Archive for the ‘quote of the week’ Category
Mike Deodata had a really great quote the other day that I wanted to share with everyone.
I got an email from a young comic artist wanabee who wanted to know how old I was when I started working at Marvel, so that he could have an idea how long it would take for him to break in, as well. He was feeling already too old. He’s nineteen.
I told him that age doesn’t matter.
One of the worst artists I know of started at Marvel when he was 20.
One of the best artists I know of — Hal Foster — started his immortal creation, Prince Valiant, when he was 40.
You can start at Marvel at 20 and be a zero. You can start at 40, never work for Marvel and yet be a genius.
Age doesn’t matter. Talent does.
Now watch as Mike cranks out a Wolverine sketch.
Man, I knew there was a reason Mark Waid was one of my favorite people. In an interview with Ain’t It Cool News, Waid spilled the beans on nearly every company he’s ever worked for.
“The biggest challenge [of 52] was actually, wisely, kept from us by [editor] Steve [Wacker]. EIC Dan Didio, who first championed the concept, hated what we were doing. H-A-T-E-D 52. Would storm up and down the halls telling everyone how much he hated it. And Steve, God bless him, kept us out of the loop on that particular drama. [Editor Michael] Siglain, having less seniority, was less able to do so, and there’s one issue of 52 near the end that was written almost totally by Dan and Keith Giffen because none of the writers could plot it to Dan’s satisfaction. Which was and is his prerogative as EIC, but man, there’s little more demoralizing than taking the ball down to the one-yard line and then being benched by the guy who kept referring to COUNTDOWN as ‘52 done right.’”
I think this is a fascinating look at the company, and actually puts a lot of what is going on into perspective. You’ll want to read the entire article, as there are enough quotes that can be pulled that would fill a month of Sundays worth of Quotes of the Week.
And if you are interested, we did our own little interview with Mr. Waid a while ago, where he hints at some of these things…
“I know there are plenty of web comic artists who are able to subsist on the income they make from their website, but they aren’t making money from their comics; they’re making money from merchandise. Not to belittle web-only comic artists, but when their income is derived from t-shirts, it makes them salesmen first, artists second.”
– Neil Swaab
Oh man, talk about opening mouth and inserting foot. This lead to all sorts of reactions including this well thought out post by Jeph Jacques, which ultimately lead to Mr. Swaab issuing a public apology.
Oh and hey, those webcomic things have a bunch of panels at the New York Comic Con, featuring many of those webcomic gurus featured in the image above.
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