Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Axel Alonso Named Marvel Editor-in-Chief

CBR: In an unexpected change to start the new year, Marvel Comics today announced that longtime editor Axel Alonso has been promoted to the position of Editor-in-Chief, replacing Joe Quesada in the job. After an over ten-year run at the helm of the company's publishing, Quesada will continue in his role as Chief Creative Officer for Marvel Entertainment.

Why is this important to us? Because Axel Alonso's favorite character is Psylocke!

John Barber: "Axel is a big Psylocke fan. He’s been wanting to get her into the book for a long time."
(X-Position: X-Editors, December 2008)

Nick Lowe: "[Psylocke popping up in a lot of places] It's definitely intentional and you have one man to thank for it - Axel Alonso. He loves Psylocke even more than Warren Worthington and CB Cebulski do… and that's saying a lot!"
(X-Position: Nick Lowe, November 2009)

Nick Lowe: "Axel loves Psylocke – plain and simple. He just loves her. So that's pretty much why she's there [in Uncanny X-Force]."
(X-Position: Nick Lowe, October 2010)

Axel Alonso: "At the X-Men summits, Gambit, Hellion and my personal favorite Psylocke always come up in discussion. I mean, I love Psylocke and I love Mystique – I would love to do a substantial series featuring them as leads, but before I do, I've got to know I can really deliver the goods."
(Cup 'O Joe: Marvel T&A, November 2010)

Axel Alonso is also the man behind 5 Ronin -- Out of all Marvel female characters, Psylocke was the one chosen to be part of it. Let's hope this unexpected change means more good things for Betsy Braddock.

9 comments:

Francis said...

sounds like music for my hears

FSaker said...

Hm, hard to say if this is good or not. Alonso adores Psylocke, that's good. But it was during his time as X-editor that the books started to be weaker, right? Cyclops becoming the supreme leader, lack of focus onto the X-Men as a TEAM, most of its members becoming wallpaper...

Sure, maybe these things aren't Alonso's faults. Still, I'll wait to see how this change affects the books before considering it a good change.

Sad Puppets! said...

FSaker, i associate most of the problems you mention with one writer -- Matt Fraction. Look at the other writers who have done terrific work under Alonso's watch: Rick Remender, Mike Carey, Zeb Wells, Marjorie Liu... with the exception of Uncanny (sadly) it's really a great time to be an X-Fan. now true that means that Alonso should have done stronger work making Fraction stay in line, but I think this can only be a good thing.

and did you see the awesomeness that Psylocke was at the end of UXF #3??? Which is one of the most respected and hottest books out? Our girl Elizabeth Braddock is at a career best!

Rahsaan said...

Puppets,

Is Uncanny X-Men still considered the flagship mutant book? If so, then what a sad state of affairs? I don't dare touch that cage liner. Thank heavens for Rick Remender and Mike Carey!

Unknown said...

I`m laughing out loud. firstly because I hate, and had always hated Joe Quesada (psylocke hater), and second because it opens a wide door for psylocke.

my hopes for a long and successful run for mr Alonso.

GO AXL.

FSaker said...

@Sad Puppets! - Actually, I wouldn't consider X-Men Legacy as a good title either. I think Carey is an awesome writer, but his title just seems completely unimportant nowadays. It looks like he was so concerned to give Rogue the spotlight that he didn't bother to make the story in Legacy have any relevance to the overall X-continuity.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the way he showed Psylocke in the Necrosha arc, and I loved that he tried to explain the way her current powerset works in the latest arc. But Legacy has been just that: a nice read when it's not too Rogue-centric (note that the arcs that feature Rogue going solo instead of working with a team are quite weak), but one that you can completely ignore if your favorite title is Uncanny, or X-Force, or New Mutants (which at least managed to build a strong team and a developing story).

@Rahsaan - Yes, it still is. And yes, it's sad. The worst part is that Uncanny X-Men actually presents brilliant ideas in each arc, but the execution of these ideas has been completely awful.

It seems Fraction just can't write a team book (just like Legacy, Uncanny sometimes seems like a Cyclops and Emma solo book, even in some latest issues where Scott doesn't even appear). Maybe he should become the new X-editor and give Uncanny X-Men to someone else. Kyle and Yost, perhaps?

Unknown said...

Hey Senorhito, you might not want to laugh at Quesada too hard, he's still Axel Alonso's boss!

What's happened is Quesada has created a new position for himself (director of creative control? something like that) where he will oversee Marvel's intellectual property as a whole (comics, TV shows, movies, video games, etc). Alonso has a lot more influence over the comics now, but he still answers to Joe Q.

Personally I'm thrilled. I'm a big Joe Q fan and Alonso has edited a lot of my favorite comics of the last decade. And these pro-Betsy quotes are hugely encouraging.

Just out of curiosity though, why don't you like Joe Q? A lot of good things happened to Betsy under his watch.

centurion said...

Hope his means that Betsy joins Marvel Vs. Capcom 3.

Rahsaan said...

If we're lucky, Alonso will undo all this (read the comments section):

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/b/betsy.htm


I too prefer to think of Acts of Vengence as canon.