Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige Adds Marvel Chief Creative Officer Title

[Frontier]

What If looks like quite nice. The general problem with Marvel animation in general is that the design and look tend to be aesthetically ugly but What If looks fine. Feige would want to raise standards certainly. After all he's now a big name. If his name is attached to an ugly looking cartoon that will reflect on him so he might want a certain high standard.

Part of that I blame on trying to match the movie designs, but the cheaper production values don't help either.

[DragonsChi]

The move is a last ditch effort to save what's left of the company. With Phase 4 being what it is things do not look bright for Marvel Comics in general but it could eventually be a decent move in an actual Business sense. It's been beyond obvious for several years now that the crop of C-Level Excs at Marvel know very little or are just incompetent in regards to business.

However, we wont see any real "Change" until a year or two. My current expectations are low that this will be a good move but at the same time ...it can't get much worse anyway.

[Blind Wedjat]

According to many MCU directors of late, Feige is a lot more hands-off and collaborative (in the good way) than people expect when it comes to the MCU. I think he has gotten very comfortable with the talent he hires and even in a few cases he's let directors do what they want. I expect he'll handle the comics side of things the same way. Being imposing hasn't been much of a thing Feige has been said to be for a long while now.

[MichaelC]

Who's that?

[Digifiend]

American gymnast McKayla Maroney.

[Prof. Warren]

The move is a last ditch effort to save what's left of the company.

This will probably be news to some comic fans whose grasp on business is, let's say, a little out of line with reality but most corporations don't go from leading the industry to flat dead in the water.

#1 in the industry doesn't mean "we're on our last legs!" and every move is a desperate, last ditch effort to keep the lights on.

This seems motivated, pretty clearly, to 1) reward Feige for his accomplishments and 2) bring a greater connectivity to all branches of Marvel. Kind of simple.

Makes a lot more sense for creative decisions to be run by Feige than by Ike Perlmutter, doesn't it?

Makes a lot more sense for publishing, TV, and movies to all be overseen by one figure who has an eye on the big picture, doesn't it?

Makes nothing but sense for that person to be the guy who orchestrated the movie division to unprecedented levels of success, right?

I don't think anyone has to reach too hard to figure this one out.

With Phase 4 being what it is things do not look bright for Marvel Comics in general but it could eventually be a decent move in an actual Business sense. It's been beyond obvious for several years now that the crop of C-Level Excs at Marvel know very little or are just incompetent in regards to business.

They're so incompetent but yet have somehow, through sheer luck perhaps, have accidentally kept the company on top.

I'm curious to see what Feige will contribute in way of ideas and strategies but I think it's safe to say he doesn't see it as his job to save publishing from the present execs.

However, we wont see any real "Change" until a year or two. My current expectations are low that this will be a good move but at the same time ...it can't get much worse anyway.

Are there fans who honestly look at Marvel's current output that features Hickman's X-Men, Ewing's Hulk, Spencer's Spider-Man, Dzarsky's Daredevil, Cates' Venom, and think "well, it can't get much worse, can it?"

Well, I guess there's always going to be some fans who are unhappy about this and that and there's surely always going to be areas where Marvel can improve but I think from most perspectives, publishing is doing pretty good.

According to many MCU directors of late, Feige is a lot more hands-off and collaborative (in the good way) than people expect when it comes to the MCU. I think he has gotten very comfortable with the talent he hires and even in a few cases he's let directors do what they want. I expect he'll handle the comics side of things the same way. Being imposing hasn't been much of a thing Feige has been said to be for a long while now.

Yeah. I don't see Feige being heavy-handed and dictatorial when it comes to anything, much less publishing.

[DragonsChi]

Right...they demoted the Chief Creative Officer of almost 10 years because everything is all lolly-pops and rainbows.

There is a joke about selling land in an undesirable location just waiting to be told here....

[Prof. Warren]

Right...they demoted the Chief Creative Officer of almost 10 years because everything is all lolly-pops and rainbows.

There is a joke about selling land in an undesirable location just waiting to be told here....

Marvel could be the #1 publisher many years over, with their closest competitor trailing a distant second, and even the slightest change in their corporate structure would still be greeted by some as confirmation that the entire enterprise was collapsing, despite all actual evidence to the contrary.

"All lolly-pops and rainbows" is certainly a far cry from "a last ditch effort to save what's left of the company," is it not?

You want to portray an appointment of Feige to a position that makes nothing but sense for him to occupy as a "last ditch effort to save what's left of the company" and when it's mentioned how totally absurd and disconnected with reality that assertion is, now it's "oh, well, you think it's all lolly-pops and rainbows?"

Nothing is ever all lolly-pops and rainbows in a company that pulls in as much money as Disney/Marvel, no matter how well they're doing. Every day, creative choices are made that will affect revenue across the company. Putting Feige in charge over all divisions, given his extreme success in film, makes quite a bit of sense. Making it so there's greater connectivity across film, TV, and publishing makes sense. There doesn't have to be a crisis to spur that decision. It seems like a logical next step for Feige to be advanced to, especially now that Marvel is moving into a new phase in film and TV. Why not have everything under his purview moving forward?

When someone has achieved the kind of extraordinary success on behalf of a company that Feige has, that company typically gives that person more responsibility - to reward that person, to entice them to stay, and to help extend that success. Not too hard to figure.

[MRP]

Marvel could be the #1 publisher many years over, with their closest competitor trailing a distant second, and even the slightest change in their corporate structure would still be greeted by some as confirmation that the entire enterprise was collapsing, despite all actual evidence to the contrary.

"All lolly-pops and rainbows" is certainly a far cry from "a last ditch effort to save what's left of the company," is it not?

You want to portray an appointment of Feige to a position that makes nothing but sense for him to occupy as a "last ditch effort to save what's left of the company" and when it's mentioned how totally absurd and disconnected with reality that assertion is, now it's "oh, well, you think it's all lolly-pops and rainbows?"

Nothing is ever all lolly-pops and rainbows in a company that pulls in as much money as Disney/Marvel, no matter how well they're doing. Every day, creative choices are made that will affect revenue across the company. Putting Feige in charge over all divisions, given his extreme success in film, makes quite a bit of sense. Making it so there's greater connectivity across film, TV, and publishing makes sense. There doesn't have to be a crisis to spur that decision. It seems like a logical next step for Feige to be advanced to, especially now that Marvel is moving into a new phase in film and TV. Why not have everything under his purview moving forward?

When someone has achieved the kind of extraordinary success on behalf of a company that Feige has, that company typically gives that person more responsibility - to reward that person, to entice them to stay, and to help extend that success. Not too hard to figure.

How are you defining #1 publisher though? Just in the direct market as serviced and ranked by Diamond? Sure Marvel is #1 there. But if you count comics sold outside Diamond tracked by bookscan, Marvel is far from the #1 publisher (it only had 9% of the market share in 2018 ranking #7 out of the western publishers and was down some 40% in units moved and down over $5 million in annual sales from 2016), Scholastic was by far the #1 publisher with 33% of that market and Image outpaced Marvel in that market ranking #6, and since so far in 2019, more comics have been sold in the book trade than in the direct market, that's significant.

The problem is the direct market is a stagnant market with zero growth while the book trade has shown massive growth is sales over the last several years. Feige has shown a knack for getting the mass market (i.e. customers outside the hardcore comic fans who are the Diamond customers) interested in Marvel characters in other mediums while Quesada wanted to double down on the direct market, which is a shrinking market. I think the hope that Feige's hand can guide publishing to tap into that mass market appeal he has found for the characters outside publishing and find a way to capitalize in the sales growth occurring outside the direct market serviced by Diamond. Quesada and Buckley had success in dominating the shrinking niche market that was the direct market, i.e. they were good at being the big fish in a little pond, but I think the hope is that Feige can direct publishing (and TV) into success in the bigger ponds as he has done with the films.

I don't think last ditch effort is the right characterization, so much as Disney recognizing that success in the shrinking direct market should not be the primary focus moving forward when growth potential and revenue streams are more readily available in other markets and new leadership vision was necessary to guide Marvel into those areas. They didn't remove those responsible for direct market success, i.e. Quesada is still Executive VP Creative Lead, they just put someone with success in the broader mass market in a position to lead publishing into those more lucrative markets.

-M

[MaximoffTrash]

I am not really worried about comics, I mean it won't get worse.
If there has to be some movie synergy, I prefer organized/planned synergy meant to promote the character in multiple media than blindly changing the character to fit the movie and sometimes completely miss the point.(Carol's Kree mom, Wanda's retconned parents, goofy Thor...)
And really I think Feige understand well enough that comics are IP test ground/gold mine for his adaptions, and the constant rehash/synergy won't do him a favor in the long run.

[Prof. Warren]

How are you defining #1 publisher though? Just in the direct market as serviced and ranked by Diamond?

Yes, to be clear, that is what I meant.

As for the issues with the Direct Market and how to get a better foothold in bookstores, that is something that has to be addressed by all publishers.

[Hypestyle]

Marvel needs to be publishing more ongoing series and mini-series, including online-only series that can be put into trade paperbacks.
Diversify the character lineups. Expand the prose novels that get produced. Reach out to racially and gender-diverse authors.

[mreddie]

Marvel needs to be publishing more ongoing series and mini-series, including online-only series that can be put into trade paperbacks.
Diversify the character lineups. Expand the prose novels that get produced. Reach out to racially and gender-diverse authors.

They were already doing that lol.

And then, it just vanished. Was it because they opted to push the SpiderVerse books and Conan lines?

[Anthony W]

So...how long does Marvel comics stay in NYC before they eventually pull up stakes and go west in three or four years? The comics really aren't that important to stay in New York all by their lonesome.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

So...how long does Marvel comics stay in NYC before they eventually pull up stakes and go west in three or four years? The comics really aren't that important to stay in New York all by their lonesome.

DC moved west, right?

In the case of Marvel, New York is important because it's the setting of 616. That's different from DC because it's all fake cities. It's hard to be "world outside your window", when your world is NY and the window shows you Burbank.

And to be honest, I think there might be a sense of "something old, something new", i.e. there will be slight changes with continuity to old habits rather than a big sudden sweeping change.