Earlier this week, Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, took part in the Bristol, Conn. campus’ Engage event sponsored by Human Resources Learning and Organizational Development. It was a chance for one of ESPN’s sister company’s executives to share some of the ins and outs of Marvel — as well as his ties to sports.
What our employees discovered was that Quesada (Twitter handle: @JoeQuesada) is not only a fan of his Marvel team of action characters but also a passionate fan of the teams seen regularly on ESPN. A partial season ticket holder for his beloved New York Mets, Quesada wore a Johan Santana jersey during his visit and after his chat, he sat down with Front Row to discuss sports, comic books and the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets!
There have been a few collaborations between ESPN and Marvel in recent months. Can you discuss how those come about?
For instance, with the NFL Draft and “The Avengers” coming up around the same time, it was a perfect cross promotional opportunity. “The Avengers” really hinge upon team and team work and building that team. Captain Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., sort of drafted heroes to be on the team and we really wanted to echo what was going on with the NFL Draft and ESPN’s coverage of it.
We’ve actually worked together a lot. I remember the This is SportsCenter commercial where Scott Van Pelt dressed as Captain America and Neil Everett was Thor (see pictures in gallery above). But my favorite project was the ESPN The Magazine NBA preview (2010). It was one of the proudest moments because I did the cover for a national magazine and I got to draw. Doing the cover was a thrill. . . the whole piece was really fun!
What is your favorite ESPN program?
I’m a SportsCenter guy, I love watching SportsCenter. Because of what I do for a living, television is a luxury. . . I have to get my information as quick and in as small doses as possible.
What are you looking forward to this year in sports?
I’m happy the Mets are playing decent baseball. . . they are playing aggressive baseball. I’m looking forward to the Jets’ season to see what happens. I’m going to hold off criticism surrounding [New York Jets quarterback Tim] Tebow, although I think Mark Sanchez is the better quarterback. . . whoever wins the game is all that really counts. It’s always a soap opera so it’s going to be fun to see how this all pans out.
