| Joe Quesada | |
 Quesada at Comic-Con NYC 2008. Photo by Alex Erde. |
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| Born | Joseph Quesada January 12, 1962 [1] |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Penciller, Writer, Editor |
Joseph "Joe" Quesada (born January 12, 1962[1]), is an American comic book editor, writer and artist. He is currently the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Writer and artist
Quesada was born in New York City to Cuban-born parents and grew up in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens.[2] He studied at the School of Visual Arts, where he received a BFA in illustration in 1984. He started out as an artist in the early 1990s. His first widely distributed works were for Valiant Comics where he penciled and plotted Ninjak, X-O Manowar, and others. His art was heavily influenced by Japanese manga, evidenced by large, watery eyes, long, flowing hair, and unnatural body proportions. Several of his page compositions reflect the art nouveau style of Alphonse Mucha. Later, he formed his own publishing company, Event Comics, and created Ash, a firefighter with superpowers.
In 1998, Event Comics was contracted to do several books for Marvel Comics, dubbed Marvel Knights. As editor of Marvel Knights, Quesada encouraged experimentation and used his contacts in the indie comics world to bring in new creators such as David W. Mack, Mike Oeming, Brian Michael Bendis, Garth Ennis, and Steve Dillon. Quesada also illustrated a Daredevil story written by film director Kevin Smith.
Editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics
Joe Quesada became editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics in 2000, following Bob Harras's departure from the company. Joe Quesada is the first artist to become Marvel's editor-in-chief.[3] As editor-in-chief of one of the two largest publishers in the comic book business, he holds a great deal of influence over the direction of the American comic book industry.
Quesada became editor-in-chief at the same time that Bill Jemas succeeded to the presidency of the company. The relationship culminated in the establishment of the Ultimate line of Marvel titles, which were aimed at teenagers, took place outside of the restrictive continuity of the Marvel Universe. Jemas separated from the company after some time.
Quesada imposed a moratorium on the comic-book practice of creatively bringing back a character thought to be dead. In an interview on January 28, 2008, Quesada explained his thoughts behind this policy.[4]
Joe Quesada's predecessor as Marvel editor in chief, Bob Harras, canceled and restarted all of Marvel's titles that were not either X-Men-related or at fewer than 100 issues already. This was an effort to shore up sagging sales with a new #1 issue for each of Marvel's popular titles, issued at a time shortly after the bust of the comic book collecting industry, and when Marvel was in the throes of bankruptcy. Quesada reversed this policy first by showing the "old", combined issue numbers beside the "new" numbers on covers (the difference between the two issue numbers shown on the cover would always be the number of issues that the series had before Harras restarted it), and then definitively restoring the "old" numbers for Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man and Avengers when they each passed the 500 mark.[5]
Joe Quesada has been involved in the creation of three successful imprints:
- Marvel Knights, aimed at older readers (before his tenure as editor-in-chief)
- MAX, aimed at adult readers, with Brian Michael Bendis
- Ultimate, aimed at teen readers, with Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar
Critics of Quesada's policy of emphasizing trade paperbacks charge that they cannibalize monthly comic book sales, because readers may opt to forego monthly series in order to wait for the cheaper collections, not realizing that monthly sales are an indicator to publishers of interest in such collections.[6]
When confronted with a backlash by some fans due to his decision to dictate a controversial retcon of Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane Watson-Parker in the "One More Day" storyline, Quesada participated in a series of interviews on the subject to address the issue of the marriage, comparing it to real life marriages. He also promoted and praised the MC2 title Spider-Girl for continuing to provide fans with a stable marriage and an expanded family,[7] although that title has since been canceled, then resurrected and relaunched as Amazing Spider-Girl, then canceled again,[8] then finally relaunched again as Spectacular Spider-Girl under Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited online service.[9]
Bibliography
Joe Quesada's art has been featured in:
- The Ray
- Batman: Sword of Azrael
- X-Factor
- X-O Manowar
- Ninjak
- Ash
- Daredevil v2
- Daredevil: Father
- The Amazing Spider-Man: One More Day
With writer Dennis O'Neil, he co-created Azrael
Quesada's writing has been featured in:
His talents were also called upon in the Kevin Smith film Mallrats where he is credited as an artist for the opening sequence featuring fictional comic covers.
References
- ^ a b Comics Buyer's Guide #1650; February 2009; Page 107
- ^ Jennings, Dana. "New York Action Hero", The New York Times, November 23, 2003. Accessed may 28, 2009. "Mr. Quesada also falls squarely in comics' up-by-your-bootstraps, Ellis Island lineage. He grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens (Spider-Man's home borough), the comics-seduced child of Cuban immigrants."
- ^ Peter David. "But I Digress..." Comics Buyer's Guide #1401; September 22, 2000; Page 58
- ^ http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12395; explained in an interview at CBR.
- ^ In the case of Avengers, this was short-lived; at writer Brian Michael Bendis's request, the book was later restarted as New Avengers
- ^ David, Peter; "WHAT'CHA WANNA KNOW?", October 21, 2003; Writer Peter David expressed this sentiment in a question-and-answer thread on his blog, in response to an October 21, 2003 5:45 a.m. post.
- ^ Interview 3 of 5 at CBR.
- ^ DeFalco Confirms Amazing Spider-Girl Cancelation, Comic Book Resources, October 13, 2008
- ^ Spider-Girl Returns In Marvel Digital Comics, Comic Book Resources, March 18, 2009
External links
- Quesada's homepage
- Santerians The Art of Joe Quesada
- Joe Quesada's Resources at Howtomakecomics.net
- Joe Quesada Roadtrip Nation interview
- lambiek.net entry on Joe Quesada
- Large PopImage interview with Joe, Aug.01
- Inside Quesada's office
- Joe Quesada at the Internet Movie Database
- Joe Quesada's blog on Marvel.com
- Joe Quesada's 2006 Christmas song - EMarvel.net
| Preceded by Bob Harras |
Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief 2000–present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
| Preceded by Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern |
Iron Man writer 2000 (with Frank Tieri in late 2000) |
Succeeded by Frank Tieri |
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