Flush with the success of the Spider-Man movie, Marvel is providing readers with an inside look at how the 'house of ideas' functions in a 144-page, blow-by-blow account of Marvel's past year of operation.  It sports the unwieldy title Marvel: 2000-2001 (Fanboys & Badgirls: Bill and Joe's Marvelous Adventure), and contains interviews and articles that are bound to raise more than a few eyebrows around the industry with an inside look at Marvel's decisions to drop the Comics Code, create an adult imprint, and adopt the 'no-reprint' policy. 

 

In a rambling foreword, Marvel CEO Bill Jemas takes shots at 'small' retailers with 'dirty, messy, and confusing' stores (according to Jemas, these are the retailers who don't understand and appreciate Marvel's policies), but he saves the heavy artillery for a full scale attack on his counterpart at DC Comics, Paul Levitz: 'Paul Levitz runs DC Comics and is in a position to mobilize the massive AOL-Time-People-Warner Books and Music-TNT-TBS-CNN-HBO media machine to increase comic readership.  With one click of the 'send' button on his office e-mail, he could get an entire industry back on its feet. Yet this man, who has devoted his life to comics, chooses not to share the wonders of the genre with the world at large.

 

'It appears that Levitz has purposely kept DC below the Time -- then Time/Warner, now AOL Time/Warner -- radar screen.  Those who love him say it's because Levitz wants to shield his creators and characters from the commercial exploitation and corruption that could come from mass media exploitation.  Those who loathe him say Levitz is a man with teeny talents, who keeps the industry tiny to protect his own power over truly bright and talented creators.

 

'Here's no surprise: The Levitz lovers are the insiders and retailers who want to keep the comics club closed.  The Levitz loathers are those who want to reach the next generation of new readers.'

 

ICv2 contacted DC Comics for a reaction, but Paul Levitz declined to comment on the remarks in the Marvel book, 'feeling his three decades in comics speak for themselves.' DC is apparently bent on continuing its policy of ignoring Jemas' numerous barbs.  The only time DC has taken on Marvel in public was at last year's San Diego Comicon (see 'Dueling Majors'). 

 

Of course, some will find irony in the release of a criticism of Levitz for not exploiting corporate connections on the same day that a second TV series on a network owned by DC's corporate parent is announced (see 'Birds of Prey Bows on WB').