“The Great Debate” results

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Originally published November 5, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1042


Art by George Pérez.  J.J. Sachs © 1993-2010 Second Age, Inc. and George Pérez.  Incredible Hulk © 1993-2010 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc.  Spawn © 1993-2010 Todd McFarlane Productions Inc.


27 comments on ““The Great Debate” results”

  2. double weird. I was reorganizing some of my comic boxes about a month ago when i came to my old copies of S&V.

    I had to pull them out for a re-read. Still just as good as the first time 🙂

  3. Was a transcript of the debate ever published?

    I seem to remember a comment from someone that “Spawn” brought a knife to a gun fight.

    –Ed

      2. Well, no, the transcript was a separate article in CBG, not one of the But I Digress columns. But the next column on the site will be PAD’s thoughts following the debate.

    2. Oh man, I had forgotten that the debate was coming up in the BID posts; I’m looking forward to seeing the article on it. I was actually thinking about that debate recently because someone was trying to compare something to Switzerland.

  5. I’m flashing back to the scene in Butch & Sundance where Harvey Logan yells about there being no rules in a knife fight, and Butch kicks his nuts for a eighty-yard field goal.

    Evil Twin, this is a great pic. Wish I could get a t-shirt of it.

    1. Todd Macfarlane v. Peter David

      An artist versus a Wordsmith in a debate.

      The picture says it all.

  7. As I recall, Todd’s response to this column in his own Wizard column (appropriately titled EGO, for Everybody’s Got Opinions) was to publish the respective sales figures for Spawn and Sachs & Violens.

    1. I wouldn’t give a rat’s ášš how well Spawn sold, or if it got nominated for a Nobel, Hugo and Pulitzer all at once. Peter can run rings around anybody Todd can bamboozle into writing for him. Sachs & Violens, otoh, had George Perez, and it’s tough to do better.

      This referee’s decision, David wins over McFarlane by a knockout in the first round.

      1. Miles Vorkosigan says: “Peter can run rings around anybody Todd can bamboozle into writing for him.”

        Agreed in spirit, if not in the literal sense. There is a certain British writer who was “bamboozled” into writing for Todd — one whom I would contend that PAD *couldn’t* run rings around.

    2. And nowadays, Spawn can’t even crack the Top 100 comics list.
      .
      Ah… schadenfreude! Isn’t it delicious?

  10. Oh, those are PAD’s characters? I couldn’t recognize the lady with chains, but I thought the big guy was just the Hulk.

    1. The big guy WAS “just the Hulk.” When “the Great Debate” took place, PAD was writing the “Incredible Hulk”; “Sachs and Violens” was a 4-issue mini-series published around the same time, featuring the “lady with chains”–J J Sachs–and her partner, Ernie “Violens” Schulz. (The pair appeared at the end of the first “Fallen Angel” series, published by DC, and became part of the supporting cast during the IDW run.)

  11. PAD, any chance you could do a special posting of the “great debate” alongside the column that reflects upon it?

    1. For a second, I thought you’d typed “great debacle.” Which would also be accurate.

  13. If you can pass this onto Mr. David. I heard he was a huge supporter of comics being covered by the 1st Amendment rights. Our rights are being trampled on right now and a friend told me to contact Mr David about it.

    Thanks!

  14. had never heard of sachs and violens until now… wait a second.. sachs and violens sounds an awful lot like… oh… oh thats clever. well done.

  15. And Todd didn’t learn from this, either.
    .
    Anyone else present for the 2002 SDCC when Todd agreed to a “no holds barred” Q&A moderated by PAD? You know the one…when he couldn’t even answer a fan’s question of, “Of the toys your company has made, which is your favorite.” without going into a long-winded, wishy-washy song and dance about the toy business until PAD stopped him and said, “Todd! The guy just wants to know which toy is your favorite.”
    .
    –Daryl

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