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My Unknown Greats pt 1
2008-03-04 16:57:51

The Hood #1

I put out a lot of comic books every month--especially when you factor in the books I'm not directly editing myself, but am overseeing (which is just about all of the mainstream Marvel Universe output.) And as with almost everything, there's a hit-to-miss ratio. Especially when it comes to projects featuring new characters, less mainstream genres or experimental approaches, it's very easy for some of the very best stuff you do to be overlooked--consigned to the back issue bins of history despite whatever smattering of critical acclaim they might receive. Every editor has at least a couple of these, books they really loved and thought were unique but which for whatever reason failed to catch on with a broad audience. These are the Unknown greats, and here's a series on a couple of mine.

THE HOOD has come back into the public consciousness a bit over the past year, thanks to Brian Bendis making the character an important part of his NEW AVENGERS plans, but before that it was a barely-remembered series. Set within the Marvel Universe (at a time when we were more free and easy about mixing the mainstream books with the MAX label), THE HOOD was sort of the Anti-ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, the story of a young hoodlum who lucks into super-powers and how he uses them for his own personal gain.

It was pitched to editor Joe Quesada by Brian K. Vaughan, who at that point was coming off of his run on SWAMP THING. If memory serves, he had sold Y THE LAST MAN to Vertigo, but it had yet to begin coming out, and he'd not yet launched RUNAWAYS. So he was a bit less of a known quantity.

Ironically, Mark Millar and I had done a little bit of development work some years previous on a young villain book called THE SHOCKER, which went nowhere (Mark subsequently incorporated a couple of his ideas from it into WANTED.) So it was a subject matter that I was interested in. And my attention had been brought to Brian's SWAMP THING work by my once-assistant Gregg Schigiel. So I was up for moving ahead with the project.

The thing I remember the most about THE HOOD was how smoothly it went. After one or two brief conversations concerning the pitch, Brian went off and worked out his story outline, and from there the scripts were like clockwork. Brian was an is an immaculate plotter, so as each script came in, there was precious little that had to be done before handing it over to an artist.

As I recall, Brian was initially hoping we could get Cliff Chiang to draw the series, but he was tied up with a project elsewhere. We explored a whole list of possibilities, finding no love, until I suggested Kyle Hotz, with whom I'd worked a number of times before. A little bit hesitant at the start, Brian came to.

My other memory of The Hood concerns a specific sort of respect for Brian Vaughan as a creator, based on something that happened shortly after the series came out. As indicated earlier, the book didn't sell all that well, but the folks up here around the office all really adored it. So Brian came in for a meeting with us to see if we could figure out a strategy in which doing a follow-up would be commercially viable. Marvel President Bill Jemas suggested that all Brian needed to do was to not make the follow-up a MAX book, and that would take care of a lot of the problem (since many retailers stocked lightly on MAX titles because of concerns about the content and their local obscenity laws.) Bill was his typical strong-willed self in this assertion--but Brian refused to go for it. He felt that trying to do the kinds of stories he'd envisioned for THE HOOD in a non-MAX series would have neutered the concept. Now, realize, Brian didn't have all that much going on for himself in the business at that moment, and this was the President of Marvel speaking to him. But he stood his ground for creative reasons--not belligerently, or disrespectfully, but in the position that such a decision would not allow him to do his best work. That showed a great deal of personal integrity.

Brian and I did subsequently attempt to pull together a PUNISHER VS. THE HOOD limited series (which would have killed the character off, shot dead by the Punisher in the last issue) but somehow it never materialized, and he moved on to better, more profitable things.

You know what happened... I vetoed the PUNISHER VS THE HOOD book.

That's a great story. One of the things that I've really enjoyed about Y is that, sure there was mature content in it, but it wasn't just for the sake of being mature. And yes, I am very impressed by the man having the beans to pass on a second-chance like that. We say that industry will always win over art, but I think this is a strong counter example.

Posted by kyle-latino on 2008-03-04 17:36:44

the hood is a great character
I'm glad that miniseries never came to fruition, because I think the Hood is the best new villain and probably one of the best characters overall to come out of Marvel since 2000. I'd love to see another MAX Hood series, even that's probably an extreme long shot at this point.

I think the US War Machine MAX series was unjustly overlooked too, and due to Chuck Austen's name on it, the thoroughly botched sequel, and the non-white ethnicity of the main character, I don't know if it'll ever get the notice it deserves. Maybe the Iron Man movie will revive a bit of interest in it.

Posted by therubberbandman on 2008-03-04 17:42:04

Bit disappointed you didn't mention Beyond! (one of Marvel's overlooked minis), which brought the Hood to some greater prominence before Bendis began using him (in a way that seems to me to depart the kind of down-on-his-luck nature of the character. I know it was McDuffie's work (not to mention Vaughan's Runaways) that made me want to seek out the original mini, something I'm not sure I'd have been inspired to do by seeing the character beat (a strangely incompetent) Tigra senseless.

Posted by motteditor on 2008-03-04 17:57:58

I enjoyed this interesting blog entry but, at the expense of my perceived status as an adult, I'd just like to say that I giggled upon seeing the main blog page. For this entry it just says "I put out a lot...". :)

Posted by friskydingo on 2008-03-04 19:53:39

Vaughn
Vaughn was the writer who got me back into comics. I picked up runaways after IGN did a readers' guide on the series around issue 18 of their second run (hehe pun.)

I have so much respect for Vaughn as a writer and a creator. This story may have even put him higher up on my list of idols. I love everything that has the guys name on it. I may even pick up Logan just because he wrote it. I hate wolverine with a fiery passion but I still wanna read it just because I love Vaughn's writing. Interestingly enough, him and Whedon are the only writers who have ever made me enjoy wolverine in any way (Vaughn in Ultimate X-men and Whedon in Astonishing)

Any readers of this blog who have liked anything Vaughn has written owe it to themselves to check out his creator owned series and his graphic novel Pride of Baghdad. Just some amazing stuff.

Thanks for sharing this story Mr. Brevoort.

Posted by Anson17 on 2008-03-04 23:36:31

I think you could probably do a profitable HOOD series now, given that BKV's star has truly risen and the Hood is a recognisable character to the majority. (I was privileged enough to get the issues when it first came out, and I was just disappointed so much was left hanging at the end.)

Posted by Fetsur on 2008-03-05 05:24:09

I have been meaning to pick up this trade, and you just clinched it Tom.
I'll have it by the end of the day.

Posted by TConway on 2008-03-05 08:44:40

The Hood is a really good series but I really do hope that he's got a bit more of a character arc as what we're seeing in New Avengers doesn't completely mesh with some of the things I thought we saw in his mini.

Posted by MattDiCarlo on 2008-03-05 09:32:40

Tom,

"at a time when we were more free and easy about mixing the mainstream books with the MAX label"

What caused this policy to change?

Posted by RichJohnston on 2008-03-05 11:14:38

The Hood
I loved the original mini and his appearances in Beyond! but I prefer the Brubaker writing of him in DD to the way Nedis has been using him in Avengers.

Posted by bomaya on 2008-03-06 08:54:50

what do you mean by 'Marvel President Bill Jemas suggested that all Brian needed to do was to not make the follow-up a MAX book ?'

Posted by notapotatoe on 2008-03-06 10:04:16

GIVE IT UP BREVOORT !!!
No more attempts to divert people's attention away from the fact that Spider-man has been ruined!!! Instead of bowing to Big Bad Joey Quesada and the corporate line, why dont you renounce the ruination of Spidey so we can move forward with a shred of respect for you???? MARVELITES...DONT LET HIM GET AWAY WITH NOT APOLOGIZING!!!!!

Posted by Steve Zoovie on 2008-03-06 15:37:12

whiner...
seriously "Zoovie" get over yourself. I happen to be really enjoying ASM. It's been a really fun read since BND started. Great new villains too. People like you who are afraid of change and attack editors and writers sicken me. Grow up or quit posting, because you're just clogging up the internet with your terribly formatted insult. The guy isn't trying to "distract" anyone. He was telling a story about an esteemed colleague. psssh. you're probably one of the guys who was pissed off when the marriage first happened anyway since it technically "ruined" spidey.

Sorry for the excess anger, but it's been one of those days where the insane amount of ignorance that surrounds me on a daily basis just really got to me.

-anson17

Posted by Anson17 on 2008-03-07 01:44:45

To ANSON 17
Anson....in the words of Doom:
"SILENCE, DOLT! CURB YOUR WITLESS TOUNGUE! MY PATIENCE GROWS AS THIN AS YOUR SCRAWNY NECK !"

Nuff said. Dont foreget to vote in November for the candidate that someone tells you is the right one. No need to think for yourself, right?

Posted by Steve Zoovie on 2008-03-07 09:07:07

Anson 17 / Zoovie
HAHAHAHA Way to go Zoovie!!!! Best post of the year! You are 100% spot-on with your assessement of OMD/BND. Joe Q forced the staff to drink the kool-aid, but that does not mean the fans need to drink it, too. Anson: stop being a sheep.

Posted by comics comics on 2008-03-07 10:50:20

If anything ruined Spider-Man, Zoovie, it was the wedding, along with the death of Gwen Stacy. For years, fans asked whether Peter would end up getting together with Gwen or MJ. Gerry Conway came up with half the answer (it's not Gwen) and Jim Shooter came up with the other (it's MJ). Through those two steps, the engaging part of Peter Parker's romantic life was thoroughly diminished. "One More Day" simply puts the question back out there, injecting some much-needed energy into Spider-Man's present and future. (It's kind of hilarious how Spider-Man is "irredeemably ruined" yet another time, after the Clone Saga, the return of Norman Osborn, the return of Aunt May, Chapter One, Spider-totem, Sins Past, the unmasking etc. Nobody can really take this hyperbole seriously any more.)

Posted by Fetsur on 2008-03-09 12:56:53

I'm surprised Zoovie's posting privleges haven't been revoked. He doesn't add anything to Tom's blog. Posters like him keep me away from checking out your blog, Tom, due to all the negativity. Now, if Zoovie wanted to offer thoughtful criticism, then by all means.

Also, just because somebody likes something you may not like, comics comics, doesn't mean they're sheep.

Posted by Wolver-Ham on 2008-03-14 11:50:33

comics comics, just because someone likes what you dislike doesn't mean they're sheep. We all have different tastes.

Now, as for BKV I'm a huge fan of his, but his creator-owned work is far superior to his work-for-hire material. This is why I passed on The Hood when it came out. Bendis has me interested in the character since introducing him in New Avengers. I'm not a fan of Holtz's art, but I might pick this one up.

Posted by Wolver-Ham on 2008-03-14 19:24:03

holt'z art work's for the story, don't let it turn you off from picking it up. BKV's dialogue makes up for any of Holtz' downfalls.

Posted by Anson17 on 2008-03-16 21:41:02

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