Joe Quesada retires

[Matt Rat]

Quesada's record remained blackened by OMD says CBR

https://www.cbr.com/one-more-day-joe...k-mark-marvel/

Not trying to be that guy but I don't think he does. He's a fill-in artist. But he could be the artist of something upcoming.

Well, he just said there was now some 'hope', meaning there could be discussions going on, or the possibility of it. He seems sure it won't be anytime soon.

[Mercwmouth12]

Quesada's record remained blackened by OMD says CBR

https://www.cbr.com/one-more-day-joe...k-mark-marvel/




Well, he just said there was now some 'hope', meaning there could be discussions going on, or the possibility of it. He seems sure it won't be anytime soon.

Anytime soon would be- current state of affairs aka current storyline with Peter's life a mess with himself and his loved ones

[The Twilight Mexican]

Carlos Gomez may know something.

Did he say something somewhere?

[Mister Mets]

Quesada's record remained blackened by OMD says CBR

https://www.cbr.com/one-more-day-joe...k-mark-marvel/




Well, he just said there was now some 'hope', meaning there could be discussions going on, or the possibility of it. He seems sure it won't be anytime soon.

This is one commentator at CBR. Quesada has made some big mistakes (Trouble is one of the worst comics concepts ever) although One More Day did what Marvel wanted it to. They got rid of the marriage, and it hasn't come back in the subsequent thirteen years. The Spider-Man comics continue to sell, and we've had big stories that add to the mythos.

[TinkerSpider]

This is one commentator at CBR. Quesada has made some big mistakes (Trouble is one of the worst comics concepts ever) although One More Day did what Marvel wanted it to. They got rid of the marriage, and it hasn't come back in the subsequent thirteen years. The Spider-Man comics continue to sell, and we've had big stories that add to the mythos.

I haven’t done a scientific study, but the consensus response across social media platforms and elsewhere to Q’s leaving was that OMD will forever be a blot on Q’s reign.

Sure, the book sells but a quick glimpse at Comichron shows the book hasn’t vastly increased print sales since OMD. If the goal for taking away the marriage was to bring in all those hordes of new, young readers who couldn’t relate to a married Peter, then it was a failure from that point of view.

[xpyred]

There are so many ways to have the marriage undone. They had plenty of outs to get it done. They chose the most out of left field way to do so. It was nonsensical. In a world with mutant healers and shamans and whatever, Peter couldn't find one person to heal May? None of the heroes that were on the anti registration side couldn't find some way to help people? Mephisto just happened to be watching? It sucks and there is no redeeming it regardless of your level of fandom.

[Matt Rat]

They got rid of the marriage, and it hasn't come back in the subsequent thirteen years

The marriage never left. They kept telling new stories with it through alternative realities. If anything, removing the marriage from 616 led to an underappreciated golden age for the relationship.

The rest of those 'big sweeping stories' that contributed to the core mythos are ones Marvel walked back on entirely from 2018 onwards, all to get readers back up after All-Different bombed.

[Mister Mets]

I haven’t done a scientific study, but the consensus response across social media platforms and elsewhere to Q’s leaving was that OMD will forever be a blot on Q’s reign.

Sure, the book sells but a quick glimpse at Comichron shows the book hasn’t vastly increased print sales since OMD. If the goal for taking away the marriage was to bring in all those hordes of new, young readers who couldn’t relate to a married Peter, then it was a failure from that point of view.

Maintaining earlier sales represents a victory. Other big books have declined in sales.

[Lukmendes]

This is one commentator at CBR. Quesada has made some big mistakes (Trouble is one of the worst comics concepts ever) although One More Day did what Marvel wanted it to. They got rid of the marriage, and it hasn't come back in the subsequent thirteen years.

Quesada did plenty of good, but he's still infamous as being the guy who made OMD happen because he wanted Spider-Man to go be like it was back when he read it.

There's the usual wrong assumption that he's the only one who did so, or the only one who really wanted that, but OMD has fucked over his reputation more than any good he did.

The Spider-Man comics continue to sell, and we've had big stories that add to the mythos.

The stuff added hardly needed Spidey to be single to begin with, just forgettable love interests nobody likes lol.

The marriage never left. They kept telling new stories with it through alternative realities. If anything, removing the marriage from 616 led to an underappreciated golden age for the relationship.

OMD still caused the marriage to be seen not as important to the franchise, having random people see its era as "underappreciated" is kinda whatever when OMD quite clearly caused massive damage to it.

[TinkerSpider]

Maintaining earlier sales represents a victory. Other big books have declined in sales.

I misspoke. The print comic book market as a whole has pretty much maintained the same level of sales (i.e. the top selling comic, while it varies by title, usually sells <200K copies, more like 125K copies depending on month).

But ASM has declined.

July 2007, pre-OMD:
ASM 545: sales 105678
Batman 666: sales 83751
Uncanny X-Men 488: sales 86716

January 2018:
ASM 794: sales 51412
Batman 38: sales 98440
Astonishing X-Men 7 (no Uncanny that month): sales 50772

March 2020 (last month both DC and Marvel used Diamond):
ASM 41: sales 53428
Batman 91: sales 88735
X-Men 8 (no Uncanny that month): sales 75080

Gee, it looks like today's kids aren't turned off by reading about an adult Bruce Wayne in a committed relationship with Selina Kyle. *thinking face*

[WebLurker]

This is one commentator at CBR. Quesada has made some big mistakes (Trouble is one of the worst comics concepts ever) although One More Day did what Marvel wanted it to. They got rid of the marriage, and it hasn't come back in the subsequent thirteen years.

And yet the adaptations (e.g. the stuff that reaches the most audiences) still draw more from the pre-OMD comics than not in regards to this specific element and the retcon is still considered a derisive move on Marvel's part to this day. It's hard to be objective about these things and it's certainly an unscientific assessment, but it's really hard to shake the notion that Spider-Man succeeded in spite of OMD and not because of it. Heck, if anything, Bendis's Ultimate Spider-Man, which is arguably one of the most anti-OMD comics out there, has arguably defined the franchise more than the post-OMD comics have.

The Spider-Man comics continue to sell, and we've had big stories that add to the mythos.

Well, Spider-Man sells period (one of the most beloved superheroes ever, after all), so I'm not sure if OMD truly impacted it that much, esp. considering how many years removed we are from it and how the writers seem to be the only ones wanting to dredge up that skeleton from time to time in the stories themselves.

I will concede that it's still way too early to tell what's going to stick and what won't, but, as of right now, the only post-OMD things that seemed to have actually added anything that will actually stay are Spider-Gwen, and the Spider-Verse (although the actual story itself has always been discarded in favor of just using the "Spiders across time and space" concept for original tales in the adaptations that went beyond the comics), and Mr. Negative. Notably, none of these were dependent on the OMD status quo, not to mention some of them outright ignoring it. Heck, in the case of Spider-Verse, it's legacy has included several anti-OMD stories (e.g. the RYV mini and ongoing looping back into its sequel, the animated movie, etc.).

There are so many ways to have the marriage undone. They had plenty of outs to get it done. They chose the most out of left field way to do so. It was nonsensical. In a world with mutant healers and shamans and whatever, Peter couldn't find one person to heal May? None of the heroes that were on the anti registration side couldn't find some way to help people? Mephisto just happened to be watching? It sucks and there is no redeeming it regardless of your level of fandom.

I think the fan backlash would've been the same no matter what they did (killing a sacred cow never goes well). That said, I think if they'd switched it up so it was MJ, not Aunt May, who was the one dying that it would've worked better. It would still probably be the albatross around Quesada's neck and the point of contention among fans that it's been since the ink dried, there's no avoiding that. However, I think readers would've sympathized with Spider-Man more in that dilemma and it would've made for better drama than a scenario where not taking the deal was a no brainer in every sense of the word.

Long story short, OMD was a garbage concept due to its purpose being a mistake through and through and there's no way to get around that. However, Quesada arguably picked one of the worst possible ways to execute his plan.

[Malachi]

I think the fan backlash would've been the same no matter what they did (killing a sacred cow never goes well). That said, I think if they'd switched it up so it was MJ, not Aunt May, who was the one dying that it would've worked better. It would still probably be the albatross around Quesada's neck and the point of contention among fans that it's been since the ink dried, there's no avoiding that. However, I think readers would've sympathized with Spider-Man more in that dilemma and it would've made for better drama than a scenario where not taking the deal was a no brainer in every sense of the word.

Long story short, OMD was a garbage concept due to its purpose being a mistake through and through and there's no way to get around that. However, Quesada arguably picked one of the worst possible ways to execute his plan.

Picking aunt May really was a bad choice. I remember that the consensus back then was that it was just one more thing that amounted to a giant finger towards the marriage/progress fans. Picking the past over the future. In so many ways going backwards.

The biggest problem for Quesada is how hollow his vision turned out to be. MJ is still the only romantic partner option. Felicia is her own hero and Marvel has yet to shown any inclination in pushing her and Peter. Gwen is more known as Spider-Gwen now. ASM has been treading water and most of the major stories have been about stories pushing out of the mold. They snap back but all in all there has been a real lack of pushing the status quo that Quesada talked himself teary over. It seems that it might be economically much more viable then creatively. Or at least so they claim. To prove it or disprove it without any real numbers will be impossible. Witch seems just fine with Quesada and Marvel. That way they can claim whatever they want and never get into any real debate.

[Scott Taylor]

What is Quesada legacy, exactly, leaving OMD aside? For me, its the Ultimate Universe which has resulted in the MCU.

[Lukmendes]

I think the fan backlash would've been the same no matter what they did (killing a sacred cow never goes well). That said, I think if they'd switched it up so it was MJ, not Aunt May, who was the one dying that it would've worked better. It would still probably be the albatross around Quesada's neck and the point of contention among fans that it's been since the ink dried, there's no avoiding that. However, I think readers would've sympathized with Spider-Man more in that dilemma and it would've made for better drama than a scenario where not taking the deal was a no brainer in every sense of the word.

Long story short, OMD was a garbage concept due to its purpose being a mistake through and through and there's no way to get around that. However, Quesada arguably picked one of the worst possible ways to execute his plan.

Fan backlash would've been a bit tamer if the story wasn't as garbage at least, I mean shit, not only does OMD shit on continuity, it makes Spidey and MJ both morons, and if you were reading Sensational comics, it makes Spidey specially unsympathetic 'cause on the issues right before OMD, aunt May says she's ready to die, and the annual is all about how much Spidey and MJ love each other so much you have a risk of getting diabetes from reading that.

And then he sells his marriage for aunt May to live, nice...

What is Quesada legacy, exactly, leaving OMD aside? For me, its the Ultimate Universe which has resulted in the MCU.

JMS on Spidey, Morrison and Joss Whedon on X-Men, Disassembled and House of M (So Decimation era and Wanda going to limbo), Marvel Knights, Marvel Max, Spider-Girl (I think), New Avengers (Maybe? I remember hearing the classic members were kicked off to have more popular characters in another Avengers team or somethin' like that), Civil War (Which started Marvel's fetish for constant events too).

There's also other stuff like killing off Jean and Janet, supposedly he prefered Emma and that's why she ended up with Cyke at the end of Morrison's New X-Men (Which could explain Jean's sudden death and how awkward, to put it lightly, the way Cyke and Emma got together), also making Fury and Wolverine stop smoking, also a really half assed attempt at "dead means dead", so half assed that Gwen coming back was seriously considered in OMD (Originally it would change events back in Drug Trilogy that would make Peter help Harry, which would make Norman not go back to being GG, and Gwen wouldn't have died) and writers had to refuse it, that and Cap dying and coming back within like, an year.

Another thread mentioned this, but I'm not sure if it's true:

I find one of his greatest (and most overlooked) contributions, in collaboration with Jemas & friends, to be the creation of a regular trade paperback and hardback program the likes of which didn't really exist under previous EIC's. We take it for granted nowadays but comics weren't really regularly collected until Joe came in, and after Marvel started doing it all the other publishers quickly followed suit. So bravo for that.

If true that's huge.

So yeah, guy definitely left his mark, plenty of good and bad around, OMD is what he'll be the most infamous for though lol.

[WebLurker]

Picking aunt May really was a bad choice. I remember that the consensus back then was that it was just one more thing that amounted to a giant finger towards the marriage/progress fans. Picking the past over the future. In so many ways going backwards.

Granted, comics never really progress unless the character is too minor for the Powers That Be to care. Heck, I'm a little surprised that the F4 are still married after all these years, given that that wasn't the original status quo, either.

The biggest problem for Quesada is how hollow his vision turned out to be. MJ is still the only romantic partner option. Felicia is her own hero and Marvel has yet to shown any inclination in pushing her and Peter. Gwen is more known as Spider-Gwen now. ASM has been treading water and most of the major stories have been about stories pushing out of the mold. They snap back but all in all there has been a real lack of pushing the status quo that Quesada talked himself teary over.

Was there any longer-term goal besides erasing the marriage from 616 continuity? One can debate whether Marvel has been trying to unscramble the eggs on this point, but I never really got the impression that it was seen as anything other than Quesada and company wanting to undo something they didn't like.

It seems that it might be economically much more viable then creatively. Or at least so they claim. To prove it or disprove it without any real numbers will be impossible. Witch seems just fine with Quesada and Marvel. That way they can claim whatever they want and never get into any real debate.

Frankly, seeing how popular Spider-Man is, I think it would sell ether way.