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Harras = Quesada ?

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  • 20-01-2008 2:35pm
    #1
    ztoical
    Registered Users Posts: 4,788 ✭✭✭


    I read the below post on Kate Willært livejournal last night and had to post her comments here as I think she makes some really interesting points. I have heard the Harras/Joe Q comparison thing before but I thought she had summarized it very well. Would be interested to hear what some peoples thoughts are as I know we've had a few pro-joe Q posters before:


    I remember reading a thread on the old Warren Ellis Forum when it was announced Joe Quesada would be replacing Bob Harras. I was really excited about the news, since I wasn't a big fan of what Bob Harras had done with the books (in particular the controlling editorial style of he and his editors -- practically handing writers the plots and telling them to write dialogue for it -- under which the X-line became both incomprehensible, and dreadfully boring), and I'd liked how Quesada had managed to make some old series exciting again (with the occasional miss, like the Punisher-as-angel thing).

    However, one prominent member of the forum (I want to say it was Warren himself, but I can't remember for sure anymore) wasn't so optimistic, stating: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

    I didn't believe a word of it. But sure enough, while the new Marvel started off fresh and exciting, it eventually began to resemble late 90's Marvel.

    Actually, it's almost eerie, the pattern that emerges when you compare the Quesada and Harras runs. Check this out:

    Becoming A Marvel Editor
    1988: Bob Harras becomes editor of Uncanny X-Men.
    1998: Joe Quesada becomes editor of own line, "Marvel Knights."

    Becoming EIC
    1995: Bob Harras becomes group EIC in 1994, sharing the title with a handful of other EICs. In 1995 he is made sole EIC.
    2004: Joe Quesada becomes EIC in 2000, with Publisher Bill Jemas taking a hands-on approach as almost a tag-team EIC. Bill Jemas departs in 2004, leaving Quesada to take on the full EIC role himself.

    The "Alternate Reality That Shouldn't Exist" Summer Event Storyline
    1995: X-Men: Age Of Apocalypse with Bob Harras' go-to writer Scott Lobdell.
    2005: House Of M with Joe Quesada's go-to writer Brian Bendis.


    The "Storyline So Badly Coordinated That Books Frequently Contradict Each Other" Company-Wide Crossover
    1996: The poorly-conceived Onslaught.
    2006: The poorly-conceived Civil War.

    But then Joe Q jumps the gun by two years (and exactly two years, at that).

    The "Spidey's Marriage Is Limiting The Stories We Can Tell" Solution
    Dec 1999: Amazing Spider-man (Vol. 2) #13 - MJ disappears after a mysterious plane crash.
    Dec 2007: Amazing Spider-man (Vol. 1) #545 - Spidey makes a deal with the devil.

    Which brings us to...

    Replaced As EIC
    Late Summer 2000: Bob Harras is replaced by Joe Quesada as EIC.
    Late Summer 2008: ?


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