Were there ever any X-Men characters you tried to nab for the Avengers at any point or wanted to? I know you said before that you felt it was a mistake that no one had ever done a Phoenix series, with Jean in space. Was that ever something you thought about doing by taking the character over to the Avengers office at any point, or borrowing say Forge or any number of X-Characters for Avengers books?
I would’ve been better to say “a primary lure” of your newsletter is the mailbag, rather than “THE” primary lure, because I enjoy equally the comic-book history and information about new releases that you offer up here, too. It’s all just a much nicer way to spend a Sunday morning than reading news or social media.
I have read the new X-men and really enjoyed it , I've been noticing in many of the books that their are multiple telepaths in each team and I wanted to ask is that something editorial has talked about?
Another thing I wanted to ask is that I have also noticed that their are many new characters in every book so far , is this intentional?
My last question is , is their any character you personally " pushed" to be in a team book?
Tom, how does the process for deciding on the characters' new looks work? I mean, the editors come up with the idea or usually the writers make a request. Will all the mutants have new costumes? Sorry if you've already answered a question like that.
I have to say I am amazed that you got Kirby to write an intro. I =tried, and tried to get him to write an intro for the Masterworks and more importantly the original Simon?Kirby Captain America hardcover I put together. But alas, I could not convince him. Sigh. Well done my friend. I salute you.
I agree about Greg Adams. I don't know where he came from but he represents the first stability we had in a long time. This issue was frustrating due to the lateness and everything being so rushed we couldn't make certain changes that would give the story a more focus. It became clear by this point that I had pushed Deathlok too far into the realm of NOT being quite so much the pacifist and had been doing it for the past few issues. The goal was to push him over the line..and it feels like it went too far too fast so by the end where he drops the "No Killing" parameter if feels like we've seen this bluff one too many times. I did want the character to be changed from this point on. I wanted what was done in these issues to reflect in the next issues. Unfortunately Dwayne had no interest in Siege, so I had to send him off, and due to his more family oriented upcoming storyline I had to reunite him with his family at the end. Michael's body remaining always bothered me...it makes little sense. Oh well. I was really excited for Dwayne's next, (and last it would turn out) storyline because he was finally going to do his Black Panther story. He was a huge Don McGregor Black Panther fan and I was eager to see what he would do...maybe now Greg Adams would help get our artist troubles solved. Maybe?
Read X-Men #1 yesterday and enjoyed it. Got to the end and found the final page reasonably interesting. Then I saw the QR code and was intrigued enough to click it – something I never normally do. I was surprised to find an extra page of the comic and rather sadly this was probably my favourite page of the book. I love a villain reveal and a shadowy foursome of (new?) villains is nearly as good.
Why did you decide to ‘hide’ this page? What was the benefit? Surely lots of people will not even see it. It was probably 50/50 that I bothered to look at it. What was the thought process behind doing this?
I didn't realise my question had already been pre-empted so...I will just say I don't think I like this personally. And it's disappointing to hear that other books will do the same thing. Still, it didn't stop me enjoying the book and looking forward to the rest of From the Ashes. Hope your leg gets better!
Tom, what do you think about Banshee? He's usually extremely underrated, but he's a character with so many facets. He's been a villain, a classic hero, a teacher, a spy... I hope we get to see him one day in From The Ashes.
"where Charles Xavier would have been a teen basketball sensation." - *KLUNNK sound* as my gaping, wide-open jaw falls off and hits my laptop keyboard. Your Bill Jemas anecdotes have been real eye-openers! I've now understand why The Hulk didn't gel with me around that era - enough for me to stop reading it - one of my favourite characters - after 30+ years. Though a quick search tells me that sales rose on The Hulk during that period, so what do I know ;-)
In X-Men #1 there is a line about how it could seem that the X-Men are keeping mutants that look too different hidden in the base. Now I wonder if it was meant to have a meta subtext...
On the same topic, if you are shelving the more confusing characters, why use Xorn? I have no idea which of comics about him actually are about him, and I'm not that new of a reader.
With Quentin, I took the idea to be that he was resurrected in Rise of the Powers of X and returned to Earth straight away, rather than him returning in #700/#35. Technically we were told that they only resurrected Orchis victims in Rise but it’s hard to see why he’d be left off the list.
By the way, is it a good idea to keep calling that issue Uncanny #700 when that’s not how it’s listed on Unlimited or Amazon? It’s fine for people like me who know to search for it as X-Men #35 but… well, not new reader friendly, maybe?
Hi Tom! A couple quick notes before my question - first of all I hope all goes well with your knee! Secondly, I really enjoyed X-Men #1, and I found myself thinking "Go Tom!" when reading about how well it sold :-) Finally, I absolutely love Bill Jemas content, it never fails to crack me up.
OK on to my question: It's always interesting to hear about the different offices, i.e. the X-Office, Avengers etc., I wonder if you have any stories about memorable clashes between the different offices?
I read Guardians digitally (well, most of it) a few years back. I think I bought it during a ComiXology sale. For some reason, issue #2 was never made available on the platform.
Without knowing the context of the series' creation, I thought Guardians was a YA novel adaptation or a movie tie-in, not unlike the Ender's Game comics that Marvel published for a while.
Did the Tsunami line come out of a similar mandate from Jemas? And were you involved in any of those books?
Cable isn't from another time or parallel Earth. He's from the 616, and he's a mutant revolutionary and freedom fighter. He fits perfectly into the mutant metaphor. Especially in something like Jed and Ryan's X-Men.
Hiya Tom! Wishing you a swift recovery. As someone who had busted their kneecap falling down on an ice rink i can attest--knee trouble ain't fun.
The hidden page in X-Men #1 brought to mind those AR stickers that were all the rage back during MARVEL NOW. I've fond memories of those, and don't mind the extra action of grabbing my phone to scan the code. However, with an eye toward preservation, are you considering putting the page into the collection/reprint of the issue going forward?
For the love of God get a hobby
You will be happier if you don't obsess over this kind of stuff, I guarantee it.
Han, is that you?
Were there ever any X-Men characters you tried to nab for the Avengers at any point or wanted to? I know you said before that you felt it was a mistake that no one had ever done a Phoenix series, with Jean in space. Was that ever something you thought about doing by taking the character over to the Avengers office at any point, or borrowing say Forge or any number of X-Characters for Avengers books?
I would’ve been better to say “a primary lure” of your newsletter is the mailbag, rather than “THE” primary lure, because I enjoy equally the comic-book history and information about new releases that you offer up here, too. It’s all just a much nicer way to spend a Sunday morning than reading news or social media.
Hello Brevoort
I have read the new X-men and really enjoyed it , I've been noticing in many of the books that their are multiple telepaths in each team and I wanted to ask is that something editorial has talked about?
Another thing I wanted to ask is that I have also noticed that their are many new characters in every book so far , is this intentional?
My last question is , is their any character you personally " pushed" to be in a team book?
Tom, how does the process for deciding on the characters' new looks work? I mean, the editors come up with the idea or usually the writers make a request. Will all the mutants have new costumes? Sorry if you've already answered a question like that.
I have to say I am amazed that you got Kirby to write an intro. I =tried, and tried to get him to write an intro for the Masterworks and more importantly the original Simon?Kirby Captain America hardcover I put together. But alas, I could not convince him. Sigh. Well done my friend. I salute you.
I agree about Greg Adams. I don't know where he came from but he represents the first stability we had in a long time. This issue was frustrating due to the lateness and everything being so rushed we couldn't make certain changes that would give the story a more focus. It became clear by this point that I had pushed Deathlok too far into the realm of NOT being quite so much the pacifist and had been doing it for the past few issues. The goal was to push him over the line..and it feels like it went too far too fast so by the end where he drops the "No Killing" parameter if feels like we've seen this bluff one too many times. I did want the character to be changed from this point on. I wanted what was done in these issues to reflect in the next issues. Unfortunately Dwayne had no interest in Siege, so I had to send him off, and due to his more family oriented upcoming storyline I had to reunite him with his family at the end. Michael's body remaining always bothered me...it makes little sense. Oh well. I was really excited for Dwayne's next, (and last it would turn out) storyline because he was finally going to do his Black Panther story. He was a huge Don McGregor Black Panther fan and I was eager to see what he would do...maybe now Greg Adams would help get our artist troubles solved. Maybe?
Read X-Men #1 yesterday and enjoyed it. Got to the end and found the final page reasonably interesting. Then I saw the QR code and was intrigued enough to click it – something I never normally do. I was surprised to find an extra page of the comic and rather sadly this was probably my favourite page of the book. I love a villain reveal and a shadowy foursome of (new?) villains is nearly as good.
Why did you decide to ‘hide’ this page? What was the benefit? Surely lots of people will not even see it. It was probably 50/50 that I bothered to look at it. What was the thought process behind doing this?
I didn't realise my question had already been pre-empted so...I will just say I don't think I like this personally. And it's disappointing to hear that other books will do the same thing. Still, it didn't stop me enjoying the book and looking forward to the rest of From the Ashes. Hope your leg gets better!
Tom, what do you think about Banshee? He's usually extremely underrated, but he's a character with so many facets. He's been a villain, a classic hero, a teacher, a spy... I hope we get to see him one day in From The Ashes.
"where Charles Xavier would have been a teen basketball sensation." - *KLUNNK sound* as my gaping, wide-open jaw falls off and hits my laptop keyboard. Your Bill Jemas anecdotes have been real eye-openers! I've now understand why The Hulk didn't gel with me around that era - enough for me to stop reading it - one of my favourite characters - after 30+ years. Though a quick search tells me that sales rose on The Hulk during that period, so what do I know ;-)
In X-Men #1 there is a line about how it could seem that the X-Men are keeping mutants that look too different hidden in the base. Now I wonder if it was meant to have a meta subtext...
On the same topic, if you are shelving the more confusing characters, why use Xorn? I have no idea which of comics about him actually are about him, and I'm not that new of a reader.
With Quentin, I took the idea to be that he was resurrected in Rise of the Powers of X and returned to Earth straight away, rather than him returning in #700/#35. Technically we were told that they only resurrected Orchis victims in Rise but it’s hard to see why he’d be left off the list.
By the way, is it a good idea to keep calling that issue Uncanny #700 when that’s not how it’s listed on Unlimited or Amazon? It’s fine for people like me who know to search for it as X-Men #35 but… well, not new reader friendly, maybe?
Hi Tom! A couple quick notes before my question - first of all I hope all goes well with your knee! Secondly, I really enjoyed X-Men #1, and I found myself thinking "Go Tom!" when reading about how well it sold :-) Finally, I absolutely love Bill Jemas content, it never fails to crack me up.
OK on to my question: It's always interesting to hear about the different offices, i.e. the X-Office, Avengers etc., I wonder if you have any stories about memorable clashes between the different offices?
Have fun at Comic-Con if you're able to make it!
I read Guardians digitally (well, most of it) a few years back. I think I bought it during a ComiXology sale. For some reason, issue #2 was never made available on the platform.
Without knowing the context of the series' creation, I thought Guardians was a YA novel adaptation or a movie tie-in, not unlike the Ender's Game comics that Marvel published for a while.
Did the Tsunami line come out of a similar mandate from Jemas? And were you involved in any of those books?
Guardians also has the indignity of being incomplete on Marvel Unlimited - it has issue #1, and #3-5, but no #2!
Cable isn't from another time or parallel Earth. He's from the 616, and he's a mutant revolutionary and freedom fighter. He fits perfectly into the mutant metaphor. Especially in something like Jed and Ryan's X-Men.
Technically he's from that time period, but really is from the future - that alone is pretty complicated!
I'm a Cable fan and I think there's plenty of Cable content I can go back and read, and I'm sure he'll be reestablished in-universe soon enough.
Hiya Tom! Wishing you a swift recovery. As someone who had busted their kneecap falling down on an ice rink i can attest--knee trouble ain't fun.
The hidden page in X-Men #1 brought to mind those AR stickers that were all the rage back during MARVEL NOW. I've fond memories of those, and don't mind the extra action of grabbing my phone to scan the code. However, with an eye toward preservation, are you considering putting the page into the collection/reprint of the issue going forward?
I loved those videos! From the AR stickers.