Commitment

[tsearsj]

Madman!, I think all would agree that you have set up a great site and board for Mad!'s comprehensive work and specific titles like battlechasers, but don't you think you are coming down a little hard on people that have a right to express their opinion. This is a forum for Battle Chasers, so it's logical that opinions about it would and should be posted here, for communication and feedback by all. If you are going to jump on everyone that has a different view, then why have a board? I am a fan of Mad!'s career, and my favorites happen to be X-men and Battle Chasers. this doesn't mean I'm not a mad! fan, but it means I like certain works better, which is completely normal.
As for Battle Chasers, you should take it as a complement the people have strong opinions about Battle Chasers- it means people got invested and want to stay along for the ride. I am very disappointed that #9 promises issue #10 and then it never happened. why didn't he just saddle up and finish, or ask Campbell or Lee to help out? #9 leaves us dangling in the wind. this is different than stopping with no expectation, but we all read that #10 was on the way, and that's that!! We don't own Mad! or his time, but he represented a new issue and shouldn't we all have the right to rely on that representation? In a word.....Yes!!!

[Madman!]

I guess people don't really get what I mean. I have no problem with people that just like Battle Chasers I'm glad they do like BC. The problem with some people is that their opinions is and I get letters like this "why is Mad! doing this game stuff BC is the best and the rest of this stuff sucks, tell him to go back to BC" Let me ask this how can he all of a sudden suck when his art hasn't changed it's just in a new medium. He still draws the same, the characters look like they would even fit in the BC universe. It's also funny because that's what people wanted when he was doing comics for him to make a game with his style.

I don't have a problem with people's opinions if you can discuss them. Like here is a good one how about if someone said "I'm not really liking the new artwork it just doesn't seem as strong as it was on Battle Chasers" or "I think I would have Joe Mad doing more sequentials than just one image" or "I wish Mad! were doing BC, becuase we really don't get to see as much art as we did when it was BC". I would'nt argue with those opinions. But when people say just he sucks go back to BC that may be an opinion, but I think it's one that could be left off the boards from people that are still fans of BC only and the fans that like the new stuff.

Like you say people got invested and want to stay along for the ride, but the people I'm taking about aren't they're the people that are done with liking Mad! period, but they come on the boards to tell me how much they hate him. If you stopped being a fan then why can't they move on. If people are wanting BC to return and want to post on the boards that's fine. I'm just talking about the people that come here to ruin something people enjoy weather thats just BC or whatever.

I created these boards for people to talk about Mad! and want to discuss his artwork. I'm sorry I didn't create it for people that just want to lash out and tell me how much they hate him and that's pretty much it. I wouldn't even have a problem if someone wanted to come here and give an opinion that Joe Mad isn't the best artist and they like someone else. But most like they would just say Mad! sucks they are tons that are better. How about something to back that up show me why you think that. I love all kinds of different art from artist I'm sure we could argue who is better, but that's it I don't post that because I know that some people like art that I don't or an artist I really don't like, but I don't go to their boards and tell them he or she sucks.

See like you said at the end how you feel Mad should've finished the story and that's a good opinion of why you feel Mad! should go back to BC. I'm sure that's the why people feel that say "Mad! sucks go back to BC" but you backed it up with a reason I'm fine with that.

Plus I want to say more about what you said at the begining that people think I set up a great site and have a lot of content. It's why I get so frustrated with the people that say negative stuff about me and Mad!. Why is it so hard to leave the negative stuff out. I wouldn't mind if people said "I really like all the content on your site but your design needs a little work". Stuff that I get is like "man why did you make a site for that guy he sucks I used to be a fan, but not anymore" I have people that say "arggh I can't stand your site when is the official site coming back" how did these people find my site anyway they either typed in Joe Mad or they found it from a site that linked me and they had nothing better to do than say hateful stuff.

So no I have no problem with peoples opinions. I just don't like people that just want to post how much they hate something where people are trying to enjoy the guys artwork(or anything) and discuss it.

P.S. It's also funny because if this were the official boards or any other boards and someone posted about anybody's art just saying "your stuff sucks". They most likely would close that thread or ban that person I have yet to do that. So even if I have come down on people's opinions I still have let them say them and if they want to argue back I haven't stopped them. Just like this it's your opinion that I come down on others opinons. Well I replied with my opinions why I feel I strongly disagree with what you said, but if you still feel that I still do that's fine by all means tell me more.

[tsearsj]

I appreciate your response and I think we're on the same page. I probably have not read all the posts that you have, sounds like you've had to put up with some crap, and I agree that people should not come on here just to dump on Mad!, especially if they are just running their mouth without any substance or sense. I think you've done a great job with this site, especially with updates 3 years after my favorite Mad! works took a temporary hiatus (hopefully), and this is my first stop for further info on BC.
I just hope mad! checks these posts out from time to time, or maybe you give him the details, because I think their are a lot of folks that stand behind him as an artist in general, but also want him to know that he hooked us on a great ride with BC, and we respectfully request his further time and talents to further the story, or at least to bring the current chapter to a compelling conclusion until he's ready to start again (and maybe Red Monika will play a prominent part in all this LOL!).

[DesiredEnemy]

I read somewhere that Joe Mad makes 300K a year doing the video game art, the magazine covers, etc. etc. Now for a man with a home and a family, thats a lot of money to turn down. Face it, this is the real world. Awesome that Joe Mad had both the talent and luck to break into his dream job, but money still governs us; thats a fact of life, no changing that. If I had to guess, Joe will do what he does to rake in the money, to make sure his family is well-fed. I think Battle Chasers is his baby, and he hasn't been able to keep 100% attention on it with everything else going on. Let the man get in front of the race, or til the offers die down a bit. He's doing the right thing, he's taking work when he's in demand. He'll be back to doing Battle Chasers in one form or another. As a man I understand, and as a fan I'll be the first one in line at the comic store.

[HBOMB]

I'm a new member here and would just like to say thanks to Madman for keeping the vigil and bringing us this site and the oppertunity to see Mad!s latest stuff. I think Mad! should proclaim this the official site and that would be that.

In regards to this perticular discussion, I want to touch on certain issues. These are just some obsevations.

In regards to people who post negitive comments:they will and most will do it just to piss people off on threads and like Madman i personally find these people infuriating. I can only imagine how comments, even with the slightest hint of negitivity, would set someone off after seeing Emails like that day-in and day-out. All about the same thing and all with no real point other than to do just that. I feel for ya!

As for fans of BC, well, keep hoping. The Street Fighter back story was cool. Not enough Mad! But I'll take it. He heard us though, and is doing another. He's still listening to his FANS.

I've seen posts to the sound of Mad! shoudn't have left X-Men, Shouldn't have blah....blah.....blah. What people fail to realize is the problem, I belive was 2 fold. 1) At the time he was his most popular, Marvel was turning thier pencilers, or at least trying to, into machines with thier uber tight pencils to give fans less of an inkers influence in the finished art resulting in missed deadlines ect. Lets face it, IMO, the only other person whos pencils are that tight are Dale Keowns. To a point where Dale just upped the contrast on a computer and didn't use an inker to save time on Pitt. And 2) and only Joe himself can answer this, is that at the time the stable of inkers were not doing justice to his work or he just didn't like the final product and felt that wasn't him on the pages. Compare Deadpool mini-series to his work on X-men, and X-men to BC. As inkers go I felt that Tim Townsend did a far better job on Mad!s work than anyone. Compare the pencils to the inks Townsend did and you'll know what I mean.

As far as designing a game and having it not come out. Happens all the time. NcSoft just launched City of Heros MMORPG on the 28th so they put all thier resources into that because they probobly felt it would generate more interest. IMO it did. Exarch didn't have the fan base CoH did. No ones fault. Certainly not Joes. Considering the amount of staff that works on game design. C'Mon learn a little about the industry before you go making @ssinine comments like that.(not directed at anyone here. Just those in general who like to make comments without forethought Madman and oters know what I mean)

Could he have done things differently? Sure. We could all say the same thing about ourselves. Were not the one under the microscope. Bottom line is Mad! has taken every bullet of criticism and has done so with class. Who else in the industry has taken so much and not fired back when given the chance. And don't even say Liefeld. Just go to millarword and he'll be seen mouthing off abot somthing that was said about him.

I'm tired and Im goin' ta sleep.

Peace all!

[Sketchlogic]

I have said this a BILLION times (namely on the old official Joe Mad! board) that many people dont realize that Joe is NOT a lazy artist lol. i mean the man killed issues of x-men. The way i see it, its his show. I can accept one piece of art from him every other month or even year and still be happy, besides i have so much archived stuff i am perfectly content and Mad ALWAYS comes through (coincidentially lol) when im thinking about having new work from him, whether it be one pic, a chara sketch, etc. I have to ask myself, what is the measure of a fan?. I am a quality guy by nature so no matter how much Joe comes out with, as long as hes alive and doing well ia m content and as long as it is Joe i am even better:).

[Sketchlogic]

The thing we also have to remember is that if a person has an opinion, that does not mean that the specific 'opinion' wont be off a bit. For example, you might get someone who might say "Joe is so d**n lazy!!!". That is his opinion certainly, but he would be wrong lol, and after all i am expressing my opinion anyways as well lol;). However i respect the fact that people have opinions but i dont necessarily have to respect the opinion per se (if you know what i mean lol). I think its awesome that we get to see many opinions anyway, makes it more fun to speak and be clear lol.

[HBOMB]

Hey all! Me again. I had some thoughts in regards to people not likeing his stuff now as opposed to his BC stuff. As far as the pencils go I see nothing thats changed in his art. If your baseing your opinion on the final product of the BC comic be aware Mad! was not the final stroke on alot of those issues(Maybe the last two) as much as people don't want to, or just don't understand, admit that having an inker changes the final product. Case in point, if you check the BC PENCILS on this site and compare them with the latest subzero PENCILS. His style has not changed that much, if at all. That is one of the misconceptions of the comic industry. Ask any Turner fan and they'll say when they went to shooting his pencils and coloring over them alot of them started saying "Oh the colorist is saving his @ss!" See what your fav artists pencils look like BEFORE they're inked and you'll get a better feel for who's doing what and whos talent is showing through. I for one would love to see a couple of Mad!s penciled pages from the DEADPOOL mini to compare to the ink job they got.....Would you be able to ask Mad! about that MADMAN? PLEASE? PM me and let me Know. Also would love to hear your opinions on this MM.

[Madman!]

well I wrote this paragraph long thing about what you said but I was kicked off the net for some reason.

but to your question like I told Musashinden since Realm Interactive went down I probably wont be able to be in contact with him anymore, unless he writes me on another email. I'm guessing that even if I asked him they probably have all been sold. I think you can see some small scans at like DOA or something like that.

[HBOMB]

Thats right you did mention that. Apologies. As I get older I notice my memory isn't what it was. LOL.

I Hate when that happens. You get a good rant going and BAM! wiped clean.

I'll check DOA out.

[Madman!]

naw your memory is fine. I think you just got mixed up. I meant my last post I had written something long and I got kicked off so it didn't get posted. Unless your talking about something else then I'm confused now ;D

[HBOMB]

I'm often confused, ;D Its that oldtimers thing, or I didn't get my daily allotment of caffine or somthing. If I could remember if I like coffee.

[MADDEKOY]

Sup guys,

Well since I'm a newbie here I would just like to make a few comments about my commitment.

I've been following Mad!'s artwork for quite sometime. His style has changed alot since his days with X-Man. Battle Chasers was on my must get list every month. I only got one signed 2nd Chrome issue Signed by Mcweenie. Thats it, other than that everytime I step into a comic book store ( which is once a week ) I always look for issues or covers done by Mad!. I would just like to say as a fan and as a follower hes done a great job no matter what anyone says or comments. As an up and comming Graphics Artist (still in school) to make things great takes time. Till this day I'm still a fan.

Keep it coming MAD!.............

[Thrudd]

Since nobody asked ofr my opinion, here it is..

Joe is as talented as they come. And just as he started hitting his stride as a storyteller, he quit.

Before you go throwing your hands up in the air and screaming, "He didn't quit! He's doing other things!"

HE QUIT.

Go back and read all your BC letters pages... the ones where Joe tells us that THIS time the book will be regular, and THIS TIME we have nothing to worry about, an amazing story is about to unfold.

And then, he quit. Went off to do something else. More power to him. Good for him. Whatever makes him happy.

However.

In doing so, he lied to tens of thousands of fans. These fans defended BC, defended it's "crappier than any other book schedules", defended his slow and meticulous approach...

And the way he thanked us all was by quitting.

And now, all we get in the way of his artwork, is the occasional cover on a random magazine, a back-up story in a dumb comic like Street Fighter... and every once in a while we see sketches for a game that may or may not ever see release.

The reason this bugs me, and why I have lost MOST of my respect for the man... is because when it came to producing quality comics, he was starting to get extremely good... BC9 is proof of that.

By far one of the best fantasy comics ever released...

and then JOE MADUREIRA QUIT.

And let everyone down...

[Madman!]

You know I wrote this huge long thing, but I'm just letting this go. It's been 3 years now and people still want to complain, so just go ahead. I mean there are plenty of other boards you could complain on, but if you want to ruin probably one of the few boards left that people want to talk about him without complaining go ahead. I hope that people realize though if you haven't noticed the front page Mad! has been to my site and hooked me up with stuff. He used to post on the old messages and I would guess he would do the same thing here, but I doubt that he would after reading countless crap like yours that he wouldn't want to get involved here.

I also noticed it was your first post, so did you just signed up here to drop in and start complaining? but hey thanks for coming here and reminding all us Joe Mad fans that he left BC I had almost forgot until you brought it up . You say he LIED to us.... oh dear!... you really opened my eyes to the injustice that Mad! must have set out to do in the first place. You know I know a secret that Mad! actually was planning to lie to us when he was doing Deadpool and was saving it for the right time. I'm so glad cause I spent my life savings and blindly gave it to a lier, so please Joe give me back my 2.50$ that you forced me to spend you caused my family to starve.

oh and if you just come back and say see I knew you would just "throw your hands up in the air and screaming, "He didn't quit! He's doing other things!" yeah you're right these are MY boards about something I enjoy, but yeah please ruin it for me and others and we'll just sit back and take it for something obviously we would stand up against

hey look at that I guess I did write a lot.

oh and again thanks for spelling his name out in bold at the bottom I almost forgot who were talking about.