Saturday's Panel was titled "CrossGen 90". The ninety is the number of minutes Mark Alessi was scheduled to talk. While a few other people did chime in, it was mostly Mark for 90 minutes.
The following paragraphs are Mark Alessi speaking. They are not word for word, except the portions that are in quotations.
First Mark noted that CrossGen comics are have increased in market share from 1 1/2 percent a year ago to 5% today. This is in a time when the comic book marketplace in general is not doing well. Mark's opinion was that there were too many fanboys running the industry today.
Mark said that DC should be a leader. DC is a powerful (business) force with powerful allies. (Editor's note - DC is owned by Warner Brothers, a multimedia entertainment giant). Make stated "Marvel disappoints me, and I hope this gets back to Quesaada." In addition, went on to cite three specific examples of book that he had complaints against: "First is 'Rawhide Kid', the second is 'Captain America', and the third is 'Call to Duty'. " Mark went on to talk about the premise of the story, which is that the Rawhide Kid suddenly discovers he is homosexual and is brought back in Mature reader 'Marvel Max' format. Mark went on to note that this is totally unbelievable that a cowboy who chases women for many years suddenly and for no reason now thinks of himself as a homosexual. This is an affront to readers of the old series and disregards previous continuity facts. Mark said that he was also displeased with the current Captain America story line, and with the entire concept of Call of Duty. Mark said that he thought if you had to use 9-11 as the basis of launching a comic book, that the book is doomed to fail before you start. That if you want to do a comic book about police officers, you should just go ahead, do it, and not tie it to 9-11.
Mark also said he was very disappointed with Marvel's "no reprint" policy, this forces retailers to guess which titles will sell prior to them hitting the stands. This takes the risk off Marvel and puts in on the retailers. Mark said, "I think Bill Jemas has disrespect for the fans".
Mark went on to talk about his "Bridges" program. The Bridges was written by a school teacher, Beth Wydaire, and uses CrossGen comics in as reading comprehension program for Middle school and High school students. The entire program is a flat fee of $499 to any middle school or high school in the country for as many students or classes as you want to use it in.
