|
The big story at the San Diego Comic Con seemed to be Marvel's miniature
booth. Usually Marvel Comics has one of the larger booths at the convention.
This year, the largest advertising/sales area was the Lord of the Rings Pavilion.
This included areas for books, props, electronic games, and (of course) for
promoting the movies. DC Comics had the second largest booth, although several
others were about as big. Marvel had a corner of the Diamond Distributors booth.
All kinds of rumours were running wild. You heard that Marvel Comics was filing
for bankruptcy. Ten minutes later you heard that they were doing fine, but concentrating
on movies that are based on comics characters because comics really didn't pay enough
by itself. None of these rumours seemed to make any sense, and I discounted most of them.
To try to find out how Marvel was doing and what was up with the booth, I talked
to Joe Quesada. Lots of good things have happened to Marvel since Joe came on-board.
We've interviewed him before, he knows us, and just maybe I could get him to tell
me what was happening. I also had a personal reason . . . to discuss my take on
the Spiderman movie.
Paul:
Being Executive Editor at Marvel has to be a tough job. Just what is involved in
the day-to-day handling of an enterprise that size?
Joe Quesada:
You know, it's one of those things where people that I've talked to have told me
that I seem to take it in stride, and I kinda enjoy the job. So maybe I'm one of
those people who was meant to do some of these things.
But, realistically speaking, the nice thing about working with a guy like Bill [Jemas],
is that Bill deals with the numbers for the most part, which I'm terrible at. And I get
to deal with a lot of the creative [stuff]. Bill also gets to dabble a little bit in the
creative guys and I get to dabble in the numbers, but its a nice mix. Because we're both kinda
creative guys and sort of business minded, so its a really good blend right now.
So its tough for me to say . . . I wish I could complain and say "Oh, boy, its a
real bitch!" But I've got nothing to complain about. Really, we're doing a good job and
business is going up. So, I'm living a pretty charmed existence.
Paul:
So you and Bill Jemas work pretty good together . . .
Joe Quesada:
Yeah, we work very well together. You know, like any Boss / Employee relationship, we have
our spats . . . we go at it . . . but at the end of the day we're very good friends. So
we walk away and look . . . ultimately Bill is the Boss . . . so what Bill says is the
Final Word, you know. But again, its great having a guy like Bill who (before he gives the
Final Word) we can sit there . . . we can debate . . . we can argue . . . we can gnash our
teeth at each other . . . and then both walk away feeling satisfied that whatever decision
was made, it was the right decision.
Paul:
I love the Spiderman movie . . . I liked the visuals BUT . . . I used to read the Spiderman
book a long time ago and I missed Gwen Stacy. What happened?
Joe Quesada:
You have to understand when you do these movies we have the ability and luxury in comics
to introduce character after character over the span of forty years. So, I think it did a
remarkable job of taking 40 years of Spiderman and distilling it into a movie of almost two
hours. And when you do that you're not going to make everybody happy. I think what you ended
up with was a Mary Jane that was a little bit of Mary Jane and a little bit Gwen, you know.
So you ended up with this hybrid character and it worked for the movie . . . it really did.
I think if you had introduced Gwen, it would have just been a big mess. Because you already
had that love triangle between Harry and Mary and Peter and then you had someone else come
in . . . and you had her father . . . so there were a lot of relationships there. I think to
put another one in would have been a mistake.
Paul:
So why is the booth registered as Marvel Enterprises, instead of Marvel Comics?
Joe Quesada:
You mean in the program? Beats me, I mean, technically the company's Marvel Enterprises.
Paul:
We've heard a lot of explanations for the small booth, like "We brought more people
here than we did last year." I checked the program and there don't seem to be more
Marvel people on the panels. Did the ones last year pay their own way or . . .
Joe Quesada:
[Points to a long list of Marvel folk who are autographing stuff at the booth.
Its about twice as long as the list I compiled from the Convention program.]
Paul:
So they're all here at the booth?
Joe Quesada:
We've flown twice as many people down. And again, its not just San Diego . . .
we've done this at all three major conventions, Philadelphia, Chicago, and
San Diego -- where we normally bring a big booth -- and we didn't do it. We also
showed up at Pittsburg this year (which we haven't done in years). We were at Charlotte
this year. We were at Bristol [UK] this year. We even showed up at an Anime/Manga con in
Chicago. So we've been able to distribute our editors and send them off to places by not
worrying about the booth this time. And, of Course, what you're not seeing is the Mystery
Suite. We have a beautiful suite at the Marriott (well, its not open to fans) its open
to all our creators. If you want to go, you want to have lunch, you want to "chill,"
go sit there . . . its got a beautiful balcony. At night . . . hey Les, how late were you
open last night?
Joe's assistant Leslie:
Uh, I left at around 3:30, but it was open to about five.
Joe Quesada:
Uh, about 5:00/5:30 with free-lancers drinking and cavorting and doing business
and having fun. So, those are the un-seen things. And again, the one thing that I learned
as a free-lancer is that this business - the important part of this business - the part
that really get creators going - that really brings the juices out - is relationships.
If you feel comfortable with the Editor, if you feel comfortable with the company you're
working with, if you feel comfortable with the creators you're creating with, it brings
out the best.
And ultimately, again . . . small booth, hands-on, you and I sitting here and bull-shitting
about this sort of stuff . . . that's what this company's about. And what this is all about.
All the best editors that we have here at Marvel are roaming around here, talking to people,
giving away oreo cookies . . . whatever. I think its more of a grass-roots, back-to-basics,
fun approach.
All of this has turned into a really big business, and its really kind of ironic. And
Marvel is still perceived as this gigantic corporation. And when we do this and bring it
down, then we get, "Where's the big corporation? We miss it!" So, you can't
please everybody.
Paul:
OK, well, thank you, Joe.
|
