Culture Clash: Marvel Creative vs. Marvel Corporate

[DavidTheDavid]

I've almost finished Sean Howe's excellent Marvel Comics: The Untold Story which chronicles Marvel's super-hero era through the decades. You learn a great deal about the artists, story lines, machinations of the Marvel offices, creative conflict, and sundry details. It's well written, fun to read, and a compelling narrative of a major player in the comics industry.

 

One theme that recurs is the conflict between the company's creative types and corporate identity. In my reading of the book right now, I'm in late 80's, just after my own youthful introduction to the genre when I came of age on Byrnes's FF and Miller's Daredevil and became an X-Men Junkie.

 

Different chief editors created different work environments for the creative types, and the company slowly grew. As its value increased, larger and larger investors became interested. Through different corporate ownerships and editorial oversight, various artists and writers, and generations of fans, the company has turned out a fixating body of work that has touched anyone reading this thread.

 

I haven't finished the book yet, but it has me wondering what the creative environment is like now that it's subsumed into a media megalith. Has Disney let the print part of the company it bought, which must pale compared to movie profits, continue to do well while it runs wild with movies?

[Guardian Comics]

I'm reading the exact same book currently. On chapter 10, X-Men #137 era. An incredible read, that I hate putting down. I love the history as much as the books themselves if not more so. Everybody should give it a whirl. Can't answer your question, but I'd assume it is very similar as it was back then, a bunch of creative people worried about the story, and their bosses more worried about bottom line. Probably a never ending cycle.

 

Jim