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EPIC
Suspended --
More Changes Rumored At The House of Ideas
 A
brief shining moment in Marvel Comics' history has come to
an end. Officially because of simple overload, Marvel has
"temporarily" suspended their EPIC comics open submission
policy.
"The
response has simply been incredible, and because of the high
volume of pitches we're still receiving, we're no longer going
to be able to evaluate them and respond to aspiring creators
in a fair and reasonable time frame," explained EPIC
editor Teresa Focarile. "Creators who have taken the
time and energy to go through the submission process are entitled
to a timely
response.
"Now
that we realize the level of response and the kind of commitment
these projects require, we are going to restructure the EPIC
process across all editorial offices and implement some new
procedures that will hopefully have us back on track before
too long."
It's not
unbelievable. From the earliest days of this version of EPIC
(Marvel previously had the imprint as a creator-owned, almost
alternative line in the '80's), they've been dogged with controversy.
Some creators complained that they weren't being given a response,
or that choices were made due to political insidership. But
just ask Ian Feller at CrossGen -- trying to evaluate submissions
takes up a lot of time, and quite possibly Marvel really wasn't
prepared for the response they were going to get. However,
it does look strangely coincidental that the two highest profile
EPIC releases so far were both by Marvel insiders -- John
Jackson Miller on Crimson Dynamo (soon to be writing
Iron Man) and Mark Millar on the tempest in a teapot
teen romance comic Trouble.
Several
announced projects, however, have come from outsiders, albeit
web journalists that had already made some sort of name for
themselves. Included among those is Young Ancient One
by Rob Worley, former writer of Comics2Film and yes, friend
of Fanboy Planet.
Marvel
has not yet commented on the status of those projects, rumored
across the net to be shelved, but according to Worley, "As
far as I know, we're still good to go for a February release
and we are continuing to work on completing the three-issue
series."
The company
offers some hope, at least to aspiring writers. According
to their press release, they're still looking for new writers
on an ongoing basis, with submission guidelines being available
on their
site.
In addition,
the publisher will be launching two titles in 2004 to showcase
new writers paired with established artists, Spider-Man
Unlimited and X-Men Unlimited. What do you mean
you've heard those titles before? They're new. Where
the concept differs from EPIC is that that imprint brought
in largely untried art talent as well.
Originally,
too, EPIC was pitched as a chance for creators to see their
own characters in print, but that shifted to a policy of using
establishing Marvel characters, some say cynically all the
better to license. Yes, Bill Jemas is an honorable man.
Actually,
with this change comes rumors that we won't have Jemas to
kick around anymore. You may have noticed that he's been terribly
quiet lately, and absent from the summer convention circuit
due to a business trip to China. Perhaps.
 Rich
Johnston at Comic
Book Resources reports that Jemas may be out at Marvel
entirely. Banished from all editorial save the Ultimate line
(and presumably allowed to talk to Andi Watson on Namor),
the formerly ubiquitous face spraining to pat itself on the
back is curiously silent.
Johnston
writes in his column, Lying In The Gutters, "I hear that
Jemas has moved out of his Marvel office…If these stories
are true, it might also back up the word that Epic is to be
dismantled."
In addition
to launching the successful Ultimate line, of course, Jemas
spearheaded EPIC. And as anybody in Hollywood will tell you,
projects babied by one regime tend to be the first to disappear
under a new one. Sure, they might reappear later, folded,
spindled, and stamped with a new personality, but always in
a way so as to distance them from their originator.
Why would
Jemas be out? He has certainly had contentious relationships
with retailers and fans, but that has been rumored to extend
to within the Marvel offices as well. Allegedly, he and Marvel
Studios head Avi Arad never got along well, and Arad's star
definitely remains high with the company. Certainly the high
profile flap over the Fantastic
Four creative team didn't help matters, as writer Mark
Waid had definitely had some sort of clash with Jemas. (And
for the record, I'm siding with Waid.)
Johnston
believes that a replacement for Jemas has already been found,
though he doesn't know the name.
Read into
it what you will. Rejoice or Mourn. I'm just sayin'.
Marvel
could not be reached for comment.
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