JORDAN EXPLAINS DEADLINE TO NATE
2008-06-17 18:00:49
NATE: How we doin’?
JORDAN: Still coughing a bit, if that’s what you mean. Mostly feel ok. I’m just glad I didn’t lose my voice.
NATE: Yeah. I’m TOTALLY glad you haven’t lost your voice. And by the way…at this point, you’ve coughed for so long that you no longer have a cold. You have leprosy.
ANYhow…we’ve got a unique opportunity today. Y’see, a few years ago, before he left Marvel to go work for CrossGen, then DC, then Hardees, then TJ Maxx, and then back to Marvel, Editor Bill Rosemann (he of NOVA, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, SHE-HULK, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) wrote a comic here!!!!!!! This is great. It’s something called Deadline. What is it, Jordan? 100 words or less.
JORDAN: So, Kat Farrell is a rookie reporter on the “Capes” beat for the Daily Bugle. Thing is, she hates super heroes – thinks they're immature brats who endanger the city with their meaningless fights – and wants to get promoted to the paper’s crime beat and cover real news. Kat learns that if she can land a big story, she has a shot of getting promoted. She gets a tip that leads to a story investigating a serial killer targeting super-villains. She soon learns that the killer is the spirit of the murdered Judge Hart, now delivering “justice” to the guilty. But the real mystery just begins there, as she travels the underbelly of Marvel’s New York and the memories of its murdered citizens to find out who killed Hart, and how he became “The Judge”. In the end, Kat solves the mystery, but I don’t want to spoil it.
NATE: What in the…ROSEMANN!!!!!!
BILL: That’s right, True Believer, you gotta go hunt through the 25 cents bin for the answers…but the Guy Davis art is worth it!
NATE: Ok, FIRST off! You went in and changed Jordan’s summary of the book. It was originally 100 words, but Jordan says you upped it to 148, which means, in keeping with tradition, I have to stop reading at word 100 (“guilty”)
SECOND – I will now mock you by coming up with several replacement names for Kat Farrell:
Poodell Jumpy
Zebera Striper
Jerraf Longneck
Bunny Hopp
Shelley Turdle
THIRD – If you’re in a world full of super heroes, wouldn’t they be considered the upper echelon of reportage? In the real world, natural disasters and violence always make the front page. Powers are just an extension of that.
BILL: First: I couldn’t help tweaking Jordan’s summary…my Editor Brain commands me! [Editor's Note: We had to fix Bill's fixed summary with our editor brains]
Second: As for Kat’s name, Kat is short for Katherine (a nod to fellow feisty redhead Katherine Hepburn) – and Farrell is my wife’s last name…and she’s got 11 brother and sisters ready to show you why the Irish are indeed Fighting! Oh, and the name may not have pleased your mighty taste…but it was good enough for Brian Michael Bendis to use her in Pulse and Daredevil…and she’s now also appearing in New Warriors! So there!
But I must admit that Bunny Hopp is genius.
Third: See, that’s what (hopefully) makes Kat interesting. Some people think celebrities are big news and worthy of coverage. Others think they’re spoiled and not worthy of all the ink. Kat happens to think the city’s real heroes are the hard working so-called “normal” people like cops, firefighters, teachers, etc…but maybe not in your book, Nate Cosby!
NATE: Nah, I’m with Cat Feral. If they were real, I’d ignore heroes all the time. Buncha sissies.
Jordy, how d'ya feel about the Rose Man changing your pretty words?
JORDAN: He does not appreciate that I had to leave stuff out of my summary in order to fit the whole story. It was at a lean 100 words exactly. Anyway, I think this book was really pretty sweet. In her investigations, Kat winds up in some interesting places, and lets us see them in a new light. She goes to the “bar with no name,” she goes to the Tinkerer’s shop, she goes to Dr. Pow, who fixes up injured villains. It’s got cameos by Bullseye, Tombstone, Batroc, plus all the Daily Bugle faves, Betty Brant, Ben Urish, JJJ, “Robbie” Robertson…
BILL: And who could forget the Marvel debut of Philip “Fishbone” Betbeze, who tattoos superhumans with his adamantium-tipped needle?
NATE: Bunny Hopp wasn’t the alcoholic woman that was an alcoholic in Frontline, was she?
BILL: No, that was Sally Flounder. Or was that Sally Floyd?
JORDAN: So you can accept that a guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs, and Victor von Doom becomes an evil tyrant, but the idea that someone with the last name Farrell would be nicknamed “Kat” gets to you?
BILL: And it ain’t even pronounced like “feral”…it’s like “barrel”…sheesh!
NATE: I’m gonna come up with more names:
Holly Treemore
Misty Lakebed
Lacey Shirtsize
Wonto Threefore
Lady Daisy Rosemann
JORDAN: I always wanted to make a character named “Slinky Magicspring.” Never got around to it, yet.
Anyway, anyway, do you have any questions about the actual book, beyond the character’s name? Did you read the rest of the summary, you know, where the stuff happens?
NATE: No. I wanted to ask Rosemann what he thought of the new movie I didn’t see, though.
Rosemann! What’d you think of The Bourne Hulk?
I mean The Hulk Identity.
I mean The Incredible Ultimatum.
Hrm, what was that thing called…
BILL: I unfortunately was unable to make the Marvel screening…but I bet Jordan can describe it in 148 words or less.
NATE: Yeah, I couldn’t make it either. I had a date with Shelley Ocean.
BILL: I have a question…how old are you today, Birthday Boy Nate Cosby?
NATE: I am 27. Feels weird. I thought I’d feel older. But everyone in this office is older than me (Mark, Jordan, even the intern). It’s been rough: My mom’s been sending me one text for each year of my birth.
JORDAN: You only had one year of your birth. You were only born in one year.
NATE: Fair point, old man.
Awright, this has been a nice, congenial blog entry. I forget the book we were talking about—
Another awesome entry.
Sidenote -I listened to the podcast Nate did, it is SO funny. Chris Giarrusso is really a strange guy. Saying the most funniest things when Nate makes fun of him. Nate, you HAVE to start doing more podcasts!
Giarrusso -"United States Students Across the World"
Posted by ronch on 2008-06-18 01:56:32
Erm, "feral" and "barrel" actually rhyme, so you just proved his point, haha.
And I agree, Chris Giarrusso is a very funny/cool guy, always a joy to talk to at cons.
Posted by sononsj on 2008-06-23 12:36:46
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About this blog: By day, he’s a mild-mannered comic book editor! By night, he’s an obsessive sports fan!
By early morning, he drinks coffee and then runs! He’s Nathan Cosby, and he has thoughts about things.
This is them.
About the author: When Associate Editor Nathan Cosby is not thinking about football, he edits Marvel’s All-Ages books, including the Marvel Adventures line (Spidey, FF, Avengers, Super Heroes), X-Men and Wolverine First Class, Franklin Richards, Mini Marvels, and Power Pack, works on the Marvel Illustrated and Stephen King books, does the Custom Comics, and runs Super Hero Squad. There’s like 20 other things he does, but he’s bored with typing this.
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