The Four Color Media Monitor

by J Scott Campbell pic.twitter.com/4V6AN6v3fz

— 스파이더맨 코믹스 (@spideythelove) January 4, 2016

I found this J. Scott Campbell drawing on Twitter where he draws a portrait that Spider-fans for starters could appreciate: Mary Jane Watson is alongside Spider-Man (or partly below him, if you take the upside-down angle into account), in a picture featuring several notable Marvel cast members. I'll have to hand it to Campbell; his tribute to a vision true Spider-fans support is admirable. Yet at the same time, I think it's regrettable he's doing any work for them at a time when they're run by such truly awful people. In fact, I remember George Perez once drew a cover for DC on Superman a few years ago, for a politically motivated story with Islam that was replaced. Even if ideology had nothing to do with Perez's agreement to draw that cover in the first place, it was still very sad he'd lend his talents to so much as a coverscan on a story that's unworthy of his time. In many ways, it's the same situation with Campbell - a man of admirable talent who knows how to converse gracefully, without alienating potential fans, yet he makes some very questionable or downright embarrassing choices for who and what to work for. He recently did a variant cover, apparently for the Muslim Ms. Marvel book, and even if it doesn't represent a position, it's very disappointing he'd draw a Carol Danvers picture for that. (The armor-style outfit she's drawn wearing - originally seen in the mid-2000s - is not the most appealing design I've ever seen either.)

In this day and age, when there's just so many companies where Perez and Campbell's talents could be put to better use, it's too bad they're wasting them on some of the worst output from the Big Two, at a time when they've been hijacked by people with no respect for the creations they're now in charge of. After all, it's clear that under Quesada/Alonso, Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker's marriage will never be restored.

Labels: Avengers, good artists, marvel comics, Spider-Man, women of marvel, X-Men