Jemas, Bill 1958-

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JEMAS, Bill 1958-

PERSONAL: Born 1958, in Princeton, NJ. Education: Rutgers University, B.A., 1980; Harvard University, law degree, 1983.

ADDRESSES: Home—Princeton, NJ. Office—c/o Marvel Enterprises, Inc., 387 Park Ave., S., New York, NY 10016.

CAREER: Marvel Enterprises, New York, NY, executive vice president and president of Fleer Corporation, 1993-96, president of publishing and consumer products, 2000—, chief operating officer, 2002—; Madison Square Garden Sports, New York, NY, executive vice president, 1998-2000. Tax attorney, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; vice president, National Basketball Association, Business Development and Business Affairs; consultant to medial companies, including Lancit Media, G-Vox Interactive, and Hearst Entertainment. Founder and president, Blackbox, L.L.C.

MEMBER: Society of Authors.

WRITINGS:

(With Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins) Origin: The True Story of Wolverine, illustrated by Andy Kubert, Marvel Books (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Brian Michael Bendis) Ultimate Spider-Man, illustrated by Mark Bagley, Marvel Books (New York, NY), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Marville, 411, and Namor, to be published by Marvel Books.

SIDELIGHTS: Bill Jemas is the chief operating officer of Marvel Enterprises, Inc., the company that manufactures comic books, trading cards, and bubble gum. He is also credited for the rebirth of the character Spider-Man. Spider-Man was reaching his mid-forties when Jemas took over at Marvel in 1993, and like the comic-book hero, the comic-book industry was in decline. Jemas looked at the aging superhero and realized he was falling apart, so Jemas sat down with his fellow writers and gave Spider-Man a second lease on life. The group took him back to his roots by developing the Ultimate Spider-Man series, in which Spider-Man is a teenager again, living in modern times. The increased sales of comic books reflect the renewed interest young boys and girls took in the character.

Spider-Man was first introduced to the public in 1962 as Peter Parker, a young high school student, who is bitten by a spider and gains super-human, spider-like gifts. After his beloved uncle is killed, he vows to rid his community of evildoers. Jemas remains true to the original Spider-Man storyline, but brings the circumstances and environment around the characters up to date, while simultaneously returning Peter to his high-school age. In this way, Jemas appeals to contemporary teenagers provides a story that first-time readers can appreciate without having to know the comic's forty-year history. In an interview for Collector Times Online Jemas described to writer Jamie Colville Ultimate Spider Man's appeal to both new and old readers. "The characters are pure and true to themselves," said Jemas. "The stories are strong, complete, compelling, and produced by our best artists and writers. But any new reader can pick up any one of these books and start reading." Steve Raiteri, writing for Library Journal, called Jemas's revisions "intelligent" and the dialogue "true to life."

Jemas is also credited with several other innovations at Marvel, including a vivid Web presence and a new line of trading cards. In addition to the Ultimate Spider-Man series, Jemas is also working on a Marvel Heroes series.