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Tuesday, 4:04
2007-07-20 11:37:02

Let's talk about the secrets of good comic book editing for a little bit.

It's a strange and misunderstood science, editing comic books. Nobody's written any books about it, and few in the outside world know all that much about it. Typically, when you hear people talking about the editor, they're usually saying one of two things: 1) The editor is too intrusive. He's preventing the creative team from doing what they want to do. Why won't he leave them alone? 2) The editor's not doing enough! He needs to stop that crazy creative team from doing what they want and ruining the characters and the books that way. When's he going to get off his ass?

The reality of the situation is a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B, and a bunch of stuff you don't even think about from over in column Q.

The first thing you should understand if you're thinking about being a comic book editor is the following rule, one that I tend to toss off an awful lot around the office: CREATORS GET THE CREDIT; EDITORS GET THE BLAME. That's not meant as a complaint, but rather as a statement of fact--a statement that you'd better get used to and come to terms with if you want to do this professionally. The editor's really supposed to be the invisible guy guiding the production from behind the scenes--he's not meant to be seen directly. Stan Lee changed that perception somewhat, but I'd be willing to wager that the change he made wouldn't have been effective if he hadn't simultaneously been the writer on all of those comics at the same time.

The editor is the most put-upon of all the people in the production chain of making a comic book, in that he gets to hear it from both sides. The creators will complain about short deadlines and sleepless nights and prior commitments, and the publishers will come down on him for late books, or drooping sales, or bad relations with the talent.

Which brings us to rule number two, something that Mark Gruenwald used to say when he taught at Assistant Editor's school a decade ago: THE EDITOR TAKES THE CRAP, SO THE EDITOR MAKES THE RULES. The editor is the voice of the company to the creators, he's the one that signs the vouchers and gets people paid, so it makes sense to be respectful towards him. At the same time, the editor is the advocate for the creators in their dealings with the company, whether in a case where somebody's payment got screwed up, or when somebody has a particular story they want to tell with a given character.

The trick to assembling a good comic book starts with the selection of the creative team. If you get this right, then 90% of your job is done. And finding the right people for the right books takes a special sort of insight. It's always revealing when fans play backseat editor in those "What would you do if you ran Marvel" threads, in that there tend to be three outcomes: 1) The only people a given fan wants to see on a given book are old favorites who've worked on the series years ago, 2) The fan has a handful of creators who are favorites and will put them on assignments without much rhyme or reason, without careful consideration of a connection between the creator and the series, and 3) The fan puts together creative teams that simply wouldn't work in real life (Alex Ross painting any book monthly, or Peter David and John Byrne working on a series together.) Editors are mighty, but we don't possess strange mind-control powers.

More later.

Tom B

wow
is it me or does tom has 2 much stuuf 2 read he does have a point

Posted by tarhaun on 2006-06-20 18:32:18

editor edit thyself...
Tom,
Thanks for the info. Give us more! Thank you for putting in the effort to make this blog something worth reading, as opposed to the X office. Too bad you can't edit their blog.

Posted by bigdaddyhub2 on 2006-06-20 21:10:16

"Good" comic book editing?
From the HEROES office? Psah! (Kidding, of course!) I always praise the editors! I've long-noticed that with only a few notable exceptions, my favourite titles all come from the same editors. Even within one editorial office - I tend to prefer Molly Lazer's books over those edited by Andy Schmidt, for example. I think that says a lot about the talent of the editors... and let's face it, the HEROES office has the best editors in town!

(The X-Office team smell like dirty Skrull diapers.)

Posted by Adrian J. Watts on 2006-06-20 23:34:49

Nice to know ...
... about what the job is like- thanks for that insight. I'll never read a comic book the same.

Posted by number3 on 2006-06-20 23:41:58

Civil War Timeline
Mr. The T-Voort... A little help if you would please Since I see you as pretty much the modern god of all things Marvel, could you give us readers any kind of timeline or a definitive reading order in which to read all the Civil War stuff, including the "Road to..."? Really, it'd be great if you could tell us where to fit everything in from, say, Avengers Disassembled to now, including Secret War, House of M, Decimation, etc... But I'll settle for just Civil War. Thank you much sir.

Posted by MayorBigRig on 2006-06-21 00:09:51

This is a great insight
That I appreciate very much being an indie creator. Very informative. I look forward to more. Thanks Tom. :)

--Shannon

Posted by RangerChic on 2006-06-21 04:31:10

Appreciated Insight
As both a cynic and a realist, I have always believed that the Editor is both and less then the finished product. No Editor can make everything perfect, nor can they totally ruin an otherwise great comic.

What I do wonder about Editors is how much they get to decide about continuity, do they decide when things can slip, or do they even notice when things do? In that vain, I am seriously interested in time lines. I would love to know if Editors keep track of where characters are at certain times. How can Spider-Man be fighting this guy in comic X, another guy in comic Y, make an appearance in comic G, and be in a team in comic Q, all in the same month’s stack. I suppose it is one of those disbelieves you must suspend in order to really enjoy comics and I certainly have no problem with that but I am curious.

Posted by frostfiend on 2006-06-21 12:01:21

PS. I meant to say that the Editor is both MORE and less then the finished product.

PSS. It seems I need an Editor myself, how ironic.

Posted by frostfiend on 2006-06-21 12:02:37

Question??
How do you become a Editor, I have seen how to draw and write. But how do you become a Editor.

Posted by spidey0402 on 2006-06-21 13:24:17

Thinking of editing responsibilities....
I noticed that somebody up above made a comment regarding one of the tasks of someone in your position keeping track of continuity and that they asked a bit regarding the logistics of it. I've had a specific question for a couple of months now regarding this, and I figured that this would be the best forum to ask it. How is Tony Stark having conversations on a regular basis with Nick Fury in his monthly book? Considering that the last two issues have clearly taken place Post-Secret War and Pre-Civil War, during which time period Nick Fury has been in hiding, why did you okay this?
I know that I'm being extra-nerdy here. I'm not usually the type of fan who will sweat continuity too much (I love the modifications to the origins of the FF and Iron Man that have been put into place in recent years), but this seems like a pretty giant continuity error.

Posted by ed2ward on 2006-06-21 16:42:14

Creative Teams
So what books/creative teams that you have edited have had, in your opinion, the most creatively successful runs? The runs that most capture what the book should be in your eyes?
DDD

Posted by dum dum dugan on 2006-06-22 18:32:37

and....
thank you! Finally some insight to the marvel editing offices! :)
I think you are right- some people would love to see teams that would never work... but hey we can dream can't we ? :)
Tessana

Posted by murdocksgirl on 2006-06-26 11:23:56

Anti-Dream Teams
Ooh, now there's a thought! Creative teams that are doomed to failure! How about a Peter David / Rob Liefeld collaboration on "Red Sonja"? Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison co-plotting the "Avengers" (art by Keith Giffen)? Or maybe mixed doubles - Tom and Mary Bierbaum write "Heroes for Hire", drawn by Terry and Rachel Dodson? Deepak Chopra & J.M. DeMattheis do "Journey Into Mystery" with art by Erik Larsen? Dave Sim and Linda Medley team-up for "Uncanny X-Men"? Somone please stop me.

Posted by Lonesome Pinky on 2006-07-24 23:30:15

Array

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About this blog:
Ramblings and musings from the mind of Tom Brevoort. "It won’t be clean. It won’t be fun. It mostly won’t be coherent."

About the author:
Tom Brevoort is Executive Editor for Marvel Comics, and oversees such titles as New Avengers, Civil War, and Fantastic Four.


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