Out With The Old, In With…Well…

So… People who whined about the state of Marvel for the past ten years can finally feel vindicated.  It only took ten years of varied success for Marvel, and the finally kicked the guy who ruined comics books to the curb.

Well, actually, they didn’t… Joe Quesada still is a top Marvel officer.  It doesn’t look like he is being punished.  He seems okay with his new position of Chief Creative Officer.  Taking his place?  Someone who has worked closely with Joe for the past ten years.  I have never really heard anything negative about Axel Alonso.  He has been tied to great comics such as Runaways.  People have often praised him.  He seems to be a great choice based on his experience.

But I don’t see this as representative of a great change for Marvel.  Alonzo was part of the crew that has shaped Marvel to where it is today.  I am sure he will do some things differently, simply by the nature that Axel is not Joe Quesada.  He will certainly make his own mark.  But the truth is, Marvel will still do stuff to make people mad.  This change is not a repudiation of the last ten years.  Marvel has been pretty successful under Quesada.  Sure, not as huge as the nineties, but they weren’t a failure.  The comic market dwindled, and there was not a lot of “new blood” brought in, as comics focused on the aging audience they had.  Marvel tried to expand their business, and in some ways succeed and some ways not.  But for as much complaining as has been done about Quesada, including by myself?  Marvel did okay.  No, Quesada didn’t always handle everything right (why do people expect CEOs and EICs to be better than the rest of us at getting it “right” all the freaking time???).  He made decisions I disagreed with.  But I suspect those who see this as some kind of victory and a new era will be pretty disappointed.  Probably by Thursday.