Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Andrew from Gray Haven Magazine.com sent me this earlier this week, and it somehow got lost in my inbox. My apologies.
As always, this is simply letters to Marvel’s own Bill Jemas, followed by his answers. Also, as always, the column was delivered to the Labs printed on asbestos. Check it out:
Mister Twister: (mister_twist69@hotmail.com)
Were you born an @$$hole or was it something you learned?
Bill:
Dear Mister Twister,
I was born in New Jersey, and I must confess, to having learned how to talk trash. For example, a Jersey boy might answer your question as follows, “I learned it from your mother.” Luckily, I’ve come to realize that it’s best to avoid confrontational language at all times.
PureEnergy77@aol.com
Hi. Just wondering why you can't admit that the reason you guys "fired" John Byrne, had more to do with him not going along with your little blackmail attempt (to do that book with Claremont) than Hidden Years being "one to many". What where the sale figures again? ;)
Really, its funny. You will trash the guy now, but you still wanted to cash in, one more time, on the reflected glory of some of his highly respected Marvel work. Whatever you or others think of him NOW, the guy is one of the big reasons (after the founders like Lee, Kirby, Ditko, Romita etc..), that you and Joey Q can rant and rave and reap the rewards generated by the people who made Marvel characters popular in the first place.
Thank's Jemy. You have a great day!
Bill:
Dear PureEnergy77,
No one can deny John Byrne’s tremendous contributions to Marvel nor would anyone want to, and all of us at Marvel appreciate the legacy left by our company’s founders.
Now to more recent history. We didn’t fire John, he quit when Marvel cancelled his book, Hidden Years, as part of an overhaul of the entire X-Men line. He could have kept working with us on the joint project with Chris Claremont or he could have come up with a new title. But he chose to take his talents elsewhere. John’s choice, Marvel’ loss.
Greg Williams: (kakarot2814@aol.com)
Let me just say, you're doing an awesome job. This company rocks and rocks hard. These complaining fan boy's need to get a grip, for god's sake Ben Reilly is dead and he should stay that way. Must we have another resurrection to cheapen us all, you were all probably the same fan boys complain that the clone saga was destroying Spider-Man. I loved Ben, but now i say keep him dead to jerk with these whiners. But for my real question, will Marvel ever be accepting submissions from writers at anytime soon? How else can a guy break in to the biz ;)
Aaron Epstein: (vze2wz8x@verizon.net)
Bill! It's Jimmy from New York Sports Clubs! I was just wondering what kind of advice you would give to someone who was thinking about getting started in the comic book industry as a writer. What would be a good way to break into the business and where in the country are there the most job opportunities?
Bill:
Hey Jimmy and Greg.
The truth is that relative to other forms of publishing, it is very hard to break into comics. There are daily newspaper publishers in every town and multitudes of monthly magazines and thousands of fiction and non-fiction book publishers, but only a handful of comic companies who hire freelance writers.
Marvel does accept manuscripts, provided that they are submitted with a signed release (available on Marvel.com). This form contract provides that Marvel will make a reasonable effort to review submissions, provided that you agree not to sue us. I’m over-simplifying, and I know this all sounds one-sided, but the fact is that a company that accept solicitations from outside creators does subject itself the risk of litigation unless it has procedures and paperwork in place.
Jim Brown: (mail@midwestcomics.com)
What exactly is your problem with DC Comics? Are you upset with them because they consistently publish higher quality comics than Marvel? I know you will resort to the old "we placed X number of titles on the top ten list this month so we're better than DC" mantra you always recite, but surely even someone as thick-headed as you can admit they publish quality comics.
Bill:
Easy big fella,
You write me a rude letter every month. You don’t have to, I already understand your point.
You are a DC/AOL Comics fan.
You love reading AOL books,
You want to fill your store with books that you love.
You want your store filled with customers who love the books that you love.
And you already understand my point. But here we are on AICN, so I’ll let the AICN audience, in on it.
The average Marvel book sells over 50,000 units per month,
The average AOL book sells under 25,000.
Marvel books sell twice as fast as AOL books.
Twice as much profit per square foot.
Maximize profit per square foot, make more money.
I’m talking about money, and you are talking about love.
Go in peace, but please go.
Greg Mann: (gmann@mcse.edu)
Don't get me wrong, I love the overall quality of Spidey, the Hulk and the X-books these days. BUT without naming names it seems recently that certain Marvel writers like JMS (I didn't say anything about mentioning initials) are inserting their own left-of-center political bias into the work being published that is making some politically moderate fans uncomfortable. . . . . I think that MAX titles should stick to the more controversial material and let the PG rated titles stay relatively non-radical. You might think I'm a right-wing nut for letting something printed in a comic book disturb me, but it is a growing concern of mine.
Bill:
Dear Greg,
You are not a right wing nut, you have valid a point of view. JMS does not have a political “bias”, he has a valid point of view. You both have every right to express your views, but Joe gets to do it on the pages of Amazing Spider-Man because he has tripled the sales of that book in under one year, while you (and I) are stuck typing our views on AICN.
Steven Bergstrom: (sbergstr@san.rr.com)
I have a question for you, Mr. Jemas. Do you honestly believe that you're hurting anything but your credibility by badmouthing . . . the retailers who don't approve of Marvel's "no reprint" policy? How about the readers, whose habits you appear to disdain, who help pay your salary? Do you think that insults are going to gain you the approval of the mainstream comic audience? . . . Marvel is doing much better now than it was two years, or even a year ago . . . it seems to me that you'd be helping it along even better by not slamming . . . your retailers (all of them, not just your top 500). And leave the hardcore fans alone. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. With great power comes great responsibility.
