Busiek on the Ultimates & his leaving Avengers

[Guest areacode212]

This was posted at http://www.comicboards.com/avengers/view.p...pl=020727015152

 

I thought it was a pretty interesting statement from Kurt Busiek on one of the reasons why he left Avengers:

 

> Since the Ultimates are all the rage here and Mr. Busiek is so obviously old school Marvel, I was just wondering if people thought that the creation of the Ultimates had any influence on his decision to leave, or if its just coincidental timing...>

 

Oh, it absolutely had an influence.

 

I don't have any real complaints about the book itself, but I knew that if they did an "Ultimate Avengers," it'd trigger exactly the kind of "Which one is better?" "Which one sucks?" argument that it has, and that an Ultimate Avengers book would have that whole "We're not boring and stodgy like the old versions of the characters" aspect as part of its promotional thrust. And I didn't want to have anything to do with that.

 

And sadly, calling it ULTIMATES instead of ULTIMATE AVENGERS didn't change that a bit.

 

It's entirely possible for someone to come along and be cool on AVENGERS _after_ ULTIMATES is launched. It happened on both X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN, after all. So I think Geoff Johns has a fine shot. But whoever was on the books when the Ultimate version happens would be recast as "the old guard," as the avatar of what has to be discarded to make the new stuff new and fresh. And that's not a bullseye I particularly want to stand on, thanks.

 

If I'd had a ton of stuff I still wanted to do with AVENGERS, I might've thought more seriously about makin a fight out of it, but as I said at the time, I'd accomplished what I'd set out to accomplish on the book. And I don't much like the idea of being on a book that's being treated as a loser by its own publisher, implicitly or explicity, as part of selling something new.

 

Don't take this as sour grapes -- I have no problem, in theory, with the Ultimate program. I like Mark Millar. I like Joe Quesada. We get along just fine. [i don't know that I've ever met Bill Jemas, but I'm sure he's a swell guy too.] And I'd have no problem writing a MAX book, or some of the new, glossy, big-budget movie approach to the Marvel characters (I've been talking with Tom Brevoort about one or two ideas on that score, even). But being "the old guy" on a book that's getting the Ultimate treatment is like dressing up in a geek costume and hanging a "Kick Me" sign on your back. There's no way to do it well.

 

Better to let someone who can be "the new guy" come in, and then go do something that can be "new" yourself...

 

kdb

[Guest Vyce]

My sudden knee-jerk reaction is to hate Mark Millar.

 

Seriously, though, I agree with Kurt's reasoning.

[Guest raptor]

My knee-jerk reaction is to hate Kurt Busiek.

 

I've totally never felt this way about any Ultimate title. I've never spoken to anybody who felt this way. And now, as a departing creator, to sling mud at someone who you could very well plead for a job with? That's pretty asinine. Also, I think that anytime you need to cover your bases by saying "don't get me wrong... I like the guy" (or something to that effect) it comes off as pretense.

[Guest Steviekick]

Busiek shouldn't be complaining...he had a great run with George Perez. I don't see why he's so down on Ultimates. It's a great title, and it's cool in its own right. It has nothing to do with his Avengers, so he should calm down

[Guest areacode212]

I don't really consider it "complaining", since as far as I know, it's his first statement on the whole affair. I can see where he's coming from. It did trigger a "new vs. old" debate. There are quite a few vocal fans who can't stand the Ultimates (the Avengers board on Comicboards seems to be mostly made up of Ultimates vs. normal Avengers threads).

 

And he's right. I considered his Avengers run to be boring & stodgy long before they ever announced The Ultimates, which is why I dropped the book shortly after the Ultron arc. Neither the stories or the characters were especially interesting to me. So I can see how he can feel this way, now that Marvel is pushing a new title as The Avengers, 2002 style.