Nanananananana Quesadaaa
Batman! The Tonight Show! Beautiful Art!
A couple of months ago I got a phone call from Joe Quesada. Now, most of you probably don’t know he is, but up until recently he was Chief … I want to say Creative? Officer? Of Marvel Comics? A little side note here, but it’s weird that companies have titles like “Officer,” isn’t it? Like, way to militarize capitalism, am I right??
Anyway, Joe called me, in a panic. “Chip, I know I’ve been incredibly unkind to you over the years, but I need to draw Batman. Captain America? Spider-Man? Daredevil? I hate those guys. Always have. But Batman? He’s the dream.”
I agreed about Batman being the dream and hung up the phone, thinking that was the end of our conversation. But he called back right away. He wanted to draw my Batman series. “But that’s impossible!” I shrieked. “You’re the C…C…O? Of Marvel Comics! You’re not allowed to draw Batman!”
“What if I quit Marvel?”
I said “okay” and hung up again. This time Joe didn’t call back right away, and within a week I saw the news that he did indeed quit Marvel. The day of his announcement he called me again.
“I did it! I’m free from the shackles of the world’s most popular entertainment company! When can I start?”
“I can get you doing a cover, maybe two, in the next month or so.”
I assumed just then that Joe had hung up on me for a change since the line went silent. But I soon heard his “New York breathing” (you know what I’m talking about) and realized he was still there.
“I … I thought I was going to draw the book…”
“Ha! Sorry, some crossed wires there. Jorge is still the artist of the Batman title! And we’re just about to announce that the amazing Mike Hawthorne, from my Daredevil run, is drawing an arc!”
“But I … I quit my job … I was CCO of Marvel Comics …”
Joe was starting to sound sad and I just get really uncomfortable around sad people so I hung up and emailed my Assistant Editor to set up those cover gigs for Joe at whatever his Marvel rate was minus the 15% finders fee for myself.
So today at NYCC they announced his covers for Batman 131 and 132 and I’ve got to say, we should have paid him more:
Pretty damn good! But obviously the REAL news of this newsletter is that the great Mike Hawthorne is joining us for an arc of Batman! And man oh man he just keeps getting better and better! Check out this cover he did, with Tomeu on colours!
So damn good! It’s going to be a lot of fun, starting with BATMAN #131! And don’t worry! Jorge will be back! This title is STACKED with the best artists and also me!
In WEIRD NEWS, Friend Of The Stack Lea Thompson was on The Tonight Show the other night and not only talked Howard The Duck, but also name checked me??
If you told me when I was a kid that Lea Thompson would one day talk about me on The Tonight Show I’d be like “holy shit is Johnny Carson still alive or did David Letterman finally get the show??”
In comic craft news, I talked with David Harper over at SKTCHD about the joy of working with artists, using Kris Anka and Matt Wilson as examples. Made me nostalgic for THE WHITE TREES, which is still the project I love the most. Go check out the article!
So pretty.
Speaking of pretty! Some more KAPTARA for our paid subscribers! Poor SKULLTHOR!!