One of my best friend's dad replaced Stan Lee

[Wrightson fan]

I have never thought to bring this up before, but with all of the threads talking about the crash of the 90's, it got me to thinking about my bud Kevin's dad.

 

Here is a snippet from his Wiki about his Marvel years.

 

In 1996, Rhoades became Executive Vice President of Marvel Entertainment and Publisher of Marvel Comics, a position in which he succeeded Stan Lee. During his tenure, Marvel underwent a high-stakes battle for control the company between rival billionaire moguls Ronald O. Perelman and Carl Icahn. At Marvel, Rhoades reported to five different presidents and four chairmen under four periods of different ownership.

 

When Rhoades joined the company, the publishing division was losing money. When he left it was the only division making money. Under his management, Marvel Comics dominated the industry with a 27% market share. The company produced 16 of the top 20 bestselling comic book titles, including Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four. Says Rhoades, "The fact that we held the business together during those turbulent times was a very significant achievement. The collapse of Marvel might have pulled down the entire comic book industry." Rhoades, along with all the other Marvel execs, was squeezed out when the company was eventually taken over by new owners. In 1999, Shirrel joined Reader's Digest as Vice President of New Business Development

 

 

I only had the opportunity to meet Mr. Rhoades one time, many years ago, when Kevin and I took a trip to NYC. Kevin and I grew up together in NC, while his dad was in NY. He was active in his life though and made the effort to be as much of a dad as he could, considering the distance. I remember Kev calling me to tell me about his dad's new gig and that it was his dream job since he himself was a comics fan. It didn't take long for it to turn into a nightmare as many of you may know.

 

I am not posting this to brag as it really wasn't that big of a deal as he was just Kev's dad to me. It is kind of cool though.....my brush with greatness as it were.

 

Scott

 

[s-man]

Marvel underwent a high-stakes battle for control the company between rival billionaire moguls Ronald O. Perelman and Carl Icahn.

 

Must be nice to be a billionaire mogul!

[Icculus308win]

Very cool post! I thought it was very interesting - thanks!

[thehumantorch]

Thanks for this thread. Love to hear the behind the scenes stories. It must have been a difficult job turning Marvel around during those turbulent times.

 

One of my favorite comic related books, Comic Wars, is all about the battle for control of Marvel. A must real for any Marvel Zombie.