[Snowflakian]

Here's a bit about what I mean about how Marvel is a different kind of company than most.

Over at CBR they have the Axel-in-Charge column where Axel Alonso answers fan questions, generally about as well as hasbro does the QnA's, but hey that's just media talk in general that you have to read between the lines of alongside the of course hype building, but where it gets interesting is when Steve Wacker chimes in on the forums.

CBR: Axel-In-Charge - Dec 2, 2011 - Comic Book Resources Forums

At any other job, people would be fired for actions like this, or at least strongly told not to do that again. Which okay, would be fine if this was a one time thing. Wacker regularly trolls fans(on cbr, and other spider-man boards), belittles them, and insults them with impunity. Basically chiming in just to say "you're wrong" without any facts or information, and then toss around insults at the fans anyway to "prove a point" without any information. Really the only point he's proving is that he thinks he's better than everyone. It's sickening that anyone can have an ego like that. With seeing actions like that regularly, why would I tell anyone I know or suggest to anyone I know the books he's on? I wouldn't. That's one thing outright that's hindering Marvel. Public personas are great when you can channel the way Stan Lee did it, or how Liu does it, or even how Yost does it and sometimes even Brevoort when he's not feeling up to doing trash talk, heck even Alonso is starting to get a good handle on it. Wacker in all these years hasn't and if anything is just getting worse and more snide. As an editor, whether he likes it or not he does speak on the company's behalf as opposed to maybe a freelance artist or writer who aren't directly tied to the company in a permanent position.

I mean could you imagine the reactions from fandoms if Aaron Archer ever talked that way to fans? Or Jesse Falcon(I think that's one of the ML/MU guy, not sure)? How fast would you be second guessing your support if that happened regularly with any franchise you collected?
(In fact, if Archer ever did seriously talk to fans like that, he probably would have never been promoted, just replaced. Again though, Hasbro has more corporate and PR experience than Marvel does.)

You can find more examples of this if you google Wacker's name, but it popped up again in an interview today, so it reminded me outright. It's one of the reasons I'll praise Fraction, Bendis, Slott, Liu, Kyle, and Yost. Their public personas are kept well in line with only small tells on certain ones that suggest they are using certain speaking techniques. Yost tends to use the key words speaking techniques, Kyle is mostly just quiet which is good and bad(good as it means no foot in mouth, bad as it means no spotlight and his talents get forgotten over the more vocal Yost), Liu is one of the nicest people ever, Slott is amazingly candid, open and honest, Fraction is direct but kind, and Bendis is another one that's just genuine in his interviews with respect. In fact a good chunk of the writers and artists are all just pretty amazing people with how they do interviews. I'm not sure I can pick out any bad ones on that front or in fan relations, heck even Peter David is an amazing person in that regard(plus his writing is always top-notch anyway). Brevoort himself does decent interviews too. For awhile it seemed he was teetering on the border of wacker-like arrogance, but he seems to have corrected himself to be a better editor and person than that. So I guess really wacker is the only one they really need to reign in before he devolves further with his lashing out. Wacker does great interviews when he can pat himself on the back, but the second you point out anything he doesn't agree with in comments or otherwise, good luck. Best just to stay out of his path.

I'm not saying he shouldn't have corrected the fan if the fan is wrong, just not done it in as much of a confrontational manner as he did. That's how you start flame wars and generate negative press as opposed to positive. Like chime in "Those numbers don't reflect subscriptions and other outlets." and left it at that. Or even chimed in with the fact that those aren't the correct Diamond Dis. numbers if that was the case. As the old saying goes, "less is more." ( Yeah, I caught the irony of someone who is also a splatter shot typer, and sometimes will bump heads with arrogant people, bemoaning another person like that. My actions only reflect on me though, and when I'm tied to something bigger than myself, I'm usually more careful with how I word things or just stay silent. Well, unless I don't care, but hey, this isn't about me! xD )