Our title this time out comes from a late night occasion several years ago where, while waiting for some dinner to heat up, I was flipping through channels on by cable box and happened upon my local Spanish station showing a favorite film, Back To The Future.
You mentioned last week that we’ll be seeing more solo books than ever before in this new X-Men era? How will it be decided who gets these solos? Will it be based on who had successful solos in the past or will more risks be taken for characters who haven’t gotten that spotlight yet?
Thanks as always for these newsletters, Tom. I reemerge this week with a question for, this one posed via a conversation with noted Tom Brevoort newsletter subscriber Al Kennedy. Al, and I, and Ralph Macchio are all great fans of the 1990's Steve Gerber/J.J. Birch maxiseries -- which has, to this day, never been collected. I wondered if, Gerber being himself, there were contractual issues around profit-sharing, etc., that might be at root. Or, alternatively, if it's just because we three are the only Foolkiller aficionados in the comics market. Do you happen to have any insights on this one?
Curious to know how far ahead you are in your X-planning? Of course things can change especially after the books start coming out and critical reaction will affect things but as of right now, where are your concrete and not-so concrete plans up to for the X-books?
I was reading Walt Hickey's You Are What You Watch, and he has an interview with you about Marvel and superheroes. One of his conclusions was that most superpowers lend themselves to teamwork and heroism, but "antisocial" powers like "intimidation or compulsion" forced whoever possessed them into a villainous role. Does that gibe with your take -- Purple Man, Dark Phoenix, Puppet Master, etc?
Hi, Tom. I continue to love the newsletter, it's always a nice way to start my Sundays.
On the question of the Spider-Man newspaper strips and whether or not Marvel has access to good reproduction materials, all of the IDW strip book collections from a decade back featured cleaned-up files. That run extended into Fred Kida's time on the strip. And same with Scott Dunbier's more recent Artist's Edition featuring the Lee/Romita material presented in even more impressive form.
So in that regard, at least, clean files do exist. Whether Marvel was sent the print-ready files, and whether or not they'd ever make sense to add to Unlimited are another matter, but the preservation work was done, anyway. Both versions look much better than my old paperback reprints, although I love them in that form, too.
I think the boldest creative choice DC Black Label made was to have Batman hang dong. Which Marvel character do you think you could most easily get away with hanging dong? My money is on Wolverine but I digress
Legacy Numbering : From 1997's Avengers #416 (vol.3) to 2024's Avengers #779 (vol.9) ; quite a long run then (nearly 365 issues of the main title). And new Avengers editor Wil Moss followed you before with the Immortal Hulk editor gig if I remember correctly (during the first issues of this title).
If I recall correctly, you are a big Barry Allen fan, at least of his Silver Age exploits. Since you are also a big fan of the Wolfman/Perez run on New Teen Titans, what are your thoughts on Wally and his eventual taking on of the Flash mantle? For myself, having entered the world of comic books via the NTT series (and others), I was able to see Wally go from Kid Flash to retired and then to becoming the Flash, as it was happening, and he became “my Flash” over the next few decades. My only real exposure to Barry at the time was through the trial issues and Crisis, so I didn’t have a strong connection to him. Curious to hear your thoughts on Wally’s development.
No questions this time, just a comment: The Kurt Busiek/George Perez AVENGERS #1 release was one of my favorite moments as a comic book collector. Every page was just perfect. I also loved seeing that Thunderbolts cover in this week's column -- another book I loved, when Kurt was writing but also through the Fabian Nicieza run.
I feel I must mention that my dad loves to quote that Back to the Future line - also in a dubbed (to our native language) version, where it says "I figured, to hell with the continuum".
While on the topic of time travel, here's a question. Thanks to Al Ewing's Venom I now know Mark Gruenwald has made an attempt to formulate the rules to time travel in the Marvel Universe. They are somewhat unusual, in particular they say any time a character travels in time and returns, there exists a timeline where they never return. Was there even ever a comic addressing this? Was there ever much effort to follow those rules?
P. S. The first letter of my nickname is i, not l - sadly a lot of people get it wrong
A good friend of mine pointed this out to me recently and it’s been bugging me ever since: Why don’t house ads have the actual release date? Wouldn’t the second most important part of the ad be to tell people when the comic is coming out? It feels like the month alone is kinda over vague.
I also have a second question on why so few Marvel books consistently hit the same week multiple months in a row? It’s mildly annoying as a reader to have no instinctive idea what week a book is coming out on.
You mentioned last week that we’ll be seeing more solo books than ever before in this new X-Men era? How will it be decided who gets these solos? Will it be based on who had successful solos in the past or will more risks be taken for characters who haven’t gotten that spotlight yet?
Thanks as always for these newsletters, Tom. I reemerge this week with a question for, this one posed via a conversation with noted Tom Brevoort newsletter subscriber Al Kennedy. Al, and I, and Ralph Macchio are all great fans of the 1990's Steve Gerber/J.J. Birch maxiseries -- which has, to this day, never been collected. I wondered if, Gerber being himself, there were contractual issues around profit-sharing, etc., that might be at root. Or, alternatively, if it's just because we three are the only Foolkiller aficionados in the comics market. Do you happen to have any insights on this one?
Thanks for doing these newsletters, Tom, I look forward to them every week. I have a few inconsequential, completely unrelated questions for you:
1. If you could assemble the next roster of Avengers, who would be on the team?
2. What are some of the most common things/mistakes you have to fix when editing a comic?
3. If you’ve read them, any thoughts on Grant Morrison’s Animal Man and Doom Patrol?
Curious to know how far ahead you are in your X-planning? Of course things can change especially after the books start coming out and critical reaction will affect things but as of right now, where are your concrete and not-so concrete plans up to for the X-books?
I was reading Walt Hickey's You Are What You Watch, and he has an interview with you about Marvel and superheroes. One of his conclusions was that most superpowers lend themselves to teamwork and heroism, but "antisocial" powers like "intimidation or compulsion" forced whoever possessed them into a villainous role. Does that gibe with your take -- Purple Man, Dark Phoenix, Puppet Master, etc?
Hi, Tom. I continue to love the newsletter, it's always a nice way to start my Sundays.
On the question of the Spider-Man newspaper strips and whether or not Marvel has access to good reproduction materials, all of the IDW strip book collections from a decade back featured cleaned-up files. That run extended into Fred Kida's time on the strip. And same with Scott Dunbier's more recent Artist's Edition featuring the Lee/Romita material presented in even more impressive form.
So in that regard, at least, clean files do exist. Whether Marvel was sent the print-ready files, and whether or not they'd ever make sense to add to Unlimited are another matter, but the preservation work was done, anyway. Both versions look much better than my old paperback reprints, although I love them in that form, too.
I think the boldest creative choice DC Black Label made was to have Batman hang dong. Which Marvel character do you think you could most easily get away with hanging dong? My money is on Wolverine but I digress
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers_Vol_1/Legacy_Numbers
Legacy Numbering : From 1997's Avengers #416 (vol.3) to 2024's Avengers #779 (vol.9) ; quite a long run then (nearly 365 issues of the main title). And new Avengers editor Wil Moss followed you before with the Immortal Hulk editor gig if I remember correctly (during the first issues of this title).
If I recall correctly, you are a big Barry Allen fan, at least of his Silver Age exploits. Since you are also a big fan of the Wolfman/Perez run on New Teen Titans, what are your thoughts on Wally and his eventual taking on of the Flash mantle? For myself, having entered the world of comic books via the NTT series (and others), I was able to see Wally go from Kid Flash to retired and then to becoming the Flash, as it was happening, and he became “my Flash” over the next few decades. My only real exposure to Barry at the time was through the trial issues and Crisis, so I didn’t have a strong connection to him. Curious to hear your thoughts on Wally’s development.
"AVENGERS #13, pictured above, is my final issue as editor after 26 years at the helm."
Wow and you say AVENGERS: TWILIGHT took a long time? Twenty-six years to put out thirteen issues is terrible, Tom!!!
But for real, congrats. And that Lim cover is perfect.
I just wanted to say I absolutely love the reversed cover variant for your final issue, and Ron executed it perfectly. Good job by all involved!
Were there any editorial or writerly reasons to move (and pretty much keep) the Avengers out of the mansion?
No questions this time, just a comment: The Kurt Busiek/George Perez AVENGERS #1 release was one of my favorite moments as a comic book collector. Every page was just perfect. I also loved seeing that Thunderbolts cover in this week's column -- another book I loved, when Kurt was writing but also through the Fabian Nicieza run.
I feel I must mention that my dad loves to quote that Back to the Future line - also in a dubbed (to our native language) version, where it says "I figured, to hell with the continuum".
While on the topic of time travel, here's a question. Thanks to Al Ewing's Venom I now know Mark Gruenwald has made an attempt to formulate the rules to time travel in the Marvel Universe. They are somewhat unusual, in particular they say any time a character travels in time and returns, there exists a timeline where they never return. Was there even ever a comic addressing this? Was there ever much effort to follow those rules?
P. S. The first letter of my nickname is i, not l - sadly a lot of people get it wrong
Readership is surely growing thanks to Connor Goldsmith and Annalise B’s shout out on the latest Cerebro pod (plug) 😉
A good friend of mine pointed this out to me recently and it’s been bugging me ever since: Why don’t house ads have the actual release date? Wouldn’t the second most important part of the ad be to tell people when the comic is coming out? It feels like the month alone is kinda over vague.
I also have a second question on why so few Marvel books consistently hit the same week multiple months in a row? It’s mildly annoying as a reader to have no instinctive idea what week a book is coming out on.