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Posted in: Comics, Ike Perlmutter, Marvel Comics | Tagged: fantastic four, tom brevoort, Word Balloon
Tom Brevoort Wonders If Rich Johnston Is Even Rich Johnston
Marvel Comics SVP Tom Brevoort wonders if Rich Johnston is even Rich Johnston. Rich Johnston confirms that he is.
Article Summary
- Marvel's Tom Brevoort jokes about Rich Johnston's identity on the Word Balloon podcast with John Siuntres.
- Rich Johnston confirms he is, in fact, Rich Johnston, even after Brevoort's playful skepticism.
- Brevoort is known for cleverly responding to criticism with technically true, carefully worded statements.
- The "Brevoorting" tactic is discussed, highlighting Marvel's past denial of the Fantastic Four cancellation scoop.
Marvel Comics Executive Editor, Senior Vice President and X-Men Senior Editor Tom Brevoort appeared on this week's Word Balloon podcast with John Siuntres, and said quite a lot that I am sure I will get into with you all. But they started with this particular exchange that I wanted to get down for posterity.
John Siuntres: "I kind of want to do some deep dive stuff. There's a couple of modern questions, but nothing… you know, I'm not Rich Johnston, you know?"
Tom Brevoort: "Well, really, who is? Even Rich isn't, even Rich isn't Rich Johnston."
John Siuntres: "Yeah. Yeah. He's, uh, yeah, I've always gotten along with him, but you know, I understand that can be concerning when he screws up a marketing plan, you know, and spoils sh-t…"
Tom Brevoort: "Well, it just, you know, it is what it is."
I would like to utterly confirm that I am Rich Johnston. I just checked in the mirror and everything, even with my new haircut. My phone opened with face recognition, so it's definitely me. Now, I do like Tom Brevoort, even though I have in the past given him cause to shout in my general direction. I especially like the way he answers criticism with the absolute confirming truth, even if at the time everyone mistakes it for a denial. We even call it Brevoorting someone, over at BC Towers. It takes an extreme effort and insane level of placing of words so that when you look back, you can never mistake him for lying. One of my favourite examples was when Bleeding Cool scooped the news that Marvel Comics was cancelling the Fantastic Four comic book and reducing the prominence and promotion of the X-Men line, as a result of then-Marvel Comics chairman Ike Perlmutter's anger against 20th Century Fox not doing movie deals with Marvel Studios over their X-Men and Fantastic Four rights, in the way that Sony had over Spider-Man. And as a results, the lines and the licensing were curtailed, he didn't even want to see Fantastic Four imagery in the office, ripping posters down from walls. So many projects were curtailed, abandoned or not started as a result of that policy. Lots of people doubted Bleeding Cool's report, and when asked by readers, Tom Brevoort said "My denying rumors isn't likely to keep anybody who's prone to paranoia from panicking. But really, does this even seem remotely plausible to people? Does it make any sense? Folks have a very strange idea as to the way a business is run." Our story was later confirmed, in full, by then-Fantastic Four writer Jonathan Hickman. Because, indeed, it didn't make any sense, wasn't plausible and was a strange idea. But that's Ike Perlmutter for you. And we were all Brevoorted…
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