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Marvel's
Creator-Owned Company-Owned Products
by Aaron Mehta
If the title confused you, good. It should.
Marvel
does not do creator owned products. They have a stable of
company owned creations. Technically, when you work on their
books, you are not even the creator. Marvel is the creator,
and you are simply the facilitator. In essence, you are the
workers on the assembly line putting together X-Men, or Spider-Man,
or Daredevil or whatever.
However,
there are some books that simply do not work this way. Yes,
technically, they are company works. Yes, these books have
(or will- more on this alter) continued on after their creative
teams left. However, there is always something missing. These
are the closest you can get to Creator owned books in Marvel
comics.
Let me
detail three examples that have historically proven I'm right
(And I am always right, so don't argue.)
The first
is Marvel's Thunderbolts series. The series was conceived
and created by the team of Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley. The
idea was simple: a group of super villains pose as heroes
in a post-Onslaught world (keep in mind, all the heroes were
sent to an alternate world for the 13 issue Heroes Reborn
arc) in an attempt to take over the world. Several small time
villains were taken from Marvel's warehouse and made over.
Beatle became Mach-1, Goliath became Atlas, Moonstone became
Meteorite, Screaming Mimi became Songbird, Fixer became Techno
and Baron Zemo became Citizen V. Oh yeah, and the readers
didn't find out who these guys really were until the end of
issue one.
The thing
is that, because these were all one-dimensional characters
who would get beat up in an issue of Spider-Man or Thor or
what-have-you every couple of years, they had no real personalities.
Busiek essentially made all new characters, and he made them
his own. And over his 33 issue run on the series, he chartered
their rise, their fall, and their attempt at redemption. He
had them travel to different planets. He had young Jolt join
the team, and encourage them to rebel against Zemo and save
the world. He brought in Hawkeye from the Avengers to lead
them to a greater glory. And it was good. And then he left.
And Fabien Niceiza, one of my favorite writers, was brought
in to continue on the title. And it was decent. But something
was missing. I still buy and enjoy this comic, but it doesn't
have the insanity, the power that Busiek's run had. Because,
in essence, Nicieza was playing with Busiek's characters.
It would be like putting him in to write Astro City. It just
wouldn't work.
Ok, now
onto my favorite example of this. Ladies and gentlemen, exhibit
number two: Deadpool.
Deadpool was a Rob Liefeld character from the old X-Force
series. He was a pretty one-dimensional character. He was
a badass who cracked jokes a mile a minute. The Merc-With-A-Mouth.
And someone got the idea of making him into the Merc-With-A-Monthly.
Enter Joe Kelly.
Kelly
was a rather unknown writer at this point. Here he was, being
given this character, and being told "Make us a series." And
by god, it was magnificent. Kelly took Deadpool and made him
into the most tragic character Marvel has ever had. He was
bloodthirsty, insane, and wanted nothing more than to become
a hero. His messed up mind wasn't even his own fault- he had
been abused, tortured, and made disfigured by the Weapon X
program. He was a victim who couldn't stop the cycle of hate,
but who was willing to try. Oh, and it was the funniest thing
Marvel has ever produced.
Kelly
took Deadpool from issue one on a wild ride. The first five
issues dealt with his past and how he was abused. Issues 7-13
were all about his cracked psyche and took Deadpool to the
lowest depths he would ever go. Issues 14-17 were about the
chance he had to climb up the mountain and achieve his goal.
Issues 18-22 were about his decisions as to how to achieve
this salvation, and even if he was worthy. And then in issue
25, he saved the universe. And the rest of the series was
about him reacting to the fact that HE had to make a choice
about the world. And the last three issues were all character
driven, showing the true angst of a man tortured in every
conceivable way by the one foe he could not beat. And all
through this, Deadpool made jokes, had readers in stitches,
and developed a fan base loyal enough to get it off the cancellation
block.
Ah, sorry.
Went off on a tangent. I really do love this series so much.
The point: Kelly found the perfect balance between humor and
humanity, between sarcasm and insanity. It was black, dark,
and serious, and then you'd get a guy walking in a chicken
suit raising zombies to steal Deadpool's wife. And then, in
issue 34, Priest became the new writer. Priest's work on Black
Panther is amazing, and he should have done justice to Deadpool.
The series was funny. It killed me. I'd be rolling on the
floor holding my guts. But it wasn't serious, and it didn't
work. And then Jimmy Palmiotti came on. I don't want to say
anything bad about the man (primarily because he could get
me whacked) but the arc had no humor. It was totally serious,
which was not what the book is meant to be. And then Frank
Tieri came, and the book came the closest it has to Kelly,
but it wasn't the same. And then Gail Simone came, messed
with the book, and changed it into Agent X, which is NOT Deadpool.
It is a new book, which is essentially a creator-owned-company-owned
book, and when SHE leaves in issue 7, the same cycle will
occur.....
Third
example- the Bishop series by Joe Harris. Harris took Bishop
and plopped him down in a universe of his own devising. It
was essentially a book that had nothing to do with the Marvel
Universe. It was its own entity, a fantasy Sci-Fi world with
monsters, evil overlords, and wrongs to set right. Harris,
who is tied with Warren Ellis for my all-time favorite writer
(for entirely different reasons, but whatever...) took a weak
character and made him into a real person. And then Chris
Claremont came back, wanted Bishop for his stuff, and to appease
him Marvel nixed Bishop's series and brought him back for
X-Treme X-Men. And Claremont took this deep, great character,
and made him into a one-dimensional "hardcore cop" figure.
And now Bishop is, once more, a crapfest. Because Harris isn't
writing him, Claremont is.
You get
the idea. But why the hell do you care?
You care
because this is about to happen again to books you may read.
Mark Millar
is bound to leave Ultimate X-Men at issue 33. That's it, new
writer. I've heard Brian K. Vaughn's name battered around
as a possibility, and he is a great writer. But he ain't Millar.
Mark has a very distinctive style, which flows and bends like
a natural conversation. Whoever picks up the book will have
trouble following this without taking the series in new directions.
Scratch that, it's impossible. UXM will become essentially
a new book, not because of a fault of the new writer, but
because of the strengths of Millar.
How about
Ultimate Spider-Man? Can you picture that book without Bendis
and Bagley? They have both said that they wish to stay on
the series as long as possible, but let's assume they left-
how would the series run? How would it sound? Would you still
devour it, or would you be forced to kind of shovel it down
your throat, looking for a familiar taste that you just can't
find anymore? (I'm sorry. As I write this, I am hungry.)
Even more
than any other book, The Ultimates stands out as a creator
owned Marvel book. In fact, it may as well be. Both Millar
and Bryan Hitch have said that if Marvel ever attempts to
over-edit their work (keep in mind, these are guys who got
burned over The Authority by DC) or assign a fill in artist,
they will walk from Marvel. However, they also both have contracts
going only to issue 24. Granted, if they keep going at the
current rate, that issue may come out sometime in 2012, but
still. Can you imagine Ultimates without Millar's narrative?
Without Hitch's stunning artwork and widescreen abilities?
Of course not. They make the book. Without them, it will be
the same characters, the same idea, but it will be a shell
of what it once was.
Ok, granted,
I'm relying heavily on the Ultimate universe to make my point
here. But this type of creator owned company owned stuff is
most important there, where the universe has been built up
by Brain Bendis and Mark Millar. And ONLY by these two writers.
Yeah, Joey and Billy gave their input, but it was these two
writers who have designed and told the stories of this universe.
For all intents and purposes, this IS a creator owned universe.
A non-Ultimate
example? New X-Men. Morrison is off the title at issue 150.
There is NO OTHER WRITER who could bring the insanity and
feel that he brings to this book. I can't think of anyone
who could follow up Morrison's run. How about Amazing Spider-Man?
There is a reason that it sells so well- J.M.S. is an amazing
writer. Yet, how long will his ideas (totem animals and whatnot)
and characterizations be kept once he's gone?
The fact
is that Marvel never has and never will do creator owned work.
What they do do, however, is bring in amazing creators to
do great things with characters they have locked up in the
back room. And when these creators find something they like,
they make them their own. And that can never be duplicated
by those who follow them. So keep in mind, next time your
read your favorite Marvel comic- the thing you love could
be gone in a very, very, short month.
First-time
Shotgun contributor Aaron Mehta shares a last name with Troy
and Shawn's old-school comic-reading buddy from back in the
day, Sujeet.
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