Where'd All the Talent Go?
Ok, it really pisses me off that Marvel can't hold on to a decent writer or artist for the long haul of a title. It seems that marvel has become the proving ground for today's hottest talent, especially artists, where they get popular by drawing the "X" titles, and abandon ship to do creator-owned comics at Image, Wildstorm, Valiant or anywhere else; and occasionally DC (which has changed from being a step down to a step up in recent years).
Granted, some of this talent would leave to do creator-owned work anyway, but I think it really helps to hurt Marvel's sales when they do this. They should realize this by now and offer them more $ to stay on (thereby saving sales from dropping, and making them more $ in the long run) and offer them contracts that let them make some creator-owned comics but keep the freedom to take the characters with them if they ever do leave the Marvel team. I for one would have much rather seen Battlechasers as a Marvel book, owned by the creators. Why? Well, for one, it would come out on schedule, Madureira would still be drawing for Marvel--making them and himself money. He'd make more money if he put his book out more often, and they'd make sure he did. With the new other-company produced titles, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult for Marvel to make contracts that give their talent the rights to their own created characters.
I'm just getting REALLY sick of getting to really like an artist's work, and see him go three months later to sporadically put out a new, needlessly more expensive self-owned book. Now I have to fork over extra cash for Madureira, Ramos, Wieringo, Portacio, Lee, McFarlane and Larsen art and writing (and the only one worth the extra cash is Larsen's Savage Dragon, which is also the only one to keep his book relatively on schedule and/or not flood the market with a bunch of crappy comics mixed in with their adequate ones).
The only thing marvel's got going for them are the Kuberts, Romita Jr., Cruz, Bachalo, and the creative team of the Fantastic Four. I'm glad Ron Lim's back, but they've only got him working on J2, a comic that I predict will get the axe within two years. And I love having Chris Claremont back, but cringe knowing he never kept long to a book except X-Men, and hope he doesn't abandon the FF within 3 years like New Mutants and Excalibur.
Now that Peter David's gone they only have three good writiers: Claremont (FF), Kevin Smith (Daredevil), and Larsen (Wolverine and Nova--and not yet). Great, they have four good books (That was sarcasm by the way), and two of these writers (Smith and Claremont) probably won't be there for the long run.
Before you jump to defend the other current writers, let me tell you why I can't stand them.
- Byrne: (Aside from being arrogant enough to say he's better than Kirby because he's drawn more pages) This guy has a history of starting a comic, making it really popular and then dumping it to do other projects; causing nearly all of these titles to be cancelled after struggling with crappy new artists and writers. If you can't remember when he's done this, here's a partial list: Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, Namor, She-Hulk, West Coast Avengers...etc. The only book he's ever abandoned that got better afterwards was the Hulk, and that'd Peter David's credit (although he's too arrogant too). I hate what he did to Superman and Wonder Woman at DC. Now he's on Spiderman? Great, I don't buy that anymore anyway.
- DeFalco: Please don't go here. This is the guy that ruined Fantastic Four after Walt Simonson made it good again, the guy who ruined Power Pack as its editor, and now he writes Spidergirl, one of the crappy new MC2 books.
- Simonson, Walt: First, I don't think he's doing anything at Marvel now. He made FF, Thor and X-Factor successful, then left them to second-stringers (excepting X-Factor). Granted, I would still hold some allegience to him, if he were doing anything.
- Simonson, Louise: OK, I'm only pissed at her for letting go of Power Pack without a harder fight. Oh, and for killing Doug Ramsey and Magik; I guess I hate her afterall. Of course, she's not at Marvel anymore either.
- Lobdell and Nicieza: I group them together because between them, they've damaged and/or ruined almost every "X" book. Their comic faux pas: Creating Cable. Creating Bishop. Changing the New Mutants into X-Force. Killing Illyana Rasputin. Saying that because little Illyana died, we won't see Magik ever come back (that's not even the same Illyana that died; e-mail me, I'll explain). Bringing Magneto back after Claremont killed him. Creating Joseph. Changing Husk's powers without any explanation (again, e-mail me, I'll explain). Ignoring Franklin's history and connection with Power Pack. Forgetting Beverly between GenX25 and Daydreamers 1. Bringing anybody from AOA over into the "real" Marvel Universe (it should have continued on as it's own series'; there had to be some survivors of the nukes). You get the idea.
Anyone you'd like to defend, add to the hate list? Let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Marvel: quit letting your good talent go, work harder to keep them, it will help your sales in the long run and the short.
Happy Links
The Official Marvel Sucks Homepage
Mister Happy Does Comics
Mister Happy's Pit of Despair
Email: toresistdaveisfutile@mailcity.com
