Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, marvel, MVL

Marko Djurdjevic Gives Marvel A Slapping At Fan Expo Canada (UPDATE x2)

It was the Marvel "Team Spirit" panel at the Fan Expo convention in Canada last night.

Never has a panel been less well named.

According to a great panel report at CBR, illustrator and designer Marko Djurdjevic took the opportunity to lambast Marvel and their operating practices while Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting tried to joke along, placate and… move on.

First he announced he'd resigned from working at Marvel.

"Asked by Epting if he wished he did more interior work while with Marvel, Djurdjevic replied, "They never put me with any writers that I liked," before launching into a tirade about Marvel and ripping into writer Duane Swierczynski, whom he said writes "like toilet paper."

Can't find any work Marko did with Duane Swierczynski, but there is Joe Straczynski… Kurt Busiek, Ed Brubaker, Brian Bendis, Jeph Loeb…

UPDATE: Yup, the CBR reporter mixed him up. Marco slammed JMS, not Duane…

"Around this time, Djurdjevic received a cord for his MacBook, cut Hickman off and began to share variations on his Spider-Man redesign. Coming from a video game background, Djurdjevic said he usually bills hourly. "Not in comics." Hickman said."

"Exactly — and you keep on doing it and doing it," Djurdjevic replied. "I was fighting with the guys at Marvel about this. You can't make people re-work your shit because you can't decide what you want. Either pay or leave."

"Tension in the room mounted as Djurdjevic illustrated the problems between himself and Marvel editors, sharing with the audience numerous mock-ups of Lady Bullseye's redesigned costume, citing it as an example of his problems with Marvel art direction."

"On Lady Bullseye's redesigned costume; "I did a couple color sketches, and it just went into revision mode for the face paint forever and ever," he said, forever being about two weeks. "I think I made so many face variations for that character until they finally decided, 'Oh yeah, that's the one that people are going to recognize forever,'" Djurjevic recounted, mocking his editors in a high-pitched voice, yet again."

"When I get hired for movie work or video game work, I get hired for my creativity," Djurdjevic said. "At Marvel, I get hired for what they know sells. It's really just a pigeon hole for an artist."

Checking in with Marvel representatives, they seem entirely relaxed about the whole affair, telling me it's just Marko, he'll feel how he'll feel but he remains a good friend to them all. They seem to find the whole thing amusing. It's amazing what a drinking pal can get away with…

UPDATE: Mark Waid tweets "Dear #MarkoDjurdjevic : you will not be missed."

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