Reading the the remarks attributed to David Goyer in this post on the Mary Sue (http://ipad.themarysue.com/themarysue/#!/entry/man-of-steel-sequel-writer-david-goyer-calls-marvels-shehulk,537cd075e56d0bb8535f2e2f) recalls to mind a bizarre meeting I attended in the editorial offices at DC back in the waning days of the Silver Age, circa 1970.

The meeting was called by the editorial director, Carmine Infantino. Among those present were the top editorial staff – Julie Schwartz, Joe Orlando, Dick Giordano, and Murray Boltinoff – and, representing production, production chief Sol Harrison and his assistant, Jack Adler. Among the writers who were invited to weigh in were Denny O'Neil, Steve Skates, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, and yours truly. (I think artists attended a separate meeting.) At that time I was the youngest writer working for either Marvel or DC (I was still 17), and, arguably, probably closest in age to the target demographic comics were then aiming at – low to mid teens.

As we understood it, the meeting was called to discuss why Marvel seemed to be growing in popularity while DC’s sales were stagnating. Ostensibly, Carmine was asking us, the gathered writers, for our insights into how to address Marvel’s challenge – but it quickly became apparent that to the entrenched interests at DC, the problem wasn’t that Marvel was eating DC’s lunch, the problem was the general comic book audience just didn’t appreciate that Marvel’s books were actually inferior to those published by DC.

That’s right. According to at least some people in power at DC, Marvel’s books were becoming more popular because comic book readers didn’t know the difference between good comics and bad ones.

This attitude was summed up by a remark from Sol Harrison (who later became president of DC for a few years in the late 1970s): “What people forget is that nobody really wants to work for Marvel. Everybody really wants to work for DC.”

I muttered something to Len about Sol having it backward. (In my case at the time I really wanted to work for Marvel, though I loved working for DC, and would go on to have a great time writing for both companies.)

I repeat this story not to denigrate the memory of Sol Harrison, who was a great production manager and a sweet guy who sincerely believed what he was saying, but to point out that his mindset – a kind of paternalistic, we-know-better-than-the-fans view of what is and isn’t good in comics – is very similar to the ignorant contempt for fans expressed in the quotes attributed to David Goyer in The Mary Sue post.

If these remarks actually reflect Goyer’s thinking, and, by extension, the thinking of the Powers That Be at Warners who have hired him to be their go-to guy for DC Comics adaptations to film, it explains a lot.

It explains why “Man of Steel” disappointed so many readers and fans of the comic book character. It explains why some of us may have reason to worry about “Superman vs Batman: Dawn of Justice.” And it explains why, forty-four years after DC’s editorial elite called a meeting to try and understand why Marvel’s books were becoming more popular with readers than their own, the current ownership is still as clueless today as the old guard was then.

The term I’d use to describe both points of view?

Smug arrogance.