Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics since 2000, is controversial to some in the comic book world. Although he has been fairly successful as editor-in-chief through increased readership and the introduction of several new series of comics, many critics point out a few of his flaws and how some of his decisions are hurting comics.

Quesada has emphasized and encouraged the sales of trade paperback collections of comics, rather than the traditional monthly installments. Some criticize this approach because the monthly comic books are often used to track reader interest. The paperback collections, they argue, cannibalize monthly sales.

Even more controversial, though, is his involvement with the Spiderman series. As the editor, Joe Quesada made the final approvals of a new storyline for the series. The storyline, which caused some backlash from many Spiderman fans, featured the demise of the marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, via a deal with Mephisto, a devil-like character, which also helped save Parker’s dying aunt and lead to the world forgetting that Spiderman had unmasked himself. Many argue that this storyline is not only poorly executed, and poorly written, but it is little more than a contrived stunt to “reboot” the series.