Christopher Priest, known as Jim Owsley in the 1980s, had a contentious relationship with writer Tom Defalco and artist Ron Frenz when he was editor of the Spider-Man books. Eventually Defalco and Frenz were fired from the comic. That's not disputed. Why they were fired is disputed. In any event, they decided to get their revenge by modeling a character after Owsley that only industry insiders would have known who it was. I remember being puzzled by the character, Aloysius R. Jamesly, when I first read the Thor comics. He was almost too real to be created out of whole cloth. What he says is over the top and ridiculous, but his hairstyle and manner of dress were so eccentric that it almost had to be real.
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| A photo of Owsley/Priest |
Spider-Man refers to the costume as a cheap imitation which he picked up in Germany a few months previously. This is a reference to the Spider-Man vs. Wolverine one shot that was written by Owsley/Priest which took place in Germany. The "cheap imitation" may be Defalco's opinion of the quality of the mini-series using Spider-Man, a character he was writing at the time. In any event, there's not a footnote.
Aloysius R. Jamesly makes his debut here. Owsley/Priest called him Aloysius P. Jamesly when writing about him. He was probably recalling the character and didn't want to revisit the specific comic. Here, Jamesly is making them scrap the project and start all over again. Owsley/Priest admitted he used to scrap projects and make his creators start all over or make demands on them that were quite torturous. In his defense, he said he did it to make them better writers and keep them employed. I'm going to guess Owsley/Priest didn't go around proclaiming himself to be a genius in such an oblivious manner. However, he may have had an ego, like many people who work in entertainment.
Here Jamesly is portrayed as a micromanager who wants to control every aspect of Spider-Man's fight. I probably don't need to get into what that refers to. Seeing every Sylvester Stallone movie does remind me of what Owsley/Priest wrote in that he used to go to martial arts "B" movies with Frank Miller and other staff at Marvel. Jamesly shares the same movie proclivities as Owsley/Priest, apparently.
Jamesly wants to direct the fight for Spider-Man and feels like things would have gone differently if Spider-Man had deferred to his advice. Spider-Man leaving him hanging upside down with his mouth gagged with webbing is repeated Spider-Man gag where Spidey will gag the mouth or do something petty to an ungrateful person he saved. I can see it's a fantasy of Defalco's and Frenz's to do it to Owsley/Priest.
This is probably the most on the nose or below the belt reference to Owsley/Priest. Jerry Sapristi mentions that Jamesly won't be held accountable for his missed deadline. Defalco claims Owsley/Priest missed a deadline after he fired them. Owsley/Priest denounced that as a lie. However he did admit there were cost overruns. Mostly if he had to pay the staff extra to make a book didn't miss a deadline if it meant finishing up the existing story or starting all over again. Not unlike Jamesly.
Not much to add for this panel. Jamesly had been absent for nearly two years. Why the team decided to bring him back is anyone's guess. Perhaps Owsley/Priest had annoyed them again somehow.
As with the previous panel, Jamesly is just shown to be self-centered jerk.
Two and a half years later, Jamesly gets off easily and just appears at a Christmas party for Eric Masterson. Perhaps, Tom and Ron were infected with the Christmas spirit?
Until...six months later. Jamesly's last appearance. He closes down a construction site damaged by Thor and the Absorbing Man's fight. He's not reduced to caricature like his other appearances, but is still put in a negative light.
Christopher Priest, as he now known, did respond to Jamesly in
article he wrote about racism about Marvel, although he did not call the character inspired by him racist. I think the anecdote would have been better placed in another article he wrote entitled
"Why I Never Discuss Spider-Man", which was his account of what happened when he was the Spider-Man editor. Priest also had an
interview with Dollar Bin Comics where he also discussed his time working on Spider-Man.
Defalco and Frenz, while not discussing Jamesly, have discussed their working relationship with Priest in a few interviews. They also had an
interview with Dollar Bin where they responded to Priest. "They" being mostly Defalco. Frenz tried to be a little more sanguine about the situation. Super Hero Speak had another good
interview. In both interviews, Frenz directed those curious about the situation and what the mystery of the Hobgoblin played a part in that, to Back Issue Magazine 35, which can be purchased
here.
