Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login
The John Byrne Forum
Byrne Robotics > The John Byrne Forum << Prev Page of 39 Next >>
Topic: A Challenge to Marvel (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
Author
Message
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133317
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | 1  

JB,would you consider accepting Breevorts challenge?

••

Did you skip my previous posts, Gerry? If the "challenge" is "put up or shut
up" I have already done so, for about 30 years now.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Greg Woronchak
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 04 September 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 1631
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | 2  

Even Mark Waid might have been able to sleep nights.

Zing! I love it <g>.

But I look at the commissions which are posted here, and I can see the true love he still has for those characters.

I'd guess that commissions offer alot more fun and freedom than working under an editor and 'suits'.

Back to Top profile | search | www e-mail
 
Trevor Giberson
Byrne Robotics Chronology
Avatar

Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 1888
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | 3  

I'd rather see some Marvel Adventures title, outside the main continuity, where we'd just get good stories, good artwork and some actual capital-H super-Heroes.  I could care less if it was done at Marvel, actually.  IMO, brand new Heroes would be better than the old guns.
Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133317
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 2:46pm | IP Logged | 4  

I'd guess that commissions offer alot more fun and freedom than working
under an editor and 'suits'.


••

Once upon a time, that would not have been so true. Editors hired people
they thought could do the job, and then -- get ready for this now -- let
them do the job!

There were a couple of caveats, of course. This was in a time before
Marketing was running the show. Before everything had to turn upon
"events", stunts designed to separate what seems to be an ever more stupid
portion of the audience from their hard earned cash.

And, most importantly, it was when the people hired to do the job really
could do the job
. They weren't hired because they had made a name
(even a small one) in Hollywood, or because they wrote a blog that caught a
publisher's eye, or --- well, most of the reasons people seem to get hired
these days.

Editors who knew what they were doing. Talent who knew what they were
doing. And an understanding of what "doing" required.

Lost art?
Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133317
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | 5  

It's a bit pathetic from both sides of the fence in my opinion.

••

That's a pathetic way to view it, in my opinion.
Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133317
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 2:54pm | IP Logged | 6  

He's an editor. He could call JB if he wanted him for a project. Right? What
am I missing?

••

It's safe. Breevort knows -- since apparently he hangs on my every word --
that I would never work at Marvel while present conditions prevail. So he
can say "All he has to do is call!" and then sit back smugly and say "I offered!
He never called!"


Back to Top profile | search
 
Tim O Neill
Byrne Robotics Security


Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 10937
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 2:56pm | IP Logged | 7  



I can’t get past the opening salvo of Tom Brevoort’s blog entry.   Saying
JB’s post that kicks off this thread is an envious cry for attention goes
even farther afield of mindreading and into bad pop psychology. I think
it’s unwarranted to respond to a list of creative issues with a lame
psychological evaluation not fit for fake TV doctors. It’s a dishonest
insult of a premise that he hangs his “put up or shut up” argument on.

Shall I put on my fake beard and candy cigar and play Sigmund Freud
myself and say that Mr. Brevoort’s disproportionate response is a sign
that JB has struck a nerve?

I give JB a lot of credit for his candor when it comes to the industry and
other comic book creators. I think it’s good for and industry that can fall
victim to believing it’s own publicity. JB has criticized the industry and
some fellow creators even when it was unpopular to do so. But he is very
good at sticking to the issues and the creative work itself and not hitting
below the belt like Mr. Breveport has done. I feel like Mr. Brevoort is
using Karl Rove style debate tactics here to avoid the issues that are
suggested at the top of this thread. This was an opportunity to engage in
the issues mentioned – why did it get so personal so fast?

I grew up on Marvel and I can’t keep from checking out its current state.
There are bright spots. I love the work being done on Amazing Spider-
Man and it is encouraging that I have a stack of new Spider-Man comics I
can throw at my nephews (after Uncle Tim reads them, of course). But
the marketing stunts are tiresome and I question how they can get at the
heart of building new readership among the younger set. We are in a
vicious recession and I don’t know about you folks, but a lot of casual
titles that I read were the first to go in the budget. I wonder if the same
is true for other readers and even parents who are funding their kids
reading habits.

When Mr. Breveport calls JB’s insight into Marvel “stupid”, I wonder if he
realizes that there are readers like me who happen to agree with JB.   

Mr. Brevoort says he will continue with more later – I hope there is some
substance to future comments.



Back to Top profile | search
 
David Suiter
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 20 February 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 428
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 3:33pm | IP Logged | 8  

I know it is a longshot but I for one think JB should be back at Marvel and doing his thing. With Wolverine getting his movie next year JB could put together a kick ass mini series and tell his kind of Wolverine stories. The kind that 99% of the world wants to see.

I'd love to see JB tackle the Avengers and Iron Fist. There is just so much of JB's past work that Marvel is mining let's get the master back at Marvel to not only show them how it is done but to put his spin back on the characters.
Back to Top profile | search | www
 
Greg Woronchak
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 04 September 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 1631
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | 9  

But the marketing stunts are tiresome and I question how they can get at the
heart of building new readership among the younger set.

That's the key; I doubt they're interested in new readers at all. Marvel has assembled a group of creators that are selling books using gimmicks and decompressed storylines. At the same time, they're flooding the market with 'niche' books, desperate to find something, anything, that sells.

Once the hard core 'collectors' (as opposed to readers) decide to spend their money elsewhere, I wonder what'll happen next....

Back to Top profile | search | www e-mail
 
Martin Kogan
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 13 July 2004
Location: Argentina
Posts: 1477
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 4:36pm | IP Logged | 10  

Maybe you should send an open letter to Tom Brevoort and say "Ok, give me a miniseries with no editorial input whatsoever and I'll show you how it's done."


Back to Top profile | search | www e-mail
 
Wayne K Purdy
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 07 August 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 844
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 4:54pm | IP Logged | 11  

Shoot higher than that, Martin. Give him Fantastic Four.

There's no saving X-Men, unless there was some sort of cataclysm that dropped the number of mutants in the MU to a manageable number. (insert sarcastic emoticon.)
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 
Joe Zhang
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12857
Posted: 16 December 2008 at 5:13pm | IP Logged | 12  

"Richard (and others), the "Ignore" function can be your friend. "

If a friend is who tells you whatever you want to hear, then yes, ignorance is your friend.
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 

<< Prev Page of 39 Next >>
  Post ReplyPost New Topic
Printable version Printable version

Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login