T^he whom who can't be at San Diego thanks you a lot.
I may sound stalking sometimes, but regarding the late past years, we can say you succeed your goal, making the Marvel founding icons back under spotlights.

What's differenciate Marvel from his others concurrents is, even if the characters are not so popular than a Superman or a Batman, you tend to always made them strongly iconics anyway, and that works pretty well.

And as a reader, I had find very brave your latest tries over some risky titles, some semi-popular characters, 'Iron Fist' comes first in my mind, then there's also 'Doctor Voodoo' and 'Dead of night' featuring various B-Lists characters. There's also other takes wich I feel kinda weak.

- after making us accepting Bucky as Steve'successor, then Steve is not dead, in a very Kurt Vonnegut 'way. There was really a challenge to handle here, preparing in a way the nextwave, the next generation of the MU, starting with Bucky , then Stephen Strange no longer Supreme Sorcerer, maybe something similar with Iron Man. With Steve probably back, it seems like things never reallly change.

- I found really weak to see the Sentry facing Moonknight, after facing the Punisher. What's looked like a very imaginative start is recuperated ...what ? six months later ? The last time you've talked about the five-years of readership rotating, I just had to deal with it. Now this is a six months readership rotation and it doesn't feet me at all.

What I really hope is to see the core characters of the MU shining in their very own titles ( Cap, Iron Man, the Hulk -or the new one-, Thor ) and let the team titles federate the others characters instead
of having them floating in the market-sales limbo : why not an Avenger team with Moonknight, Ghost Rider, and Blade ?

(...)

Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-07-24 06:55:34
very interesting. it does feel like 2004 is when the current Marvel Universe started - that's when you got Bendis on Avengers, Brubaker on Captain America, and Ellis on Iron Man. Astonishing X-Men started that year too. and Bendis on Avengers lead to the big House of M event which lead to the other big events we've seen since. none of which is mentioned here, so I'm guessing you guys planned that later

it would be cool if you could post other "memos" too

Posted by Maestro on 2009-07-24 07:29:17
Very Interesting!
How is the 616 MU line doing in relation to the Ultimate Line in 2009 (sales, talent, reader appreciation)?

Posted by Mon Morn Lunatic on 2009-07-24 15:21:16
"Ultimate Hawkeye or Marvel Knights Hawkeye is almost certain to open better than plain old Hawkeye. "

Especially when plain 'ol Hawkeye never appears in costume...

"THE PULSE #1 - Bendis and Bagley. We need to distance this from ALIAS as much as possible"

What a mistake THAT was...

"CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON #1 - Need to position this not as the secondary Cap book, but as the mainstream MU Cap book, the book that'll interact with AVENGERS and maintain a consistent flavor."

Didn't work out too well...

"SILVER SURFER #7
- New arc if we get approval to go to 12
--Do a small cross-promotion with THANOS?"

Too bad that idea didn't come sooner... like Hawkeye, this book was the product of an era that bafflingly concluded the best way to launch a series was primarily without the character the readers came to see...

"AVENGERS #500
--Double sized
--Director's Cut edition as well
--Original numbering resumes
It's early enough in the game that it might be worth considering an Avengers Month event across other titles. Specific issues that could be involved shipping this month include THOR #80, IRON MAN #83, SHE-HULK #5, CAP & FALCON #5 and HAWKEYE #9 (assuming we go to 12)"

Boy, Disassembled really up-ended everything, huh?

"THOR #81
--If we're going to scrub the team and revamp the title, this is the place to do it. Perhaps we could spin events out of out proposed Avengers Month event?"

Hmm, so you guys were thinking of pushing Jurgens out as early as this...

"FOURIGIN: who's the artist, when can we schedule it for maximum impact?"

I wonder what this was supposed to be...

Posted by CylverSaber on 2009-07-24 23:24:35
'BLACK CAT: do we want to do this, and if so, when is the optimal time to get it out?'

I...do want this, actually. As for the optimal time to launch it, that's whenever you want because it had to be made by David Lapham and Tommy Lee Edwards, and with that, that will work anytime.

Posted by bulgarianyogurt on 2009-07-26 06:06:34
It's funny because MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA isn't finished yet and that was written in 2003.

Posted by Rawnzilla on 2009-07-26 17:07:29
really??
AVENGERS #77

-- Chuck Austin starts. New arc. Fifty-cent issue. Double-ships with #78

You could have paid me $.50 and I still wouldnt have enjoyed the Chuck Austen Avengers. 2003-2004 was the Chuck Austen era at Marvel and it was very poor. Thank Bendis for saving the Avengers from the Austen era.

THE PULSE #1 - Bendis and Bagley. We need to distance this from ALIAS as much as possible, and instead position it as the creative team from ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN beginning a new series in the MU proper

Why would you want to distance it from Alias? This move I will never understand.

HAWKEYE #7

- New arc if we get approval to go to 12

Other than the covers, did we ever see Hawkeye in this book or did we get a few issues of Clint Barton before he got whacked in the Avengers? I know this was the end of the OMG CAPES AND COSTUMES ARE BAD times at Marvel, but geez...

Seriously, if Marvel wants to know why the Ultimate line worked back then it was because it actually had superheroes in it. Since we couldnt get regular superhero action in the Marvel U, we had to get it somewhere. Its not like you transmuted lead to gold here, you just had a line that actual got back to what Marvel did for decades before you decided that since you killed people with Foil covers, you would kill them with a complete lack of superheroes.

And how did that work out?

It also helps that you decided to put a few good writers on some of your flagship titles and get them back from their DOA status.


Posted by evilive1972 on 2009-07-27 11:46:33
Distancing The Pulse from Alias
Why do some people have a hard time understanding why Marvel felt the need to distance The Pulse from Alias?

Alias was a MAX title and contained a lot more sex, language and violence. The Pulse was a mainstream Marvel title for all ages. You don't want a kid to love The Pulse and then read Alias which is inappropriate for them.

Why make The Pulse a mainstream title? Bigger chance of successful returns.

Posted by NewChad on 2009-07-28 05:35:11
Hearing about the pitch of the up-coming ' Heartless' by Philip Ridley, I couldn't help thinking ' hey, this is really an open love declaration to Marvel comics '. Did you consider asking Ridley to write some stories. It is told that he's really a visionnary, and I couldn't help thinking the same when I just discovered 'The passion of darkly noon', this is really the Red Hulk before the hour...

Posted by wildasparagus on 2009-07-28 07:59:08
More Thoughts on The Pulse
Not seeing my original post but I would also add that The Pulse as mainstream comic was misdirected. The general readership may have come around to discovering the Alias series but some watered down "Man on the Street of the MU" newspaper book served neither the superhero fanbase nor the original audience. I love Marvel, I really do, but I would also love for this industry juggernaut to produce more work like "Alias" that serves story over "property."


Posted by hamgravy on 2009-07-28 09:16:53
Publishing Strategy 2009
If I had to envision Tom's document for this year I imagine that it would begin with the opposite tack from the 2004 doc in that both the Ultimates Line (now Ultimate Comics) and (to a lesser degree) The Marvel Knights Line are in need of re-vitalization and a re-commitment to their original purpose. Personally, I always felt that Marvel Knights should be the home of self-contained, finite, stories by single creative teams akin to "Preacher" and "Y:The Last Man" at Vertigo but with Marvel characters as their stars.

In addition, it sounds like Marvel is amping up Thor to be a major player before the movie hits and that they are looking to draw the Cosmic Books closer to the MU proper.

How do you make the Fantastic Four work? Glad to hear about the new FF creative team, but, does more need to be done to save what many consider a dead (or at least dated) property? The "famous family" angle has long seemed passe to most older readers and the superstar creative team (Millar/ Hitch) did little to re-charge the characters as characters in the eyes of fans. I have felt that one way to revitalize that property would have been to get the family off-planet (Lost in Space-style) to increase both the risk and unique identity of the team and return them to their role as pre-eminent cosmic characters (especially with the niche success of the Cosmic Books). For me, the best way to make the FF relevant is to make them an All-Ages affair a la The Incredibles. So, if older readers find them passe, don't target the older readers. The Incredibles was a better FF movie than the FF movie and there's no reason that the FF can't excel in the same fashion. I'm convinced there is still some perfect chemistry to making it work.

Here's a question about Anniversary Issues - how many readers use them as a way to join a series and how many treat it like a point to jump ship? For me, I am jumping ship on ASM and Captain America and DD. While I like individual aspects of the books, the ongoing subplots have been drawn out for too long and I care less and less about what's happening. ASM has been at its BEST with some of the shorter arcs (Bachalo's Hammerhead, Martin's Shocker, Rivera's Punisher) and the second I see more about Norman and/or MJ I'm running for the hills. Cap and DD are snooze-fests and I'll consider them (including the new DD creative team) in trades.

Meanwhile, I did pick up and enjoy the Hulk anniversary issue but I have no interest in following another giant convoluted plot.

Serial fiction for aging Fan Men is a tricky business. If I were strategizing NOW, it would be to find another way of making fun, accessible, reads starring characters that the public is clamoring for. These endless, 600+ epics have got to go. But, since they are already there, make them work for the general audience. The trade department releases and labels trades based on the shifting tastes of the same audience buying the regular stuff.

With Thor as an example, pick the stuff you think/ know is the best and label and number it accordingly. The Essentials do a good job of this but not many non-fans want to have a phone book.

Here's what should be in a kiosk at Barnes and Noble. Nice, consistent packaging and coloring and labeling: Classic Thor Volumes 1-2. Walt Simonson's Thor Volume 1-2. JMS' Thor Volume 1-2. Thor: Son of Asgard Digests. Loki. Market and explain them and publish more of what the market demands.

Obviously, this is my armchair analysis and the above is subject to the purveyance of many talented people who specifically do this for a living.

What say you for the Publishing Strategy 2009?


Posted by hamgravy on 2009-07-28 10:01:35
Original Post
BTW - my original post was to thiank Tom for sharing this and for his role in re-vitalizing the MU!

Posted by hamgravy on 2009-07-28 10:02:34
This is a very interesting document. I have to wonder if the "Marvel U imprint" advocacy in there was instrumental in getting Bendis assigned to Avengers, which must have happened shortly after this was written. That assignment may still be a controversial move in some circles, but the commercial success of the strategy Marvel has pursued since 2004 - which is basically what Tom advocates in his first few paragraphs here - is undebatable.

And what was "Fourigin"? was it Joe Casey's FF miniseries that was eventually published in 2006 as "Fantastic Four: First Family" with Chris Weston on art?. Also, what was "Iron" going to be?

Anyway thanks Tom for another peek behind the curtain. Id be interested to read more stuff like this, especially from the Bob Harras era, a period much maligned but which I think actually led to a big uptick in quality, at least initially.

Posted by hueysheridan on 2009-07-28 10:03:18
Interesting. I thought it was odd that you noted the differences between the Hawkeye, and now we get the character who's supposed to be Hawkeye running around like a ninja and spending entire issues talking about how he wants to kill some Spider-Man bad guy. Can we please, please, please actually get Hawkeye back? Pretty please? Let Slott use him in MA.

(Oh, and I definitely agree with others about how it would have been nice to actually see Hawkeye in his costume in his own series.)

Also thought it was interesting that the document talked about putting high-profile creators on these books and then noted Austen's run on Avengers was starting. Talk about ironic. Also interesting that Bendis/Dismembered wasn't even on the boards at this point. Who ever thought something could make the Austen run look good?

Posted by motteditor on 2009-07-29 22:26:08
...from another panel
and about strategy by the way :

' I tend to feel the same about the comments onto 'Necrosha' that have been made in various forums. I expected better from Marvel than two DC ripp-offs ( of 'Batman RIP' and 'Blackest night' ) , it feel strange to see editors restain informations about up-coming unexpectable events just to see...barely the same ressorts than the concurrent....barely at the same time: meanwhile Batman is stucked in time and the DC Universe his facing his deads, I waited what Marvel had to propose.

So all of this to say : stop the professionnal-rock star attitude self-proclaimed, stop being deferent with the fans who 'd like to become authors. They all provide wonderful ideas, and take nothing from that.
Other versions of already told stories are at best caricature, I didn't say it wasn't creative, I just said you have nothing to offer beyond.


Another example : X-Force and Cable are wonderful titles, but they came for events, they're part of a whole set-up of events, and this is a perfect jump for being a title. If you think readers are not aware about that you're wrong. The only title who take the risk to really tell stories, making his own cast organic and dealing with that, daring taking new directions is X-Factor by Peter David. There aren't so many.'

I'll be glad to discuss about it whenever you had time for it.
I'd like also already asking you about the late Comic-Convention big new : MarvelMan belonging now to Marvel, doesn't mean the relaunch of the Epic label as well ?

friendly yours ( always )




Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-07-30 12:18:30
Old versus New
The most interesting thing about the memo, I thought, was the concern about the “mainstream Marvel books” and how to make them important again. Marvel’s event-centered strategy hasn’t made the individual books important again, since the event in progress, the prelude to an event, or the effects of an event dominate the storylines in many books at any given time. I’d guess that in terms of editorial workload, the event strategy makes things easier, since there’s less concern about coming up with subplots and storylines for each title, less need for individual title management; there’s more creative brainstorming about events, and how to do tie-ins and miniseries tie-ins.

The contradictory use of issue (re)numbering suggests that Marvel still considers promotional gimmicks important to selling individual issues.

It would be interesting to see memos concerning the target demographic for series, continuing or proposed, and how that affects the development of story content.

As much as I dislike Marvel’s current strategy, I doubt that the opportunity to go back to the old days (pre-”Avengers Disassembled”) exists. The old approach to storytelling relied on compressed plotting, multiple subplots maturing at different times, occasional tie-ins and crossovers, and was so different from dialogue-only, decompressed storytelling that trying to go back to the old approach would create problems for everyone involved, including the readers. That isn’t to say that sophisticated stories can’t be told with the current approach, but to get the story content in, each issue would have to be written very carefully, with every panel being important.

SRS


Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-07-30 13:51:46
Content versus Logistics
BTW, I realize that the “events” strategy results in more production- and logistics-related work, since there are more pages and issues to be produced and coordinated, but that work is self-imposed. If the thinking underlying an event is to produce a central miniseries lasting “x” issues with a goal of “x” tie-ins selling at a price of $3.99 per issue, then the emphasis is on producing units and maximizing the revenue from those units. That’s quite different from focusing on the quality of the story content in issues.

The problems with Dr. Strange illustrate how the changes in editorial policy have affected characters. Under the old system, the primary concern would have been finding a writer with a record in doing stories about magic (sorcery), finding suitable artists, and then producing a series and seeing if the series could find an audience. Under the current system, Strange is a character without a niche, and if there were a series, it wouldn’t be amenable to tie-ins with the events. No wonder that writers find him difficult to use. Coming up with story ideas for Strange as a solo character is actually easy; it’s having him act as a superhero that’s hard.

SRS


Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-07-30 15:13:57
...about strategy
How disappointing to see my post deleted...I can't get trough this, really.
I don't think I've been off-topic :
I was kind of asking, still about publishing strategy, if you can explain for us the similitaries ( editorial, artistics ? ) of the adventures in time by Batman ( at the end of 'Final Crisis' ) and by Cap America ( after ' The death of...' ), and eventually I wanted to know about 'Necrosha' and ' Blackest night'...

Is this something you planned long time ago ? Is it about double-agents in the differents offices concerned or do you think we have to consider the possibility of an alien invading extra-force ?

It's interesting really to see editors restain informations about how unbelieveble the next events will be, how professionals they are, things like that... Sorting ripp-offs of the concurrency is not what I would call being creative. Caricaturing is interesting , but it sometimes the easiest way : you offer nothing new, but you joke about something who at last, is...

I found very interesting than during ( more or less ) ' 52' and 'Countdown', Marvel focused onto his own stories : ' Civil War', ' World War Hulk'...' Secret Invasion' versus ' Final Crisis' was also something penultimate, in terms of editorial and especially, in terms of ' visions of a comic-book'...but then,...what ? Do we have to consider in fact the whole 'Messiah trilogy' in response of the currents DC events, and that ' Necrosha' and ' Nation X' are just steps to the final chapter ?


Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-08-01 04:33:04
... so I wanted to know if there is something you wanted to publish, to share with us about these kind of decisions ....

Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-08-01 04:34:52
Responses not deleted
Your comment wasn't deleted, notapotatoe; judging by the "Responses" total, there are still three 7/30-7/31 responses on which the "offensive" flag hasn't been reset.

SRS

Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-08-01 12:02:38
Story concept: Combining magic and psionic en
One example of editors as a source of story concepts:

Psionic energy and magical energy are often treated as the same thing by writers who use them to change or restructure reality, but they’re not the same: different sources, different skill sets required, different effective areas covered and ranges. The two forms of energy can interact, though. Magic could be used to weaponize psionic energy and use it to do things that spells alone aren’t appropriate for: blasting away barriers between dimensions, for example, or instant, specific, and permanent transformations of populations. The possibilities are numerous.

SRS


Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-08-01 16:08:25
Thanks mr SRS, seems like it took more time than usual for being moderated.
I'm glad to see Marvel taking a risk with Brother Voodoo has the new Supreme Sorcerer, and by that giving him his own title, which happened to be risky even with Dr Strange who is an older franchise. Jefte Paolo is an interesting artistic choice, but using Doctor Voodoo to blast mystic energy remain conventionnal and you could have kept Strange for that. I used to think voodoo as magic who doesn't leave a trace. Magic and his different aspects approached on a more realistic side ( yes I'm thinking about a special episode written by a special guy in a book called ' A murder of crows' ) - and maybe on a gradual aspect ( suspens, horror, gore or trash - I mean : mature ) - could provide interesting stories and make of 'Dr Voodoo' a hit.

Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-08-03 07:13:53
Brother Voodoo, etc.
Brother Voodoo isn't a bad character, but the notion that he could be an effective Sorcerer Supreme was misconceived. Perhaps the people involved thought readers would prefer Brother Voodoo to Strange; perhaps they thought that voodoo's connection to zombies was cool. I doubt, however, that any story featuring B.V. in the foreseeable future will have the same thought-provoking content that the best Dr. Strange stories did. Voodoo isn't sorcery. No voodoo practitioner is going to threaten the universe, nor is one going to save it.

Magic can be used for so many things --! If only one treats the subject systematically. And the blending of magic and psionics has even more potential:

A Black Cube, a Cosmic Cube that has been corrupted, so that whatever someone does with it will be accompanied by evil alterations.

A thought bomb, activated by whatever one might want as a trigger, that would eliminate advanced thought processes in humans.

Paradoxical objects and beings residing among humans and being accepted as normal, whatever they look like or do, because they've been attached to the fabric of reality.

The idea is simple enough: Magic as a means of delivering a shaped charge of psionic energy that alters reality. A telepath can't block the weapon's activation; a counterspell won't reverse the effects of the psionic energy.

SRS

Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-08-06 11:20:30
"Psionic energy and magical energy are often treated as the same thing by writers who use them to change or restructure reality, but they’re not the same: different sources, different skill sets required, different effective areas covered and ranges. The two forms of energy can interact, though. Magic could be used to weaponize psionic energy and use it to do things that spells alone aren’t appropriate for: blasting away barriers between dimensions, for example, or instant, specific, and permanent transformations of populations. The possibilities are numerous. "

This is not a story idea, its a plot point at best.


I found this list very interesting. With Disassembled changing all of the Marvel Universe, and becoming the focus point for the whole line. It looks like you got your wish Tom, just not in the way that you were planning

Posted by IanZL on 2009-08-06 12:25:46
Generating characters and devices
"This is not a story idea, its a plot point at best."

Wrong. I used "story concept" with regard to stories about continuing characters in a shared universe. Coming up with an idea for a menace for the hero or heroes to battle is central to the story. Having a hero fight a doomsday machine is obviously different from having him fight a serial killer. Some menaces will relate naturally to him; others won't. Some menaces will be more original than others will be.

Combining psionic energy and magic is simply a way of generating characters and devices that haven't been (often) seen before.

SRS




Posted by Steven R. Stahl on 2009-08-06 15:26:21