I’ve been reading a good long while, too – I’d been following Spider-Man and actually paying attention to the storylines since Mary Jane’s brief smoking problem. I pretty much have the Clone Saga from beginning to end because I was interning at Marvel at the time and got it all for free. I don’t doubt for a second that this upcoming miniseries is going to have its audience and it’s going to be pretty cool to read. I just don’t like how it’s being sold to us.
As for what’s going on in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN since the Mephisting…well, we’re just not gonna agree there. I’m sure Dr. Nolis is glad he isn’t the only one defending it anymore! 
(We should really lobby to enter “Mephisting” into Webster’s or something!)
Spoiler Alert!!
I just found out in Amazing Spider-Man Family that May Parker aka Spider-Girl has been “killed” by Tombstone (cannot confirm nor deny her death) and has been replaced by her trampy clone who is not only taking over her life but killed Tombstone. Now, since I can’t afford Marvel Digital nor have proper net speed, I’ve gotta wait until Spectacular Spider-Girl returns to print (hopefully) in October.
Great, not only do I have a grudge against Joe Blow but now I might have to hurt Tom DeFalco for this too. This better be fixed quick, fast, and in a hurry or Marvel’s gonna have to deal with a pissed off fan who has gone postal.
Sorry, but I had to get this off my chest. This emo bullshit is driving me nuts and after the lousy week I had, I am seriously considering hurting someone for this. X( So if you see a news report of one man walking into a comic convention and shooting up the Marvel panel, it was me. My only words to them will be the following…
“I have come to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I’m all out of bubblegum.”
Am I going too far with this or am I onto something? If so, I really need to take some time off asap. O_o
Do shrinks evaluate disgruntled comic book fans?
Mr. Q
Now Q, I think if there’s someone we can trust anything Marvel-related with, it’s DeFalco. No way would he pull the same clone switch twice…
…or WOULD he?????
Immortal Iron Fist just wasn’t the same after Brubaker left. He had such dynamic dialogue and pacing, and built up that brilliant other world. Then came unnecessary tie-ins and suddenly Matt Fraction too over with a vision for a scope alternately far too small and too large. The switch to absolutely ugly art over the solid styles that connoted time periods was the final nail. I don’t mind seeing the book go as they already mishandled the eighth city.
Thank goodness no one at Marvel cares about Daredevil, or they’d find a way to milk and ruin that, too.
JMS made perfect sense in his motivation for leaving Thor. At one time that book, Iron Fist and Daredevil were the only titles to which I subscribed. All three had clear visions, could be followed simply by reading the one title, built longterm momentum and delivered something entertaining in every issue. This is how adults tell serious stories – you don’t have other guys take over for Tolstoy after a couple hundred pages of War and Peace, and you damned sure don’t cross it over The Optimist’s Daughter. You absolutely do not have Tolstoy’s editor deciding the plot and taking over for him. Comics crossover events used to be fun, but now they’re overdone and tend to be trainwrecks from both plotting and entertainment standpoints. Planet Hulk ruled; World War Hulk was atrocious. It’s the way it goes.
Now it’s true, JMS does not own Thor. He did, however, revive that character and mythos into something truly special and built one of Marvel’s best titles out of it. And even if you didn’t respect the mind of a writer who made your property better when you let him write it for two years, it’s not essentially ego. Values are not merely self-image, and in his paragraph JMS clearly explained those were his motives, not looking like a doof.
John – For me, Travel Foreman’s artistic style was an acquired taste…I didn’t like it at first, but Duane Swierczynski’s willingness to build upon Frubaker’s foundation made me want to come back…and that in turn helped me come to like Foreman’s art.
I will say though I enjoyed both “The Mortal Iron Fist” and “Escape from the Eighth City,” especially the latter because “Eighth City” took on the current quagmire of American politics and foreign policy in a way that put Mark Millar’s attempt vis-a-vis CIVIL WAR to SHAME. The Eighth City as Guantanamo Bay, the former Yu-Ti as the Bush Administration and the Lei Kung and his Army of Thunder as the Obama Administration…it had a clarity to it that was grossly missing from CIVIL WAR.
Incidentally, I went to your site, and voted for “Kiddy Kitty.” BRILLIANT short story!
[...] In further reference to THOR #602 and our pending loss, I just gotta say: it’s moments like Thor rescuing Sif… [...]
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Bendis on the loose? *pulls out sniper rifle* Not on my fucking watch.
Also, note to Joe Blow… I mean, Joe Q. Don’t fuck with a good thing. Especially if its Thor and other titles that can do better without your “Dark Reign” dicking around. Fuck it up for us again and next convention you attend, I’m coming to see you with a pair of rusty hedge clippers. X(
Don’t make me commit a felony, Joe. Seriously. You’re already deep in the dog house and you’re a few steps shy of getting fixed.
Ok, way too psychotic of a rant. Need to think happy thoughts… *goes through last issue of Zorro*
Aaaaaahh. Much better. =D
Mr. Q