Breevort: the new Dan Didiot. I wonder how thick the callouses on Breevort's knees are from bowing and scraping to the Hollywood hacks and corporate suits.

••

And there's a big part of the problem in and of itself.

Marvel at its most successful, in the Sixties and early Seventies, was virtually self-contained. It was not a small piece of a larger whole. Sure, there was a corporate entity that owned Marvel -- several of them, in fact. The company kept being passed around like nobody wanted to catch its cooties -- but Stan was about as high up as it went, looking for anyone with anything to say about the content of the books.

The job of making comics was all about making comics. The job of selling comics was all about selling comics. Nobody got into the Biz to make a name or "leave their mark". And there were no bungee jumpers. Those who wrote and drew comics did it full time. It was a JOB, not a HOBBY.

Isn't that true of anything? Fans and former fans have opinions. Why let
that bother you if you're in the industry? Isn't it part and parcel of the gig?

Or does $600 or so I spend of Marvel books each year, plus whatever
licensing money they get from the Eaglemoss figurines I buy, just not
matter?

Please answer that for me, Mr. Brevoort. I'd really like to know.

••

I am not defending Breevort (his comments regarding this board were asinine), but where did he say "hollywood writers are better"?  If you are referring to this comment on his twitter page regarding late books, then a far more accurate summary of his "explanation" as to why late books are tolerated is that late writers who can generate more profits than timely writers are permitted to behave "badly" (his words). 

Now, there is certainly room for disagreement with his rationale*, but his statement is quite different than saying hollywood writers are by definition better. 

BT

*He seems to disregard, for example, any long-term impact that late books have had on the health of the industry.

When Charlton needed a new artist for WHEELIE AND THE CHOPPER BUNCH, George Wildman, their EiC, phoned me. I'd been in the business about eight minutes, but the Editor in Chief picked up the phone and offered me the book. Same with DOOMSDAY + !. Same with SPACE: 1999.

When Marvel needed a new artist for IRON FIST, their traffic manager, John Verpoorten, called me. When they were looking for someone to do MARVEL TEAM-UP, the EiC's assistant, Jim Shooter, called me. Same for THE CHAMPIONS. When they needed a new artist on UNCANNY X-MEN, Archie Goodwin, the Editor in Chief at Marvel, picked up the phone and called me. Mark Gruenwald asked me to do SHE-HULK. Howard Mackie asked me to do AVENGERS WEST COAST. Ralph Macchio asked me to do SPIDER-MAN: CHAPTER ONE. (And this does not even cover the stuff I was offered, but declined!)

When DC wanted to reboot Superman, Dick Giordano, the Editor-in-Chief, picked up the phone and called me. Dan Didio offered me DOOM PATROL. Mike Carlin asked me to do the two JLA arcs.

Chris Ryall, head honcho of IDW, asked me to do some STAR TREK stuff for them. Asked me to do some ANGEL stuff. Asked me to restart NEXT MEN.

In fact, in my whole career in comics, aside from my creator owned works, there have been precisely THREE instances where I went to the editors: UNTOLD LEGEND OF THE BATMAN, X-MEN: THE HIDDEN YEARS, and BLOOD OF THE DEMON. The first I heard was in the pipeline, when I was at a Chicago con, and immediately sought out the editor to offer my services. The others -- well, I just wanted to do 'em!

Everything else I have ever done in comics, happened because an editor, or, frequently, the Editor-in-Chief, asked me to do it. That is, after all, the most basic job description for an editor: find the talent for the job.

Yet, when, a while back, we got to talking on this board about the likelihood of my taking on an X-MEN FOREVER kind of book, as Chris had just started at the time, and we even kicked around a title, X-MEN EVERMORE, and I even went so far as to say it sounded like it could be a fun project and something I would be actually interested in doing, Tom Breevort responded to a Forum member's email about this by saying it was up to me to pick up the phone and call him, to show I was "serious".

But it's MY ego that's the issue. . .

it's an EGO thing. Just like JB just pointed out in his post.

Funny, in the new T&A report on CBR the The Wonder Twins at
Marvel mention how they solicited 40 page issues of a book to
validate a $3.99 price point. Then couldn't get enough material to put
40 pages together. This comment was to answer a fan who asked
where the missing pages were. Promises made, promises unkept.

JB wrote:

Yet, when, a while back, we got to talking on this board about the likelihood of my taking on an X-MEN FOREVER kind of book, as Chris had just started at the time, and we even kicked around a title, X-MEN EVERMORE, and I even went so far as to say it sounded like it could be a fun project and something I would be actually interested in doing, Tom Breevort responded to a Forum member's email about this by saying it was up to me to pick up the phone and call him, to show I was "serious".

(Mr Brevoort, I checked Frank Miller's Twitter page just now--he has expressed some desire to work on Captain America so how about it? Can you make it happen?

Whatever he may be saying on Twitter, I doubt that Frank is genuinely serious about wanting to do another Marvel project any time soon. But if he is, he knows the proper folks up at Marvel to reach out to.)

**********

I gather from context, that this guy is a Marvel Exec, but who exactly is he?