JMS: The Half-Term Governor Of Monthly Comics

So...anyone else embarrassed at this point to have rallied to JMS's side in the One More Day fiasco?

After publicly stating that he nearly requested his name be removed from OMD, it seemed the reaction from a lot of fans was "fuck yeah, JMS, you tell 'em!" Who knew it was more about being a prima donna or diva?

Since that, he left Thor because, after asking for and getting 6 issues without tying into a Big Event (TM), Marvel eventually needed the series to tie-in. And that was just too much to ask of JMS...and he blew that popsicle stand.

Leaving his last ongoing Marvel title made him pretty much full-time DC. That led to some more fun.

After the decision to relaunch the Red Circle characters in the Brave And The Bold title, going so far as several completed scripts and, apparently, completed artwork, he told DC Comics he couldn't do it and that he needed to do it as a separate event. He no longer wanted to do it that way, so he pretty much unilaterally decided it wouldn't be done that way. That is, if you believe his version of the story.

He gets put on Superman. BleedingCool.com has some really interesting rumors about it. Ones that, despite JMS protesting, appear to be quite nearly spot-on. This involves the idea that he required control of Superman, pulling him from his second monthly title and other regular books. This effectively ran Marc Guggenheim off the book. Given that the Superman books without Superman for a year had significantly dropped in sales, I really don't buy that DC Comics decided on their own that a pitch to have Action Comics star Lex Luthor with no Superman was the way to go (note: I'm glad that it worked out this way, because I'm loving Paul Cornell's run).

No, it seems much more likely that DC Comics was so excited about the idea of JMS bringing attention and sales to the Superman title that they were willing to give him control of the character and try out a creative pitch for a Superman-less Action. Even if it meant pulling the rug out from under a previously committed writer (Guggenheim) and replacing him with another (Cornell).

JMS was, also, put on Wonder Woman. While there are no rumors about the circumstances around that and no second series to be intruded upon, it does seem like he was given just as absolute control over her. One can't say that her lack of appearances elsewhere are a result of a requirement on the writer's part, it does present itself as a possibility, based on the rumored issues with Superman.

Then came the reader reaction to the directions JMS took two of DC's flagship characters. It wasn't good, but DC had committed themselves firmly to the story arcs that JMS laid out. I mean a serious deluge of PR. Pushing for coverage in major news outlets. With Superman, apparent attempts to coordinate with areas of the country that he'd be walking through for additional press. It'd be extremely difficult to extricate themselves from that without it being a major embarrassment.

What adds insult to injury? That JMS don't work cheap, as far as I can tell, and the books ain't selling.

But the news isn't all dire. The Superman: Earth One project debuts to a lot of press coverage and...shock...sales to match.

Enter the reality: the best way to get through this is to have talented, more affordable talent finish out the directions of Superman & Wonder Woman, while moving JMS over to a property that might just sell enough to justify his pay rate: his Superman: Earth One project. Seems like an excellent job of making the best of a bad situation.

But, you may ask, how does this cast JMS in a prima-donna/diva light?

Well, I believe he leaked the move to BleedingCool.com to try to get ahead of the news. Why do I think he leaked it? I love Rich Johnston as much as the next guy (or probably more, given how many bash him), but the fact that JMS chose BC.com and only BC.com to give a statement to regarding the move seems like one hand washing the other: Rich runs his leak (that frames the move to be about the future of publishing and NOT about sales not meriting his pay rate on the monthlies) and JMS will give him an exclusive statement on the issue later (one where he frames himself as it all being about the craft, indicating he's leaving substantial money on the table).

(Update: Rich Johnston, in the comments below, refutes my theory that JMS leaked the info to him and gave him the exclusive response afterward as part of a quid pro quo. It doesn't negate the overall idea that JMS, to some extent, used his statement to BleedingCool.com to spin the news.)

Just to be clear: I don't posit that theory in any way to knock Rich for it. Johnston often cries the loudest that he's not a journalist. There's been evidence of posting rumors/scoops on his site that were actually PR folks using him to generate buzz. He's there to generate hits and disseminate info that his audience wants to read. So I wouldn't fault him for agreeing to such an arrangement. I, also, don't doubt that he approached DC for a reaction, with both he and JMS being reasonably certain they wouldn't have an official one.

In JMS's official statement, he even appears to manage to blame his artist, Chris Weston, for the delays regarding The Twelve. But, you know, that's almost not worth noting, given all of his other incidents.

God help DC Comics if the future installments of Superman: Earth One don't sell similarly to the first one.

ASM BRAND NEW DAY SPOILERS: Dig? Thumbing Of The Nose? Or Just Being Cute?

As discussed, the last page and a quarter plays on the JMS saying that Quesada's answer for everything OMD was, "it's magic; we don't have to explain it!"

Is it a dig at him? Is it kind of thumbing their nose at the situation? Or is it just meta-cute?

You make the call!

Marvel, MySpace, & Newsarama

Saw that Joe Quesada is moving his weekly Q&A to MySpace.com. Fought the urge to comment when ignorant posters blamed his leaving Newsarama on my dust up with Guggenheim and Slott. But then people started claiming it was because Newsarama bashed One More Day and Brand New Day.

That's when I decided I had to say something.

People really need to get their facts together before just hurling conspiracy theories out there.

Joe stopped doing New Joe Fridays about 5-6 months before the announcement. That's pretty far before my MOSTLY civil debate with Guggenheim that's ending ruffled some feathers. That's pretty far before all the OMD negativity on Newsarama that was in no way the official opinion of Newsarama.

Yes, the roundtable that I participated in had a distinctly low opinion of One More Day. But the opinions of the Best Shots crew are not the opinions of Newsarama. That's always been made crystal clear. When Brandon Thomas came out as pro-OMD, he was accused of just trying to brown nose for a gig and then had it suggested that it was Newsarama trying to do damage control by spinning a positive view on the book.

So...was the official Newsarama opinion the one that came from reviewers like myself (giving my opinion for free) or an official regular column where there is some sort of contractual deal undoubtedly in place? Neither was. But people don't bother looking closely enough to see that.

What else might have Newsarama been blamed for? A poll about OMD where the fans overwhelmingly voted as having thought the event's resolution was shite? Please...

It is clear, however, that Slott cracked and seemed to start snapping at Newsarama, blaming it for much of the reaction to OMD that was present on the site.

NRAMA: You've said before, Spider-Man is one of the what, three books that you would kill to write monthly...did your devotion to the character waver at all when it was made clear the changes in the status quo of Spider-Man and his world that you would be writing?

DS: Wow. That's a pretty loaded way of putting it. I can see where you fall on some of these issues, Matt.

Slott went on a bit of a witch hunt after anyone who was posting an opinion that might negatively effect his Brand New Day arc before it hit the stands. He was all over Blog@Newsarama, criticizing what was clearly one of Newsarama's many OP/ED areas for not researching claims that were made by other sites in link blogs.

I highly doubt that Slott's attitude is evidence of how Marvel feels, though.

Joe Quesada and Marvel are always looking for the bigger better deal that puts their product out into the mainstream. Not everyone would agree that it is the best move at this point, not that we're all privy to exactly the deal. I mean...we haven't seen the first column yet. I'm not going to damn him for the decision when we haven't even seen a few columns worth of the new status quo (which, I guess, is ironic since I decided to drop BND before I saw an issue).

By the way: if you think that my kerfluffle with Guggenheim cost Newsarama NJF, why was it still intact after I called Brevoort a liar?

That's right. When the Civil War delays were announced a year and a half ago, Brevoort said that they were doing everything they could to give retailers ample warning. Retailers found out about the delay by Civil War not being on their invoice the Saturday before the books were supposed to arrive in store. I called him on it several times and pointed out how having the interests of the retailers as a top priority was obviously a lie when they let notification be put off so long in order to come off with a plan that made them hopefully look a little less inept.

I was just as much a contributing writer at Newsarama during the Brevoort discussion as I was in the Guggenheim debate. I actually behaved more like an ass in the Brevoort talk, with not even the slightest attempt at tact.

Let's recap:

1. Joe Quesada stopped doing NJF long before the completion of One More Day.
2. Many other editors were sporadically filling in for him, with several Fridays passing without a column long before One More Day.
3. Many Marvel books have been savaged by the Best Shots crew in the past (when they deserved it) with NJF humming along nicely.
   
4. My Guggenheim issue pales in comparison to my Brevoort argument, making it highly unlikely that the former killed NJF when the latter didn't phase it.

Marvel Entertainment has struck a strategic deal with Fox Newscorp. It has nothing to do with personality clashes or differences of opinion. It is clearly a business decision...as anyone with a brain would see.

Can't Be Mad At Guggenheim

Something that gets lost in my vociferously defending my action of reporting Guggenheim is that I don't think he is a terrible guy. I strongly disagree with his stance on strike-time behavior, but I think he is a good guy who, until just before the end, was engaging me in a great discussion/debate. I didn't like being dismissed with the "you're not in my union" deal and stand by the contention that it is the sign of failure in a debate. But that don't make Guggenheim a bad person. I think everyone's tried to finagle a way out of a debate without admitting that they have no answer or no way out of a corner they've painted themselves into.

Before having my Newsarama account closed, I had sent Mr. Guggenheim a PM saying that, if I had it to do all over again, I don't know if I still would have reported him. I felt pretty confident, actually, that I wouldn't have if a certain writer didn't show up to carry over frustrations he has with me on other issues. I don't know if Mr. Guggenheim received the message before my account closed or if the message would still be in his box if my account closed.

What I do know is, despite it all, he came back to the thread with a pretty funny post:

Originally Posted by ERoy

Learning about this thread certainly makes me want to check out Eli Stone, since I really didn't know anything about it before. So, at least for me, the thread did what it was supposed to do.

Mission accomplished! Thanks, Kevin! The check is in the mail, buddy.

Now, that can be with full "I can't be bothered to hold a grudge" humor or that can be more of a "how do you like dem apples" crack. Either way, I don't care who you are...that's funny.

Maybe I have to give that Eli Stone show a shot, after all...