NS: Former Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada Leaves Marvel After 22 Years

[cygnia]

Is Spidey's long nightmare finally over?

Former Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada Leaves Marvel After 22 Years

Joe Quesada, former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief and current executive vice president and creative director of Marvel Entertainment, has announced he's leaving the company after 22 years.

 

Quesada made the surprise announcement via Twitter, telling fans, "After two plus decades (has it really been that long?), the time has come for me to move on. As you can imagine, my love for the company, its characters, and all my coworkers runs deep, but I have an exciting new chapter that's about to begin, so the time feels right."

Comments

[dianakingston]

Can't say I'll miss him - he did good at the start of his tenure with Jemas, you could tell there was a real effort to bring in new blood and try new things... but his legacy at Marvel will be that he turned it into a frat house for his buddies to do what they wanted, with no pushback or editorial oversight. And it's hard to argue that the "superstars" of his era - Bendis, Tieri, Way, Austen, etc. - ultimately merited the creative freedom he gave them.

The ongoing creative decline at Marvel may have continued under Alonso and Yoshida-sama, but it started with Quesada.

[numeronone]

Ah, memories...remember when he did that video giving you, the humble reader, a tour of the mighty Marvel bullpen...and it was entirely straight white men doing goofs?

[kd_the_movie]

Respectively, Gotta disagree heavily. At one point Marvel, under Quesada, couldnt miss AFA giving creatives the green light.

Some of the best material Marvel has ever put out occurred under Quesadas tenure as EIC with heavy hitters such as Morrison, Ellis, Millar, Fraction, Brubaker, Ennis, JMS, Whedon, Waid, Pak, etc.

[deh_tommy]

Same, putting aside his glaring shortcomings it was the books under Quesada’s reign that got me into MARVEL comics so I’ll always be grateful for that.

[arilou_skiff]

Yeah, Quesada has had his misses, but he's absolutely done good stuff too. And he was willing to experiment.

[cainofdreaming]

So, can Peter and MJ get back together now?

[windleopard2]

That will require removing a lot more people than Quesada.

[xammax]

It is a good step though.

[cypherfdp]

So far as I understand it, Quesada hasn't actually worked on the comics side of things for years.

[laughing_tree]

Not directly but the editor-in-chiefs still reported to him. He took part in the creative summits and provided his input. The "Ironheart" name was apparently his idea, as was the decision to reveal Wiccan and Hulkling were already married in Empyre.

[mastermahan]

...Quesada was still there?

[numeronone]

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[shakalooloo]

Well, his smoking ban was a good policy, at least.

[mazway_75]

Yeah but also a bit off. "Yes, we can show Wolverine slashing a hundred guys to pieces but him lighting up a cigar is a bad message for kids." And I'm a strong anti-smoker myself but faces reality it exists.

I preferred other ways to tackle it dead-on. Like DC in the early '90s when Jim Gordon has a heart attack and stops smoking. And in a Superman book, Perry White is on a cruise, reads about it, reflects on him and Gordon the same age and tosses his cigar overboard. Seems better than just pretending it doesn't exist.

[shakalooloo]

Those would be good approaches if they stuck to them, but both Gordon and White are puffing away again currently, aren't they?

Perhaps the best way - if a little extreme - would be to have someone actually suffer the serious, life-altering (or -ending) consequences of smoking.

[mazway_75]

Actually, recall early 90s Spider-Man, MJ is getting into smoking more, brushing off Peter's worries on it. So he brings her to see long-time sleazy reporter character Nick Katzenberg, whos' on his deathbed from cancer and moaning on "shoulda quit years ago, never thought it would happen" and MJ tosses her cigarettes on the spot.

[windleopard2]

In Quesada's defense, kids are more likely to smoke than slice people up (and depending on the book, the latter wasn't always seen as a good thing).

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, it's still weird seeing OG Nick Fury without a cigar (not that we see much of him anyway) and JJJ smoking in the office was just such a perfect showcase of him feeling he was above the rules while engaging in self-destructive activity that also endangered others.

But I'm happy The Thing and Wolverine aren't lighting up in front of kids (both real and fictional) anymore.

[beyondthefringe]

I feel like he was good for Marvel at the time in reinvigorating them, and he certainly steered the company in interesting ways...

But 20 years is a rather long time to be in control of a creative business and it's well past time for fresh blood to take the reins.

[mazway_75]

Same camp as others, he started well with a nice boost and good direction but then letting guys (coughBendiscough) too much power and such and things like One More Day and more so a bit too Shooter-esque in the end.

[janegray]

Hate the guy so have no good wishes for him.

[b_i_beast]

[leahandillyana]

Oh, they made him the sacrificial offering for the problems Marvel faced in the last four years? It seems to be more symbolic than anything. Dunno about Americans, but in Poland I would read it as a literal religious sacrifice in hopes of things turning around.

[shakalooloo]

Last four years? What particular problems are they?

[leahandillyana]

Little variety in titles, irregular publication schedules, trying to be "hip" by introducing writers and artists with no experience in comics etc. There's a lot of that, and I don't think it didn't hurt the sales.

[icon_uk]

Irregular publications schedules over the two years of a global pandemic I am inclined to give someone a bit of a pass on.

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, it sucks that minis published before the pandemic were unceremoniously canceled and collections are still being delayed for months but that seems to be more about paper shortages than editorial decisions.

[arilou_skiff]

Quesada has definitely had it's shortcomings, but he also did a lot of good stuff, he was pretty instrumental in trying to diversify the roster of marvel characters (especially latino ones) even though not a lot of them have ended up sticking, he definitely is one of the people who deserves credit for putting them out there.

[zachbeacon]

As a Spider-Man fan, I'm not sure I'll ever forgive him for a lot of things (especially the one big thing) but I have to at least give him credit for being experimental in his early days. It didn't always land and his double act with Jemas tended to be downright childish (especially when openly feuding with industry people like they were Vince McMahon or something) but Marvel was at least trying new things for a while.