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.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jeffrey Klein, Ann Hinshaw
DKC
212-685-4300
Jeff_klein@dkcnews.com/ann_hinshaw@dkcnews.com
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I hope Alonso does well in the new position, it will deffinetely be a tough one.
Steve Wacker jovially used the same argument that everyone used against him, and it was pretty funny. I think some of you need to lighten up.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man #99, or rather #1 of the Byrne/Mackie reboot!
Go Huck yourself!
(disclaimer so I’m not banned: I’m obviously not really trying to impersonate Mark Twain)
I finally saw what Axel looks like, yay
97 comments? I’m impressed
So anyway how about that Alonso fellow?
I’m not denying that, hell my message board handle is actually InsaneJonny
You people are insane.
@Nik, there is nowhere on this page or other where Gerard has told anyone to riot. If anyone is overreacting, its you.
“The very fact that Gerard has been defended instead of held accountable saddens me. He knows better.”
How do you know this? Can you see what the staff says to Gerard behind close doors?
Final point: The very fact that Gerard has been defended instead of held accountable saddens me. He knows better. I know he knows better because of what he says about Slott. The fact that he doesn’t act better and is a shame.
@ Jonathan
It has no bearing on Dan Slott’s initial comments. If you’re going to raise hell about something Dan Slott said, the least you can do is take the moral high ground and act decently.
@Proto
I agree with you. I could have phrased that better. Certain people are acting like idiots. This is a really popular Spidey fansite, and I respect BD and many of the people involved in making this site, but this place is very quickly becoming the Fox News of fansites when it comes t its reviews and message boards. I love that there are people like you on here who can differentiate between poor and proper etiquette. I’m happy that someone actually gets it. I just want Gerard to stop with the inappropriate witticisms and start to behave how he expects others to behave, freelancer or not.
@ Gerard
Apples and oranges, Gerard. In your metaphor you’re not inciting a riot against the creator of vanilla ice cream. That would make it infinitely more appropriate.
If I wrote a post about how much I love chocolate ice cream, there would be half a dozen people complaining about my “obvious anti-vanilla bias” and demanding that I be removed as reviewer. 😆
@NIK!
While I wanna say I for one do agree with you that Gerards comments did come across as pretty offensive even if he did mean them as a joke(I think he did mean them as a joke but they really didn’t come off that way). However I don’t think you’ve been acting any better. I mean what the hell is with your comment from post 82 where you say everyones acting like idiots? Most of the discussion here has actually been pretty civil. So people are being skeptical about weather or not Axel will be an improvement over Joe Q or not, well they should be. Its perfectly logical for people to speculate over if this is more of the same or not and give there reasons for this, thats how discussions work.
Also where is this crap about CS having a bad reputation on the net coming from? Ive never seen any evidence that this sight has a negative reputation in general. Sure there are some people on the net which don’t like it(mostly because people who don’t agree with the current direction can actually voice that concern without getting beat down and chased away by the zealot level supporters) but everything has its detractors. If anything id say this is probably one of the more popular spidey websites on the net (Bertone wouldn’t have gotten all those creators to hold up the I love crawlspace sign and get their pictures taken if they hadn’t) and I would personally recommend it to anyone.
@NIK!
If Gerards being disrespectful in playfully mocking Dan Slott…how disrespectful does that make Dans original comments?
And lest it get lost amid all the nerd rage, WAY TO GO AXEL!
@ Fred
“Several people told you differently, especially Gerard.” It’s comments like this that really only accentuate how two-faced message board posters can be. Just because Gerard has supporters doesn’t make him right. In fact, I believe that it means they’ve created a mob mentality that believes they can do no wrong. Gerard screwed up, and instead of manning up to it, he’s hiding behind snide comments. If you don’t see a problem with “go pluck yourself” being disrespectful, then there’s a problem with you, and I refuse to accept anything you have to say until you acknowledge the hypocrisy of his actions, and in your own for defending him.
He screwed up. Man up to it.
As for all of this evidence to the contrary? I certainly don’t remember him ever coming CLOSE to the level of unprofessionalism displayed by saying “go pluck yourself.” I will say it again: It’s comments like these that give this site a bad reputation.
Ah, threads like these are why I like the Crawlspace.
Comment 19 was brilliant ><
“People do have the right to their opinion, and Gerard wasn’t voicing an opinion as much as he was acting blatantly disrespectful.”
Several people told you differently, especially Gerard. Whether you took it as an insult is your problem. Crying and insulting people because of it makes your argument into a joke.
“I have no idea how he’s been nothing but professional when confronted with your immature harping, and he continues to do the same here”
Really? is that all you have despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary? Pretty sad.
Take it easy NIK!
@ Fred
People do have the right to their opinion, and Gerard wasn’t voicing an opinion as much as he was acting blatantly disrespectful. I’ve read most of Wacker’s posts on this site, and I have no idea how he’s been nothing but professional when confronted with your immature harping, and he continues to do the same here, whether you want to believe it or not.
Is it hilarious? Yes. Is he coming on this site to provoke you? Possibly. Is he trying to make you look like idiots? You’re all pretty much doing that to yourselves.
Chill out and don’t preach civility if you’re incapable of showing it yourselves.
Do you by any chance no of a way we can find out the duties and roles of various executive positions at Marvel like CC0 if we wanted to learn more, or are you unable to say that as well?
Sorry, but I really can’t. It’s not my place.
SW
Mr. Wacker, can you possibly elaborate further on the nature of Quesada’s role as CCO? I know he’ll be overseeing a lot of the media venues and stuff, but does that wholly segregate him from control of the books? Or is it an addendum to his former duties as EIC?
I didn’t insult Kevin or the site. People just say that a lot and others believe it because bullies like to pile on.
I’ve said I like the site pretty regularly…even in those threads. I don’t judge it from a few cranks (Kevin is not a crank, but he is often wrong about the business).
SW
Just. ignore. him.
“Not sure what else you are imagining”
I’m imagining things now Steve? (If that is really you) I’m imagine you insulting Kevin and this site when he was only trying to have a respectful conversation with you. I’m imagine you insulting the people here when you were doing damage control over what Dan Slott said? There are over 600 post over at the Dan Slott thread, a good portion of them are made by you insulting the people here over their opinions. Am i imagining that as well Steve?
God, i really love that victim act you have when you can’t defend yourself Steve, it shows the type of person you really are.
Jesus Christ, not this again…
Back to the main topic: congratulations and the best of luck to Axel on his promotion.
Congrats to Mr Alonso on his promotion. Joe Q focusing more on the movie and animation studios is a good thing in my book, as he’s done a really great job in Hollywood on that end so far.
Excuse me I meant “speak for Marvel”
#70 All I’ve “done before” is suggest that freelancers are free to do what they want and don’t work for Marvel. I’ve also proposed that perhaps some of the more vocal posters here don’t have as much industry insight as they think (which is true).
Not sure what else you are imagining. Certainly we agree that “People have a right to there (sic) opinion, whether you like it or not.”
-SW
No matter how much Mr Q may have changed Spidey in a way in which I personally don’t care for, he has been a positive overall force at Marvel in my humble opinion. Best of luck to both he and Mr Alonso.
“You need to swallow your nerd pride for two seconds and cough up an apology to Steve.”
Maybe Nik! you should stop insulting people yourself. You seem like the one with the problem here and you glossing over what Steve has done before put to question what ever right righteous holy crusade you have.
People have a right to there opinion, whether you like it or not.
Congratulations to both Joe and Axel in their new positions. I’ll look forward to seeing what creative offerings both of them will be bringing to the table in the future.
God Bless,
Rick
@Berserk:
I hope we do, cuz it’s still my article! lol
@ Proto Goblin
From what I understand, the job he and Brevoort had were made specifically for them, so with their promotions, it won’t be likely that we’ll see anybody take over in a literal sense, but I suspect the other editors will all be picking up more responsibility. Maybe Mr. Wacker can shed some light on this?
@ Gerard
I don’t care how it was intended. It was rude in execution, and it’s still rude in hindsight. You need to swallow your nerd pride for two seconds and cough up an apology to Steve.
… and here we go… AGAIN.
Interesting bit of news here… and until it actually CHANGES something, I refuse to give a s***…
I am somewhat disapointed that my question from earlier about who is taking Alonsos old position wasn’t answered, but I suppose I’ll survive if its not.
Also as far as Alonsos editing of OMD is concerned, it doesn’t really prove what his position is since we all know that arc was Joe Q’s personal brainchild(with him even stepping in the write the last part) you can’t really veto an arc your Boss is mandating. Im sure his editing of it probably didn’t extend much farther than grammer police. Ofcourse I could be wrong and he might have even suggested some of the stuff that was done in that story, who knows.
Wacker thinks BD shouldn’t let him write what he does. Well I think Wacker’s boss shouldn’t let him comment on the internet. Now comes the part where he insults me for my handle.
Wonder if we’ll get past 600 posts again…
@#62 – Oh, okay. Thanks, Spider-Dad.
@59 Stuart: The current CCO of Marvel.
@Aspman – I agree, I’d love to see them bring back the marriage. Very much. Very, VERY much. 😀
Um… can anyone say “bring back the friggin’ marriage!!!!”………? Okay, got that out. thank you, thank you very much.
@Spider_Dad’s comment in #58: I agree. Also, who signed off with “Eek!”?
Congratulations to Axel Alonso on his promotion to EIC. It will be interesting to see if Axel has a new vision for Marvel publishing. He certainly has his work cut out for him since print media is suffering badly across many periodicals. I wish I knew more about him to comment further. He has my vote of confidence as long as he does not call them “funny books” and sign off with “Eek!”.
WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!
What the hell people???
Steve Wacker comes on with a comment that “these are some unprofessional reactions”, and THAT causes a shitstorm??
Let me tell you, I am among the BIGGEST Crawlspace supporters, but Mr. Wacker is absolutely right. The comments directed towards Axel Alonso were absolutely unnecessary! I (along with a whole truckload of SMCS fans) was glad to hear the Joe Q has left the EIC position because, in my opinion, he has totally derailed ASM.
That should make “us” happy, right?
Give Axel Alonso a chance to show what he can do before you cast childish judgements.
@ Steve Wacker… I don’t pretend to speak for anybody on this site other than myself, but I’m kind’a embarrassed about the comments made.
…just sayin’…
@NIK! and Jonny: Yup, Jonny has this one spot-on. I mockingly rehashed the lines, albeit with edited language.
Also, shit is much easier to stir with a long stick or plunger of some type. I don’t think a “utensil” would quite do it. If your shit can be stirred with a spoon, I think you need to see a doctor or at least lay off of the yogurt for a while.
And yes NIKI! the mum comment was also Gerard mocking how Slott interacts with fans as well before you bring that up
No, it was Gerard playfully mocking Slotts similar sounding insult, if gerard was actually serious he would be saying what slott actually said and not playfully mocking it.
@ Gerard
But the “go pluck yourself” comment was you trying to stir some shit. Take a hard look in the mirror and drop the shit-stirring utensil.
I smell a banning