Has Marvel abandoned the Super-Hero Writer?

[lighthouse]

I'm sitting here looking over the Marvel Previews for February 2004 and planning out which books to order heavily...

 

And I start really looking at the names of the writers currently penning books for Marvel...

 

It used to be that superhero writers cut their teeth on writing the 2nd and 3rd tier heros for either Marvel or DC, and then moved up until they "got the keys to the big car", a description given by Mark Waid when he took over FF... But that just doesn't seem to be the case anymore at Marvel. You don't see writers doing fill-in work and backup stories, then moving on to the weaker monthlies, and finally earning enough stripes to be given the plum assignments.

 

In the same way that being Secretary of State guaranteed you a shot at the Presidency in the early 19th century and now is the dead-end political job for all times, so too the job of fill-in writer at Marvel seems to have become a sure path to unemployment.

 

A handful of the folks writing books for Marvel to be released in February 2004:

 

Brian Michael Bendis (writing half the Marvel titles that month) - had a whopping four months superhero experience at Image when given the Ultimate Spidey job. At that time was best known for his indy crime books...

 

Neil Gaiman (writing 1602) - virtually no superhero experience before being asked to write a mini-series starring almost every major Marvel superhero...

 

Bruce Jones (writing Incredible Hulk) - acclaimed horror writer, but virtually no superhero writing before being handed a superhero monthly dating back to the Silver Age...

 

J. Michael Stracyznski (writing Supreme Power and co-writing Amazing Spider-Man) - no Marvel experience prior to being handed THE flagship title for Marvel, his only superhero experience being with a chronically late maxi-series for Image...

 

Sean McKeever (writing Inhumans and Sentinel) - best known for his indy book Waiting Place, had virtually no superhero experience before his stint on Incredible Hulk...

 

Brian K Vaughan (writing Mystique, Runaways and Spidey/Doc Ock Negative Exposure) - clearly best known for his non-hero book Y: The Last Man, now writing a miniseries featuring the hero and villain from Marvel's upcoming Spidey movie as well as two more titles...

 

Andi Watson (co-writing Namor) - acclaimed indy writer, virtually no superhero experience before being given the assignment to write one of Marvel's only characters to date to the Golden Age...

 

Garth Ennis (writing Punisher) - virtually no superhero experience before being asked to make the transition from writing a Vertigo title to writing the 2nd most popular Marvel character born in the Bronze Age...

 

I think a case can be made that these writers combine for at least 80% of Marvel's best books and none of the eight had really worked at Marvel before getting a plum assignment. It's as though the best way to get a superhero gig at Marvel is to have never written a superhero before. Each of these writers was well-respected in other genres, but with virtually no superhero experience was "given the keys to the big car".

 

Perhaps the next great writer of Uncanny X-Men is toiling away on an indy or Vertigo comic at this very moment...

 

Thoughts?

 

[Freiherr]

Not sure, but it might be the start of what turned me off from Marvel in 2001.

 

Seems like no writer or artist stayed on any title for more than 10 issues. Some of the big names left for DCs growing popularity or writing gigs in Movies and TV.

 

My guess is this is the next step. There are so many titles these days and avenues other than comics you can move to. The void has to be filled by something and I would assume these virtual unknowns don’t cost as much.

 

[Zonker]

'House, wasn't this the stated policy of the Jemas/Quesada regime: stop recycling the standard super-hero plots of Stan Lee & his many ex-fanboy writers? The idea was to stop pandering to the fanboy crowd and try to reach out to a larger demographic. Joey the Q got his gig on the basis of Marvel Knights, where he brought in Big Name Outsider Kevin Smith.

 

Now, this may be seen as a slight by certain Brick & Mortar kinda guys , and I do believe that the Big 2 also need to shore up their direct market base while simultaneously reaching out. In fact, DC seems to have found a good balance between plowing money into the Vertigo line while simultaneously throwing Jim Lee at their iconic characters.

 

But I gotta give Jemas & Quesada props: for the last few years, Kevin Smith, JMS, Bendis, Milligan, Millar and Morrison were really shaking things up. In turn, that's moved DC off the dime. Good times to be a new comics reader, IMHO. Retailer too, I'd bet?

[Aman619]

thats right: Jemas in particular sought professional writers from OUTSIDE comics for a new take. Id say it worked out pretty well.

[joe_collector]

thats right: Jemas in particular sought professional writers from OUTSIDE comics for a new take. Id say it worked out pretty well.

 

Of course, but it's like all of Jemas' plans, designed for short-term gain and long-term pain.

 

You just wait until those guys have screwed around with their separate "Ultimate Universes and Continuity" for a few years....

[Aman619]

thats right: Jemas in particular sought professional writers from OUTSIDE comics for a new take. Id say it worked out pretty well.

 

Of course, but it's like all of Jemas' plans, designed for short-term gain and long-term pain.

 

You just wait until those guys have screwed around with their separate "Ultimate Universes and Continuity" for a few years....

 

yeah, but faced with their financial worries at th etime, there would never be a long-term if he didnt do something dramatic to shore up the near term.

[drice6900]

Not sure, but it might be the start of what turned me off from Marvel in 2001.

 

Seems like no writer or artist stayed on any title for more than 10 issues. Some of the big names left for DCs growing popularity or writing gigs in Movies and TV.

 

My guess is this is the next step. There are so many titles these days and avenues other than comics you can move to. The void has to be filled by something and I would assume these virtual unknowns don’t cost as much.

 

 

Hmmm, seems to me that DC is not much better in keeping writers/artists on a title for more than 10 issues...

[read_em-migration]

Garth Ennis (writing Punisher) - virtually no superhero experience

You never read Hitman? 60 issues of great stuff - who else could write Tommy puking on Batman's boots or sticking Green Lantern with a bar tab?

[Hensley300]

well, i think marvel was doing some very interesting things about a year or two ago with the emphasis on year two over year one but they need to get this train a movin cuz all i know is that ive dropped hulk and dd already with amaz spidey title skating on this ice and i know an x-men title or two that may not be far behind, leaving me with buying essentials collections and paperbacks instead of wasting my money each month on titles that are going nowhere with a cover price that will never be recovered in this speculators market

[Fabfrank]

Dric6990 hit the nail on the head. I think it's great to have these new/unknown writers on these books, but they really need to stick around for more than 1or 2 story arcs. In many cases this was a smart move by Marvel. Writers with no prior superhero exposure brought fresh plots and twists. This also expanded the personality of some of these characters which opened open other stories and plots. Just keep them on the books awhile longer.

[UnrulyAppendage]

With the advent of TP's, I think we are going to see more of this. We are seeing less of stand alone issues and more story arcs that will get a TP treatment. I would not be suprised to see writers being hired by the arc instead of how many issues. The example I think of is Brad Meltzer doing 6 issues of Green Arrow, all within the same arc. I don't think this is necessarily bad as it may get fresh ideas or at least a new prespective on superheroes, but I do miss the continuity of having a writer stay on a book for over fifty issues.

 

[comicartfan]

I think that if you look over the list with a microscope, you'll see that it wasn't such a gamble on Marvel's part to put these writers in these so called "plum assignments" -

 

USM- was a start up title that had very little to no expectations. It was an unproven title that had an unproven writer. Although, Bendis was an award winning writer by this time.

 

Hulk - A poor selling title at the time that has to be the comeback of last year. Taking a "has been " so to speak, and throwing him onto a title that wasn't selling and giving it a go, only to have one of the coolest reads (my opinion, and obviously alot of peoples judging by the lines to see Jones at Philly)

 

Punisher - yet another relaunch of Frank that if it failed , would have had little impact in the industry. People wouldn't have noticed.

 

And JMS was a popular tv writer that along the lines of Kevin Smith, brings other media into the comic world and makes mainstream more aware that comics aren't for children.

 

I think that Marvel was only taking small risks with these choices and they paid off big for them....a little luck and alot of good sense.

[duncan36]

Yes they have abandoned it, its almost like Marvel is ashamed of its comics heritage. In my estimation about 90% of the new breed of writers have no desire or clue to exploit the visual aspects of comics and instead are more interested in telling a story with the art as an afterthought.

When I read books like Captain America with great artists like Jae Lee wheres theres flat booklike dialogue and for most of the book the characters just stand around talking to each other I cant help but think what a waste of the medium and the artist the book is.

[joe_collector]

When I read books like Captain America with great artists like Jae Lee wheres theres flat booklike dialogue and for most of the book the characters just stand around talking to each other I cant help but think what a waste of the medium and the artist the book is.

 

I agree totally with this, as this "new breed" of comic book writer has been weaned on either movies or novels, and then tries to bring that exact same format to comics.

 

You'll either get a ton of talking heads (Rucka) or several pages used up to show a person walking out of the room (Bendis), instead of using all the potential aspects of the medium (Miller/Moore).

[Illiterati-migration]

When I read books like Captain America with great artists like Jae Lee wheres theres flat booklike dialogue and for most of the book the characters just stand around talking to each other I cant help but think what a waste of the medium and the artist the book is.

 

I agree totally with this, as this "new breed" of comic book writer has been weaned on either movies or novels, and then tries to bring that exact same format to comics.

 

You'll either get a ton of talking heads (Rucka) or several pages used up to show a person walking out of the room (Bendis), instead of using all the potential aspects of the medium (Miller/Moore).

 

I think that's a rather simplistic view of Bendis' work. (No offense.) He uses the format like no other creator before him... I keep saying to check out "Torso"... so I'll say it again: "Check out 'Torso.'" His exploitation of the medium reflects creative vision, not just the mere manipulation and utilization of well-worn ideas which came before.

[joe_collector]

I think that's a rather simplistic view of Bendis' work. (No offense.)

 

That example was from USM, and if you truly believe he's doing ground-breaking, cutting edge work there, then I do take offense.

[duncan36]

When I read books like Captain America with great artists like Jae Lee wheres theres flat booklike dialogue and for most of the book the characters just stand around talking to each other I cant help but think what a waste of the medium and the artist the book is.

 

I agree totally with this, as this "new breed" of comic book writer has been weaned on either movies or novels, and then tries to bring that exact same format to comics.

 

You'll either get a ton of talking heads (Rucka) or several pages used up to show a person walking out of the room (Bendis), instead of using all the potential aspects of the medium (Miller/Moore).

 

I think that's a rather simplistic view of Bendis' work. (No offense.) He uses the format like no other creator before him... I keep saying to check out "Torso"... so I'll say it again: "Check out 'Torso.'" His exploitation of the medium reflects creative vision, not just the mere manipulation and utilization of well-worn ideas which came before.

 

You think Bendis is great? I picked up a couple of copies of USM to see what the hype was about and after reading one book with no action just melodrama I had a horrible Archie flashback.

Then after being kidnapped by Nazi's and being forced to read Wizard(ok I actually bought one) and seeing Bendis being fellatiated in article after article, all I could manage was a quizzical eh??