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Waiting For Tommy XXIV
By Richard Johnston

Interview with Bill Jemas
Bill Jemas is President of Marvel Comics. Alongside Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, he is one of the main architects for what is often called New Marvel. A hands-on executive, his credit on the book is no formality and he's been known to get his hands very dirty - and I don't mean from eating trifle.

Bill Jemas has been the slipperiest interview subject yet in this Waiting For Tommy series of eight interviews. While the likes of Rob Liefeld, Grant Morrison and Mark Millar were happy to tackle a number of thorny issues head on, Bill was more ticklish. Sometimes I think I got a grip, most of the time I didn't. I hope you enjoy this exercise in jelly wrestling. I don't think I won.

RICHARD JOHNSTON: Bill, you're an experienced businessman, and have proven your success in a number of fields, turning businesses around in a short period of time and pulling out the profits. The problem some see, when this is applied to the comics medium, is that suddenly you're dealing with an artform. An entertainment company with a pop cultural history that's influenced the world - and continues to do so. And so decisions that might make short term business sense by increasing profits may have the danger of not only harming the long term future of Marvel and the Marvel characters, but of the artform and the cultural impact it makes. Is that a possibility you can recognize, and does it affect the decisions you make as President?

BILL JEMAS: You mean like Joe's the creator, Bill's the suit?

Actually, all of my experience has been in sports and entertainment and all of the development/turn around work has revolved around creative development.

At the NBA, I ran a number of related divisions - book/magazine publishing; trading cards; our photo and footage archives, and home video. The businesses worked because we captured the heart and soul of the game in words and pictures and then published and produce books, card, videos and other products that NBA fans loved.

That's the Marvel story, job one has been to fix the creative, and I do that in a very, very hands on way. If you look Marvel's top selling graphic novels - they are all called Ultimate - except for the one called Origin. My priority has been to lead the creative teams who are putting out wonderful work for Marvel readers.

THE ULTIMATES #1 - #6 SIGNED COLLECTION - SIGNED VERSION

RICHARD: Okay then, plugging aside, do you see a distinction between sporting reportage and a recognised artform?

BILL: Never did any sports reportage. But the skill that goes into managing sports videos and books are similar to those that go into managing a great comic book publishing business. And, creative is about creativity -- regardless of the medium.

RICHARD: I stressed your business acumen and suitability before. You've been in the job for a few years now - do you care about the comics medium or the Marvel characters you publish at any emotional level?

BILL: I love this game.

RICHARD: Yeah, but are you excited and drawn in any way to a story told by static juxtaposed words and pictures over other media? Have you ever pretended to be Wolverine? Have you ever tried to spin webs? Ever worked out just where Iron Man's boot blasters would be under your heel?

BILL: Yes, absolutely is that you have to be all wet to write Namor; you have to swim with the fishes.

RICHARD: Oh like I wanted that image. Okay, wet for Namor, fine. Which brings me neatly onto another topic. Previous iterations of Marvel characters have been all-ages - through the decades that was a matter of form. While the characters and stories may have had some appeal for older teenagers, college students, even your actual grown-ups, they were all suitable for the youngest as well. That changed - not just when you were at Marvel, but recent changes under your watch and seemingly at your behest have been the most prominent of those changes. Is there not something perverse about this? Taking a character intended for kids and telling stories that are no longer as suitable for them or even make sense to them? This wouldn't be tolerated elsewhere - Asterix and Obelix don't have sex, Charlie Brown does not have a crack habit, Archie doesn't frequent prostitutes, Pokemon aren't announcing their sexuality, why is this tolerated for Marvels characters now in a way that never was before? If an adult audience can't accept that an intended childhood character shouldn't stay that way, shouldn't the reader grow up and move on rather than the character?

BILL: You know about the five blind men in a room with an elephant - one touches the leg and says it's a tree trunk another grabs the tail and thinks he has a snake. Marvel makes books for young readers - they are called Ultimates. We make books for mature readers, they are called Max. Our job is to capture the heart and soul of Marvel characters and writer books that fans will love.

Continued here...

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