PeterDavid.net

here's the artical for those that missed it....

i kind of hate to see him go, but it sounds like his head got a little too big for his own good.

BY HEIDI MACDONALD

It appears that another chapter in Marvel's always tumultuous history has come to an end with the finale to Bill Jemas' run at the top. Jemas, Marvel's President of Publishing & New Media, has been removed from any input on editorial, moved to a smaller office when he isn't working out of his home, and is expected to be leaving when his contract expires in January.

In related news, Dan Buckley has been hired as Publisher at Marvel. Buckley formerly worked in marketing at Marvel during the end of the Perelman/Icahn era, and worked with Jemas at Fleer on such products as Overpower. After leaving Marvel, Buckley worked in sports marketing, and had recently relocated to Florida.

During his tenure at Marvel, Jemas was responsible for hiring Joe Quesada as Editor-in-Chief, installing the print to order policy, and launching the highly popular Ultimates line, which has become the most successful imprint in recent comics history. But despite his run of hits, it all appeared to have gone sour this year.

According to numerous Marvel insiders (and the comic book industry water cooler, which had been heated up to boiling with juicy details of the story over the last 24 hours), Jemas downfall was set in motion over the spring and summer, when such controversies as Mark Waid being fired from THE FANTASTIC FOUR and Princess Di appearing in X-STATIX garnered a rash of negative publicity.

Although Jemas' confrontational style garnered lots of attention, and Marvel had initially flourished under his watch, it also created many adversaries, including numerous retailers, who found Jemas' high handed style galling. Many in the retail community found Marvel unresponsive to their needs; the no-overship policy continued to be a sore subject for many of them. Jemas' claim in a press conference that "most retailers love the policy" set off a firestorm of controversy.

In addition, over the past year, Jemas had become increasingly involved editorial, with a laundry list of forbidden storytelling devices (flashbacks were banned outright) and an approach to storytelling that many creators found baffling or constricting. At one point Jemas was involved in plotting every story. Such projects as the Jemas penned MARVILLE were viewed as proof that the top gun's writing skill were not as sharp as those of most professional writers. Over the summer, such projects as Epic taxed the resources of an already burdened editorial, morale plummeted, and turnover spiked.

Ironically, a letter from retailer Matt Hawes to Jemas' boss, Ike Perlmutter, was cited by several insiders as one of the last straws. Hawes' cataloging of Jemas' public, confrontational statements earned a contrite call from Jemas himself, at Perlmutter's behest. In addition, while Perlmutter and Avi Arad, Marvel Studios’ CEO, had turned a blind eye to controversies in the fan press early on, reportedly the Princess Di furor had reached the ears of important players in Hollywood.

Arad and Jemas had clashed earlier, reportedly over Jemas' desire to be more involved with Marvel's success in Hollywood. When Jemas' always controversial style began to make waves in Tinsel Town, it was, viewed as a liability.

Jemas' fate seems to have been sealed around the time of the San Diego Comicon, when Quesada, formerly Jemas' #1 ally, threatened to quit if he was not removed from interfering with editorial. By then, the ducks were all in a row – when Quesada's contract renewal was announced, Jemas' name was nowhere to be seen in the press release, and during a financial conference call, Jemas had been conveniently sent to China, and Quesada took his spot.

While few can argue that Marvel, previously a moribund company wallowing in a devastating bankruptcy, took a significant artistic and financial upturn during the Jemas years, in the end, his flashy style, which flouted convention and broke new ground, seems to have been his undoing.

As for Buckley's role in the company, no one was talking on the record. He is coming in at a lower position than Jemas occupied, and whether Marvel will hire a new president to oversee Publishing and New Media remains to be seen.

While DC remains the Citadel of stability, at least in public, Marvel has always had its woes and triumphs played out very publicly. The chapter entitled "The Jemas Years" is no exception, and definitely provides one of the most colorful episodes yet.

Well, Jemas certainly had a way of aggravating folks.

One Usenet, he'd be the classic troll. Too bad some folks couldn't recognize that.

Look, no one made him write that tripe. And no one made him publish it instead of saying "Holy God, this is the worst comic book since The Green Team, I can't in good conscience publish this pile of horse dung" and starting over again. Your challenge aside, the man wrote some of the worst comics ever published. Marville was an unmitigated disaster, and unless you were secretly drugging the man and whispering plots into his ears while he slept so that they festered in his unconscious mind, I think the only person to blame for it is Bill himself. Even Joe Quesada turned on him at the end.

Don't feel bad Peter. This guy had it coming, I only hope his removal can change some of the "creative" directions of alot of Marvel titles, like the Incredible Hulk's "no Hulk, but here is Super-Banner vs. Secret Agents" crap.

I definatly do not want you to feel bad. My opinion is that you were probably the first domino in a long line, there were other items that were bigger and may have had more effect towards the final firing, but yours was the first, that set the stage and gave credibility to claims against him. You picked and won an argument, even when it was put onto their terms aka U-Decided. I definatly do not like anyone loosing there jobs, but I want to say Marvel fans will definatly benefit from this.

Jemas was a boob and he would've put himself in this situation one way or another. It's not your fault, Peter. He was untalented and unsuited to this industry (at least from a creative aspect) and that would have shown through eventually, regardless of your challenge. You cannot maintain such a high profile as Jemas did without chinks appearing in your armor.

Speaking of Bills, go see KILL BILL. A little off-topic, I know, but I just got home from it and it was fantastic. :)

Why feel bad? The guy could've said, "No thanks" and not published a comic so bad that it was immediately called "The Worst Comic EVER". Heck, even Marvel's lacky, Wizard Magazine, couldn't help it.

I for one hate to see anyone lose a job, but maybe he'll find something he's more suited for. Like Fox executive.

Michael Norton

No sense crying over spilled milk, PAD, especially when you didn't knock it over. To quote a certain rogue cop, "a man's got to know his limitations." From everything I've read about Jemas (especially since the 'Marville' thing started up), he's been willfully sliding farther and farther down a slippery slope of his own creation. Remember, he did have the opportunity to back down after the results of the first three issues more or less pointed toward the eventual outcome of U-Decide. Instead, he chose to stick to his guns... noble, perhaps, but in the end futile.

Ultimately, one is responsible for one's own actions. You may have been a domino in a line of dominoes (to borrow Wade's analogy), but Jemas was the guy who decided to start tipping them over.

It is big of you to feel for the guy, though...

The OTHER John Byrne

With Jema's firing, hopefully it will mean the end to the ill-suited padding (sorry, no pun intended :) of 2-issue stories into long, drawn-out, action-less 6 issue "oh, so perfect for collection into a TPB" drivel that has been around for far too long now.

Peter... Here's what I think was good about what you did (and it was all good in my opinion)-- You were willing to stake a claim and stand to it. You were obviously in a personal, professional and financial space where losing the book-- while I am sure it would have mattered to you-- would NOT have devastated you irreparably.

Given all that, standing up to Jemas' and Marvel's attitude toward your work was the only thing a strong, self-respecting person could do.

And, as much as I would like to think that Jemas was fired because of a comic book problem (since he ran a comic book company), he wasn't.

As the article suggests, it was Jemas' Hollywood gambit. Avi is in no way going to allow anyone-- and I mean ANYONE-- to push in (or attempt to push in) on his domain.

Love them, like them or hate them... Avi Arad is responsible for a lot of Marvel movies with millions of "zeroes" following their titles-- and he's going to be responsible for a lot more before he is done.

For example: Arad takes a (at least in my mind) mediocre movie like "Daredevil" and turns it into a new starring vehicle for Jennifer Garner in "Elektra".

"Big Deal!" you say? Wasn't Barbara Broccoli going to do the same thing for Jinx-- Halle Berry's strong female character in the last Bond film "Die Another Day"? Doesn't Ms. Broccoli have decades more film producing experience than Avi?!? Didn't Ms. Berry say she would love to do a film with Jinx as the main protagonist?

Notice who is actually getting their "strong" female character's movie made?

Avi.

This is just one small sign of Arad's clout in Hollywood right now... Who else could convince a major studio to back another movie with Jennifer Garner (only a "cult hit" star right now in TV's "Alias") playing Elektra-- a character that was poorly developed and woefully underwritten in her only onscreen appearance?

Meanwhile, Barbara Broccoli's got a willing, Oscar winning star and a studio (MGM) that desperately needs to produce anything that is James Bond related... and "Jinx" cannot buy a firm film start date.

Avi's not going to share that kind of power/momentum with Jemas-- a man who was always seemingly on the verge of imploding... and who can blame him?

So, like I said-- as much as I would like to think Jemas got canned because of his pushy disposition or his increasing micromanagement of the comics-- he wasn't. It was the movies baby. It was the movies.

Always, always...follow the money.

P.S. I almost couldn't stop laughing when I saw Heidi write, While DC remains the Citadel of stability, at least in public...

"In public" is right... DC has always been a Citadel of insanity-- Just like Marvel.

It's just that Jenette and Paul (now just Paul) always kept a calm face "in public". But you know as well as I do Peter-- things fly through the air at DC just as easily as they do at Marvel... Just with a tad more civility... and with the office doors closed instead of wide open.

Well, PAD, I did and do feel you were out of line with the challenge, but your response to Joe Quesada's letter showed me that you knew that. Your apology letter was a pretty classy example of a person owning up to his mistake. Jemas's involvement started after the whole thing was over, and as far as I'm concerned, was as much your fault as the car accident I was in three months ago (I'm fine, BTW). If Marville was the first domino in the row, Jemas set it up and Jemas knocked it over.

So as of today, I know that Bill Jemas has definitively failed walk the walk, you came out the better for your involvement in it, and now there's a chance that the guy in charge of Marvel won't be an asshole to those of us who are predominantly fans of DC.

Like everyone says, PAD... Not your fault. He's been a ticking timebomb since BEFORE U-Decide. Things like the Waid/FF firing, Marville, and what he would have done to Marvel in Hollywood were his own bloody fault, and he's getting what he's reaped from his actions. I'm amazed that Avengers/JLA managed to get past him.

...I just realized how Genis could go sane again... He reads Marville and it scares him normal.

I agree... Marville was the first of many disappointments by the hand of Bill Jemas. It's a shame that someone who did so much good for Marvel wound up doing nearly as much bad. Fortunately he didn't do any permenant damage.

I think if there is one individual to be tha-- uh, I mean blamed for Bill's departure, it's Matt Hawes. His letter to Ike Perlmutter really shook things up.

That said PAD, have you seen any changes at Marvel in recent months, since Bill's role was already reportedly being reduced? Do you anticipate any now that he's pretty much officially out, and if so, what kind?

While I don't know Bill Jemas (clearly), and have no real investment in his position or lack thereof at Marvel, I am concerned that his Epic initiative is going to die. Already proposal reviews have been indefinitely suspended, thus closing the door to writers who had a chance to have their work noticed on the strength of writing alone.

"I think if there is one individual to be tha-- uh, I mean blamed for Bill's departure, it's Matt Hawes. His letter to Ike Perlmutter really shook things up."

-Matt Adler

Thanks for the mention, Matt A.

Here's what I had to say about the situation with Bill Jemas on another thread:

"I don't wish Jemas any ill will. I do not feel he was right for Marvel, or the comic book industry, but I hope he finds happiness elsewhere. Meanwhile, I want someone in charge that cares about Marvel's public image and its' relationships with talent, fans, and retailers. I want someone who understands the industry and has a sense of history, and who can implement long-term policies that will strenghen Marvel and the industry as a whole."

That said, "Marville" probably didn't help things. ;-)

Matt Hawes

Comics Unlimited

Evansville, IN. 47711

PAD-- don't feel guilty. A smart exec knows enough to treat those around him in a way that lets them keep their dignity. Especially those who may one day have a degree of power over him. A gentleman does the same with those who, seemingly, will never have that power.

Jemas was certainly no gentleman. Apparently he was also not terribly smart.

...unless you were secretly drugging the man and whispering plots into his ears while he slept so that they festered in his unconscious mind, I think the only person to blame for it is Bill himself.

Were you secretly drugging him? Because if so, awesome plan!

I think that the entire Jemas debacle is another lesson in pride run amok.

Jemas (and others that achieve in the face of alot of naysaying etc,) have reason to believe in themselves -- they achieved the impossible. Being the spark that turned Marvel around is nothing to sneeze at ..

But after that -- these type of people don't know when to stop and then

A. people stop listening to them B. the destroy whatever progress made with their refusal to listen and let certain things go.

Anybody want to see a "Jemas" like character in action go see Harrison Ford's acting in Mosquito Coast.

And by the way, it's that flaw of pride (and others) that makes us all human. And by that I mean I include myself as being a flawed person.

hi PAD, no need to blame yourself.

Jemas has made so many people angry, he has mantained his position for far too long, I donÄt know how many fans he drove away from marvel.

Even if ti was your fault, I would thank you for getting rid of this dope.

sorry, out of topic.

But is there a new regular penciller for Captain Marvel, while some guest artists are really great, it would be the best, if the series had a regular penciller.

I'm assuming Peter's stated feeling of "guilt" were intended as tongue-in-cheek. Otherwise, it would seem a bit egocentric for him to want to place himself in such a large position of importance regarding this development.

If Heidi MacDonald's report is accurate, then, as others have pointed out here, Marville is not what Jemas is being ousted for. He is not being removed for one isolated incident or decision. He's being removed for patterns of behavior stemming from his overall personality and approach to his job, patterns that would've manifested had Peter David never been born. It’s not like Marville is the one thing for which Ike Perlmutter made his decision. Unsuccessful books like Marville get published and cancelled all the time, without the Presidents of companies being fired. Jemas is being removed for the quality of his decision-making overall.

Moreover, unless my memory is playing tricks on me, Peter’s original challenge had nothing to do with Jemas or Marville. First, his challenge was to Quesada rather than Jemas. While Jemas was undeniably involved in it by virtue of his position, I seem to recall the column in which he made the challenge being made primarily to Joe, a decision Peter justified partially because of Joe’s public behavior to creators like Jeff Smith. Second, the challenge was for Peter to get paid very little for writing Captain Marvel in exchange for keeping the price low, not challenging Jemas to write anything. The whole lame “U-Decide” nonsense, and Captain Marvel starting over again with another first issue is something that came later, and I don’t recall hearing “U-Decide” as being Peter’s suggestion. (It might’ve been, but I don’t recall it.)

Luigi Novi

A good point, Luigi. I'm fairly certain that Ike and other retailers lost a lot more money from the "no-reprints" edict than from Marville (though they did waste money on buying the issues, they did manage to sell [I]some[/I] of them, right?

Don't feel bad,Peter. He's certainly taken PLENTY of shots at you; you've nothing to feel bad about. Hey, you told him that you'd outlasted other presidents of Marvel...

I don't think it's "egocentric" for PAD to feel guilt over Jemas' firing although it I agree with the majority that guilt is unwarrented. While Marville was an lighthouse beacon of Jemas' unsuitablity as a creator, the broad range of missteps and Jemas' personality were obviously the contributing factors. After all, Marvel's printed crummy comics before and will again.

Beisides which, Jemas' can still point to the fact that he turned Marvel around for his next job interview. He is sitting on a large amount of money from the stock sell. He is in a position that a lot of people would kill for, even if he is unemployed. There are homeless people, disabled people who can't work, and children who go hungry. There are lots of things to feel guilty for, but Bill Jemas shouldn't be at the top of anyone's list.

Brian

Peter's "guilt" reminds me of an episode of ANDY RICHTER CONTROLS THE UNIVERSE. Two of Andy's co-workers had made people feel bad, and the people died soon after. They felt guilty, and when they told Andy, his reaction was pure sarcasm: "You killed them with your words alone? Wow -- you two are gods! Please don't kill me with your mighty powers!" (Or words to that effect.)

PAD, you "threw down a challenge" thus beginning AND ENDING your involvement. What Jemas produced was his. If he had written something brilliant, you couldn't have demanded co-authorship for getting him started. (At most, you'd deserve thanks in an introduction somewhere.) Since (it sounds like) he wrote something putrid -- I never read MARVILLE, and nothing here's encouraged me to do so -- you don't get blame. He did the work, and the credit/fault is on him.

Of course, it is possible that it was all that button-pushing at billjemas.com that finally drove him over the brink. What did that button do, again?

While I understand it was the whole Captain MArvel bit that gave the challenge, but no one forced him to write the crap.

Honestly it's a good eye opener to see a guy who attached a good deal of his writing to Origins....then see Mar-Ville is what he is WITHOUT someone backing him, just showed he entered an arena he was far, far less prepared for.

It will be interesting to see what Quesada can do without Jemas,

I feel most of us don't really know where one began and the other one ended and who's fault was what.

If anything I thank you for allowing Joe to show his real self what ever that is good or bad, and yes Joe should end those overly estended storylines.

I always have the same guilty feeling for other people in bad situations - sometimes even if there is absolutely no way I was even remotely resposible, or even in contact with the person.

It's a state of the human condition - and I guess it really isn't a bad trait. It means you can sympathize with others and feel sorry for them. I don't like hearing anybody loosing their job - but sometimes it's out of anybody's control. And Jemas certinly wasn't helping himself. (What the heck is this "No Flash-backs?") He did seem to be making Marvel an unstable place - while DC has jumped ahead and showed it's self to be more of a stable bussiness.

I feel sorry for him - but I really can't fault this Ike guy for shutting him down. I think he made the right decision, considering the exessive creative control he was emposing on others.

Maybe Jemas spent too much time on the "fun challenge" at www.billjemas.com ?

How will this effect you? I'd like to see you doing more than one title at Marvel.

U-Decide: Of course Marville had nothing to do with it. Not directly. That the man had no business writing was obvious upon reading issue one. It was crap. The Jemas problem (for me) started with the attitudes presented: Peter saying 'I'm a damn fine writer. I can write a damn good comic that will sell, if only editorial would do its job and promote it'. Fine. Joe saying: 'I'm a damn fine editor; I can edit a damn good comic and don't need a writer to tell me how to do my job'. Fine. Jemas saying: 'it doesn't matter one bit; those morons out there will buy any drivel we produce if we call it hot and give them shiny covers and insider jokes'. Huh?

He actually said this. Showing such contempt for the people you owe your salary to was pure, unadulterated stupidity and the first nail in his well deserved coffin. "It was only a joke" goes only so far, and for so long. Not to mention the fact that this attitude towards people who buy your product shows what you think of the product itself...

And when he found out that writing isn't THAT easy, and audiences aren't THAT stupid, instead of owning up and staying the HELL outside the creative process - what does he do? He gets "hands on". Even more involved. He attaches his name and imposes his input to everything and anything he can.

Failed comics get published all the time, and bad ones too, and that's no biggie, but if a man whose work only got published in the first place because of his position within the company (c'mon. That rubbish wouldn't have passed the first stage of any submission process otherwise)insists, despite (probably because of) obvious failure, on hammering that square peg even deeper into the triangular opening (and doing it on marvel's dime, to boot), well... it shows enough about him for us to be able to imagine what the rest of his managerial and human skills are. He should have stuck with what he was good at - the conceptual work and the making headlines side of it - but apparently it wasn't enough, he wanted a bigger piece of the cake and apparently, the respect of us morons. I'm not sad to see him go, I AM glad that Quesada is still there, And I truly hope Jemas will try to pull an Alessi to prove everyone wrong (although, as I said, I don't think he likes comics enough to do that). I'd like to see what abnormal crap HIS comicbook company would produce...

In the hopes that Mr. Hawes won't mind, here's his (very well written) letter to Marvel, for some reason in 2 parts:

Part 1: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79983

Part 2: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1202645#post1202645

While i don't agree with all his points (especially the Diana thing. For the life of me, I cannot see why cheesy plates and T-shirts, and a schmaltzy Elton John song and whatnot are OK, while a comic is inherently offensive - especially when we haven't even READ it yet - and knowing Milligan it probably WAS a very well written piece about celebrity and media showing no disrespect to Di herself... but this has more to do with public perception of the medium, Mr. Hawes' personal opinions and censorship in general and less with Jemas, whose answer to this seemed reasonable to me), the examples provided here of Jemas's behaviour are disgusting and reinforce what I've already said. Good riddance.

gvalley wrote:

"Jemas saying: 'it doesn't matter one bit; those morons out there will buy any drivel we produce if we call it hot and give them shiny covers and insider jokes'. "

I don't know whether or not this is an actual quote, but the attitude is true. This attitude is what got Jemas in trouble. Good riddance to bad Karma.

My memory isn't good enough for exact quotes; however, I do remember him saying something similar enough.

PAD, like everyone else here, I agree the Jemas brought about his own destruction. His attitude towards retailers and fans (ie, his customers) plus his heavy handedness towards the creative process meant that he had virtually no friends in this business. His interference in Arid's marketing of Marvel to Hollywood has been the last straw. All of his problems were the direct result of his own arrogance and belief that he and only he knew how to run Marvel.

As for DC being more stable publicly, I for one am glad for this. Marvel has a long history of airing their dirty laundry in public, even before the days of the internet blogger. Look at the firing of Jim Shooter and Jack Kirby's fight to regain his original artwork.

I for one am glad that most people have not gotten all of the gory details of Jeanette Kahn's departure from DC. DC should continue to focus its PR initiatives on promoting their comics and not on allowing executives to engage in grandstanding and shameless self-promotion like the House of Ideas has been.

I can't BELIEVE you'd have even a twinge of guilt over this thing. You had a responsibility to do every sane and insane thing to keep such a work as Captain Marvel running and we appreciate it. Jemas should have just said "Fine, we'll keep your book going as is" but even then he probably would still get fired.

So, Peter, what did you think of Kill Bill?

Shawn

hmm well.

I'm reserving this as a wiat and see venture on whether this will make things any better at marvel.

in my opinion things can't get much worse. Marvel hasn't been getting my money for many months, ok well when mark waid started writing the FF I started buying THAT, but otherwise....not a cent.

not really because of Bill Jemas specifically but mostly out of the fact that there really isn't anything else I want to read from them.

Spidergirl's gone, Spiderman 2099 is years in the grave, Mutant X was one of my favorites and now?

I could go on but.....

Jemas' public "face" helped quitting all things marvel after 20 something years of buying their products.

I don't know anything about Jemas other than what I have read and it's been hard to have ANY sympathy for the guy after all the things I have read about him.

(your a better man than I in that respect PAD, but then you knew him probably more personally than I so....)

As for the Epic imprint failing....

I for one never expected it to do much under Jemas thumb from what I've heard of his editorial practices and what he wants/expects in comics and what he doesn't.

I expected them to pick more writers who wrote like Jemas and to see more stuff like marville produced.

maybe now their will be some creative flourishing like the website promised......

or not...

Like I said...wait and see....

So when do you take over the Hulk?

I'm reserving this as a wiat and see venture on whether this will make things any better at marvel. in my opinion things can't get much worse.

Oh, I can see it getting MUCH, much worse.

How about editorial shots getting called from California? Everything kowtowing to potential TV/movie productions? Starving the ad and marketing budget even more? An end to anything that wavers even a bit from the X-Men/Spider Man mold? Getting rid of all high priced talent in favor of no name (and often no talent) creators (because the real money is from licensing, y'know...)?

It can get far, far worse....

not really because of Bill Jemas specifically but mostly out of the fact that there really isn't anything else I want to read from them.

//Spidergirl's gone,// Spiderman 2099 is years in the grave, Mutant X was one of my favorites and now?

I could go on but.....

Umm, no, Spider-Girl's not gone. It's still being published, and is actually towards the end of a six-parts storyline called "Marked for Death." Issue #65 just came out two weeks ago, and Spider-Girl's safe until #74 at the very least (and probably beyond).

I don't know why you think Spider-Girl's gone, but it's not.

Of course things can get worse at Marvel. The company is producing lots of great material these days, are you kidding? There's Marvel stuff I want to read but have to reluctantly not buy every damn month!

Not to mention the considerable amount of Marvel stuff I want to read and DO buy, that is.

Oh, I can see it getting MUCH, much worse.

How about editorial shots getting called from California? Everything kowtowing to potential TV/movie productions?

Because TV and Movies is where Marvel's bread & butter is now, not comic book publishing. It's Marvel Studios TV and Movie production and licensing that is the keeping the company in the black.

If the board of directors start hearing grumbling from the head of Marvel Studios, (Arad) about the president hurting some potential deals, they will sit up and take notice. In the end, that’s what did Jemas in.