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August 30, 2000 After a day of rampant rumors and wild speculation, Marvel Comics President, Bill Jemas, has confirmed that writer/artist and Marvel Knights head Joe Quesada has been named the publisher's new Editor-in-Chief. "We are dedicated to fulfilling our mission as the 'House of Ideas' and feel Joe is the perfect visionary to achieve this lofty standard. Joe’s accomplishments speak for themselves. He is a creative genius, a gifted recruiter and manager of talent, and has experience in all facets of the comic world. We will be looking to him to bring to our entire line the same level of creativity that has turned Marvel Knights into an award-winning and top-selling imprint," stated Jemas in a press release.
Quesada, who has had recent success bringing Daredevil into the Top 10, was asked about his future plans for Marvel: "One of the biggest problems at Marvel has been the ever- looming specter of "Oh my God, what’s going to happen next?" with regards to books, with regards to jobs. We have to change that perception in house first. Will the books be changing? Most likely. How will they change? Can’t tell you yet, because I really don’t know. I don’t know how the creative community will respond to this, hopefully it will be favorable."
Asked what character his first priority was:
"Spider-Man. Hands down, I think we need to take a good look at the Spider-Man titles. Spidey’s one of the things that I think is very important for us to look at, because as Marvel goes, so goes the industry, and as Spider-Man goes, so goes Marvel, and you can throw X-Men into that mix too."
Buzz about the change of the guard began circulating late Tuesday afternoon when reports of Harras’s exit hit the rumor circuit. Writer Warren Ellis was first online to mention the possible firing, telling readers of his Delphi message board forums at about 6:30 p.m. EST Tuesday evening, "I've just heard that Bob Harras left Marvel at 3 p.m. EST today. No details." When asked what role Harras will have at Marvel, Jemas said: "That is mostly up to Bob. We value our friendship with Bob we value his contributions. If Bob wants to be extremely active, he will be extremely active. If he’d like to be less active, he’ll be less active."
