Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: EIC, steve wacker
Comics Folk React To Steve Wacker As Marvel EIC… Many Called Tom
Comics Folk React to Steve Wacker as the new Marvel Editor-In-Chief… and for some reason, many of them are called Tom
Article Summary
- Steve Wacker is the new Marvel Editor-In-Chief, following a Marvel run tied to Hawkeye, Daredevil, Ms. Marvel and more.
- Comics creators reacted fast to Steve Wacker as new Marvel Editor-In-Chief, with strong praise for his taste, vision and leadership.
- Tom Feister, Tom Brennan, Tom Muller and Tom Galloway led the chorus, prompting jokes that many reactions came from Toms.
- Gail Simone, Neil Kleid and others added context, highlighting Wacker’s creator support and hopes for Marvel’s future.
At Marvel Comics, Steve Wacker was editorially responsible for Amazing Spider-Man One More Day/Brand New Day, Matt Fraction/David AjaHawkeye, the Mark Waid/Christopher SamneeDaredevil, the Sana Amanat/G. Willow Wilson/Adrian Alphona/Jamie McKelvieMs Marvel, and the Kelly Sue DeConnick/Dexter Soy/Jamie McKelvieCaptain Marvel. Now he’s their Editor-In-Chief… fresh off from being EIC of Jonathan Hickman, Mike Del Mundo and Mike Huddlestone‘s 3W3M. Though he may have some other matters on his hands first. We’ve seen how folk have reacted to the departure of C.B. Cebulski from the role, so how have comic book creators reacted publicly online? Here are a few… mostly it seems from people called Tom.
- Tom Feister: Congratulations to Steve Wacker! Steve was a fantastic editor to work with when I was starting out, and a great person too. When my wife was pregnant he sent us his copy of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” It was a gesture of real kindness that was so special to my wife and I. He’s a fine human.
- Tom Brennan: Not just saying this cuz I worked for him (and no disrespect to his predecessors) but I’ve been hoping for EiC Steve Wacker for easily 15 years.
- Tom Muller: Stephen Wacker commissioned my very first Marvel project (Iron Man) more than a decade ago, and under C.B.’s tenure I headed to Krakoa and beyond. End of one era, start of a new one. Excited to see where this road leads!
- Chris Cross: Congratulations to Stephen Wacker who’s become that man in the EIC seat! I’ve worked with Stephen many times before in the past in DC and Marvel and he’s always been a very astute and fair guy to me. And I know he’s ecstatic. Good journey to CB Cebulski.
- Declan Shalvey: Very exciting to hear Steve Wacker is taking over as EIC. An editor with great taste and vision. [Wacker is the editor who paired me with Warren on MOON KNIGHT & is responsible for a host of Marvel’s best titles]
- Zac Thompson: Incredible news. Wacker is one of the best editors to ever do it. Marvel is in good hands.
- Gavin Guidry: Wacker is a great choice for Marvel, in my opinion.
- Karl Kesel: This is EXCELLENT news for every Marvel fan.
- Neil Kleid: I will say that under the new, upcoming Steve Wacker editorial purview that there are a lot of Jewish characters Marvel could be using to tell Jewish stories by Jewish creators. There is no reason there can’t be an annual Jewish VOICES book
I hope he (or someone at Marvel) sees this and gives some of us a call.
- Jay Leisten: “Stephen Wacker was my editor on several projects at DC and Marvel. When he was running the almost weekly Spiderman book and doing the same at DC he seemed to handle those with a very cool relaxed control. He always had a few minutes to talk (not about work) to build a report with his freelancers in addition to the business talk that was required. I never felt like a second class citizen, or beneath his station (some editors only focus on writer/penciller) and the other team members are a delegated task for the assistant editor to deal with. He, like CB had excellent taste in artists and seemed to cultivate a long term career mindset. When he moved out of comics into the animation side, he took the time to call, what felt like, every freelancer in his current roster to personally let them know. I see this hire as a positive for artists working at marvel.”
- Alejandro Arbona: Steve was THE editor at Marvel who meant the most to me in my time there when I was coming up. I’m thrilled about this news and I know he’s going to do a great job.
- Gail Simone: “So, Steve Wacker called me unexpectedly yesterday and the first thing he said was… Gail. I am sorry to say this, but I’m afraid I have some BAD NEWS.” And I thought, “oh, crap.” And he said, “I am the new Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics. I’m so sorry.” I’ll tell you, it may seem silly, but it made me laugh so hard, and it reminded me that Steve was a ton of fun to work with back in the day, when he edited Villains United. We had a long, extremely pleasant visit, lots of laughs, but also a clear statement of what he loves about Marvel. It’s obviously early days. But I like everything I heard (I still feel very sad how hard the move will be on some personel who have worked at Marvrl in NYC for decades). More importantly, I feel the right guy is behind the wheel. Looking forward to what I think is going to be a great time for Marvel Comics…. I was asked to do a villain DC book for a major crossover, the first time I was asked such a thing (it’s kind of a big deal at the big two). Steve was my editor. I was excited and wrote a plot with all the big villain guns. It turned out, I wasn’t allowed to use any of the big names at all, they were all spoken for in the main title. So I got the idea to use losers, and Steve fought for that vision including things like having CATMAN as the lead when NO ONE thought that was a good idea. So in a real way, Steve was responsible for what Secret Six became, because he stuck up for it. In another story that was kind of a bummer at the time, I was turning in the script for the final issue of Villains United and it was a straight siege story. Steve sent it back and said, we waited six issues and it’s just an attack on their headquarters? Don’t you think you can do better? Now, mind you, it was a decent script. But he was right, our book was getting a lot of attention and acclaim and this ending could have been any book for any event. So I groused a little but I knew he was right and it meant a lot to me that he dug in his heels to make the ending of our book as good as possible. That is the Steve Wacker I know, he wants you to do your best and will push to make it happen. Because he cares. So I predict good things for Marvel. Steve is going to bring it, I am positive. I can’t wait.”
- Paul Jenkins: People always tend to fear change, Gail, but it comes anyway. And I suppose people get used to it soon enough. I’m grateful to CB but really looking forward to having Wacker back in the fray as well. Hope this works out for everyone concerned.
- Drew Geraci: Getting Steve Wacker as the new Editor-in-Chief is a smart move that was long overdue! He created the success of the original 2006 weekly year-long series (not the mass relaunch years later) by thinking outside the box. I still get occasional royalties from 52, right up there with my Batman and JLA work.
- Rich Ginter: Huge congrats to Steve Wacker! Moving across the country was not easy but I love it, can’t wait to see some good friends again on the West Coast
- Erik Larsen: I don’t think I’ve ever met the man but I wish him luck. I know that I’d make some real changes if I were handed the reins.
- Tom Galloway: Honestly, never would’ve thought back in the day that an active rec.arts.comics poster who started there as a fan and not a pro would ever hit that level.
Cheers, Tom… another Tom. Though I have to say that there’s one more Tom I’d really like to hear from…
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