Q&A Part Six

Steve asks: What do you think an editor's role should be in the creative process, and what editors would you say have been the most influential, for good or for bad? (I'm not really talking about the EIC's really either, but more the street-level editors.)

My answer to the first question is that I have no idea. I really don't. However, I'm not alone as Steve Grant writes in the most recent Permanent Damage.

I'm not sure which editors have been the most influential, really. The best I can go by are what books I like keep having the same editors and the stories I've heard. It's hard to say really, because you can't tell, as a reader, how much of the final product is the editor. Tom Brevoort has said on numerous occasions that creators get the credit and editors get the blame, and I think there's a certain amount of truth in that, if only because the editor is the final judge of quality. Of course, if you see the same bad writing from a specific writer, can you blame the editor? Sure, why not, because he/she still hired the writer.

With that in mind, I have no idea where I'm going with this. Some editors that stand out in my mind as good, if only because they tend to edit good books: Axel Alonso, Stuart Moore, Scott Dunbier . . . I don't know who else. I honestly don't pay that much attention to who's editing what book, especially with Marvel and DC stuff.

As far as negative influences, there are a few people who stand out. Pretty much anyone editing anything with an "X" in the title at Marvel during the '90s seems to have had a negative influence in the long-term. That's about it, really, that I can point to with any confidence.

Again, as a reader, it's hard to tell (or care, as a result) how much influence an editor has really. Whether or not that's a good thing is a good question.

But, my question for you is: what has your experience with manga been? Do you follow any series/creators?