The Reasons Why I'm The ‘King Of Comics’!
The Reasons Why I'm The ‘King Of Comics’!
Plus: I Watched Spider-Man Die- I Could Have Stopped It, But I Didn’t
It’s been a week since my daughter Carlie left for London, and I’m missing her terribly. But I’m reminded of so many stories. So, let’s start today by pulling something out of the vault. That means it’s time for another installment of…
(We really need some theme music to go along with this graphic.)
In June of 2011, Ultimate Spider-Man #160 hit the stands. It was a groundbreaking story by Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley, in which Peter Parker died, and Miles Morales would soon be born. I was asked to do the cover for that issue, and I gladly took the assignment. It seemed fitting since I did the title’s first cover in 2000. How daunting a task it would be didn’t sink in until I started my walk home from work.
How do I come up with a cover image fitting for a story as historic and universe-changing as this one? Every idea I had was cliché and didn’t rise to the occasion until I got home and was greeted at the door by a big hug from Carlie, who was eleven at the time.
I began to sketch out my idea but couldn’t nail the character’s posture and attitude, at least not what I envisioned in my mind’s eye. It was getting late, so I decided to take some photos of myself in different poses for reference, but it still wasn't working out. I needed my favorite model, but she had gone to bed. I had to wait until the next day when she was out of school. That's when I set up my Canon DSLR, put on suitable character attire, and Carlie and I took about half a dozen reference photos together.
I rarely look back at my past work with much satisfaction. All I see are the places where I could have done better. The cover of Ultimate Spider-Man 160 is one that I’m still really proud of, but there are obvious reasons why.
One interesting aside about this piece. Shortly after it was published, an artist reached out to give me an unsolicited critique. He said he liked it, except that it looked like Peter was grabbing Uncle Ben’s butt. I explained how I didn’t see what he was seeing. Peter’s hand is too high up and clearly grabbing Ben’s jacket.
But he missed the point. That one subtle gesture of Peter gripping his uncle’s jacket so tightly was my way of conveying his regret for leaving his Aunt May behind and all the people he’ll never be able to help again.1
Oh! Sorry, this isn’t the Spider-Man story I was alluding to in the headline. Read on.
I’m Just Sayin’
In June 2003, my family and I moved into our new home in the Flat Iron District. It was a raw, open space that allowed us to design it from scratch. Our architects were fantastic, and a year or so later, they hooked us up with HGTV, who wanted to film a segment on our new place for one of their many interior design shows.
The shoot was relatively painless. They interviewed our architect, Nanci, Carlie, and me, and shot a ton of B-roll of all of us doing family stuff: Our one-year-old Labrador Zowie looking cute, Carlie drawing on one of the apartment windows with chalk markers, and me pretending to draw in my new studio.
Some months later, we got a heads-up that the show would be airing. I thought, cool, Carlie will be so jazzed to see herself on TV for the first time, as well as her puppy and family (she was five, so yes, in that order). The night it aired, I sat her on my knee because I wanted a front-row seat for her reaction.
Now, I need to preface the rest of this story by letting you know that at this point in her life, Carlie loved Marvel. While she was fully aware of what I did for a living, she couldn't care less. I was just Dad, and isn’t everybody’s dad Editor in Chief at some comic book company? Now, if I have to be completely honest (and I always am with you), her adorable insouciance kind of hurt my feelings. I wanted her to be impressed by her dad, and yes, I secretly wanted her to brag to all her friends. I work at Marvel, DAMMIT! She could have been dating the cutest nerd in her kindergarten class!2
So there we were in front of the TV, and I was chomping at the bit. We weren’t the first segment, but before they broke for a commercial, they teased what was coming up next, and there we were.
“Look, that’s you!” Nothing.
“Look, it’s Zowie!” Zero.
“Look, it’s Mommy and Daddy.” Nada.
She just sat there disinterested, pretending to be otherwise to soothe my fragile ego. What the hell, don’t kids get excited to see themselves on TV these days?
As the commercials ran, I could feel her getting antsy. She was bored, and there’s nothing worse than a bored five-year-old. Finally, the segment started. It opened with the three of us chopping away at vegetables like we had a clue what we were doing (Nanci did). Then they cut to B-roll of me sketching at my drafting table as the host’s voiceover tried to keep things interesting.
“As Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada is King...”
As though she had been hit with a cattle prod, Carlie sat up ramrod straight, and like Regan in The Exorcist, her head slowly turned, and she looked at me as though she had never seen me before in her entire life. For a little girl weaned on fairy tales of kings, queens, and magical castles, I could see the realization crossing her face: Holy S#!T! My dad’s a king! And, if my dad’s a king…
That makes me a… OMG!
It was one of my greatest Daddy moments. And to be fair, the full voiceover was, “As Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada is King… in the fight between good and evil, that is.” But she didn’t hear that last part, and that was okay with me.
Now look, Jack Kirby is one of my artistic idols and the undisputed King of Comics. There is no contesting that.
But, a long time ago, in a land far, far away, there was a moment in time when a little princess would have argued otherwise.
The Death Of Spider-Man
On September 28, 2012, I placed this photo of our beloved Zowie with the above headline on my social media channels, and to date, it’s the most popular thing I’ve ever posted, but the headline was misleading.
Zowie had a basket full of toys. She would tear them to ribbons, except for her Plushy-Spider-Man, which she carried around all day and, for some reason, never felt the urge to rip a leg or arm off. It was her most cherished toy until two years later when this THING joined the family.
It wasn’t more than a day or two when Zowie went looking for Plushy-Spider-Man and discovered her new little sister sitting proudly in the center of a mutilated pile of slobbery red and blue fabric and fluff.
“Look, Big Sis, I killed him for you!”
To make matters worse, that particular toy was discontinued. We eventually found another Plushy-Spider-Man, but it wasn’t the same, and Zowie tore him to ribbons.
And yes, I stood by and let it all happen.3
Okay, okay, if you were expecting a One More Day story, I never not keep a promise. Above is the original promo piece. Below is how I worked the concept out before putting pencil to paper.
Carlie would often roll her eyes and sigh when I said I needed her for photo ref (especially when she discovered she really wasn’t a princess), but she always loved to see the final drawing. These two shots were taken on separate days. I was lying on the living room floor, and Carlie was lying along the edge of our kitchen island in order to get the proper effect.
Comics have always been a family affair.
Thanks for reading.
You’re Amazing!
JQ
Yeah, I think about this stuff too much.
Years later, Carlie told me she purposely avoided telling kids where her father worked because she wanted her friends to like her for who she was. Damn, this child got her mother’s smarts.
Zowie passed on June 12, 2018. She was a very, very good girl.
Thank you.
Makes me want to go through my Spider-Man comics from the 60’s.