Jim Shooter is once again writing for Marvel.

I read Newsarama pretty much every day, because they do great coverage of lots of indies (Thor Jensen, I'm sorry I missed you when you were in L.A.; I'm gonna holler in January) and they offer fascinating commentary.

So I read on, and I see that Joe Quesada is rebuilding bridges that previous regimes had not only burned down, but in some cases dynamited, salted the earth and set up walls to prevent possible circumvention. Now, I've said a lot of bad things about Marvel in the past and about Quesada's behavior in particular. I have very strong expectations that, by February, I will have some more really, really, extremely bad things to say about Marvel. (You thought I didn't see that Previews ad for Cage? I'm just biding my time.)

Quesada himself even said "The feathers that I'm ruffling don't necessarily call me on a daily basis. There are people out there that hate me...Without naming names, a lot of the people who are anti-Jim aren't necessarily pro-me to begin with. It's almost the same group of people, which is really ironic. That's what I'm getting at with this -- the opinion at the end of the day that really matters to me is Bill Jemas'Ñam I putting out good books and are my books selling? If he's happy, I'm happy, and what makes him happy is seeing the fans happy."

I do not intend to be anti-Quesada. A good number of his decisions as EIC have made me furious, made me angry and made me stop buying many, many Marvel books. The man himself, however, is someone I've never met (I don't consider the intro. conference call/press conference when he took the job "meeting"), and someone who I have no personal beef with.

On top of that, I'm very pro-Jim Shooter. Jim Shooter has a lot of things under his belt that make me very happy. Legion of Super Heroes. Early Star Brand. Secret Wars. Jim also has a reputation, deserved or not, for demanding quality and not being a wuss about getting it. I'm all about all of that.

So, for the first time in months, I must say something really good about Marvel. (Which is not to say I don't have some good things to say all the time; Marvel does publish the best monthly on the stands, Black Panther, as well as several runners-up with Captain Marvel, Thunderbolts, Avengers and Defenders.) And as this move has not, as so many believed, created a toasty day in Thule or caused hell to freeze over, it is indeed momentous.

Quesada's record for and methods of creator relations should be taught in college classes. He has done what, even two years ago, many believed was beyond impossibleÑa simple flight of fancy for newsgroups and discussion boards. That's just plain frickin' great.

Has he pandered and taken part in base cheerleading, distracting us from real problems? Yes. Has mediocrity continued to flourish under his regime? (*Hannibal glances over to see of Joe Casey is still writing an X-book.*) Yes, yes it has. But is he a bad guy? Have all his decisions been bad?

No.

I'm a jackass. I know it, my editor Eric knows it, Allen the Web producer for the site knows it, the artist I'm working with in Seattle knows it. My wife even knows it. In being a jackass, I have spent a lot of time, energy and vitriol cursing out people, and I'll probably be doing so until I have been placed in a coffin (and not trying to escape...long story).

Let me say, however, that even the worst person in the world can do something good, something nice, something worth remembering fondly. Quesada is not that guy. I am not that guy. Hell, I bet somewhere, somebody has warm thoughts about a certain Saudi millionaire most of the world is looking for. So, with that in mind and Kwanzaa rapidly approaching, I decided it was time to say this: Life is tough, I will likewise be tough, but it is nothing personal, and I hope never to downplay the good work that is evident.

Therefore, I bid you, my dear readers, adieu until next time, when I hope to present the first-ever Smackdown Awards, voted on by the man whose opinion I value the most: me. Behave yourselves and don't make me come down there.