All right, well, that was a week, wasn’t it? As I expect (hope?) most of you already know, this past Thursday at SXSW in Austin, Texas we held a panel to announce the first little bit of our X-MEN roll-out plan. For those who may have missed it, the trailer that we debuted can be seen in all its glory
Congratulations on your new editorial position. About the Legacy numbering, the kind of question that perhaps only a few of us are interested in.
X-Men will have the Uncanny X-Men Legacy numbering with its #700, the last of the Krakoa Age issue. But this is the X-Men without adjectives.
That's why I wonder what Legacy numbering the X-Men by Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman will have and what Legacy numbering the Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone and David Marquez will have. I also assume that there will be no Legacy numbering for Exceptional, but there will be for other series with previous incarnations, such as X-Force or X-Factor.
Looking at the new X-Office, I see a lot of white. Obviously, this isn't anything new to comics but it is something I was hoping a book like X-Men could start to move on from. Was there any thought when creating your lineups (especially for the books that haven't had their creative teams announced like X-Factor and Storm) about how you could include more diversity in a corner of 616 that really does deserve to be written and drawn by more diverse people? I mean, look at how much better Miles Morales comics got when actual POC and Puerto Ricans were writing for him, or how excellent Ms Marvel books have always been under the writing of G Willow Wilson, and more recently Iman Vellani.
I'm not saying that white people can't write good X-Books, the last 60 years of comic history prove that, but I do hope to see more diversity in the lineups for the other 6 books considering it's always been a problem how dominated by white men the comics industry has historically been
Edit: I didn't mention eve ewing here at all and that feels disingenuous so I would like to mention that I'm a big fan of having her on this book, and even before I knew it was her, that was the one book I was the most excited for from the trailer. Good job on that. Hope the other books reflect similar choices
About the essentials no longer needed since the success of the epic collection line : more recently, it seems to me the Complete Collection tpb (2013-2023) have been kinda replaced by the very recent Modern Epic Collection tpb (covering the 21th century stuff that isn't in the epic collection).
Okay, I'll take a crack at the first X-book you ever edited. Was it: the Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (Vol. 2) #1? That's an X-book, right?
Also, congrats on unveiling the X-Men relaunch. A big part of these three books is that they each take place in a different city, that city being the home of one of the X-Men. Was this in you initial pitch for the relaunch? It does seem like an overarching theme for these books might be "homecoming."
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s (so around the time when you started working at Marvel), Marvel did a series of several six issues story arcs published during the summer (across many different titles), probably in order to attract some casual readers, in case they wanted to read something on the beach (the most beloved story of the bunch may well be Captain America: The Bloodstone Hunt). Any idea why it stopped (a few years before the burst of the 90's comic speculator bubble) ?
Summer of 1989 I started working part time at a comic store (dream job!) and the hype around Batman was insane. You were correct as we could not keep merchandise and comics in stock. Back issues and current issues of Batman and TEC were flying. The Many Deaths of Batman, Killing Joke, The Cult, Grant/Breyfogle on TEC - really great era under the master Denny O'Neil.
I remember we would buy copies of most comics for the shelf and for subscribers but also extra copies held back for back issues (marked up 25 cents!) - a real boom era. I also remember tons of posters selling tons (a simple bat logo in black and yellow for like a buck).
I also remember Marvel comics selling like crazy - Peter David on Hulk, Silvestri Xmen, Byrne on Avengers..fun times. Future Batman movies did not affect sales the way this first film did of course, but this first Batman movie created a Bat-Mania. Fun times to work in the store (which is still open - different owner but still exists after all this time!)
"Living on a tropical island has wonderful rejuvenating properties." What about the effects of being resurrected? Are the mutants brought back at the same biological age as when they died or are they reset to a physically younger age? The latter would make sense.
Stan Lee was the inspiration for DC’s Funky Flashman, among other send-ups. Tom DeFalco was likewise inspiration for (oof) "Clumsy Foulup” in the pages of Silver Surfer. Have there been any Marvel characters where you’ve wondered “hey, is that goofball/idiot/suave sophisticated superspy supposed to be ME?”
Fantastic, love it, very excited. My X-men heyday was in the 80s when I was a kid, and when I returned to comics in my 40s I never found my way back in to an X-Men story, though I tried a few times. This looks really fun. I love the sci-fi elements. And also very glad to see Jed MacKay on one of the books - he’s my fave Marvel writer. Kudos!
Any chance that you're going to revive the Dawn of X-style trade paperbacks so we can read all the main titles at once? Or was that just a unique experiment that didn't work in terms of sales or your construction of the X-office?
I have a comment, and a question: the comment is that I love your newsletter; it’s become a real high point of my Sundays. So, thank you.
Question: Can you talk about the behind-the-scenes of the Jason Aaron Punisher series? Did he come to you with a pitch to overhaul (so to speak) the character, or was it an editorial decision to dramatically change the status quo that led you to create a miniseries to do that? And if the latter, what was driving that decision?
My revenue to the special thanks to Axel in A:T was archeological: was the project *that* old or yes, did he come back from AWA to do something on the book. I didn’t mean or thought of the thanks somehow be, like, an irrelevant honorarium or something.
…a question: I’ve learned to with the flows these days when it comes to big continuity changes or the like such as with the X-Books. (Probably has to do with DC’s reboots seeming to happen like strobe lights flashing, and now all continuities there as well as none are happening simultaneously…)
So just one vague question that I hope can be answered: a number of the characters have gone through what can be described as more PTSD-causing than par. Will that stuff be undone — the traumas, I mean — ignored or at least left there as somethings that happened?
IIRC, Pinckney was living in the general area of the X-mansion when he passed away. So was he commuting to your college (Delaware?) at the time?
Last: the Wonderman affair… jeez… just, well, something amazing. Victor Fox, one of the publishers of the golden age with the worst rep against the thugs (figuratively if not literally)/pornographers (by 1930s standards) that were Liebowitz and Donenfeld. I mean, who’d want to root for anyone involved there? And given the Wonderman and Captain Marvel lawsuits, one might think they’d have gone after every single superhero eventually had they the time…
Hi Tom!
Congratulations on your new editorial position. About the Legacy numbering, the kind of question that perhaps only a few of us are interested in.
X-Men will have the Uncanny X-Men Legacy numbering with its #700, the last of the Krakoa Age issue. But this is the X-Men without adjectives.
That's why I wonder what Legacy numbering the X-Men by Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman will have and what Legacy numbering the Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone and David Marquez will have. I also assume that there will be no Legacy numbering for Exceptional, but there will be for other series with previous incarnations, such as X-Force or X-Factor.
Because this is driving me crazy! ;-)
Looking at the new X-Office, I see a lot of white. Obviously, this isn't anything new to comics but it is something I was hoping a book like X-Men could start to move on from. Was there any thought when creating your lineups (especially for the books that haven't had their creative teams announced like X-Factor and Storm) about how you could include more diversity in a corner of 616 that really does deserve to be written and drawn by more diverse people? I mean, look at how much better Miles Morales comics got when actual POC and Puerto Ricans were writing for him, or how excellent Ms Marvel books have always been under the writing of G Willow Wilson, and more recently Iman Vellani.
I'm not saying that white people can't write good X-Books, the last 60 years of comic history prove that, but I do hope to see more diversity in the lineups for the other 6 books considering it's always been a problem how dominated by white men the comics industry has historically been
Edit: I didn't mention eve ewing here at all and that feels disingenuous so I would like to mention that I'm a big fan of having her on this book, and even before I knew it was her, that was the one book I was the most excited for from the trailer. Good job on that. Hope the other books reflect similar choices
About the essentials no longer needed since the success of the epic collection line : more recently, it seems to me the Complete Collection tpb (2013-2023) have been kinda replaced by the very recent Modern Epic Collection tpb (covering the 21th century stuff that isn't in the epic collection).
Re: Batman movies of the 80s and 90s:
1) And of course the Prince soundtrack for the first one was also everywhere. Still holds up IMO.
2) Have you seen this year's presentation of the Best Visual Effects Oscar? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AelmLu63Ly8
Okay, I'll take a crack at the first X-book you ever edited. Was it: the Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (Vol. 2) #1? That's an X-book, right?
Also, congrats on unveiling the X-Men relaunch. A big part of these three books is that they each take place in a different city, that city being the home of one of the X-Men. Was this in you initial pitch for the relaunch? It does seem like an overarching theme for these books might be "homecoming."
Hi Tom,
does Frank Tieri/Georges Jeanty's Weapon X #11 count as your first "proper" X-title as editor?
The 1975 letter shared this week from Stan Lee is signed "SL/dd". Just curious, does anyone know what the "/dd" stands for? Thanks!
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s (so around the time when you started working at Marvel), Marvel did a series of several six issues story arcs published during the summer (across many different titles), probably in order to attract some casual readers, in case they wanted to read something on the beach (the most beloved story of the bunch may well be Captain America: The Bloodstone Hunt). Any idea why it stopped (a few years before the burst of the 90's comic speculator bubble) ?
Summer of 1989 I started working part time at a comic store (dream job!) and the hype around Batman was insane. You were correct as we could not keep merchandise and comics in stock. Back issues and current issues of Batman and TEC were flying. The Many Deaths of Batman, Killing Joke, The Cult, Grant/Breyfogle on TEC - really great era under the master Denny O'Neil.
I remember we would buy copies of most comics for the shelf and for subscribers but also extra copies held back for back issues (marked up 25 cents!) - a real boom era. I also remember tons of posters selling tons (a simple bat logo in black and yellow for like a buck).
I also remember Marvel comics selling like crazy - Peter David on Hulk, Silvestri Xmen, Byrne on Avengers..fun times. Future Batman movies did not affect sales the way this first film did of course, but this first Batman movie created a Bat-Mania. Fun times to work in the store (which is still open - different owner but still exists after all this time!)
The Deathlok chronicles made me want to ask: Any plans for a Deathlok series?
What about Machine Man (the one pager in Marvel 1000 by Roger Stern and Jerry Ordway made me want to see them follow up on that tease)?
Love those cyborgs :)
"Living on a tropical island has wonderful rejuvenating properties." What about the effects of being resurrected? Are the mutants brought back at the same biological age as when they died or are they reset to a physically younger age? The latter would make sense.
Stan Lee was the inspiration for DC’s Funky Flashman, among other send-ups. Tom DeFalco was likewise inspiration for (oof) "Clumsy Foulup” in the pages of Silver Surfer. Have there been any Marvel characters where you’ve wondered “hey, is that goofball/idiot/suave sophisticated superspy supposed to be ME?”
Fantastic, love it, very excited. My X-men heyday was in the 80s when I was a kid, and when I returned to comics in my 40s I never found my way back in to an X-Men story, though I tried a few times. This looks really fun. I love the sci-fi elements. And also very glad to see Jed MacKay on one of the books - he’s my fave Marvel writer. Kudos!
Tom,
Any chance that you're going to revive the Dawn of X-style trade paperbacks so we can read all the main titles at once? Or was that just a unique experiment that didn't work in terms of sales or your construction of the X-office?
I have a comment, and a question: the comment is that I love your newsletter; it’s become a real high point of my Sundays. So, thank you.
Question: Can you talk about the behind-the-scenes of the Jason Aaron Punisher series? Did he come to you with a pitch to overhaul (so to speak) the character, or was it an editorial decision to dramatically change the status quo that led you to create a miniseries to do that? And if the latter, what was driving that decision?
Tom:
A clarification…
My revenue to the special thanks to Axel in A:T was archeological: was the project *that* old or yes, did he come back from AWA to do something on the book. I didn’t mean or thought of the thanks somehow be, like, an irrelevant honorarium or something.
…a question: I’ve learned to with the flows these days when it comes to big continuity changes or the like such as with the X-Books. (Probably has to do with DC’s reboots seeming to happen like strobe lights flashing, and now all continuities there as well as none are happening simultaneously…)
So just one vague question that I hope can be answered: a number of the characters have gone through what can be described as more PTSD-causing than par. Will that stuff be undone — the traumas, I mean — ignored or at least left there as somethings that happened?
IIRC, Pinckney was living in the general area of the X-mansion when he passed away. So was he commuting to your college (Delaware?) at the time?
Last: the Wonderman affair… jeez… just, well, something amazing. Victor Fox, one of the publishers of the golden age with the worst rep against the thugs (figuratively if not literally)/pornographers (by 1930s standards) that were Liebowitz and Donenfeld. I mean, who’d want to root for anyone involved there? And given the Wonderman and Captain Marvel lawsuits, one might think they’d have gone after every single superhero eventually had they the time…
How was SXSW and Austin other than business?