Returning to work on Tuesday, January 2 felt weird. There was a definite gloom in my corner of the offices. By then, I had used the holiday break to steel myself for getting fired. Deb was incredibly supportive, which helped tremendously. Given the pressure Bill Jemas had placed on Collected Editions, I stepped in and […]
The days were growing shorter as December settled in. All was humming along nicely, or so it seemed. The growing sense that something was off between me and Bill Jemas was definitely growing. I was in his office less and less often; he rarely popped his head into my office, a floor below. Unlike some […]
As November arrived, things continued to hum along although I was beginning to sense that it was soon my turn to be in Bill Jemas’ sights. The “issues” I spotted on a document months before had yet to be raised to me but as David Bogart settled in, Bill seemed to be involving him more […]
Sometimes, change can be both slow and quick. After a few weeks, we landed David Bogart, coming over from Harris Comics. He settled in as my Number Two and we set him up in space just outside my office, initially relegated to a cube since there weren’t enough offices for the executive growth Bill Jemas […]
SEPTEMBER Cons were over and it was back to getting the books out on time. My team settled in and were executing Bill Jemas’ plans. This meant Chet Krayewski was out securing deals, Fred Pagan was finding economies in the production and printing process, and Ben Abernathy and the collected editions team were scaling up […]
As the second half of 2001 opened, Marvel had severed ties with the Comics Code Authority and relocated to new quarters. The company was enjoying superlative reviews and sales from the one-two punch of the revitalized Amazing Spider-Man and New X-Men. President Bill Jemas was having a ball. His outsized persona seemed to enjoy tweaking […]
June was perhaps the craziest month I spent at Mighty Marvel. First, with every passing day, we were ramping up for the move. Packing had begun, the film was being gathered to be shipped to a warehouse in Yuma. Marvel was showing off its three-story booth at the Licensing Show and the convention planning was […]
The spring definitely felt like things were gaining momentum. There was excitement in Editorial as we got to see what J. Michael Straczynski brought to Spider-Man and in May, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, and Tim Townsend brought fresh life to New X-Men. Joe was eager to begin promoting Mark Millar’s The Ultimates and was having […]
When I arrived at Marvel in early January 2001, the company was still recovering from the bankruptcy battle that left the company in the hands of ToyBiz owner Ike Perlmutter. In 1999, Marvel Knights, the imprint run by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, made more noise with their four titles than most of the line […]
All of a sudden, I find myself looking back. The other day it was the 49th anniversary of my attending the first Star Trek Convention. This month marks 37 years since I joined DC Comics full-time and 20 since I had my less-than-marvelous year at Marvel Comics. It was late November, if I recall, that […]