Quote Of The Day

By | Wednesday, August 28, 2024 Leave a Comment
I found this buried in my blog archives: a 2008 quote from Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort that I don't believe I've ever re-shared:
I legitimately don’t want people taking home comics every week that they’re not satisfied with, and that they’re buying by rote, or out of a blind love for the character. I was that guy for a bunch of years, so I know how easy it can be to hop on board that train, and I’m here to tell you—there’s no shame in dropping a book that you no longer like.
I don't know that I've seen/heard him expressly repeat a similar sentiment any more recently, but I suspect his opinion hasn't changed much on this front. I likewise suspect that he holds no ill will towards me or anyone else for dropping any books while he was editor on them. He's been the editor on, for example, Fantastic Four for over twenty years; while that shows considerable talent to remain in that position for so long, he's certainly self-aware enough to understand that many readers who were buying the book in 2001 have parted ways with the characters or perhaps even comics altogether since then because of any number of reasons. He knows the audience for the book and indeed the industry as a whole is very different now than it was back then.

I'm not the Marvel fan I once was. A lot of what appealed to me about their comics when I was 20 or 30 is no longer present. I look at a book like Fantastic Four now and see very little of what I used to like about the title. But, again, comics is a very different industry than what it once was and I know that Brevoort is well aware that what sells comics in 2024 is not what sold comics in 2004, and that is precisely why he's been able to keep his job this entire time.

Anyway, something to noodle on. Why are you buying the comics you're buying? Because you legitimately enjoy them (or at least expect to) or because you used to enjoy them?
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