Rich Johnston’s rumor column is a real bonanza of Marvel & DC gossip this week. Things seem to have reached a tipping point in the battle between the two companies.
For the past three years or so, Marvel, under the direction of Editor in Chief Joe Quesada (with assists from former DC/Vertigo editors Axel Alonso and, up until a year or so ago, Stuart Moore), have done their damndest to become the “cool” publisher, wooing some of the biggest (and occasionally best) mainstream writers and artists, putting them on the big-name superhero’s books, and letting them run wild. Though fanboy reaction has been decidedly mixed (“How dare they screw with my favorite tights-wearing do-gooder!”), New Marvel has generated more sales, publicity, critical acclaim, and (most importantly) damn good books than any superhero-company regime in recent memory. (Brian Bendis’s Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil, Bruce Jones’s Hulk, Mark Millar’s Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates, Pete Milligan’s X-Statix (nee X-Force), (to a lesser extent) J. Michael Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man, and (to an enormous extent) Grant Morrison’s New X-Men are seen as having led the charge.) Comparatively conservative AOLTW division DC responded largely by playing dead, occasionally growing a star in their Vertigo or Wildstorm subdivisions only (usually) to see those stars snatched up by Marvel’s creator-friendly editorial regime.
Recently, things have changed. Marvel President Bill Jemas, never one to shirk from rubbing fans or retailers the wrong way if he thought it was good for the company, is now thought to be doing the same with creators through his increasingly intrusive editorial hand. Jemas himself is probably caught in the crossfire between the more money-minded Hollywood side of Marvel (where the real cash is harvested anyway) and the comparatively ars gratia artis publishing wing. Meanwhile, DC’s new Editorial VP, Dan DiDio, has made it his goal to ape the old Joe Q. business model, fighting to get big creators, give them big money, assign them to big characters, and tell the bigwigs at DC and AOL to leave them the hell alone. This has paid off with a slew of big-name superhero guys signing “exclusive” contracts with DC in recent months and, especially, the past couple of weeks. In the crazy world of comics publishing, exclusives don’t mean as much as you’d think they might–allowances are usually made for work already promised to other publishers; occasionally work is allowed to be done for indie companies, the main point being “Don’t work for The Other Big Company”; sometimes creators work so slowly that despite being “exclusive” with a company, said company may go months or even over a year without actually publishing any of their work–but still, they’re a barometer of which way the mainstream’s superstars think the wind is blowing. Lately, it’s been blowing in DC’s direction, with tons of high-profile projects either announced or rumored to be in the works. All told, DC has either gotten or is said to be gunning for Art Adams, Chuck Austen, Brian Azzarello, Chris Bachalo, Mark Bagley, Brian Bendis, Bryan Hitch, Bruce Jones, Adam Kubert, Jeph Loeb, Alex Maleev, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Eduardo Risso, Greg Rucka, Tim Sale, Mark Waid, and Bill Willingham, just to name some–a far cry from the company’s previous don’t-rock-the-boat approach to its big characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern et al).
Momentum began gathering in earnest at the San Diego Comic-Con, where DC took advantage of Marvel’s reduced presence by announcing exclusive contracts with Rucka, Sale, Loeb, and (the big shocker) Morrison. Things promise to reach critical mass in two weeks at Chicago’s WizardWorld convention, where both companies (Marvel will have a pretty big contingent on hand this time) promise huge announcements. ADDTF just might have a couple of representatives on hand, and they’re waiting with bated breath for the fireworks to start.
In his column, Johnston points out that even the most thorough poaching of Marvel by DC could turn out good for the former company, freeing up room on the big books for the up-and-comers currently working with smaller characters in the Tsunami and Epic lines. If such a promotion comes hand-in-hand with less interference from corporate or editorial, this might all well be a blessing in disguise.