Our article on the piece by Marvel COO Bill Jemas in an upcoming Marvel book (see 'Comic Wars Heat Up') brought this reaction from co-owner Jerry Ringi of Amazing Fantasy in Chesapeake, Virginia.

I found it very interesting that once again Bill Jemas seems to be making a complete ass of himself.  Marvel the house of ideas copies what D.C.  does first and then takes credit for helping the industry. 

I must be one of the 'small ' stores (of course I'm at 55 % but why should [Jemas]let facts stand in his way) who thinks that the no reprint policy was a self-serving ploy by Jemas to force stores to buy more of Marvel's comics in the hope that we can sell them.  I bought into it with Brotherhood and I have tons of them left over before I could adjust my orders.  Jemas has a flop and he can cut the title before Marvel's loss hurts the company. 

Now picking on DC and Paul Levitz makes no sense, but once again when has that ever stopped Mr. Jemas?  Save the industry, hmmm, wasn't it Marvel who caused past stockholders to lose all that money when they went toes up?  Wasn't it Marvel who left Diamond and tried to make Heroes World the king of the world.  Now were they in the interest of growing the industry?  Wasn't it Marvel who produced the Spider-man Clone story line that drove fans away in the thousands?  Wasn't it Marvel who would not listen to retailers or fans and not do the 'clone' story line?  Wasn't it Marvel who screwed up so bad with Heroes World that the industry almost folded? 

[Mr. Jemas], remember without the support of ALL retailers Marvel will not survive so instead of working against us why not ask us what we need to be successful and see if our needs can blend with the needs of Marvel?  Working together, retailers, fans, Marvel and D.C. can be a good thing for the industry.  For example look at the success of 'Free Comic Book Day.'  It was a success for everyone and Marvel was a big part of it, and so was DC.