Cebulski has, of course, been Marvel's editor-in-chief since 2017 and prior to that, he served as their Vice President of International Business Development & Brand Management based out of Shanghai. So his new role makes sense inasmuch as that he's served in similar capacities before. What is not mentioned in most reporting is that he posed as an overtly Japanese writer “Akira Yoshida” in the early 2000s, working for multiple publishers and conducting interviews in that persona. He -- and any other professionals who may have known about this -- kept it hidden for a full decade, going as far as to expressly deny rumors the two who were one and the same. It only came out into the open after Marvel named him editor-in-chief. (Kudos to The Beat for being the only news source I can find highlighting this.) Only then did Cebulski apologize and claimed that it "has been dealt with" but I've never seen/heard anything resembling negative repercussions. Outwardly, it has always looked like -- and continues to look like -- he was awarded Marvel Comics' highest position of storytelling authority for overtly lying about his identity and appropriating Japanese culture in an almost stereotypical manner. That Cebulski remained in that position for a decade with no apparent consequences at all strikes me as an insult in the first place, and that he's now being sent to Japan to lead an Asian-focused arm of the business seems doubly insulting.
The other thing to bring up in all this is Marvel's move across the country. It's not unheard of, certainly -- DC did almost exactly the same thing in 2015, ostensibly for the same reasons of getting both the publishing and film/TV arms in the same place. While there are indeed some long-term possible benefits to this, they're mostly around consolidating physical resources. That is, they would have (theoretically) fewer rental offices to deal with and perhaps draw down the head count of some of the "generic" departments like HR and accounting.
(Two side notes on that. First, it's possible Marvel's done that already as a subsidiary of Disney, in which cases there wouldn't be too much more they could do. Second, when I say "draw down the head count" I am using corporate speak for laying off employees. I only use the phrase to highlight that, if Marvel says anything about it, it will likely be in those terms, so be aware of what they're actually saying if/when they elaborate any more on that point.)
Speaking of getting rid of staff, that is 100% a consideration in their move. We don't have details about it yet, but typically in a move of this type, the company will extend some kind of package offer to pay for moving expenses and such to any affected employees. But -- and this is what's worth noting -- there is an inherent expectation that a significant number of people will choose NOT to move. The numbers, of course, vary by industry but I believe on average, only about half of employees agree to move along with a company. Again, that is an expectation -- Marvel is absolutely aware of this and likely counting on it so they can cut staff without resorting to layoffs, which are always bad PR. Most people are likely to think in terms of editorial roles since those people get their names in the credits of Marvel's comics every month, but this also applies to all sorts of behind-the-scenes admin workers as well. No doubt including the HR and accounting folks that I mentioned earlier.
The notion of being able to consolidate the different creative arms is bogus. I was just reading a couple weeks ago about a study that found very clear evidence that in-person work absolutely does NOT improve productivity. They were talking more specifically about return-to-office policies after work-from-home became so prevelant thanks to COVID, but the same concept applies here...
We surveyed thousands of executives, middle managers and frontline supervisors on a host of personality traits. When we later asked them about their stances on hybrid and remote work, their answers didn’t correlate with how much they trusted their employees or how much they loved being around people. The only trait that consistently predicted objections to remote work was narcissism — the tendency to be self-centered and entitled. The higher the opinions of themselves leaders expressed, the more they coveted power and status — and the more they favored return-to-office mandates.The move to California isn't about making sure the comics people are coordinating with the film people. It's about some executive at Disney being able to say, "Look at all the stuff I control right here in Burbank."
Keep in mind, too, that Marvel has been increasingly outsourcing their comics publishing anyway. Their long-term gameplan -- in my estimation -- is to get out of actual publishing entirely. Disney bought Marvel in the first place because they were making great movies and getting a ton of licensing revenue from it as well. The comics are an afterthought. If they set things up so that half the comics folks leave, forcing them to outsource even more -- which, I might add, completely negates the notion of bringing the different creative departments closer together -- that's just all part of their long-term strategy.
Obviously, a series of moves like this aren't done on a whim. There's a lot going on here. I don't have any insider information; just an MBA and enough practical experience in the corporate sector to know that none of this is being done without ulterior motives that no one is going to say publicly.
1 comments:
This is actually the first I read about Cebulski no longer being editor-in-chief, with most news articles focusing on Marvel's move.
Cebulski leading a new division kind of reminds me of when Quesada was announced as editor-in-chief in 2000... when the press release stated his predecessor (Bob Harras) would "still be involved in special projects". Which never materialised!
So I wonder if Cebulski will actually lead the new division or anything will come of it, or if this is a similar 2000-style announcement to make the change of editor-in-chief sound more amicable, or perhaps to allow Cebulski to fulfil any remaining obligations on his contract before he quietely moves on.
As a side note, I suspect the editor-in-chief role Wacker takes on (and Cebulski held for 10 years) is different to the role and duties that those in the role from years ago, possibly even Quesada, had. Even though the job titles are the same.
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