Marvel.com Blogs - Blah Blah Blog by Tom Brevoort

web marvel.com

BLOGS HOME|COMIC BLOGS|VIDEO GAME BLOGS|OTHER BLOGS|MARVEL NEWS

Defeated
2008-12-05 20:44:07

It’s my 500th post here at the blog, and today, I am defeated.

This week kicked me around like nobody’s business. There wasn’t a day this week where I walked into my home earlier than 9:30. I am so tired at the moment that I can’t think straight—and yet, I’m still waiting here at 8:30 on a Friday night for the last few books for the week to go up on press so I can give them their final approval.

This is the kind of commitment you sometimes need to have if you want to work in this industry. It’s not all fun-and-games. There’s a very real, very grueling job involved. And some weeks, you can’t get any two things to stick together, no matter how much you try. Creators drop the ball. There are problems with coordination between titles or offices. Printer schedules are revised. Problems come in waves, one after the next after the next.

There’ll be a weekend, though, where I’ll sleep a lot and spend far too little time with my family as a result. And then, I’ll be rested up enough to come back in and do this again next week.

Not quite what I had planned on for a 500th post, but there you go.

And since I’d like to give you at least some actual content, and since SECRET INVASION #8 shipped earlier this week, here’s the timeline of events I mentioned that we’d been keeping for that series. Enjoy!

SECRET INVASION TIMELINE

KREE/SKRULL WAR – AVENGERS #89-97

Illuminati go after Skrulls, Skrulls get Illuminati DNA –ILLUMINATI #1
Veranke sent to barren wasteland – NEW #40
Skrulls begin cloning experiments – NEW #40
Skrulls clone Reed Richards, killed by King Dorrek – NEW #40
Sentry has first Skrull encounter – MIGHTY #14
Skrulls fail with clones of Illuminati – NEW #44
Skrulls get secret of working undetected from clone Reed – NEW #44

GALACTUS EATS SKRULL THRONEWORLD - FF #257

Skrulls come to Veranke – NEW #40
Veranke becomes queen – NEW #40

AVENGERS AND FF BATTLE SKRULLS - AVENGERS ANNUAL #14

Elektra ambushed by Skrulls – MIGHTY #16
Elektra replaced by Skrull – NEW #40 (recounted)

WOLVERINE – ENEMY OF THE STATE – WOLVERINE #20-32

Veranke presented with new model Super-Skrull – NEW #40
Veranke presented with Skrull Elektra – NEW #40
Veranke decides to impersonate Jessica Drew – NEW #40
Nick Fury recruits Jessica Drew as double-agent – NEW #15/NEW #42
HYDRA gives Spider-Woman back her powers – NEW #15
Skrulls replace Jessica Drew with Veranke – NEW #42
Skrulls create Skrull Captain America, put him in pod – NEW #43
Skrulls meet at safehouse (Elektra, Spider-Woman) Veranke gives Elektra her mission – MIGHTY #16

SECRET WAR

Nick tells Jessica Drew that he’s going underground – NEW #14
Nick Fury goes underground – MIGHTY #12
Skrulls meet at safehouse (Spider-Woman, Elektra, Jarvis, Contessa) discuss Vibranium – NEW #42
Contessa says she’s been in place for two days – NEW #42
Skrull Jessica Drew gets posted to the Raft – NEW #42

AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED – AVENGERS #500-503

Elektra Skrull takes over Hand, mentions Avengers are no more – MIGHTY #16
Nick Fury found by Contessa Skrull – MIGHTY #12
Nick Fury kills Contessa Skrull – MIGHTY #12
Nick Fury becomes aware of Skrull conspiracy – MIGHTY #12
Nick Fury warns Maria Hill on Helicarrier – MIGHTY #12
Nick Fury tells Spider-Woman about the Skrulls, not realizing she’s a Skrull – MIGHTY #12
Real Hank lectures at U of Oxford – MIGHTY #15
Real Hank and Jan separate – MIGHTY #15
Skrull Elektra hires Electro for Raft breakout – MIGHTY #16

RAFT BREAKOUT – NEW AVENGERS #1-3

Real Hank and Skrull “Gwen” canoodle, see news of press conference – MIGHTY #15
Hank replaced by Skrull “Gwen” – MIGHTY #15

NEW AVENGERS FORM – NEW AVENGERS #3-4

Skrull Jessica and Skrull Hank discuss the Raft breakout and her joining New Avengers– NEW #42
Ka-Zar and Shanna discover Skrulls among SHIELD in Savage Land, including Contessa – NEW #41 – (This would be the 2nd Contessa Skrull)

NEW AVENGERS IN SAVAGE LAND - NEW AVENGERS #4-6

Skrull Jessica finds out about Wanda’s whereabouts – NEW #42
Skrull Jessica meets with Maria Hill, gets call from Hank to meet at Tower for House of M mission – NEW #42

HOUSE OF M – HOUSE OF M #1-7

Skrull Jessica and Skrull Hank in House of M – NEW #45
Veranke tries to assassinate Wanda in HOM, uncreated by her – NEW #45

M-DAY – HOUSE OF M #8

Veranke recreated along with the regular Marvel U – NEW #45
Skrulls meet at safehouse (Jarvis, Spider-Woman, Elektra, Hank?, Contessa) speak about M-Day and Annihilation Wave – NEW #45

NEW AVENGERS PRESS CONFERENCE – NEW AVENGERS #15

Skrull Jarvis asks for access to Avengers Tower files – MIGHTY #14
Skrulls meet at safehouse (Elektra, Spider-Woman, Jarvis, Contessa) – MIGHTY #14

SKRULL EMPIRE DECIMATED – ANNIHILATION #1-6

CIVIL WAR – CIVIL WAR #1-7

Captain Mar-Vell Skrull escapes, thinks he’s the real Mar-Vell – CIVIL WAR THE RETURN/CAPTAIN MARVEL #1-5

CAPTAIN AMERICA ASSASINATED – CAPTAIN AMERICA #25

Dum Dum Dugan ambushed by Contessa Skrull, replaced by Skrull – SECRET INVASION TEASER
Nick Fury recruits Daisy Johnson – MIGHTY #13
Hank Pym and Dum Dum Dugan meet in Oregon, Hank killed after rebelling – MIGHTY #17
Daisy Johnson takes photos for Fury – MIGHTY #17
New Skrull replaces Hank Skrull – MIGHTY #17

MIGHTY AVENGERS FORMED, BATTLE ULTRON – MIGHTY AVENGERS #1-6

Skrulls meet at safehouse ( Spider-Woman, Hank, Contessa, Jarvis) and work out how to disable Stark Tech – MIGHTY #15
Daisy recruits Ares’ son Phobos – MIGHTY #13
Daisy recruits Yo Yo – MIGHTY #13
Daisy recruits Hellfire – MIGHTY #13
Daisy attempts to recruit Layla Miller, fails – MIGHTY #13
Daisy recruits Druid – MIGHTY #13
Daisy recruits Stonewall – MIGHTY #13

ELEKTRA DISCOVERED AS A SKRULL – NEW AVENGERS #31

SPIDER-WOMAN STEALS ELEKTRA CORPSE – NEW AVENGERS #32

HANK GIVES JAN GROWTH SERUM – MIGHTY AVENGERS #8 (Flashback)

Skrull Hank gives Jan tainted growth formula – MIGHTY #15

SPIDER-WOMAN TAKES CORPSE TO IRON MAN – MIGHTY AVENGERS #7

WORLD WAR HULK

IRON MAN TAKES CORPSE TO ILLUMINATI, BLACK BOLT SKRULL REVEALED – NA ILLUMINATI #5

Nick Fury has the Secret Warriors abduct Maria Hill as a training exercise – MIGHTY #18
The Hood and his crew learn about the Skrull infiltration – NEW #46
Cap Skrull and other 70s Hero Skrulls aboard Pod come to life, escape in pod – NEW #43

SECRET INVASION

More later.

Tom B

Congratulations...!
...On your 5,000 posts, as well as putting so much commitment into Marvel Comics.

Keep up the good work! Hope it's still satisfying!

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2008-12-05 20:27:08

I'm sorry
500 posts...I got overzealous.

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2008-12-05 20:40:11

Nice timeline!
Thanks for posting that timeline, Tom. Heard about it on the latest podcast and actually wanted to see it, so this is pretty great.

Posted by Pundomaster on 2008-12-05 21:40:14

Hey Tom,
Congratulations and thanks are in order I believe. First for actually putting all this together when you must be absolutely whacked. And secondly for all the other columns over the years.

And could anyone else who reads this blog help me out and tell me if this means that the Elektra in "The Murdock Papers," at the end of Bendis' run on Daredevil was a Skrull. Cause that would make that arc make much better sense in my head.

Posted by cjmcaree on 2008-12-06 06:12:51

Thank you.....
.....for celebrating your 500th post, as well as for establishing the chronological order for SECRET INVASION.....

And at least it made sense why Elektra acted the way she did within the EotS Saga in WOLVERINE; though I still missed Hornet of the Slingers.....

Posted by PaxHouse on 2008-12-06 15:28:08

MCP
The marvel chronology Project have listed several errors with this suggestion. Elektra died in EotS yet didnt revert.

Secret war was supposed to occur after disasembled.

Fury In Brubrakers Captain America.

Like I do though they do appreciate the effort.

Posted by tobys on 2008-12-06 17:44:35

SI aftermath
yes, congrats for the 500 th and all the work you're doing we didn't know - but be sure there some of us who'd like to know more !

SI is over now and I have to also congrats mr Bendis and Mr Leinil Yu, because this is surely a story I'd like to have read as a young comic-reader; mr Bendis first for the plot who did a big stoke of brush about a lot of continuity and character's stories, and for his mastering from the beginning trough the end : the start with the global paranoia struggling and the cool distanciating ( like the army of super-skrulls, when there was a time at Marvel when the return of the Super-Skrull was an event of his own ) wonderfully taken by mr Leinil Yu, which I'm really fond of the art, as the work of his inker too, no problem, and of the colorist also ( because I've to admit myself I'm from the generation who grow-up with comic-books colored with great shapes of colors instead of over-effects of sky, clouds,... , 'Avengers : The Initiative' being the only exception I can stand ), that said , as I have noticed in differents forums, despite the multiples tied-ins, I must a little disappointed to haven't see more of the Invasion around the States, and I would have loved to see more of the differents Initiative teams ( especially with the late 'Last Defenders' I'd love to see in action, but also 'The Desert Stars' or the others we just had a quick glimpse trough 'Avengers : The Initiative ' ) facing the Invasion in their own size; I miss Omega Flight too, because Michael Pointer could have made a gret difference during the fight, and I don't understand why we only saw the Invasion in Britain and not in other places.
For the rest we can say that the aftermath is a 'back to normality', during The Illuminati and CW, I was convinced that Tony Stark was the Ozymandias ( understand the evil genius ) of the MU, I remember this wonderful line from mr Bendis to the character ( 'I'm a futurist, and let's face it, somebone, one day or another will make a mistake (... )'), but as mr Bendis stated in a interview , he used perfectly what Warren Ellis suggested in 'Thunderbolts' about Norman Osborn. But with the franchise of 'Iron Man ' in theatres being bankable, I guess Stark couldn't stay as borderline as he was. That and the take-on of the character by Matt-mister cool- Fraction conforted this opinion.
So evil is still Evil again.
What did I forget.
Ah yes, God bless America.

Posted by bulgarianyogurt on 2008-12-07 06:16:50

?
Does Tom Delete non conformist posts or is there a moderator to the blog?

Posted by tobys on 2008-12-07 07:05:27

re: tobys question
Neither, as far as I can tell.

The problem is the message board itself is somewhat unreliable on Marvel.com. So you get long delays in posts going up, or double-posts, etc. Historically, Tom hasn't deleted contrarian postings, or even those that I would say border on the abusive. (And those that are just annoying and repetitive get to keep on doing what they do long, long after everyone is sick of hearing it.)

Posted by Gentleman Jack on 2008-12-07 15:16:08

Congrats with the blog its been fun!
if you have any vacation time during the holidays that would be the best time for some R&R, give yourself permission to take a load off and chill out with the family there's nothing else more important.

Posted by terciera on 2008-12-07 17:33:16

When can we get Jan back?

Posted by motteditor on 2008-12-07 19:30:16

Deleted posts
Tom is pretty relaxed with the posts here. However anyone can flag a post as offensive and then it gets removed until the moderator approves or deletes it. I think Tom is the moderator for his own blog here. He's let some downright insulting posts go through that I think I probably would've deleted.

Posted by KentL on 2008-12-08 08:04:35

I think I've stayed pretty correct.
I didn't said that to me you're a bunch of su..ers.

Posted by bulgarianyogurt on 2008-12-08 10:41:02

Congtars on your 500th post Tom. Sorry that you weren't able to make it the even it should have been. Thanks for the SI timeline.

Get some rest.

Posted by Tom Reed on 2008-12-08 13:57:15

Elektra
It is cool that you went to all this effort but the stuff about Elektra doesn't really work. As other posters have sad Elektra died in that story and was resurrected by the Hand. If she had been Skrulled at that point then she would have reverted back to her true form! Also she actually narrated one of the issues so unless she was deluding herself it was the real Elektra. Plus there is the fact that Bendis has actually said that Elektra was replaced after EOTS. She was definitely a Skrull in the Murdock Papers though.

Posted by iluvelektra on 2008-12-08 16:19:53

Tom
what would you say the issue of "the replaced heroes in secret invasion"

Basically it made no tactiacal sense for the skrulls to keep them alive.
They could have kept DNA samples or preserved corpses.

As for being "bargining chips"
A) the skrulls did not expect to loose.
B) They did not need all of them alive for this (heck any they could have killed them and bluffed)
C) In easy reach of a 2nd hand iron man armor with no super skrull gaurds or booby traps.

Also tom how do you post on "My cup of joe" it says you have to be a friend of his but he wont accept me as a friend but will with other random strangers. This is starting to make me think the whole thing is a fix on there.

Posted by tobys on 2008-12-08 16:54:17

Tobys...
If you're referring to the MySpace "My Cup o' Joe", you want to click on "My Space Comic Books" on the far upper left and it will bring you to the My Space Comic Books main page. On the upper middle there is a blue button that says "Add to Friends". That's the friend request for the page and they should allow you to befriend them.

Joe Quesada's blog is part of that site/page and you have to be a friend of the entire thing to be considered a friend of his specific blog.

Hope that helps.

Posted by PseudoSherlock on 2008-12-08 22:57:40

I double checked about Elektra...
I listened to Bendis' podcast and he does say that he replaced elektra after EOTS. Which is good because Elektra rocked in that story!
[url]http://cdn4.libsyn.com/wordballoon/WBbendis0803.mp3?nvb=20081209203753&nva=20081210204753&t=0a57e5bbf19965e2a147f[/url]
I hope this is a clickable link!

Posted by iluvelektra on 2008-12-09 15:21:49

Where does "Silent War" fit?
It seems that Silent War, which was a shamefully underappreciated story, just doesn't fit. Am I missing something? If so, I'm ok with the fact that it was a good story well told, but it absolutely ended on a cliffhanger (BB crying alone like a baby on the moon's surface after being kicked out of the castle, while the Queen became BB's nasty brother's woman).

Posted by gentega on 2008-12-09 16:13:27

subsc
i oredered comics from marvel in spetember, and theyre telling me it will STILL be another 406 weeks. This typical of the company? Over four months to wait for first issue?? Someone should lose their job if this is typical!

Posted by drewc on 2008-12-10 14:34:58

Array

Enter a response to this blog post: