The Four Color Media Monitor

Den of Geek interviewed John Romita Jr, whose quality of artwork has been very iffy in the past decade, and his comments on Marvel management make me sad:

I've always found it quite interesting that you've never done any work for DC, having been a Marvel guy for pretty much your entire career. Is there any particular reason for that, or is it circumstance that you started out there and have been happy there ever since?

It's a little bit of happenstance. Ultimately, until my father retired, I chose to stay with Marvel, because it was a family thing. After he retired, there was interest from other companies, and some negotiations with DC, but Marvel was adamant about keeping me and always made sure that I stayed.

I'm loyal to the people that are loyal to me, and it's kind of chicken and egg. They're loyal to me because I'm loyal to them. But the people I've been working with at Marvel since the mid-to-late 90s. Joe Quesada, Dan Buckley, David Bogart, the brain trust at Marvel, they are very good to me and my family, and I will be the same way to them. So long as they stay at Marvel, I'll be signing contracts with them.

Does that mean that, if a more rational editor and publisher inherit the office one day, he'll split? Maybe not, but even so, it's very sad to see that he's such a yes-man, and has no objections to how bad they are to the universe they hold the keys to.

Labels: marvel comics