Enough With the Screaming

I was recently directed to check out Paty Cockrum's column over at Scream If You Want It and, based on what I'd heard they were about, my curiosity was piqued. After reading the first four of them not too long ago I have to say that not only was I unimpressed with the overall format and content, but I was kind of taken aback by the intense hostility and tabloid professionalism being employed by Mrs. Cockrum.

In her columns she talks about working for Marvel in its 'creative heyday' during the 1970s with guys like Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, herself, her husband and others. She then goes on to 'chronicle' the downward spiral which occured under the reign of Jim Shooter as EIC and then Bob Harras, and details how things went from the Camelot of creativity to the seventh ring of hell.

I have no problem with people airing their frustrations with other people, online or otherwise, but this blatant waving of Marvel's dirty laundry as if it was a some sort of flag is just lacking in class and taste. And calling Grant Morrison and Mark Millar anti-semitic because they changed the character of Magneto recently from what Chris Claremont had originally envisioned him as is irresponsible and inflammatory (not that Grant or Mark will ). Sure, Chris was largely responsible for the rise of The Uncanny X-Men as the book to read and set the stage for much of Marvel's publishing decisions since, but what Paty hasn't noticed is that Chris' writing of late has been pretty terrible. Whatever manipulations may be going on in the background, Chris was removed from the book back when he had overstayed his welcome, and when he was brought back with a big huzzah, he couldn't keep anyone's interest.

She also complains that Marvel is unprofessional for cancelling Excalibur in the middle of a storyline and blames this on Marvel's hate-on for Claremont and their racist conceptualization of Magneto. In order to wrest the master of magnetism away from Claremont they had to unceremoniously cancel his book before he finished doing what he was doing. Yeah, that never happens in the comic industry.

I mean, it's one thing to publicly point out how much you dislike someone and how they conduct themselves personally or professionally, but it's another thing when you go out of your way to repeatedly slam an individual with all the creativity and tact of a rowdy 9 year-old on the school playground. This is worse than a tabloid mentality because she doesn't even have the wherewithal to link to any of the forums or articles she discusses, essentially making her 'points' akin to hearsay.

And that's mostly what I have to say about that.

mike