The direction had been positive post-Hickman for the X-Men’s Krakoa era with a ‘yay positive’ twist. A surprise was when Captain America was revealed to have been a long-standing member of Hydra. Every decision since 2007 for Amazing Spider-Man has, of late, met booing and hissing from the audience. Buting people editorially would rather have readers verbally grouse about a book than have them say nothing at all, as the latter sort of reaction means that people are somehow involved with a given project.
It further reads: “We've got ‘Marvel Rivals’ in the can, we could do five more stories with Galacta, but I have no hunger for that character.” Let’s make it clear: this isn't an art team we're unhappy with; I’m not a fan of what that character brings to Galactus.
Brevoort, the Senior Vice President of Publishing, and the executive duties managing the X-Men line gave his perspective on this ongoing debate of whether there really is such a thing as ‘bad publicity,’ He offered this when replying to a query from one of his “old time” readers in his most recent edition of the Man With A Hat Substack blog.
Last week, the fan asked if there was any particular reason why the X-office had opted not to base the look of their upcoming ‘From The Ashes’ relaunch on the character designs from the Animated Series, which they argued had “the most mainstream recognition.” Editor said that that’s why they’d made the imposition, it could undercut the publisher’s current role as a fountain of content for any upcoming Disney TV/film project based on their official editorial line from ‘Gold Standard’ to 48 months from publication.
He made it clear that the inspiration behind the Lego X-Mansion and X-Men ‘97 comes from a specific time in X-Men that installed fear among many fans that it would return after the progressive Krakoa era. “Marvel Publishing’s objective is to lead, to be the leading edge of coming up with new concepts and stories that eventually are supposed to be inspiration for film and animation projects. So trying to get back to ’92 or any such year would totally kill that rather than grow new status quos that can be grown for use by future X-Men films and television series.”
Closely related: Marvel Comics executive editor recently revealed that the publisher almost made Daredevil “a complete villain” in retaliation against Fox for the media rights to Horn Head.
Noting Brevoort’s quick reference to ‘fan outrage’ in his post, the fan leaped to a follow-up question, saying, “Do you find that the online reactions you see correlate to actual commercial success or failure with the books that you guys put out?
As the executive put it in Marvel Comics, “Situations are seldom so cut and dried, especially when, as for every project you announce, there are people with just about every point of view imaginable as to what lies ahead.”
He said, “I feel like it’s always better to have readers talk about a project rather than be silent — even if most of what they say is bad. The non-reaction of sales is not anger; it’s silence. Thus, a large number of dissatisfied people usually mean many people have been involved with the project, even if most of them are children who voice their displeasure.”
It’s important to recognize that Brevoort isn’t the first contemporary comic book creator to acknowledge that “outrage” is now seen as a good outcome within the industry.
In a January 2024 conversation with The Popverse's Graeme McMillan, veteran DC writer and current author of Superman Vol. 6 Joshua Williamson voiced his exhaustion at “Sometimes people get really angry and they spend money, which is the saddest thing.”
“The tough lesson I’ve taken from my time at DC experience is this,” according to the Dark Crisis writer. “When people are happy, they spend less. It’s sad but true, this is something I have seen the most of in my time in DC.”
On a lighter note about Marvel Comics and controversy, have you heard that they are getting ready to skull out the bona fide Earth-616 iteration of Gwen Stacy?
There’s a lot to look forward to.
