The editorial shuffle

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Renee Witterstaetter was an editor at Marvel when I first started reading comics in the late 80s. Then, she disappeared.

She showed back up in the last year or so as a rep to Arthur Suydam. I believe she even accompanied him to a couple of conventions along the line.

Now, it seems there's been a falling out:

http://www.tcj.com/messboard/viewtop...asc&highlight=

-Augie

[pmpknface]

Whoa... that's harsh. Sounds as if she needs to find a new line a work.

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

And now 52 editor Steve Wacker has defected to Marvel.

-Augie

[torippu]

And now 52 editor Steve Wacker has defected to Marvel.

-Augie

I have to admit that this was a bit of surprise when I read this over at Newsarama this afternoon. Is this Marvel poaching editors from DC after they took Mike Marts?

Also, isn't it strange that the comic industry has come to the point where an editor jumping ship can generate such attention?

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Wow, that Newsarama thread is hilarious. It's filled with people who clearly have never held a real job in their life passing judgment on Wacker's professionalism. Mark Waid steps in around Page 7 to round up the gang of 52 writers to start beating on people. I love it! (I wouldn't want Rucka knocking at my door late at night with brass knuckles on.)

Marvel can only poach editors from DC who want to listen to Marvel's offer. This kind of back and forth always happens in this industry, but there has been a lot more reshuffling going on in the last month than usual. That's the publishing cycle for you.

-Augie

[pmpknface]

OMG... this is amazing...

Check this one out (pg 11):

These kinds of threads are why I love the 'rama. A simple news story about a comic book editor (an EDITOR for crying out loud) getting a new job has erupted into fairly vicious claims of unprofessionalism from the fans, conspiracy theorists wondering aloud if the Editor-In-Chief of Marvel is trying to sabotage DC's event, comic book creators posting telling the people who, ostensibly, pay their paychecks to stop posting because they "don't know anything about the industry", one of the most celebrated writers in recent comic book history making vaguely sarcastic threats of violence against fans, and the premier industry gossip columnist getting his licks in for good measure. Really, the only thing we are missing is a few Gail Simone posts about nudity and John Byrne thoroughly pissing everyone off with a randomly insane comment on his messageboard about Wacker.

Man, reading this thread has been more entertaining than 75% of the comics published this year! Is it too early to nominate it for thread of the year?

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

Here's the thing about this whole deal --

-- I was considering saving this for the column next week, but by then it'll be old news and likely addressed in an interview somewhere --

The hardest part of Steve Wacker's job as Editor of 52 is over. It's the creation of the framework upon which the title will be produced that's the most important part. Once you get all your pieces into place, habits formed, schedules locked in, and everyone trained to do what the schedule requires of them, the rest is just a matter of execution. Keith Giffen isn't going to suddenly slow down because Wacker isn't sending him the scripts. Morrison, Waid, Johns, and Rucka aren't going to stop writing because the assistant editor is now shuffling their paperwork around.

I don't mean to diminish Wacker's role. By all accounts, he was heavily involved on a day to day basis with brainstorming, scheduling, researching, etc. But with only 17 issues left to go in his absence of a 52 issue series, I think the train is on the tracks and rolling pretty well. So long as DC doesn't run out of fill-in artists who can do work quickly, they're in pretty good shape. And that is to Steve Wacker's credit and speaks volumes to his professionalism. His assistants will still be around to maintain continuity, and I'm sure DC will have someone else ready to slide in there to take over Wacker's role.

If 52 slides off the rails, I don't think it'll be due to Wacker's absence. He's built a solid foundation for the book to stand on.

-Augie

[pmpknface]

I'm with you 100%.

The other thing I don't get is how peeps are whining about, "How can he leave in the middle of this project!?!?!?" when any editor has multiple projects in various stages at any given time. You know he had half a dozen things going on that we don't even know about yet.

Ugh.....

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

That'll just be something DC can use to keep Mike Marts busy now. ;-)

-Augie

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

CB Cebulski is back now, too:

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/C...ulskiBack.html

What a fun time the H.R. department at Marvel must be having!

-Augie

[pmpknface]

CB's a great guy. I actually had him sign a copy of my Spider-Man: MANGA Marvel put out years ago and he thought it was a riot that I had him sign something. :p

[Augie De Blieck Jr.]

I've renamed this thread to go with the editorial flow of conversation, just so you all don't think I pulled a fast one on ya.

-Augie

[pmpknface]

...and to put a cap on it all, Steve Wacker puts his own $.02 in:

http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/WAcke...ergoodbye.html

[Bright-Raven]

IIRC, Renee worked at Topps Comics with Jim Salicrup after she left Marvel, Augie.