Not really Avengers-related...

[Adrian J. Watts]

Okay, this isn't directly related to the Avengers, but it does involve them:

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NRAMA: Is the rotating artist "policy" one which you feel works for the current slate of Marvel books? Will we ever see another Bagley or Romita, who do runs of up to 20 issues at a stretch or will Marvel rotate them just to keep things "fresh"?

JQ: The rotating artists have to do with two major aspects of comics. One, people falling behind on deadline thus having artists work in arcs. Secondly, you the fans.

It has become increasingly difficult for us to keep fans interested in a book while the same creative team is on it for an extended period of time. These days fans seem to be looking for the new shiny penny, the new flash for lack of a better word. So, you can launch the most brilliant team in comics on a title, but have them do the title for more than two years regularly and interest will die off. So, as a publisher who notices this trend, we have to do our best to keep giving the fans new shiny pennies in order to keep interest high, it’s really as simple as that.

Also, the creative community is becoming very aware of this and it’s getting tougher and tougher to get creators to commit to titles for more than a year.
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What in the name of Ben Grimm's Aunt Petunia?!

Let me get this straight: rather than employ creative teams that can DO THEIR JOB consistently (or even irregularly but halfway decently) we get a new not-so-great team every few months?

I am sooooo out of here.

- Adrian

[dlw66]

I am good friends with Don Kramer, who has been the regular artist on JSA and recently signed an exclusive contract with DC. It is very interesting to see how things work on the "inside" of the industry. I won't go into a lot of his personal business, but suffice it to say that there are decisions made at the editorial and publishing level that don't necessarily make sense to the creators involved, either.

That being said, I understand that the creative team of Ultimates will be changing after this "Ultimates II" series comes to a conclusion. I enjoy the book (for what it is -- see elsewhere on these boards), but a large part of that enjoyment comes from Hitch's art. Is he the greatest thing since sliced bread? Of course not. But to me, he's the Ultimates artist. I thnk we can all point to low periods in Avengers history that were directly related to art and/or writing. Sometimes the staff moves on, but sometimes they're moved on...

[stingrayfan]

What about Ultimate Spiderman. It's been the same two guys on the comic for more then 2 years.

[Spider-Man]

well...with Ultimates....they creators are moving on....not being moved on. It was their choice from what I've heard.

With Ultimate Spider-Man, I think the reason there isn't a change there is because they're going to try to break Stan Lee's record. I know that's why Bendis is still on the title...I'm not sure if that record has anything to do with art though....