In ealry Marvel comics we see generic names for the papers they read. But soon pretty much every time you see a paper in The Marvel Universe it is THe Daily Bugle. When did this happen? And how did the Bugle get so respected when pretty much every one calls it a sandal sheet or tabloid?
[QUOTE=babyblob;5158721]In ealry Marvel comics we see generic names for the papers they read. But soon pretty much every time you see a paper in The Marvel Universe it is THe Daily Bugle. When did this happen? [/quote]
Fantastic Four #2.
The Daily Bugle debuted there rather than in ASM first. CBR put out an article recently:
[url]https://www.cbr.com/spider-man-facts-about-the-daily-bugle-marvel-comics/[/url]
[quote]And how did the Bugle get so respected when pretty much every one calls it a sandal sheet or tabloid?[/QUOTE]
A) Not everyone calls it a scandal sheet or tabloid.
B) Not everyone did when the newspaper started out and for most of its history.
C) The Bugle has supported mutant rights, and done a lot of good stuff to balance out the bad, i.e. going after Kingpin, outing Norman Osborn as a criminal, employing top talent like Ben Urich, opposing white supremacists like Sam Bullitt, employing Jessica Jones and so on.
The more recent Spider-Man writers and adaptations, from Slott and so on have ran with this idea that Jonah Jameson is supposed to be a terrible journalist but this was never the intention at the start. J. Jonah Jameson in multiple runs under Lee and later was implied to have been a good and capable journalist and of high reputation. And Spider-Man is "the one bad call" that even good journos can make. The fact is for much of the Spider-Man run, the likes of Aunt May and Gwen Stacy among others openly took Jameson's editorials at face value because of his reputation. If Jameson was some tabloid hack, then it follows that May and Gwen were some gullible people misled rather than people taking a voice of authority who made a bad judgment call. And it's not just May or Gwen, even Reed Richards and others took Jameson's editorials at face value in their appearances on ASM and so on.
Bendis for all his faults, was the last writer in 616 Marvel (at least before Zdarsky) to really get the duality of JJJ. Jameson is a good journalist and a crusading editor of courage. Stan Lee definitely intended that, as in ASM#91-92.
The Bugle has historically been portrayed as a Mainstream Establishment newspaper like The New York Times and not a reactionary newspaper like Breitbart. Their "scandals" were always more about promoting sensationalism at the expense of real issues (similar to CNN and MSNBC) than about promoting anything Alex Jones would.
Jameson specifically is a good representation of the mainstream journalist described by Noam Chomsky in [I]Manufacturing Consent[/I]: honest but completely unaware of his biases or how closed-minded he is and of how much he props up the status quo.
Jameson's biggest problem is that he runs his editorials as headlines.
Other that that, though, he's usually written as a top line reporter that works with some of the best.
On top of that, he has a great photographer. I mean, how does that Parker guy get all those great Spider-man shots? :p
[QUOTE=Alan2099;5158838]Jameson's biggest problem is that he runs his editorials as headlines. [/QUOTE]
That changed with later writers maybe, but not in the old days.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]100914[/ATTACH]
This reminds me of an issue of FF where they fight this weird cosmic entity and Reed talks about how the news is going to make sense of it...and the Bugle just blames it all on Spider-Man :p.
[QUOTE=Revolutionary_Jack;5158784]C) The Bugle has supported mutant rights, and done a lot of good stuff to balance out the bad, i.e. going after Kingpin, outing Norman Osborn as a criminal, employing top talent like Ben Urich, opposing white supremacists like Sam Bullitt, employing Jessica Jones and so on.
[/QUOTE]Carol Danvers worked for the Bugle too, as editor of the Woman supplement. That was her status quo when she started out as Ms. Marvel. Bear in mind this was in the 1970s! In real life I bet men were often doing the top job even at women's mags back then.
[QUOTE=Digifiend;5158873]Carol Danvers worked for the Bugle too, as editor of the Woman supplement. That was her status quo when she started out as Ms. Marvel. Bear in mind this was in the 1970s! In real life I bet men were often doing the top job even at women's mags back then.[/QUOTE]
Jameson's thought process is: "I believe in human rights...except Spider-Man's. I believe in equality of all people...except Spider-Man. Mutant oppression is wrong...oppress Spider-Man instead. White Supremacy is a Cancer...even more than Spider-Man, not that I think Spider-Man should be left off the hook. I suppose women's equality...women are better than Spider-Man."
Yes Bugle is not a thrash rag. When JJJ tried to hire X-Factor to hunt down Spider-Man and they returned his check, JJJ was outraged and ordered Robertson to write a slander article about them. Robbie immediately vetoed the idea, pointing out that Bugle does objective journalism and any editorial about X-Factor should be based on facts. Jameson grudgingly agreed that Robbie was right.
[QUOTE=Revolutionary_Jack;5158881]Jameson's thought process is: "I believe in human rights...except Spider-Man's. I believe in equality of all people...except Spider-Man. Mutant oppression is wrong...oppress Spider-Man instead. White Supremacy is a Cancer...even more than Spider-Man, not that I think Spider-Man should be left off the hook. I suppose women's equality...women are better than Spider-Man."[/QUOTE]
This is so in characther than it hurts.
His more liberal traits got emphasized as time went on.
[QUOTE=PCN24454;5159015]His more liberal traits got emphasized as time went on.[/QUOTE]
Everyone's liberal traits got emphasized as time went on.
On account of changes and so on, comics in earlier periods have rough edges. In the case of Spider-Man, the Lee-Ditko era, the characters often seem to come of as unlikable today, and virtually every character in the Ditko era was an exaggerated a--hole. I don't think that was intentional, it was part of the way stories were at the time. Batman and Superman in the Silver Age likewise come off as jerks today.
So over time rough edges had to be smoothed. In the case of Peter Parker, it's often forgotten that he convinced Jameson to back the Spider-Slayers because it was a slow news day and he wanted to make bread, in ASM#25.
I guess I am just bothered by how inconsistent it was in the early comics. People like Reed seemed to take JJ seriously. Then you had half of the people on the street and cops who looked at JJ as a nut. You had his staff telling him how the paper is losing readers and people are losing respect one issue then two issues later sales are through the roof and JJ is the greatest crusader in the News media.
[QUOTE=babyblob;5159068]I guess I am just bothered by how inconsistent it was in the early comics. People like Reed seemed to take JJ seriously. Then you had half of the people on the street and cops who looked at JJ as a nut. You had his staff telling him how the paper is losing readers and people are losing respect one issue then two issues later sales are through the roof and JJ is the greatest crusader in the News media.[/QUOTE]
One issue explained that not all it’s fans take it seriously (which naturally is the way a lot of JJ fans). His constant complaints about Spider-Man and countless tirades in general become entertainment as the years go on.
Jameson even went into a depression that his life’s work seemed to be played for comedy.
[QUOTE=PCN24454;5159099]One issue explained that not all it’s fans take it seriously (which naturally is the way a lot of JJ fans). His constant complaints about Spider-Man and countless tirades in general become entertainment as the years go on.
Jameson even went into a depression that his life’s work seemed to be played for comedy.[/QUOTE]
That fits. I kind of think that Marvel heroes see Jameson as their village idiot, someone who they mock but who they also have some kind of affection and respect for. Certainly, that's Peter's attitude to Jonah.