The big news of the day is that Joe Quesada is stepping down as Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Entertainment. From the press release (available in full at CBR and elsewhere):
“Marvel Worldwide, Inc announced today that it has promoted Axel Alonso to Editor-in-Chief, Marvel Entertainment. In this new role, Mr. Alonso will report to Dan Buckley Publisher & President, Print, Animation & Digital Divisions, Marvel Worldwide Inc. Mr. Alonso will oversee all day to day aspects of Marvel’s Publishing division, including advising on the editorial creative direction, developing new storylines and brainstorming new initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Alonso will work on creative aspects of development of larger corporate initiatives involving Marvel’s popular library of characters. The announcement was made today by Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment.
Mr. Quesada stated, “It’s with tremendous pride that I announce Axel Alonso’s promotion to Editor-In-Chief. For over a decade, Axel’s been instrumental in bringing fresh new voices to Marvel and reinventing our biggest characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Wolverine and so many more. He’s fought to create unique imprints like Marvel MAX while also bringing fresh new voices to the Marvel family.”
…
As part of this strategic initiative, Joe Quesada will focus on his duties as Chief Creative Officer, overseeing Marvel’s creative endeavors in film, television, publishing, digital and more. In his ten-year tenure as Editor-In-Chief, Mr. Quesada was instrumental in Marvel’s rise to prominence as a global entertainment juggernaut and the increased profile of the comic book medium. Mr. Quesada brings his expertise and experience to further strengthen the Marvel brand as a leader in worldwide entertainment.”
This is an interesting development in many ways, and with us Daredevil fans currently living with a great deal of uncertainty about the future of the Daredevil title (in whatever form it will be) and the character himself, who the big guy at the top is should matter a great deal to what might happen in the longer run. One thing that Quesada had going for him in my book is his genuine love for Daredevil as a character, even though my opinions of his actual work on the character are lukewarm at best. Until recently (I mean, before the Daredevil book was handed over to another superhero), I felt very safe with Quesada at the helm, due to his obvious attachment to the Man Without Fear.
With Axel Alonso, though, we also have someone with ties to Daredevil, with his having edited several volume 2 storylines, as well as Daredevil Noir. He also comes from a decidedly “dark/gritty/mature” background as an editor, both at DC and Marvel. It will also be interesting to see how a new Editor-in-Chief might influence the entire Marvel Universe and how the various titles are handled. Will we maybe see a move away from sensational big event comics?
Joe Quesada has definitely been very successful in this role at Marvel, but a change could lead to some interesting long-term developments. What do you think of this news, for Marvel comics in general and Daredevil in particular?
2 comments
Robert says:
Jan 6, 2011
Yeah I felt the same way about Quesada. He always stated that DD was one of his absolute favorites and that was the reason I think DD was left alone for so long and allowed to be such a great standalone book. Sadly now it seems all bets are off as I get the feeling Quesada has thrown Matt Murdock back to the wolves so to speak with the last year of stories and the upcoming “reboot”, “clean slate”, or whatever you want to call it. Maybe we’ll luck out and Alonso will look at the first large chunk of the last decade to see how Daredevil should be done right, as apposed to the last year or so.
pete says:
Jan 7, 2011
you never know Quesada might be the next Daredevil writer, now he has the extra time on his hands.