Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: bleeding cool, Comics, entertainment, kelly sue deconnick, marvel, Marvel Comics, tom brevoort
Fanboy Rampage: Tom Brevoort's Work Would Be Better Off If I Didn't Exist, Apparently
Yesterday we ran a piece about Kelly Sue DeConnick talking about never having been invited to a Marvel Writers Summit. Indeed, it seems that no female writers have been
Tom Brevoort stated on Twitter that this was because she wasn't an exclusive creator. Which only raised other questions – was Charles Soule actually exclusive to Marvel back in April, with an agreement to finish his DC Comics work.
Is Skottie Young exclusive to Marvel? It hasn't been announced, but I guess so as well. (UPDATE: And has been for around ten years, apparently!)
And given that the Writers Retreats often guide the future of the Marvel books, it is where big stories and arcs get pitched, get presented, get claimed by one writer after another, if that is only accessible for writers who have signed a Marvel exclusive deal, doesn't that reduce the "genetic pool" for the future of Marvel stories? Especially since Marel has not chosen to sign up any female Marvel writing talent to such an exclusive deal – or if they have, they haven't told anyone yet, and they hadn't at the time of the previously reported retreat back in April.
So, you know, questions. But Tom Brevoort, who defines himself on Twitter as "A man constantly on the verge of saying something stupid–for your entertainment!" had some of his own points to make. And they got a little personal…
@chrisobannon @bleedingcool @Marvel @axelalonsomarv @kellysue When she's a Marvel-exclusive writer.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 10, 2014
@richjohnston @chrisobannon @Marvel @axelalonsomarv @kellysue Did you not see the announcement about Charles?
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 10, 2014
@TomBrevoort @chrisobannon @Marvel @axelalonsomarv @kellysue Oh absolutely. But the summit was months before…
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 10, 2014
@tomdaylight @chrisobannon @axelalonsomarv @kellysue And you know the terms of Joss' agreements with Marvel because…?
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 10, 2014
@IcecreamGenius @TomBrevoort Tom's a great guy, I have huge respect for him and his work. May not be mutual but that doesn't dull my feeling
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 10, 2014
@richjohnston @IcecreamGenius It's always nice to be respected by someone who actively works to tear that work down.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort @icecreamgenius that sounds like those folk who accuse you of actively trying to destroy their favourite comic characters.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston Actions speak louder than words. Would my work be better off if you didn't exist? Absolutely.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort @richjohnston The quality of your work would improve without media scrutiny/speculation? How?
— Richard Lindsay (@RWRL) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort You would certainly have more of your comics drawn by Pat Lee, it's true.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston I do, too. Reporting would require facts rather than rumors.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston You always seem very defensive whenever I say stuff like this. I think it's your self-awareness peeking through.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort I think defending oneself against attack is reasonable. I note you also defend your actions – is that your self awareness too?
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston That's like reporting on Bigfoot. You can do it, but it doesn't make you an asset to the community.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort it probably does to the Bigfoot watching community.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort Marvel and Diamond have spent the week (including yesterday) telling retailers that Gerard Way is no longer writing SpiderVerse
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort do you find it at all valuable that I made a big point of verifying that this was false, and posting a piece contradicting it?
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston And I'm well aware that this will all become another article later today so you can have the last word, send my check to Hero.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
The Bill O'Reilly move there.
@TomBrevoort "plinth"
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
I will be sending payment to the Hero charity, per Tom's request. But it didn't stop there – how could it?
@richjohnston I don't confuse occasionally doing something good with being a good person. Broken clock phenomenon.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort and you also confuse doing something you don't like with doing something bad, a phenomenon in common with some folk on tumblr.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort except you do seem to confuse regularly doing something good, with occasionally doing something good.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston I support a free but responsible press. Tell me, if we polled creators, how many do you think would vote in favor of what you
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston …do? And how many have been burned by you stepping on their stories and the promotion of same?
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort Based on some who understandably present a different face in private than in public, it would depend if it was a secret ballot
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston @MattAdlerComics Difference is, Paul was getting his info through channels direct from DC. That's why there's little Marvel
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston …info.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort @MattAdlerComics And I get mine through channels from Marvel, Disney, Warners and DC execs, staffers and creators.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
So, reporting rumours from DC sources is totally different to doing it from Marvel sources, it seems. But Tom was almost done.
@richjohnston You have a strange sense of the term "regularly." I believe you are self-delusional in this regard.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston Anyway, enough time spent on this. I hope you too have a nice day adding stress to the lives of creators you claim to support.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort looking at today's schedule… doesn't look like it.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort but I don't seem to be revealing the end of Death Of Wolverine any time soon. Not unless you'd like me to.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
@richjohnston That's the closest you've ever come to an admission.
— Tom Brevoort (@TomBrevoort) September 11, 2014
@TomBrevoort it's a central contradiction. You should talk to Neil Gaiman about this kind of thing.
— Rich Johnston (@richjohnston) September 11, 2014
'Till the next time…
Fanboy Rampage was a blog by Graeme McMillan dedicated to the funniest, most ludicrous and most inappropriate comic book back-and-forths online. McMillan has moved on now, becoming a proper journalist for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times but he gave permission to Bleeding Cool to revive his great creation. Feel free to contribute your own spots of online excess.