C.B. Cebulski Calls Out New Marvel Writers on Twitter for Job Insecurity

 

Then isn't it HIS job to ensure they feel like they DO have job security?

 

He's complaining that writers overstuff their books with all the stories they want to write because they worry their runs won't last. Meanwhile, Marvel cancels almost every book before it reaches 12 issues and then relaunches them with new creative teams. Clearly, the writers are in the wrong on this one.

 

I know what he is complaining about, that is why I said it is HIS job as being the head of Marvel to make sure his writers HAVE job security.

 

Can't be done. You can't offer job security in a mercurial industry that relies upon people being entertained by what they read. If something doesn't connect with readers, generating sales, the publisher has to make a change to survive. The most they could try to offer is greater financial security by giving creators at least partial ownership in what they create, and neither Marvel or DC are ever going to do that. Their corporate owners are too short sighted to look past the initial loss of revenue that would cause them.

 

I’ve begun reading Ultimate Spider-Man via Unlimited, and I have to say, loving it so far.

I’m only on the 6th issue though. I can see why this was considered the only real saving grace of the Ultimate Universe.

 

There's been more public talk from creators lately about forming a union within the comics industry. I imagine stories like this are going to add more fuel to that debate.

 

It can be done, but corporate execs are just way too lazy these days to care about employee loyalty. They don't care about their employees and as such, employees feel disgruntled and will leave the moment something better comes along because of it. There's nothing worse than being at a job where you know you are not valued in the slightest. I would know, I'm working one right now.

 

I feel the fact you need to fit a story into a tiny trade paperback is affecting stories more.

Some stories take more or less than 6 issues or 12 issues to tell.

 

Are you saying that stories aren't decompressed enough? Sometimes I feel that modern comics take way too long just to tell a single story. I mean things weren't perfect back then - but sometimes it's great to be able to get a single complete story in a single issue.

 

Neal Adams started the same talk in the 1970s, and it went nowhere. The problem is that there are literally thousands of young people eager to break into an industry in which there are only a few hundred jobs in total. In terms of number of applicants versus number of available jobs, comics is actually even more competitive than professional sports.

Visit any major comics convention in the US and see young people lined up all day every day stretching into infinity just for the unconfirmed possibility of getting 5 minutes time with an editor. Even if everyone in the entire currently in the industry were to unite, every single one of them is replaceable a hundred times over by hungry kids looking for any slim chance to break in. And the soulless corporate types who actually run everything will take advantage of that rather than suffer the loss of a few cents today. We've already seen this multiple times even if normal readers never noticed it. Just as an example, I can remember Marvel in the late '90s kicking established colorists, letterers and graphic designers to the curb, replacing them with cheaper labor from Ireland and in-house interns with less than 1/10 the talent or ability of those let go, just to save a couple dollars a month.

 

That all sounds like how things are done to a T. I think most of the current resurgence of American comic union talk is coming from the younger and hopeful talent.

 

Heh, see any Bendis event story. 90% pad, 10% actual story.

I forgot that CBC was that writer that appropriated a different race writer facade. What a jackass and makes me dislike just Marvel even more.

 

I have to agree here. Like some of the Silver Age and Bronze Age comics I read that are 2-3 parts would be like 10 parters these days. Hell, look at Days of Future Past. In today's market, that storyline would be at least 12 issues long.

 

If you go back and read the Korvac Saga, or Dark Phoenix Saga, you also see a lot of lead time on those stories where you get a panel of foreshadowing, then the rest of this issue is some crazy one off story that would be two to three issues these days. It's crazy.

 

The reaction online with this has been great. As editor, it's his responsibility to make sure this doesn't happen regardless of why it happens. It's crazy he tweeted this.

 

Alright, I'm taking the plunge. I've never been much of a Marvel reader, but after reading and enjoying some 60s Spider Man and some Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four, I have ordered the first Fantastic Four omnibus, and will probably get the first Spider-Man omni at some point. I've never been able to get into modern Marvel, despite trying a few times, but the 60s material is pretty enjoyable.

 

FANTASTIC FOUR Get GRAND DESIGN Treatment from TOM SCIOLI

The history of the Fantastic Four will be retold a la X-Men: Grand Design in a new two-issue series by writer/artist Tom Scioli. First reported by ComicBook, Fantastic Four: Grand Design will see the outspoken Jack Kirby fan take on the family's entire mythos and boil it down into one singular narrative.

X-Men: Grand Design's Ed Piskor will be drawing a variant for the first issue, and has given his endorsement of the project.

FANTASTIC FOUR: GRAND DESIGN #1 of 2
Written by TOM SCIOLI
Penciled by TOM SCIOLI
Cover by TOM SCIOLI
VARIANT BY ED PISKOR
CORNER BOX VARIANT BY TOM SCIOLI
Because you demanded it! The bestselling GRAND DESIGN franchise continues with Marvel’s First Family! Brought to you by critically-acclaimed cartoonist TOM SCIOLI (GODLAND, TRANSFORMERS VS. GI JOE) in the sole-authorship tradition made famous by ED PISKOR’S X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN trilogy! Join the Watcher and witness how it all began… Plus appearances by the biggest names in Marvel history!: Doctor Doom! Black Panther! Namor! Galactus! Mole Man! The Inhumans!
48 PGS./Rated T …$5.99

 

You should check out untold tales of Spider-Man. It's a 90s book but the art and stories are told like the 60s tales.

 

I'm up for anything Scioli.