As I like to do from time to time, here's a bit of the behind-the-scenes planning for the SECRET INVASION crossover, now that sufficient time has passed. So all you process junkies out there, here comes your meat!
The document I'm about to share represents Brian Bendis' initial broad strokes overview for what was then six issues. It's difficult to remember for certain, but this would almost certainly have been written up and blocked out after Brian had already verbally walked us through the basic concepts of the story at one of our editorial meetings. Many of the individual elements weren't entirely in place yet--but still, the overall shape of it is very much like what saw print. For those who're interested, my copy is dated 5/24/07
SKRULLS!!
MINI SERIES ISSUE BREAKDOWN
BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
ISSUE 1- 2
STARK?S SECRET WAREHOUSE- Tony stark, by himself, attempts an Elektra Skrull autopsy in an attempt to create a Skrull detector. He?s close, but he doesn?t have it.
AVENGER?S TOWER- Luke cage and the new avengers break into the tower and hijack a quinjet.
SAVAGE LAND- The mighty avengers and s.h.i.e.l.d. Easily follow the new avengers to the savage land. Obviously, they wanted to be followed.
The new avengers touch down and search the ruins of what was the savage land. no kazar. No zabu. With doctor strange?s help they find?.
A ship. A crashed Skrull ship, half buried in the mud. The mighty avengers show up just in time for it to be opened.
Tony tries to arrest them, but Luke opens the ship anyway.
It?s a Skrull ship and the small crew is dead. But not its cargo is not?
ORIGINAL PHOENIX
SPIDEY WITH WEB PITS
IRON MAN WITH THE NOSE ARMOR
LUKE CAGE IN SATIN SHIRT AND TIARA
DISCO DAZZLER
ORIGINAL MS. MARVEL
ORIGINAL VISION
MOCKINGBIRD
HAWKEYE
BLUE FURRY BEAST
SUE STORM
WONDER-MAN
CAPTAIN AMERICA
EVIL EMMA FROST
Accusations fly, tempers flare and a battle rages high!!
Seventies marvel versus modern marvel. Modern marvel wins and some of the seventies characters are revealed to be Skrulls but not all!!
Mockingbird is back!! Hawkeye and mockingbird are back together. Echo is in a coma.
But the savageland fight was only phase one of the ground battle. A distraction at best.
NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON- An army of new super Skrulls made of every shape and size of hero and villain attacks New York City.
With Tony stark and the avengers a world away, the heroes are without a leader?. But nick fury is back to lead the heroes.
ISSUES 3- 4
NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON-Super Skrull army versus the new avengers, the mighty avengers, the initiative, the champions, the runaways, the fantastic four, the x-men and the hood?s army of super villains. Even Jessica Jones jumps into the mix.
The fight is going badly. Until thor shows up, then cap shows up, the holy trinity of avengers is back together for the first time in years and the combined and rejuvenated army of marvel heroes attacks.
The moment the battle turns is when captain marvel, really a Skrull, sides with the heroes and sacrifices himself to help defeat the super Skrull army. Marvel boy witnesses this and is inspired to be the new captain marvel.
The Skrull army is defeated and the Skrull home ship is located. Captain marvel Skrull, with his dying breath, tries to tell Tony stark how to detect a Skrull, but dies before he can.
Iron man puts together an all powerhouse team to end this fight once and for all.
ISSUES 5-6
SPACE- An all powerhouse team of heroes THOR, HERCULES, IRON-MAN, SENTRY, BLACK BOLT, NAMOR, ARES, MS. MARVEL, WONDER-MAN, etc. and takes the fight to them.
The battle is intense and victorious. Hercules dies in battle.
The Skrull queen is missing. Thor is able to get a Skrull to tell them how to detect a Skrull as Tony finds a ship that has more pods in it.
The pods are filled with the real humans that have been replaced by Skrulls.
Including wonder-man who is standing right behind Tony.
Wonder-man Skrull almost defeats Tony, but the real wonder-man joins in and kills him.
Iron man and the others are horrified to see who is trapped on this ship. Hundreds of civilians, SPIDER-WOMAN, NIGHTCRAWLER, WONG, HANK PYM,
NEW YORK- The powerhouse team gets the humans back to earth just in time for the spider-woman Skrull to reveal herself to be the Skrull queen. This was her religion. The earth is hers by divine right. This isn?t good versus bad. This is what her religion believes to be true.
Iron man senses a massive energy fluctuation.
The Skrull queen is a suicide bomber. Her last hope. Sentry takes her and launches into space.
Sentry takes the explosion in the face. It?s massive. An explosion meant to wipe out the human race.
It massively depowers the sentry.
Thor catches sentry and saves him.
Jessica Jones sees Wong in the crowd of human refugees. That means she left her baby with a Skrull agent.
SANCTUM- When Luke and Jessica rush to doctor strange?s house, the Wong Skrull has already killed himself and the baby.
NEW YORK- Iron man and cap and Thor reunite as friends and iron man says its time to figure out who is an avenger.
Norman Osborn shows up with the thunderbolts and announces that they are the avengers. The avengers and Tony stark are blamed for the invasion, the destruction and Norman WILL find out whom the real Skrulls are.
One of the questions that anybody in comics hears again and again from folks on the outside is "How do you break into the business? What's the secret?"
And the truth is that there is no secret, no special handshake that'll get you through the door, no magic word that'll make people take you and your work seriously.
This makes sense if you think about it. Practically everybody who reads comics regularly harbors some desire to write them, whether they possess the talent and the drive to do so professionally or not. It looks so easy from afar. And new people are coming into the field all the time, so clearly there's an entry point. If only I knew what it was!
As I've said many times before, the reality is that you need Talent, Perseverence and Luck in order to make it as a comics pro. And you can't necessarily control all of these factors. But you can do things to improve your chances.
First off, realize the cold, hard fact that nobody starts out playing for a Major League team. Everybody goes through boot camp of one kind or another. So never turn your nose up at the opportunity to hone your craft in any venue that might be available to you. All writing can help to improve your comic book writing, all artwork can help you to improve your comic book artwork. And if your only ambition is to write or draw Spider-Man, unless you're some kind of super child prodigy, make other plans. Nobody starts out playing in the Major Leagues.
Very important: get a legitimate grasp on just how good you are. In order to work in this business, you do need to have a bit of an ego--you need to feel like the material you're generating is worthy of being seen and read. But so often would-be creators so fall in love with their own work (and the enthusiasm shown to it by their parents, spouses, significant others or friends) that they lose all perspective in terms of how they stack up against the professionals already working in the field. Be realistic about how good you are, and be open to feedback from people with the experience to know what they're talking about that will point you in a direction to get better. Along the way you're sure to encounter some advice that's off the mark, and some critiques that are more brutal than they may need to be. Grow a think skin, and figure out what you can take away from any criticism that you get.
Network with people who are in a position to provide opportunities for you, but be careful not to become a pest, or worse, a stalker. There's all sorts of information available on the internet that can help guide you on your way, everything from archives of professional scripts to tutorials about how to start a webcomic. I would particularly pay attention to the Twitter feeds of people like CB Cebulski and Joe Quesada, who often dispense invaluable insider information about the artform and breaking into the business.
Above everything else, work your ass off. This is a fun job, but it's a hard job, and it's for serious people. And you're competing with each and every other person around the globe who is also reading these words, and more. You need to be better than 99.999999999 44/100% of all the potential creators out there, and diligent enough to improve your work and strike when an opportunity comes your way.
Since I'm never above stealing when I'm scavenging for material, an entry over at Comic Book Resources' Robot 6 blog inspired today's audience-participation question:
What comic book story has ever moved you?
For myself, I can't say that I've ever cried while reading a comic book (well, not for the reasons you'd want to--some of those books I cried over because they'd turned out so badly). But play The Iron Giant or Arrivederci Yamato, and I'll feel it every time. I think that's because film has certain advantages over the static medium of comics, not the least of which is a music track to really set the mood. So I've read plenty of sad and touching comic book stories, but none that have ever truly moved me.
But you're all much more empathetic than I am. So let's hear about it.
Ran into a snag with a blog post from last week, which kept this feature off-line. But hopefully now we're back.
As a stopgap until we can provide you with more actual content, here's another story from AMAZING FANTASY #15, the comic in which Spider-Man debuted, scanned from the original artwork that's now in the possession of the Library of Congress.
Story and artwork are by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
Afraid I can't yet show you all the cool Tomm Coker cover that CB Cebulski twittered about earlier today, but here's some other preview artwork to make up for it.
It's been a while since I've posted one of these, and unfortunately the great Trading quest hasn't been going smoothly these past few weeks. In fact, I reached a point that I hadn't previously gotten to where I was forced to void a few Trades because teh Tradee in question never sent me along the books he offered. This had a cascade effect onto other Tradees, who had offered their items in good faith. It seems like it's all more-or-less been worked out at this point, but my humble request to everybody out there would be: Don't offer to Trade if you're not serious about following through and sending in yoru stuff. Appreciate it!
But getting back around to some stuff that did work, I made the following trades since last we spoke: I traded UNCANNY X-MEN #121 for a complete run of the original OFFICIAL HANDBOOK TO THE MARVEL UNIVERS #1-15, I swapped the complete X-FORCE/X-STATIX run for four Trade Paperbacks: LIFE AND DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, AVENGERS: CELESTIAL MADONA, IRON MAN: DEMON IN A BOTTLE and AVENGERS: KREE-SKRULL WAR. I made a large exchange of ASTONISHING TALES #1, SECRET INVASION #6, MS MARVEL #20, NOVA v4 #1 and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #260-261 for UNCANNY X-MEN #281-289, #291, WHAT IF v1 #35 and ANNIHILATION CONQUEST: QUASAR #1-2. For UNCANNY X-MEN #117 & #118 i got the complete EARTH X, UNIVERSE X and PARADISE X including all of the one-shot issues. I traded FANTASTIC FOUR 2099 #1, SPIDER-MAN 2099 #1 and X-FORCE #1 (signed) for the original SILVER SURFER #1 and #2. I gave the ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 Hardcover up in exchange for ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN TPB vol 1, THOR: THE BALLAD OF BETA RAY BILL TPB, The three ULTIMATE GALACTUS TPBs (NIGHTMARE, SECRET, EXTINCTION) and EARTH X #1/2. Finally, I traded CAPTAIN AMERICA #110 for IRON MAN #15 and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #350 and #400.
Additionally, generous Tradees also donated the following books to the cause: INFINITY GAUNTLET #2, WOLVERINE ORIGINS #2, CAPTAIN AMERICA #325, #327, #330, #372, #373, #374, #395, #396, #397, #447, #452, #453, CIVIL WAR #1, NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI #1 and AVENGERS KREE-SKRULL WAR #2
Finally, because of a Voided Trade the CYCLOPS TWIN PACK MINI-STATUES are back in the active Trading Stack and available for a Trade.
So this leaves the present Trading Stack of available books looking like this:
UNIVERSE X #0-12,X,preview, FF, Spidey, Cap, Beasts, Omnibus, Iron Men Heralds #1-3
PARADISE X #0-12, Xen, Devils, Ragnarok #1-2,A,X
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN TPB Vol 1
THOR BALLAD OF BETA RAY BILL TPB
ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE TPB
ULTIMATE SECRET TPB
ULTIMATE EXTINCTION TPB
IRON MAN #15
As always, if you'd like to propose a Trade for one or more of these comics, simply drop me a line at tbrevoort@marvel.com and make me an offer. (Just be ready to send out your books if you do so!) No reasonable Trade refused, although the goal remains to make it all the way to FANTASTIC FOUR #1 by the time the year is done.
I've done pretty well so far, but the race isn't over until it's over.
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of my first day as a Marvel intern. So it's not quite my actualy twnetieth anniversary, but close enough. On the one hand, it feels like no time at all has gone by, on the other, it feels like it's been forever.
In that time, I've been fortunate enough to work alongside a lot of talented people, and to produce my share of memorable quality comic books (and a stack of stinkers as well, despite my best efforts.)
Almost every aspect of the business has changed in that time. When I first arrived at Marvel, there was only one small computer in the place, and I was more knowledgable about how to use it than virtually everybody else. Lettering was still done on the actual art boards, and the boards themselves were sent both between the various contributing artists and eventually out to the printer as well. Coloring was done using color guides, xerox copies of the artwork that would be colored using a variety of dyes. Old ladies working at a separations house for peanuts would then create the individual film for each page using the guides as a basis. There were only 64 color possibilities, maximum.
I've lived through the boom years of the early '90s, the rise of the Image creators, the explosion of new companies, the advancements in digital coloring and digital lettering, Marvelution and the fragmenting of editorial into five fiefdoms, the reunification of editorial under Bob Harras, the Marvel Bankruptcy and the waves of mass-firings that laid off two-thirds of the staff, the outsourcing of titles and characters to Extreme and Wildstorm, Heroes Return, the beginnings of Marvel Knights, the turnaround of Marvel's fortunes, the creation of the Ultimate line and the restoration of Marvel as a creative force. I've been around for something like a dozen Marvel movies and twice that many animated cartoons.
I've worked with the greats of yesteryear, and helped to find, foster and develop the greats of today. And hopefully tomorrow.
I've worked for four Editor in Chiefs, and alongside four more. I've had twelve assistant editors, some of whom got promoted along the way, as well as thre subordinate editors.
I've not yet been at Marvel for half of my lifetime, but it's getting close--a few more years will do it. I've been editing AVENGERS for more than half of my professional life, longer than anyone else.
There is nobody else from my generation left in editorial (though Ralph Macchio, who precedes me by more than a decade, is still on staff.) The next most tenured person after me is Joe Q, who's only been attached to Marvel since the start of Marvel Knights in 1998. I am the last man standing from a generation.
And I still love doing this.
This weekend a big crowd of people who worked at the Marvel of the '80s and '90s are getting together for a big reunion. And while I wish them all the best, I won't be attending myself. I've got no need for a Marvel reunion--I haven't left yet.
Forced to skip a day due to the pressures of geting books out the door, but now I'm back with more answers to your questions. Might even be able to finish this up today.
> what is planned about the Eternals..I'd like to know if we will see them in their own title or incorporating in the MU someway ? >
The regular ETERNALS series has ended, but you'll likely see them turn up around the Marvel Universe from time to time.
>What can you tell us about Rom the Space Knight ?
Posted by wildasparagus on 2009-05-25 13:06:09>
I can tell you that Rom was a licensed property, based on an action figure, and so we no longer have the rights to use him.
>I'd like to know more about an ongoing HOWARD THE DUCK written by Ed Brubaker... or is that only rumors ?
Posted by bulgarianyogurt on 2009-05-25 14:58:02>
I'm not even sure it qualifies as rumors. More like somebody's fever-dream. No plans for this at all--Ed's got much more important projects to be working on right now.
>As editors, how do you determine what new monthly titles you will develop, especially with the overall market seeming to be shrinking? For example, I love the Avengers the reunion limited series and would love to see that turn into a monthly. For that to happen would the limited had to have sold so many copies or do you launch new titles if there is a compelling story to be told for the characters regardless of projected sales. I hope that makes sense. Thanks!
Posted by jlanhammd on 2009-05-25 15:09:24>
In terms of launching an ongoing rather than a limited series, it really does depend on the factors you cite, such as interest in the marketplace, what the creative team is and what story we're trying to tell. There's also an element of gut-feeling that goes into making these decisions as well--sometimes you just get a vibe that the time is right to launch this character or that character in a big way.In terms of NEW AVENGERS: THE REUNION, that whole series was predicted around the idea of telling that specific story of Clint and Bobbi. And while there's certainly other stories that could be done with the two of them, and a perfect set-up in place at the end of REUNION, it's more likely that we'll do some manner of follow-up limited series rather than springboard the characters into an ongoing. Sales on the REUNION limited were good, but that has a number of extra factors going for it (use of the NEW AVENGERS name and logo, and the direct spin-out from SECRET INVASION) that wouldn't be present in a Clint/Bobbi ongoing series.
>After watching the Star Trek movie, I got to thinking about how timeline changing events can and should be handled with great care and still be pulled off successfully. I think the new Star Trek movie surprisingly did it well, but I am having a harder time defining what exactly was done right.
So when Marvel does a timeline changing event, how do you feel it should be handled just right? What kind of things must be done in order to make such a transition?
Posted by DRock1 on 2009-05-25 23:39:10>
We haven't really done any timeline-changing events, have we? The only one that comes to mind is "One More Day", and I think I've exhausted every available syllable on that subject. But talking about STAR TREK for a moment, I don't think the reason that movie worked was because of the timeline-changing, I think the reason it worked was because the characters (and the actors playing them) were so engaging and fun. I genuinely believe that, if you'd just done the same movie and the same basic threat without the time-travel element, and just assumed that it was a new reboot of the franchise, it would have done just as well.
> Are there any plans to complete the collection of John Byrne's Alpha Flight run? A second volume was solicited last year but never arrived. (I'd love to see the Claremont/Byrne Marvel Team-Ups collected too, but I guess the latest MTU Essentials volume might rule that out.) >
I think there's a desire to do more John Byrne ALPHA FLIGHT collections, yes, but the first one didn't perform all that well (which is no great surprise, seeing as how we don't have a successful ALPHA FLIGHT project of any sort at the moment, so interest in the property is at a bit of a low point out in the world). We may get around to more volumes eventually, but it doesn't seem to be high on the to-do list right this moment. And there are no plans that I'm aware of to collect the Claremont/Byrne MARVEL TEAM-UP stories, though a few of them have turned up in other places such as the zero volume of John Byrne FF Visionaries.
>Likewise, any plans for more Roger Stern Spider-Man Visionaries... particularly as by volume 3, we'd be onto the classic Amazing run with JRJR?
Posted by rolhirst on 2009-05-26 06:43:10>
This is the same sort of deal, I'm afraid. The first Stern Visionaries volume wasn't a huge success, so we're putting our more immediate efforts elsewhere right this second. I think if we wanted to reprint Roger's AMAZING run with JRJR, we'd do that under another title at this point.
>When is the Young Avengers (proper) title going to resume, i am assuming that when and if it does it will still have the same creative team as before
Posted by tsull2121 on 2009-05-26 10:23:12>
I answered the first part of this question a day or two ago--there won't be an ongoing YOUNG AVENGERS series until after Allan and Jim's AVENGERS project concludes. And that's far enough away that nobody can make any promises as to what the creative team might be. In the meantime, we'll continue to do YOUNG AVENGERS limited series whenever the mood strikes us.
>I hope to ask this politely, and don?t intend to offend. Why is so much effort and talent being used to tell previous Marvel classic stories within the Ultimate Universe? Why aren?t the original stories, original plot twists, and original versions of the characters good enough for new readers? I understand the intent was to help new readers avoid 40 years of back story. What happens when there are enough, in other words too many, back stories for the Ultimate Universe? I ask only because Bagley and Immonen should always be telling first run stories, not re-hashing what someone else has done before. On the one hand, we?ve got digital comics, Omnibus collections and trade paperbacks, so the source material for any reader is out there and exists. Conversely, we?ve got the Ultimate Universe, the Heroes Reborn Universe, The New Universe, The Future Past Universe, The Zombie Universe, Age of Apocalypse Universe, House of M Universe, Deathlok Universe, Peter Porker Universe, What If Universe(s) ? and I suspect I?ve missed a few universes. Perhaps the problem for new readers isn?t back story, perhaps its outright confusion between what character, what time line and what universe. Maybe it?s time for Marvel to have a DC Comics Crisis of its own for new readers, instead of an Ultimate Universe? >
I hardly think the Ultimate Universe is doing nothing more than retelling previous Marvel stories--there's a bit more to that universe than that. Starting that universe from scratch allowed those creators both to world-build with a foreknowledge of many of the ideas and concepts to come, and therefore tie elements of the Marvel canon together in interesting ways that weren't possible in teh organically-grown Marvel U. It also allowed them to view these characters, stories and situations with a 21st Century eye. As much as I love all of those early Marvel books, they're very much of their time, not only in terms of their sometimes-goofy story content, but in the way those stories are told. And that can be off-putting to the readers of today. It's like expecting them to be enthralled by the television programs of 45 years ago. Some people will ome to those stories and love them just fine, but the vast majority of potential new readers find those tales dated and quaint and stodgy. So I don't think there's anything wrong with reworking those concepts in an attempt to make them work for the younger readers of today--especially since it's not like we're doing away with either the importance of the original stories in the Marvel U, nor not reprinting those old stories again and again. And I don't think Marvel needs any sort of a Crisis--all that would do is to limit the possibilities for stories that don't fit inside a very narrow box. There's a way to tell any story and make it accessable to a novice reader (the STAR TREK film we talked about a few questions back is a good example of that), but we folks working on these storeis often become so familiar with our own storylines and our own history that we shortcut the information to one another and to the hardcore fans, because we all know what we're talking about already. That's the kind of stuff that turns a new reader off, when he can't even understand what a story is about, and he's given no way to hook into and care about the characters involved. Plus, at this point the Ultimate Universe is years old, and it isn't hurting anybody.
>Is there any chance of Marvel getting back in touch with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, and doing another series? The 70s books are a must read for any Merry Marvel Marching Membership B?Wana, and I?d appreciate any back story you might have on those books, why discontinued, ill feelings, etc.
Posted by mouthbreather on 2009-05-26 11:36:38>
No plans to pursue more ERB material at this point, mouth. We've mostly moved away from doing a lot of licensed series in teh past decade, with the exception of situations that hold a dramatic potential to expand the audience and draw in new readers (the Stephen King books, Ender's Game, Halo, etc.) And I wasn't around when the previous ERB titles were being done, but I would guess that the reason they were discontinued is that they were no longer profitable enough to justify continuing with, and I don't believe that there's any animosity on anybody's part on either side of the equation about them.
> I understand that Marvel is not accepting unsolicited submissions at the moment, and that you guys are constantly looking for new talent anyway, but is there any way that Marvel could start a monthly "New Talent Showcase" or something so that a larger group of lesser experienced writers/artists get a one-time shot to give their best to the world? I understand that the indie labels and the internet are a great way to get started, but I would love to see Marvel getting more involved in getting young talent started as opposed to swooping in after the fact. >
Honestly, no. And the reason is very simple: while every prospective creator in the world would love to contribute to such a project, nobody in the world really wants to buy it. And these days, with the opportunities for digital publishin on teh web as well as the indie market, there really isn't the same kind of a need for that training ground as there might have been twenty years ago. The name Marvel stands for the highest level of professional quality when it comes to making comic books, and that's a reputation we guard thoroughly. We put out or stinkers just like everybody else, but our standards are very high. You need to prove that you're ready to meet those standards before you're going to have a shot at working on a Marvel book. We hire a ton of young talent all the time--you just need to look at the books to see a whole slew of new faces popping up in them--but only from those folks who've proven that they have what it takes.
>2) Can Yost/Kyle go back to writing the New X-Men? Please? I promise I'll buy three of each issue if you take the newer, younger characters currently being butchered by Fraction and Guggenheim and gave them back to Yost/Kyle. I have yet to find anything either of them has ever put in print that is not completely amazing.
Posted by bpmcgackin on 2009-05-26 12:52:46>
No plans for Craig and Kyle to return to NEW X-MEN any time soon, but they seem to be keeping their plates full with X-FORCE and assorted other mutant-related projects. (Though when it comes to butchery, weren't Kyle and Yost the guys who mowed down a dozen or so characters in the course of their run? Talk about butchers--!)
>Whats the most common way that writers and artists join certain books? I'm talking about guys who already work at Marvel. Do the writers/artists tell you they want to work on certain books and from there you try to make that happen, or do you decide that certain creators would "fit" with certain books, or is it more "Millar and Hitch are pretty popular, lets see what they can do to Fantastic Four's sales." >
It's a little bit of everything you list, really. As we work with people, and carry on conversations with them, we begin to learn which creators have a real love for which characters. From there, though, when a particular series opens up, the editor in question along with Joe Q will cast around for the best available person to take over that series, based on their own opinion as much as anything else. Since you mentioned Millar and Hitch, let me do a walkthrough on FF to quickly break down how the last few creative teams came about. When Waid and Ringo finished up their time on the series, having an FF film on the horizon, we knew we wanted to get one of our bigger creators on board, so we approached JMS and cajoled him into taking on the series, pairing him up with Mike McKone. But after a year or so, JMS got busy enough during the CIVIL WAR tie-in issues that something had to give, and that something was FF. So, needing somebody who could step in and pick up the baton halfway through, I thought of Dwayne McDuffie. Having worked with Dwayne, I knew that he was a huge FF fan (and I had promised him more than a decade earlier that if I ever got the series I would hire him to write it.) So I called him up and enlisted him to write up through the end of CIVIL WAR. Hearing that JMS was leaving FF, and having concluded their time on ULTIMATES, Mark and Bryan reached out to me about the possibility of them taking over the book at some point, which sounded good to me. Knowing that they'd need lead time, we planned a starting point, and then I asked Dwayne if he'd stay on through that point to bridge the gap. (And Dwayne ended up doing three additional issues right at the end to help buy us more time.) As Mark and Bryan began to approach the end of their run, I began to think about who could replace them, and it dawned on me that the previous teams had all been veterans. I thought it might be a good idea to bring a younger writer with a fresh voice in, to mix things up and hopefully approach the characters with new eyes. Jonathan Hickman ended up being that person, and I put him together with the more-established Dale Eaglesham to help balance out the pedigree and experience level of the title. What happens from here is anybody's guess.
>What, do you think, is regarded at Marvel as the best story arc of the last 10 years? There must be stories that you, as a company, have put out that have made you think, "we nailled every bit of that."
Posted by dugdale24 on 2009-05-26 13:32:58>
This is such a subjective question that it's hard to answer for certain. I think that most people around here would probably point towards CIVIL WAR as the best recent benchmark of both commercial and quality success. But there are plenty of others as well. ASTONISHING X-MEN by Joss and Cass, for example, was very strong, as was ULTIMATES by Mark and Bryan, DAREDEVIL by Bendis and Maleev, X-FORCE/X-STATIX by Milligan and Allred, CAPTAIN AMERICA by Brubaker and Epting, and ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN by Bendis and Bagley. For me personally, the best run I've ever been associated with was the Mark Waid/Mike Wieringo FANTASTIC FOUR.
And that's a wrap, people! Thanks for playing! A special post tomorrow, and then back to business as usual on Monday (hopefully with a long-delayed Trading Update.)
Seems like it never ends--and I' not sure how interesting any of this really is to people. But here now are some moer answers to your questions!
> Awhile back (so long ago I forget when exactly) we were told there would be some news about Alpha Flight. When will this come to pass? >
As soon as we have some actual news to impart.
>2. Why is there such negativity towards Alpha Flight at Marvel?
Posted by Legerd on 2009-05-24 21:55:23>
I don't think there is any negativity towards Alpha Flight at Marvel really, Legerd. It's simply a property that we haven't been able to crack how to sell to a wide audience. And that's really been the case almost from the start. When Alpha first appeared in UNCANNY X-MEN, they were these really cool new characters, but somehow once they got their own series, their mystique quickly vanished, and they became just another team of costumed do-gooders running around slightly north of all the others. Even Alpha mastermind John Byrne has admitted that there wasn't much to them when he came up with them to fight the X-Men, and that he was sort of making it up as he went along during his tenure on the series. But all that aside, there is something cool and interesting to Alpha Flight, we just haven't found the right team and the right approach to tap into it yet.
>Who actually writes the Spider-Man newspaper strip? (I presume it's only ghosted to Stan Lee, just like all the other newspaper comics are ghosted...)
Posted by Fetsur on 2009-05-25 04:53:29>
No, as I understand it, Stan does the newspaper strip himself. I think he may have had other hands kibitzing on story plots from time to time over the years, but all of the dialogue and most of the stories come from him.
>Two of the big story arcs JMS seemed to be building towards in his ASM run were the Ezekiel story, which he pretty much rounded off, and a story with a number of oblique references to Peter's future. Will this second story arc ever pop up again or is it forever consigned to history? >
Honestly, it depends on whether JMS ever comes back to Spidey to touch on it again, or whether one of the newer Spidey writers decides to pick up the ball with it. But like any future story of Marvel's characters, I don't consider anything we saw in the days-to-come to necessarily be binding.
>2) Without revealing specifics, has Marvel got anything else in mind for Paul Cornell (or vica versa), now that MI13 is wrapping up?
Posted by cjmcaree on 2009-05-25 05:36:50>
No, we're never going to speak to Paul Cornell again, that cad, that bounder! Seriously, Paul's already writing some other stuff for us (including DARK REIGN: YOUNG AVENGERS, on sale now) and we're continuing to bounce ideas back and forth with him for some other projects. In fact, I've got a pitch for him here on my desk that I should be reading rather than answering these questions for you. But what are you gonna do?
> Could you please get the ball rolling on "Spider Man : the end" by Lee & Ditko ? You know we're running out of time!! >
In all honesty, I don't think this is something you're ever going to see, Baxtos. Ditko's made his feelings about not wanting to return to Spidey very clear over the years, so I have to respect his wishes. So I think SPIDER-MAN: THE END by Stan and Steve was AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #38. (On a separate note, I got to look at an entire issue of Ditko's breakdowns from the '60s yesterday that had been unearthed--very cool.)
>How would you compare and rate Marvel's editorial VS. DC's editorial today?
Posted by baxtos on 2009-05-25 07:01:12>
Putting the typical chest-thumping aside for one second, I don't know that I can answer this objectively. For one thing, I only really know a small handful of the guys working uptown at this point. And it seems that, as a company, DC has a different set of goals and objectives than Marvel does in terms of their expectations for their publishing line. I'm often astounded by some of the decisions those folks make, but I'm sure that if I walked the halls of their offices, I'd find that they were equally astounded by some of ours. I will say that I think we have an extremely strong editorial crew over here at this point in time. And judging by our overall sales and the reaction in the marketplace, I think our crew is sharper than their crew overall. They do have some folks on their team such as Mark Chiarello who have buckets of genuine talent and ability and are completely terrific at making comics. But at least from my outsider's point of view, their goals and directives are often way out of whack with what I want to read. (And, of course, people say that same thing about DARK REIGN or SECRET INVASION or whatever too, so your mileage may vary.)
It goes without saying that our editors are better looking...
>After the end of Captain Britain comics, will Paul Cornell be involved in any ongoing series? >
Answered above, more or less.
>Will Young Avengers ongoing return, as well as Loners? >
The Young Avengers are currently appearing in DARK REIGN: YOUNG AVENGERS (written by reader questions column favorite Paul Cornell!) as well as MIGHTY AVENGERS, and you'll continue to see them moving forwards. But we don't want to put them in an ongoing series until we've got everything set just right in terms of the creative team and the landscape of the Marvel U. And as you've no doubt figured out, they play a major role in Allan Heinberg's upcoming AVENGERS project with Jim Cheung, so until that series is over and done with, the best you're likely to see are limited series and specials. And there aern't any specific LONERS plans right now, though we did see most of them over in the DARKHAWK two-issue series leading up to WAR OF KINGS.
>Astonishing X-men will get a regular schedule any time soon?
Posted by claudio pahl on 2009-05-25 10:21:03>
Hey--that's THREE questions! And after four years, hasn't an irregular schedule become the regular schedule for ASTONISHING X-MEN?
> will we ever see Silver Surfer in a solo title? I loved the series in the 80s/90s. Any chance Jim Starlin has anything else for the character?
Posted by steelcable97 on 2009-05-25 12:08:07>
I think it's likely you'll see more Surfer projects in the relatively near future, but I don't think Jim Starlin will be involved in any of them.
>With the constant delays on certain titles, in this case I'm talking specifically about Thor, are there steps being taken to address the issue? The current run of Thor is one of my favourites, but it would be nice the book came out according to some kind of schedule. I'd even be okay with the book becoming bi-monthly, ala Astonishing X-Men under Joss Whedon, because I'm then not expecting the book each month. Doesn't it eat into Marvel's revenue when a book is only published 6-8 times a year instead of the scheduled 12? >
This is all territory I've cover numerous times in the past, but let's dance the dance one more time since you asked. The reason that the current run on THOR is one of your favorites right now is because of the work being done by JMS and Olivier and Marko. And for a variety of reasons, that work takes the time it takes. Now, editor Warren Simons has been running himself ragged producing other Thor-related specials and one-shots to fill the gaps, so that we haven't had a Thorless month in a good long while. But those books sell only a fraction of what the main THOR series does, and aren't received as warmly--and for exactly that same reason: they aren't being done by the guys whose work you readers as a whole are responding to. So, sure, it would be wonderful if we could suddenly have twelve issues of THOR by these guys every year, but it'd also be wonderful if I woke up this morning withthe power to fly (and only slightly less likely.) And just throwing bodies at the book is going to turn off as many if not more readers than the delays in shipping, and that doesn't help anyone except for those relatively few readers who just love THOR and don't care who's working on it. And in terms of the revenue, a THOR book that comes out 6 times a year and sells let's say 100,000 copies for the sake of argument is more profitable than a THOR book that comes out 12 times and sells 50,000 copies--it looks the same at first glance, but in the first example, you don't have as many printing or shipping costs, nor the A & E of producing the story and the artwork. And if you're filling the off-months with THOR projects that themselves sell 50,000 copies, you're actually ahead of the game for the year. I know this isn't remotely the answer you were hoping to hear, Arachkid, but this is the reality that we grapple with every single month in terms of achieving our sales goals. The short-term gain looks like it'd be substantial, but that isn't really the case anymore--and hasn't been since the days when it was the character that was selling the comics and the creators remained anonymous.
>And I have to echo Legerd's questions about Alpha Flight, when is the Flight going to be shown some love?
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