Marvel.com today announced that Axel Alonso has been named Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, replacing Joe Quesada as Quesada moves to focus full-time on his role as Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. Quesada has been the EiC of Marvel Comics for over ten years. What does this mean for the company?
BD Edit: Here’s the full press release from Marvel.
MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT PROMOTES AXEL ALONSO TO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
New York, NY – January 4, 2011 – 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.”
Working in comics for over 15 years, Mr. Alonso began working at Marvel in 2000 as a Senior Editor and was promoted to Vice President, Executive Editor in 2010. Overseeing acclaimed runs of Amazing Spider-Man and X-Men, in addition to shepherding groundbreaking projects such as X-Statix and Rawhide Kid, Mr. Alonso developed a reputation for bringing readers the unexpected and the electrifying. He also oversaw cross-promotional projects such as the creative collaboration between Marvel Entertainment and ESPN The Magazine on their recent NBA Preview issue, which drew attention across the world from mainstream media for it’s innovation.
“Marvel has a great history of the most dynamic and memorable EiCs in comics history and I’m honored to step into this role,” said Axel Alonso. “I’ve been blessed to work with some of the most creative men and women in the world, bringing to life some of the most compelling stories you’ll find in any medium. This new role provides me with exciting challenges and prospects I’ve never encountered before, but I know one thing—Marvel’s getting even bigger in 2011.”
“Most of you know Axel from his high profile job as Vice President, Executive Editor and the man behind some of our very best and edgiest books,” added Joe Quesada. “Time and time again, Axel has proven that he is one of the very best story editors in the history of our medium and one of the finest people I know. And, like everyone here at Marvel, he has one single focus, bringing you the best stories with the best characters in all of comicdom. That’s why I have no doubt that Axel will bring Marvel Comics to greater heights than it’s ever known!”
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.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit www.marvel.com.
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Thomas Hughes??
re- the fake Wacker post. Can we find out who sent it?
And I feel that Axel is anti-marriage, as he edited OMD. If he felt it wasn’t a good idea I think he would have chosen not to edit it, or at least try to make it a very good story (to quote Mr. Wacker, editors just try to help get the best possible stories told…or something similar along those lines)
Or it could be that he is impartial, in which case I don’t see him messing with the status quo, unless he thinks it’s very out-of-character for Spider-Man (and if that was the case, why would he be editing OMD then?)
The “You’re all assholes!” post was NOT Wacker. It was by Thomas Hughes , so please direct all flame towards him for trying to stir some shit. 😉
@#45 – Oh, no. This isn’t like that thing a few weeks ago where a guy pretended to be someone from Marvel, turned out it wasn’t and he/she got banned, is it?
I also don’t believe you’d write that, Mr. Wacker. I like seeing you pop up on Crawl Space. It’s good for folks at Marvel to see both sides of the Spider-Man fans on message boards, the ones who are pro- and anti-status quo. I don’t agree with the hateful remarks, profanity or other comments associated with them by the upset fans who post them when that happens, because it makes it look like all anti-OMD/BND/OMIT/etc. fans are like that when they aren’t. I think we all, myself included, need to do a better job trying to rebuild that gap.
Again, I repeat, I hope everyone here has a good night. It’s a pleasure to talk to you guys back and forth, and it’s a privilege I don’t ever take for granted.
@ Gerard
No rock, Gerard. I’m just tired of your double-edged antics. Take a deep breath, shake off the ol’ ego, and try to think before you speak sometime. You’re giving this site a bad name with the stuff you post.
Getting this back on topic, I too am obviously curious if Mr. Alonzo has a pro- or anti- stance on the Spider-Marriage. That’s clear by my fan sites, petitions, and my unofficial Facebook group for Spider-Marriage fans. It’d be disappointing to see this post dissolve into another 100s+ post about us bickering back and forth. Name calling, flaming and personal attacks do nothing but waste time best spent making progress, like getting work done or trying to come to some kind of agreement between us, even if it’s agreeing to disagree.
Spider-Man Crawl Space is the best Spidey site I’ve ever been to and it has the best message board, Spider-Man or otherwise, I’ve been on in a long, long time. It’s a New Year, folks. Let’s try to make this one a better year by making it better, not by insulting one another back and forth. Nobody needs to be insulted, whether you’re a fan or from Marvel. I truly hope everyone here has a great night.
‘Nuff said!
Obviously I didn’t write that last post.
“You’re all assholes”
I have a feeling that this is not Steve, but if it is, this shows that he’s behind Dan Slott’s unprofessional behavor.
Seriously Gerard whats with starting the flame war?
I have to admit my first thought when I read this was is Axel Alonso pro or anti marriage. But perhaps we can wait to see what he does.
And in this case I agree with Wacker… as the sites official reviewer, you should act a little more professional.
You’re all assholes!
@Nik!: I’m going to assume that you’ve been under a rock for the last month and just move along.
@ Bertone
Holy war. Jihad. Crusade. Take your pick. Gerard’s leading the charge in an “I’m with stupid” t-shirt, hurling smarmy complaints like spitballs from high on his pony.
@Nik,
Holy war?????????
Re 36
I haven’t seen any dissing at all.
Is there critique about how he will do at the job and the attitude he will bring to it? Yes, but that concerns the work that he is doing, and has absolutely nothing to do with him as a person.
Critiquing the work is ok. Critiquing the people personally is not
I meant to say “resist.”
@ Timothy
I’m guessing that would be pretty hard for him to rests since certain members of this site have launched a holy war against him. He’s exercising his sense of humor and keeping his sanity. I’d do the same thing if a bunch of anonymous posters were dissing my friend after receiving a well-deserved promotion.
I hope this works.
I actually liked JOe Q as EIC, I think he did TONS of good for Marvel Comics.
Unfortunately the only things I think he made wicked bad were everything related to Spider-man.
Here’s an open message to Mr. Wacker, from me, and me alone:
Look, I have nothing against you, I don’t envy your job, you’re a business man and I get that it can be stressful trying to please everybody. However, a professional coming onto the site to provoke the fans is just as “unprofessional” as you’re coloring some of us to be. I get that you want to connect with fans, and that it’s important to know fan reaction to such a big shake-up, but we are all entitled to our opinions. Coming to challenge those opinions will just steam you up and cause more stress. Also, I don’t believe that when you and your colleagues have made your opinions about this site well known, you keep coming back, lurking and rebutting, costing time that could better be spent doing your job. I get sometimes you need to unwind and de-stress, but it seems these situations have a tendency to be stressful for everyone involved. I would recommend that if you don’t like the community here, no one is forcing you to come here, and that all this time bickering could be better served by trying to put out some darn good comics. I know our opinions may differ on what makes a good comic, but remember they are called “COMICS”, they should try to be entertaining to both the readers and creators, and right now this isn’t entertaining, if anything it is quite tedious.
Respectfully, and God Bless.
@ Gerard
What the hell, dude. Seriously. What the hell.
@ Wacker
Keep kicking ass on ASM. Not many of these guys will admit it, but if Slott keeps up the momentum, this run could be up there with DeMatteis and JMS. It’s that freakin’ good.
@Gerard: I think I understand what you mean.
While I extend my congragulations for Mr. Alonso, I feel that there will be little change, at least in terms of the antagonism of the comic culture that has been created… as a result of the behavior of BOTH the fans and the pros: both sides need to calm down, critique the work calmly and intellignetly and not resort to extremes (for the fans) and respond with professionalism (for the pros)
The more things change, the more the stay the same, nothing will change except new promotions have opened up for Wacker…which I think is a good thing.
@CrazyChris: You can threaten somebody with an empty pistol. Just sayin’.
Btw, is this going to turn into another one of THOSE comment threads?
@Gerard: I get what you’re doing but I think you’re just giving Wacker more ammunition with which to provoke us.
I would like to say congratulations to Mr. Alonso on being picked as the new E.i.C. I wish him well and I hope he likes his new job.
@23
If a personas at work at the time they are insulting or they are doing something connected to their job at the time of the insult perhaps, but if the person in question is saying an insult in an unrelated setting to work then I would consider that more an example of rude behaviour than unprofesionalism.
But back to the topic at hand since we have an editor from marvel amongst us Mr. Wacker do you know whose taking over Axels position now that he’s been promoted(and apparently Brevroot’s whose been promoted to vice president of publishing). Is it you? Also what the heck is this vp of publishing postion ive heard Brevroots apparently been promoted too?
For example: It’s unprofessional for a “freelancer” like Gerald Delatour to say “Fuck Yeah” about a guy moving on from a job. His bosses shouldn’t allow this.
I’ve decided it’s unprofessional based on whatever industry they’re in.
@18
I don’t understand how fan reactions can be unprofessional? Acting unproffesional would mean all these fans have actual jobs in the industry either as comic book writers, editors or some other position in marvel or another company or as journalists. Most of the people commenting here seem to just be random fans whose only connection to the industry is that they like some of the characters produced by it. No connection to proffesionalism there whatsover. If you think they are conducting themselves in a disrespectful manner then thats a fair enough comment but unproffessionilism makes absolutely no sense here.
@Stephen Wacker: No, I’m just a freelancer. I only speak for myself. And your mom.
Does Gerard Delatour II speak for everyone?
@Stephen Wacker: Go pluck yourself.
These are some unprofessional reactions.
Meh.
“Joe Quesada no longer EiC …”
FUCK YEAH!
“… Axel Alonso promoted”
FUCK NO!
I’m well happy. I’ve been dying for a new EIC for years. I doubt that the spidey marriage will be back under Axel, but nevertheless I’m hoping that we’ll be seeing something new and different. Axel has edited many titles over the years that I quite enjoyed.
Well this sure as hell shook the house of ideas around…
this should be interesting….
@11 It was just announced today and in the present tense, so I’m going with yes, it’s a done deal.
is this effective immediately? i didn’t see a date in the article…
@9
Let me get out my trustee magic eight ball, give it a little shake here, and all signs point too….Undecided??? Bahh screw this Ill just revert to the old saying “Only time will my friend, only time will tell”.
So should we celebrate the news or not ? 🙁
With the BND era over, Axel Alonso just hit the BIG TIME.
Joey Q now has creative oversight over all of Marvel’s various media. When you have a larger area of responsibility, your immediate impact on each portion is lessened. My metaphor when I was telling Don about this story was that he no longer has his hand in the cookie jar; he just has to make sure the cookie jar doesn’t break. I expect this will lead to some very interesting results.
I always assumed it would be Brevroot, but then I think they were both equals in their positions anyway so it could have always been either one of them. Now the question, is this good or bad. I don’t know very much about Axel other than the fact that he was spider-man editor during JMS’s run(a run which I enjoyed for the first half) so I honestly can’t even begin to guess if he’s the right man for the job. I will say though regardless of anyones personal feelings on Quesada and his overal role as EIC I think it was getting pretty obviouse that he was running out of steam as EIC at the end there and it was time for some new blood in that role. Hopefully he does well as Chief Creative Officer(which I thought he already became early last year).
Hopen the podcast can get an interview with this guy sometime soon, maybe he’ll be easier to grab for one than Joe was with all the added responsibilities he was getting near the end there.
Seems he was part of ASM direction, plus the Q still
gets his hand into things. . .
Bah, I say.
Things shouldn’t change much at all. Quesada is still Chief Creative Officer, handling the overall Marvel vision of the company and characters; Alex will just handle the day-to-day of the publishing arm.
Me neither. I’ll reserve further comments until I know more, though.
WOAH! Did not see this coming at all.