The great Peter David Todd McFarlane debate 0

[Aweandlorder]

While attending this past Big Apple Comiccon I had a lengthy chat with Peter David (super nice guy). Among other things, we chatted about his past relationship with Todd, which he covered in a very respectful manner

I was quite shocked to find this today while reading more about their past relationship online. Enjoy

 

A little history about this debate (courtesy of CBR)

In the early ‘90s, Todd Mcfarlane and Peter David were both hot properties in the comics world. Mcfarlane had helped launch Image comics and his creation, Spawn, was a regular presence at the top of the charts. Meanwhile, Peter David was receiving critical acclaim for his work on “Incredible Hulk” and “Spider-Man 2009” and had a regular column in the “Comic Buyers Guide.” It was this column (“But I digress”) that was to lead to one of the strangest events of 1993: The Great Debate.

Despite Mcfarlane and David having a successful run together on “The Incredible Hulk,” relations had cooled in the years since. Mcfarlane took issue with some of David’s columns, believing that this was a further example of the way that the media did not treat him and Image fairly. He issued a public challenge for David to debate him, resulting in a widely-publicized event at the Comicfest convention in 1993, on the topic of whether Image and Mcfarlane had been treated fairly by the media. David was voted the debate winner by judges but later wrote that he regretted his participation, as it served no purpose other than to give Mcfarlane everything that he wanted.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Aweandlorder

[Gaard]

At the end, TM suggested that they do it again. Did they?

[paperheart]

IIRC, the BID column that followed the debate was a drawing of the Hulk smashing Spawn into the ground

[Aweandlorder]

57 minutes ago, Gaard said:

At the end, TM suggested that they do it again. Did they?

No they havent, but you can read Peter David's take on it here:

https://www.peterdavid.net/2010/09/02/after-the-great-debate/

 

 

[fastballspecial]

There is also an epic tirade between Peter David and John Byrne over Alpha Flight 12 that is another favorite of mine what a hilarious story.

 

[Dave2739]

14 minutes ago, paperheart said:

IIRC, the BID column that followed the debate was a drawing of the Hulk smashing Spawn into the ground

It was this cool George Perez illustration. Shorty after Future Imperfect came out, IIRC.

 

[Chip Cataldo]

1 hour ago, fastballspecial said:

There is also an epic tirade between Peter David and John Byrne over Alpha Flight 12 that is another favorite of mine what a hilarious story.

 

I'm not familiar with this one. Background? 

[Jeffro.]

A buddy of mine was at this debate and he always talks about it. Pretty legendary. Nice to finally see it even after all these years.

[shadroch]

On ‎4‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 2:39 PM, Aweandlorder said:

While attending this past Big Apple Comiccon I had a lengthy chat with Peter David (super nice guy). Among other things, we chatted about his past relationship with Todd, which he covered in a very respectful manner

I was quite shocked to find this today while reading more about their past relationship online. Enjoy

 

A little history about this debate (courtesy of CBR)

In the early ‘90s, Todd Mcfarlane and Peter David were both hot properties in the comics world. Mcfarlane had helped launch Image comics and his creation, Spawn, was a regular presence at the top of the charts. Meanwhile, Peter David was receiving critical acclaim for his work on “Incredible Hulk” and “Spider-Man 2009” and had a regular column in the “Comic Buyers Guide.” It was this column (“But I digress”) that was to lead to one of the strangest events of 1993: The Great Debate.

Despite Mcfarlane and David having a successful run together on “The Incredible Hulk,” relations had cooled in the years since. Mcfarlane took issue with some of David’s columns, believing that this was a further example of the way that the media did not treat him and Image fairly. He issued a public challenge for David to debate him, resulting in a widely-publicized event at the Comicfest convention in 1993, on the topic of whether Image and Mcfarlane had been treated fairly by the media. David was voted the debate winner by judges but later wrote that he regretted his participation, as it served no purpose other than to give Mcfarlane everything that he wanted.

I met Peter back when he was Carol Kalish's assistant and was in charge of trying to get comic shops to upgrade to new cash registers. This was around 84-85.

It's strange but the last time I talked with Peter, I laughingly told him he had become the dickster he always warned people of becoming.  I was talking to him about something and a little kid came along and asked him a rather silly question. He was in the middle of a convoluted answer when someone walked by. Mr David stopped his answer to call the guy over and started a private conversation. Several minutes went by and the kid started to feel more and more ignored. Finally he walked away without a word. I did too, but made it a point to come back later and tell him how hurt the kid looked. He gave me a look like he had no idea what I was talking about. 

Haven't seen him since his stroke. Hopefully this won't prove to be our last conversation. 

Edited April 18, 2018 by shadroch

[Bird]

3 minutes ago, shadroch said:

I met Peter back when he was Carol Kalish's assistant and was in charge of trying to get comic shops to upgrade to new cash registers. This was around 87-88.

It's strange but the last time I talked with Peter, I laughingly told him he had become the dickster he always warned people of becoming.  I was talking to him about something and a little kid came along and asked him a rather silly question. He was in the middle of a convoluted answer when someone walked by. Mr David stopped his answer to call the guy over and started a private conversation. Several minutes went by and the kid started to feel more and more ignored. Finally he walked away without a word. I did too, but made it a point to come back later and tell him how hurt the kid looked. He gave me a look like he had no idea what I was talking about. 

Haven't seen him since his stroke or whatever it was. Hopefully this won't prove to be our last conversation. 

I have been disappointed to note these types of interactions myself. One of the rare times I wondered why someone came to a show as a guest if they were going to act in such a manner towards their fans. I think PD has written some great works (I enjoyed the Hulk novel with The Maestro and Hulk's son very much) but not nearly as great as he apparently believes himself to be.

[Aweandlorder]

1 hour ago, shadroch said:

I met Peter back when he was Carol Kalish's assistant and was in charge of trying to get comic shops to upgrade to new cash registers. This was around 84-85.

It's strange but the last time I talked with Peter, I laughingly told him he had become the dickster he always warned people of becoming.  I was talking to him about something and a little kid came along and asked him a rather silly question. He was in the middle of a convoluted answer when someone walked by. Mr David stopped his answer to call the guy over and started a private conversation. Several minutes went by and the kid started to feel more and more ignored. Finally he walked away without a word. I did too, but made it a point to come back later and tell him how hurt the kid looked. He gave me a look like he had no idea what I was talking about. 

Haven't seen him since his stroke. Hopefully this won't prove to be our last conversation. 

Wow that is totally not what I took from conversing with him. In fact while we were chatting it up, Jim (Salicrup) stopped by with a sandwich he got him and peter kept on talking to me about his take on the whole Mcafarlane fiasco for at least another 15 min  

He came across as a super chatty and charming fella. At times I was a bit confused bcs he kept on bringing up topics I wasn't aware of (the famous $3 mil baseball Todd purchased back in the day) and other things. All in all I ended up learning a lot and plan on seeing him again at 4th World (in Long Island)

maybe he changed  

[shadroch]

He always was a nice guy, which made his behavior the last time unusual.  Lots of people I know at shows I think are dicksters but wouldn't say anything to.  As I said, I hope its not our last conversation.

[mrwoogieman]

Shout out to Jim Salicrup! Him and Danny Fingeroth were so playful and fun at the old Big Apples!

[oldmilwaukee6er]

At min 40

 

David is more prepared, a better 'arguer', but uses multi logical fallacies- ad hominums, red herrings, incredulity=truth, emotional/loaded words. For me, he comes off as unsympathetic and time ultimately made his arguments moot... insomuchas the question is What happens when you give young comic creators a check for $300,000 (and they are still deciding what they want to be when they grow up)?

Edited April 19, 2018 by oldmilwaukee6er

[F For Fake]

17 hours ago, shadroch said:

He always was a nice guy, which made his behavior the last time unusual.  Lots of people I know at shows I think are dicksters but wouldn't say anything to.  As I said, I hope its not our last conversation.

I've met him twice. He was kind of a both times. I tried a second time because I thought maybe I'd just run into him on a bad day the first time. Everyone has a bad day, we're all just people, etc. But twice was enough for me.

[Aweandlorder]

17 hours ago, mrwoogieman said:

Shout out to Jim Salicrup! Him and Danny Fingeroth were so playful and fun at the old Big Apples!

So were Ashari & Molly 

 

[Cat]

I like David, but will never believe he asked his fans to pay his taxes for him, because he'd chosen not to for some years. Disgusting. 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Peter David is a victim. And he'll be the first to tell you so.

And what he's a victim of is his own delusions about himself and his place in the world.

That's sad, because he was quite a talented writer. But he has made some incredibly bad decisions, and utterly refused to take any responsibility for doing so. Taking responsibility for your actions is a hallmark of being an adult...and that is not what Peter David is. I immensely enjoyed his work from the 80's and 90's, so much so that I sought out anything and everything he wrote. But he has became the very personification of the spoiled, greedy, selfish villains he used to write.