The Four Color Media Monitor

Zub is sugarcoating one of Marvel's worst editors, Brevoort. Or at least, somebody who turned out to be one of their worst staffers in the long run:

This is one of the many reasons why I enjoy working with @TomBrevoort so much.

He's incredibly passionate about the characters and storytelling but always willing to hear out new ideas and be swayed by them if they're well presented. https://t.co/b5GuzTzHk7 pic.twitter.com/VXdmcYev2j

— Jim Zub (@JimZub) March 7, 2021

Some might argue Brevoort used to be passionate...but that all changed pretty quickly after Joe Quesada became EIC, and Bill Jemas was no less guilty. Up until the early 2000s, most of the books overseen by Brevoort were competent enough, but after Kurt Busiek (who's since gone downhill ideologically himself) left the Avengers, for example, things took a turn for the worse, and the Avengers became particularly atrocious with the mess Brian Bendis made of it, following Disassembled, and House of M, now sadly one of the "inspirations" for WandaVision. Like many other properties at Marvel since the turn of the century, the books overseen by Brevoort fell into decay, with bad ideas and writing, abandonment of continuity and cohesion, to say nothing of disrespect for the characters in the casts. How can Brevoort be considered a great editor if he allowed such embarrassment to overtake the books he was in charge of?

But above all, Brevoort's a left-wing ideologue, and why should we believe a man opposed to criticism of Islam, and entirely favorable to anti-conservative sentiment, is somebody who'd be open to "new" ideas? That's not saying it's a good idea to put even "conservative" politics into these books, but if all Brevoort can think of doing nowadays is approving of promoting leftist ideology whenever he thinks the atmosphere (and C.B. Cebulski) allows, then he's not very open or creative at all.

I swung hard with pitches like 'Trigger Warning', a Champions story about school shootings, and Tom let me pitch it, pushed to make it as strong as possible and then fought for it right to the top of the corporate ladder.

It would have been so easy to just say "No" and carry on. pic.twitter.com/1Sw4lBMsz0

— Jim Zub (@JimZub) March 7, 2021

Tom asks good questions.
Tom gives really straight forward answers.

I can ask him right out if an approach is do-able, on a creative or corporate level, and he always answers honestly.

That is a rare thing in this industry.

— Jim Zub (@JimZub) March 7, 2021

And then, what if, as asked before, it's a political story, for all the wrong reasons? What if it's more about gun control than about why improved education and the right to self-defense can be a good idea? In that case, like I said, Brevoort, if he's the editor overseeing these tales, is not being very open to new ideas as Zub wants us to think. Besides, Brevoort still hasn't apologized for his conduct under Axel Alonso, and if he's still unrepentant, then I think it's about time he retired from a job he didn't really belong in. I know Zub may be trying to act "diplomatic", but it's just no excuse, since it only gives the editor the feeling he can get away with only so much, and that's not a good thing.

Labels: Avengers, bad editors, marvel comics, politics