It used to be, back in the distant past - the mid-to-late 90s - that Marvel was the big comic company that everyone sneered at. 'Marvel Comics?' you'd say, as you snottily read your snotty issue of SANDMAN, 'They totally suck.' Because you were witty like that. But these days it's becoming increasingly hard to sneer at Marvel, because it's looking suspiciously like they've got most, if not all, of the best creators in the business. This, combined with a large percentage of the enduring, 'iconic' (if you will) characters - Spider-man, Wolverine, et al - makes them something of a juggernaut in the industry.

Marvel has Grant Morrison - one of the most respected writers in the industry, the man who revitalised JLA, the man who was abducted by aliens in Kathmandu, the man who blew our minds with FLEX MENTALLO and THE INVISIBLES - writing NEW X-MEN, Marvel's flagship title. For Marvel, that's daring. Paired with the art of Frank Quitely, it's no big surprise that NEW X-MEN is the current top selling comic in the US. Grant Morrison also has FANTASTIC FOUR: 1234 on the shelves and two MARVEL BOY miniseries and a SILVER SURFER one-shot on the way.

And it doesn't stop there. Garth Ennis - the writer most commonly seen in the same sentence as the words HITMAN, PREACHER and 'violent anal rape scene', has just finished a Spider-Man mini-series, with art by HITMAN artist John McCrea, and is continuing his work on PUNISHER with his PREACHER partner-in-crime Steve Dillon. Brian Michael Bendis, fan-favourite writer of just about everything going, is writing ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP, DAREDEVIL, and the upcoming mature title ALIAS. Yes, mature title.

Brian Azzarello, creator of 100 BULLETS, is writing a Bruce Banner/Incredible Hulk tale - BANNER - with Richard Corben, whom he recently worked with on HELLBLAZER. Mark Millar, whose run on THE AUTHORITY shot him into the spotlight, is writing ULTIMATE X-MEN, with art by Adam and Andy Kubert, while Joseph Michael Straczynski, creator of BABYLON 5 and writer of RISING STARS and MIDNIGHT NATION, is on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. The list goes on for a while.

'It's becoming increasingly hard to sneer at Marvel.' It looks to me that not only are Marvel getting damned good creators on their top titles, but they're being quite daring about it as well. This can probably be traced at least in part to Marvel snagging ex-Vertigo editors Axel Alonso and Stuart Moore, who have worked with many of the high-profile creators mentioned above.

Of course, it's not perfect. Chris Claremont, for example, should never have been let near his own X-book again. I read an issue of X-TREME X-MEN (I'll leave you to think up your own witty mockery of that title), and it seared scars into my soul. But how were they to know? Claremont used to be the king, back when hideous over-exposition and painfully purple prose were merely charming idiosyncrasies in a writer.

Claremont's position on X-TREME X-MEN appears to have been a fiscally sound decision, as X-TREME X-MEN shipped in numbers close to ULTIMATE X-MEN and NEW X-MEN. Four months into Claremont's run, X-TREME X-MEN is still the number four seller, and due to its high price compared to other X-titles ($2.99, rather than $2.25) it's actually Marvel's most profitable book. It pains me to admit it, but X-TREME X-MEN, possibly the worst comic I have ever had the misfortune to read, is Marvel's trump card.

Joe Casey surprised me personally when his UNCANNY X-MEN was not up to the high standards of his run on Wildstorm's top-notch superhero-comic-with-no-superheroes-in-it, WILDC.A.T.S. But it was at least passable (except for his woefully incorrect use of the term 'wanker'), and to be fair, going by his other work, it seemed a sound choice. I, never far from my rose-coloured spectacles, suspect he will improve to a bearable standard within a few issues.

One of the most glaring gaps in Marvel's run of good work is WOLVERINE, whose creative team bears no significant talent despite Wolverine being Marvel's second most popular character after Spider-Man. Some have speculated that Marvel are afraid of taking a risk with the title (which still sits comfortably around the number 9 position as of May 2001, despite it's rather uninspiring creative team), while others have speculated that Frank Tieri, like a lot of other, lesser talents at Marvel, is being kept on because he is a close personal friend of current editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.

'One of the glaring gaps in Marvel's good work is Wolverine.' Based on the other risks Marvel has taken (though it's debatable, after Grant Morrison's JLA revival, exactly how daring giving him the writing duties on NEW X-MEN actually is), I'm inclined more toward believing the latter than the former. Regardless, Wolverine should really be the second or third biggest jewel in Marvel's new crown, and it quite clearly isn't. ORIGIN, Marvel's upcoming tale dealing with Wolverine's origin (hence the imaginative name) is an attempt to correct that, but Paul Jenkins is hardly in the same league as the other big names at Marvel. A short and not particularly noticeable run on PETER PARKER, SPIDER-MAN and a rather drab run on DC?s HELLBLAZER don't really scream 'top-drawer'.

Taking a look at the top ten, however, it seems that these small nitpicks don?t bear much significance. Marvel possesses 9 of the top ten slots, losing only position 5 to the Kevin Smith-penned GREEN ARROW. They also hold 9 positions in the next ten placings, losing only position 11 to Mark Waid, Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary?s JLA.

These numbers are certainly nothing to sneeze at, especially since NEW X-MEN, UNCANNY X-MEN, X-TREME X-MEN and ULTIMATE X-MEN all circle the 100,000 units sold mark, which has been a rare thing indeed these past few years. It should be pointed out that, according to some retailers, back issue sales in conjunction with current sales actually place DC in the lead overall. But in terms of revenue, Marvel is quite clearly in the lead, and must be raking in the dosh hand over fist for the first time in years.

This may be just a reflection of the times at hand, of course. Back in the early 90s, just before the creation of Image, writers had practically none of the 'pull' they hold these days, and much more fan interest was held in artists, who drew readers from far and wide. Then, Marvel had all of the 'hot' artists. These days, they have all of the 'hot' writers. Then again, back then they were also known for treating their employees like refuse, which is what lead to the creation of Image in the first place. Few writers or artists have anything bad to say about Marvel's current administration - at least that I've heard.

Another coup for Marvel is the partial straightening out of their relationship with Alan Moore. Moore, who has had his material reprinted without his consent and been denied royalty payments, has been ignoring Marvel for years. Recently, after Joe Quesada visited him in England for an informal chinwag, Moore consented to Marvel reprinting his run on CAPTAIN BRITAIN in one big trade paperback collection. All right, it doesn't mean he's writing SPIDER-MAN just yet. But it could a step toward seeing Moore writing at Marvel.

Yet another interesting development is the MIRACLEMAN situation. MIRACLEMAN, written by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman in the mid-80s, is a classic superhero work that inspired many derivatives over the years. It definitely nears WATCHMEN level in it's genius and quality - or at least the Alan Moore material does. It's also painfully hard to find, and currently uncollected.

'The run of good moves could be part of the regular DC/Marvel seesaw.' The tale of the rights to the Miracleman character and reprints is a long one, but to summarise - Todd McFarlane, Dez Skinn, Eclipse and Neil Gaiman are all possible owners of the reprint rights. Which one of them exactly owns the rights can only be proved via lengthy legal proceedings, but this may not be an issue, because the character wasn't always known as Miracleman. Marvel comics sued Eclipse shortly after the series started, because the title character was once known as Marvelman, which they felt was a breach of their trademark. The rights to the character of Marvelman (not Miracleman) appear to be held entirely by Neil Gaiman, which means it's possible that part of the original material could be reprinted.

Joe Quesada has been discussing this with Neil Gaiman of late. Even a partial reprint of MIRACLEMAN/MARVELMAN material can only be described as a rather large feather in any comic publisher's cap. Several hints have been dropped recently that this plan is going ahead, with Neil Gaiman stating that the MIRACLEMAN material is going to see reprinting from a 'delightfully unexpected source', which could easily describe Marvel Comics.

The whole current run of good moves by Marvel could be just part of the regular DC/Marvel seesaw that the industry goes through every decade or so (one goes up, the other goes down), and time will certainly tell on that score. But DC is going to have to try pretty hard to top Marvel. DC's top draw creators at the moment are more or less limited to Kevin Smith, Waid and Hitch. Those are three fairly respectable names, after Smith's film success, Waid's KINGDOM COME and Hitch's run on THE AUTHORITY, but Marvel still has the bragging rights, especially since Hitch is soon to start work on THE ULTIMATES, the Ultimate take on The Avengers, and Smith has signed on to write a BLACK CAT series.

Faced with all this more-or-less indisputable evidence, it seems hard to even attempt to summon a sneer at Marvel?s expense any more. At the very least, it looks like we're in for something of a drought of original creator-owned work from the creators currently at Marvel, whose time will presumably be taken up with Marvel's superheroes. But, to put an optimistic spin on it, this can only mean an influx of fresh new talent from other companies, who will presumably make an effort to counter Marvel's dominance.

Until then, I find myself unable to sneer at a company that has made some very sound business choices - which is, lest we forget, what companies are required to do - and in doing so has earned a quite significant portion of my personal comic budget. Make Mine Marvel, eh?

Nick Locking is the award-winning co-creator of THE ATROCITY, and the writer of the forthcoming ROBOCOP: SIMPLE MACHINES.

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