Earlier this week, Joe Quesada announced that he was stepping away from his executive position at Marvel after over two decades at the publisher. It is hard to think of another comics executive in the 21st century who was both as long tenured, successful, and associated with a brand as Quesada. For context, Eric Stephenson, who has shepherded Image Comics over the past 14 years, was appointed in that role eight years after Quesada, and has far less of a public role for Image, due to the creator owned/imprint nature of the company. Dan DiDio was at DC for 18 years, but shared his top executive spot with Jim Lee for more than half of that time.
For those of us who are of a certain age, Quesada was one of the most successful artists of his era and, for others, the pizza guy in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. But as an executive, we want to know: how do you think he will be remembered? It’s hard to argue with his work when considering the long view: the Ultimate line, the Disney acquisition (though this was only partially about comics), and the emergence of the Marvel ‘Architects’ as creative forces in comics to this day. His critics will point to the resurrection of every once-dead character at Marvel, some stunt events (like “One More Day”), and really pushing the trend of ‘writing for the trade,’ many of which have had influence beyond just Marvel and impacted comics on a grand scale. As a comic shop owner once told me, “Under Quesada, Marvel became the top comics publisher, but did so to the detriment of long term storytelling.” I’m not sure I really believe that, but I understand their point.
So, vote in our Reader Poll, and come back on Monday for the results! Enjoy your weekend, friends.
