Bill Jemas

Bill Jemas

Jemas at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, October 2, 2010.
Born 1958
Area(s) Writer
Editor
Notable works
 Ultimate Marvel Universe
Marville
Origin
http://www.360ep.com/jemas.html

Bill Jemas is an American media entrepreneur, writer, and editor. He is a former vice president of Marvel Comics, and a founding partner at 360ep, a media management firm.

Early life

In 1980, Jemas received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University, where he majored in history and minored in philosophy and economics. In 1983 he graduated from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor.[1][2][3]

Career

After graduating Harvard, Jemas took a job as a tax attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. Disappointed by this work, he left after two years to work for the National Basketball Association, which he found to be more entrepreneurial, and allowed him to focus on managing a business and working on deals, which Jemas sees as two of the things he does best. It also gave him entry into the entertainment field, which he felt would open up lucrative opportunities. While at NBA, according to Jemas, he helped build an almost non-existent basketball card business into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.[2]

Jemas became president of Fleer Entertainment Group and Fleer Corp in 1993, and appointed Jemas as executive vice president of Marvel Entertainment Group that year.[2] In January 2000, he became president of consumer products, publishing and new media—essentially Marvel Comics' publisher. During his tenure, his tendencies toward micromanagement and provocative public statements made him a controversial figure.[4]

He came to prominence at Marvel Comics (which owned Fleer), during the former's bankruptcy reorganizations. During his tenure, Jemas was key in replacing editor-in-chief Bob Harras with Joe Quesada. Jemas and Quesada formed the public face of Marvel, taking the roles of, said one observer, of "good cop and bad cop". Among the policies they implemented were Marvel's no-overship policy newsstand compilation magazines, adding the Marvel MAX line, entrenching Marvel Knights, and removal of the Comics Code from Marvel books. They also increased Marvel's publication of trade paperbacks, and are credited with sheparding the company from bankruptcy to profit, and with earning positive reviews from within and outside of the comics industry.[5]

Other later initiatives includes titles such as Trouble, The Call and Marville, the last of which was Jemas' entry in the U-Decide competition with Quesada and Peter David.[6]

Jemas and Quesada's partnership would eventually suffer amid controversy generated by Jemas, which Marvel executives frowned upon, and which resulted in Quesada distancing himself from Jemas in the eyes of Marvel staff and freelancers. During this time, Jemas spearheaded the revival of the company's Epic line, which would publish creator-owned books, but his interference in editorial generated much ill will among creators who felt his ideas did not help the quality of the books. Producer and Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad in particular was angered over certain comics overseen by Jemas that Arad had difficulty selling to Hollywood producers and stars. As the company's film properties grew in importance, Jemas lost the loyalty of Arad's business partner, Isaac Perlmutter,[5] who had been instrumental in bringing Marvel out of bankruptcy through the merger of his company, Toy Biz.[7]

Upon his departure from the company, Jemas continued to work with Marvel in a non-executive capacity through mid-2004. He also wrote or co-wrote Marvel comic books including Namor and Origin.

Comic book writer Gail Simone said on her blog that she ghost wrote for Jemas during his tenure at Marvel.[8] She later clarified that she was referring to a comedic article about Marvel giving away free cookies rather than an actual comic.[9]

Upon his departure from Marvel Entertainment, Jemas started 360ep, an entertainment property management firm. He developed the Freeware Bible, which translates ancient Aramaic-Hebrew words into English synonyms, for the purpose of providing an English translation of Genesis that is truer to the original Hebrew text than commonly used translations like the King James Bible, and to "show readers that widely accepted Bible translations are inherently imperfect". By February 2009, he had completed the first chapter.[1] Jemas also managed a T-shirt line, IDtees, whose T-shirts contained positive messages. The line was eventually discontinued so that Jemas could focus on other projects.[10]

In 2012, Jemas announced the creation of an online comics venture, the Transverse Universe.[11][12] A new print comic, "Wake The F#CK Up", was released December 4, 2012 via Zenescope Comics.[13] The promotion of the comic was spearheaded with a YouTube video by hip-hop artist Kilgorian Tralfamadore.[14]

On December 2013, Jemas announced that he had joined Take-Two Interactive to start a graphic fiction imprint, Double Take Comics.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 Diamant, Jeff (February 1, 2009). "'Comics guy' sets his sights on scholarly translation of the Bible". The Star-Ledger. Newark, New Jersey.
  2. 1 2 3 Kelley, Bill (March 1, 1994). "A day in the life of a card shark". Journal of Business Strategy. (subscription required)
  3. ↑ "Bill Jemas, Chief Executive Officer". 360ep. Archived from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Q&@ with Mark Waid". Ain't It Cool News. April 27, 2009. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010.
  5. 1 2 Johnston, Rich (October 10, 2003). "Kill Bill". "Lying in the Gutter" (column), Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 17, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Blog Archive » The Marville Horror Part 1: Better Sales Through Self-Immolation". 4thletter!. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  7. ↑ Raviv, Dan. Comic Wars. New York: Random House, 2002
  8. ↑ Simone, Gail (March 3, 2006). "Was I Bill Jemas' Ghost Writer?". Bloodstains on the Looking Glass (Simone official blog). Archived from the original on April 22, 2007.
  9. ↑ Simone, "One Other Thing", September 13, 2006. Archived April 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ IDtees. 360creativeapproach.com. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  11. ↑ Johnston, Rich (September 6, 2012). "Bill Jemas Launches Transverse Universe – And A New Way To Read Comics Online". Bleeding Cool.
  12. ↑ Transverse Universe official site. Retrieved January 19, 2013
  13. ↑ "Wake The F#Ck Up #1" Archived June 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.. Heavy Ink. Retrieved January 19, 2013
  14. ↑ Kilgorian Tralfamadore. "Wake The F#CK Up – Transverse Universe – Zenescope Comics" on YouTube. August 1, 2012
  15. ↑ Johnston, Rich (December 16, 2013). "Bill Jemas Joins Take Two Interactive, To Start A 'Graphic Fiction Imprint'". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved January 14, 2014.

External links

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