It certainly looked like an April Fool's joke.  Not as clever as Rick Veitch's 'Alex Ross To Paint Presidential Portrait' ruse that appeared on Comicon's Splash news page, perhaps, but Newsarama's report of a 'write-off' between Captain Marvel scribe Peter David and company COO Bill Jemas was after all the lead story on Monday, April 1.  However, we have been repeatedly assured by Marvel spokespeople that this peculiar contest is indeed 'for real.'  Jemas will write six issues of a comic that will be known as The Marvel while Peter David will continue to write Captain Marvel, a low circulation title whose life will be extended to compete against The Marvel.  At the end of the six-month period, the book with the larger circulation will remain and the other book will be cancelled.

 

This strange competition has its roots in a now defunct scheme to keep three sinking Marvel titles (Captain Marvel, Spider-Girl, and The Black Panther) alive by raising their cover prices by twenty-five cents (see 'Low End Marvels Get Price Boost').  Peter David, who writes Captain Marvel, responded by offering to cut his compensation for writing Captain Marvel if Marvel would forgo the price increase.  David and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada engaged in a running skirmish over the issue on the Internet until Quesada finally relented and nixed the price increase (though he refused to lower David's compensation, see 'Marvel Rolls Back Price Hikes').  Quesada made his decision while Jemas was away and he realized that was going to take some heat for it.  He probably didn't expect Jemas to come up with the 'write-off' competition, indeed, judging from interviews Quesada has given to Newsarama and Comic Book Resources, the competition has driven something of a wedge between Jemas and his EIC.

 

Jemas' scheme has outraged various elements of fandom, with some fans vowing to buy multiple copies of Peter David's book in order to show up Jemas.  Is this an example of guerilla marketing at its best?  Has Jemas taken a page from wrestling's book and set himself up as the villain who will get everybody cheering for the good guy?  Pro wrestling has long understood the need for a nasty villain to galvanize support for the often bland 'good guys.'  Back in the days of the cold war there was the 'Russian' tag team of 'The Volkovs,' while during the 'Oil Crisis' years of the late 70s when OPEC forced Americans to divest themselves of their giant street cruisers, wrestling provided us with 'The Iron Sheik' to hate.  The 'Marvel' competition may not be fair (though Quesada has talked about relaunching Captain Marvel to provide Peter David with a #1 issue---Maggie Thompson will love that), but then wrestling villains don't fight fair anyway, do they?

 

The only real downside of this competition for Marvel would be if a serious breech occurs between Jemas and Quesada.  Quesada, who lamented the time he wasted in trading arguments with Peter David over the price increase issue, has criticized Jemas for mixing it up with fans on the Web.  Quesada has done a great job of reversing Marvel's anti-creator image and of revitalizing Marvel's comic line, which now thoroughly dominates the top 25 comics.  Building circulation on Captain Marvel is hardly worth damaging a working relationship that has helped bring Marvel from the brink of extinction to its present state.  But then again, maybe this is just a 'put-on' feud between tag team members.