Friday, December 7, 2007
What does Joe Quesada have against marriage?
I don’t normally read Spider-Man comics. That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the character as one of the most popular characters that Marvel Comics has. He’s a very popular character. Just not with me.
I was surprised to read on the Interents that Marvel Comics is going to do a major change to the character. Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker is married to his high school sweet heart Mary Jane. Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has never liked the fact that Peter Parker was married. He supposedly thinks it makes the character non-relatable to the younger readers.
Marvel Comics has younger readers? And to think I thought the kids were reading creepy Japanese manga where everyone has the really big eyes.
So Joe Quesada thinks Spider-Man being married makes youthful readers less inclined to relate to him? Never mind the fact that he can shoot web goo from his wrists and that he has superhuman strength and dexterity. It’s the whole “married thing” that confuses the youngsters and makes it so they can’t relate to him.
The most retarded thing about this whole story is how they are going to make him non-married. Instead of just having him divorce Mary Jane, they are going to place him in a situation where his Aunt May is going to die. The Devil (seriously, the Devil) makes a deal with Spider-Man: The Devil will save Aunt May if he agrees that his relationship and his marriage with Mary Jane will have never happened. Aunt May will live, but Peter and Mary Jane will not only not be married, they will have no memories of even knowing each other.
That has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.
Who in their right mind would give up the love of their life just so their enfeebled old aunt can defy nature and go on living? Aunt May has lived a full life. It’s time for her to go join Uncle Ben.
Joe Quesada must really hate being married. If this even sounds slightly plausible to him, his wife is in trouble.
I’m willing to bet the TV in Joe Quesada’s bathroom that this has less to do with appealing to youthful readers and more to do with getting publicity in the mainstream press. I think Quesada is addicted to seeing his name in the USA TODAY.
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Yeah, it would seem that Joe Quesada is a little out of touch with his audience.
Did Marvel run this nonsense by Cappy first? He might not approve of this malarky.
There, I said it. It’s all a bunch of malarky.
Near as I can figure, Quesada is Spanish for “cheesed.”
I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds Japanese manga creepy. It’s not just the eyes - it’s the mouths, too.
Jesse: I pretty sure that Quesada is Spanish for “late”. If you’ve ever read a book penciled by Quesada, you would understand the reference.
Rachel: Manga characters do have really big eyes and tiny little mouths. When it comes to manga or anime, there is some stuff I like, but it’s hard to separate it from all the stuff I hate.
[...] that mad. I still don’t agree with the path this story is taking the Spider-Man franchise. I’ve already explain why that is. Straczynski’s writing is up to it’s usual greatness and Quesada certainly knows what [...]
Personally I’m wondering how Quesada got the job, obviously it wasn’t voted on by the marvel fans and it wasn’t for his love of the characters (the man has managed to destroy most of them in some way or another). He’s screwed up the marvel universe so badly that the next Editor-in-chief is going to have to spend his career fixing everything Quesada screwed up…which is pretty much every marvel title to date. I also expect a fan revolt in the coming months if he keeps this up.
Jeff, I think Quesada got the gig for his ability to always keep a deadline.
Funny, when I’d just passed 40, I’d given up on a lot of comics, especially Marvel, for years, the took the graphic novel-buying route (in used bookshops, usually) and rediscover Batman through Hush and other collections, plus the Superman-Batman books, Superman, as well as JSA and most of all the rebirth of Green Lantern. Marvel, which I grew up on in the Silver Age of Lee-Kirby F.F. (as well as O’Neil-Adams Batman a few years later, GL/Ga, etc.). Last year, I delved in the JMS Spiderman books and really enjoyed them a lot. Then I tried some of the Civil War collections…ugh. And killing Captain America (again, those Kirby years, plus Steranko and even Byrne in the ’80s)? But this Spiderman move may work for the kids who buy it, but since I don’t go for individual comics anymore, I’ll just avoid the graphic novel collections when they come along. I LIKE characters growing, changing, evolving, yet managing to stay true to their core. Though the Spiderman clone stories, especially, lost me in the ’90s, again the JMS work brought me back. Now, I’m gone again. Quesada may or may not have made the right move. I suspect it’s the former, though. My initial response/thoughts reading some of his interviews are, he’s a pompous dickwad. But he has the keys to the store. Then again, you don’t have to shop in that store.