Okay, so the Baltimore Comic Convention was last weekend, a very fine show devoted almost entirely to comic books rather than assorted other media that have been spawned from them.
Looking forward to Cable Love & Chrome. One has to wonder if this may involve Hope in some way. (Is the “love” in “love & chrome” maybe less romantic love like it implies or paternal/fatherly love?) Kidding of course I know the real answer is “it’s just a cool and marketable title.” But I feel the need as like, the only Hope Summers fan, to keep bringing her up lmao I guess this was what you’d mentioned before when the topic of Hope’s death or “death” will at least be acknowledged. Looking forward to it even if it’s not much deeper than cable going “my daughters dead and that’s a real bummer” it’s better than nothing
Also on the topic of shonen jump and viz you I definitely recommend Me & Roboco. Very fun and very wholesome comedy manga, each chapter is like a standalone slice of life episode. It lovingly parodies popular manga tropes from both modern and classics, particularly Dragon Ball comes up a lot.
Hey Tom, thank you so much for answering questions. Here's one I've had for a while. I'll structure it based on your Marvel-focused experience.
Imagine a writer who has worked primarily on DC is being brought in to Marvel. Outside of elements of the specific character or story, are there any lines of thought that would be given to the writer, like "we write Marvel stories this way, which is different than they do at DC". I feel like there is some sort of tonal difference to the lines in general, but can't decide if that's a real thing or just something I'm imagining.
You said X-force will be getting a larger than normal issue for #300, I'm guessing wolverine will get one for #400. Will those also have multiple creators doing back up stories and priced at 9.99?
Tom, do you think Madelyne Pryor could become a constant X-Man? I mean, it's not impossible for former villains to become important members of the X-Men, Magneto and Emma Frost are there to prove it. But I feel that Maddie is a bit complicated, not least because she's a clone of one of the X-Men's pillars.
Dark X-Men gave us a taste of what it might be like to see her working alongside the good guys, as well as showing that she also has great leadership potential. I'm not a fan of hers, but I confess it would be interesting to follow her journey from villain to anti-hero to hero.
Congrats on the award...and you really should embrace the love when it comes your way..Yeah I'm the only one who hates the white covers. But they do ALWAYS WORK. And this one is great. I really enjoyed getting to do a Siege solo story with my pal Steven Butler on this. I wish I could've found a way to make him moire different from all the other big gun type characters...sigh. Kirk Jarvenin was also fin to work with with a little slice of life type story. Love his "homage" to Granny from the Warner Brothers cartoons. I loved seeing my pal John Hebert get another shot at drawing Deathlok in this annual...and a little jealous I didn't write it. John was always fun to work with. The trouble with annuals is that they tended to be stories that didn't "count". You pick up a character and drop them off right where you left them, unless you are the regular writer. Evan Skolnick was always thinking up new characters and this annual was perfect for him. It's really more of a TRACER story than a Deathlok story. I would have utilized the character if the book had gone on longer. It's too bad he didnlt get used again. Of course MOST of the characters that were forcible created that year met the same fate. You bring up an interesting point regarding the criticism of the "nepotism" that was pretty rampant at the time. What a lot of folks don't understand is that it wasn't always easy to get folks who didn't work in the office to commit to doing an annual or a short story that wasn't going to count. And some of the changes that had to be dealt with were just too frustrating for someone not in the office. Using a writer or artist who worked in the office made making changes easier, made it easier to get the work in on time and meant you had someone with access to all the information needed for the assignment at hand. And there was no shortage of writers in the office looking for work. I had great experiences having Tom DeFalco, Ralf Macchio, Bob Harras, Howard Mackie, Archie Goodwin, and even Mark Gruenwald writing for me. I used the bullpen letterer often and the Romita Raiders as well. And then there were the large assortment of people from the office who could color a book over night. There really was more benefit to it than just giving work over to a friend in the office. But from the outside...the optics weren't so great.
I just happen to be able to say Tracer appeared in Spectacular Spider-Man 211, as I re-read it not too long ago. Something I never thought about til this week: Was it ever intimidating to be coloring the covers of a book written by an accomplished colorist on Deathlok? Did editors routinely handle cover colors back then?
Re: your encounter with John Wesley Shipp. While in general I agree with your approach when a celebrity is "off the clock"*, I have found that it works if, when the encounter is about to end and you go your separate ways, you say then something like "By the way, just wanted to say that I've enjoyed your work". In one particular case, I was seated next to the then poker tournament all-time money leader and his family at a Vegas restaurant. We chatted briefly when his infant son grabbed his hat and threw it at me, but only about that. When they were leaving, I wished him good luck in the then ongoing World Series of Poker (i.e. Yes, I know who you are). He thanked me for that and for having not interrupted his family dinner with poker talk.
*My personal top such incident was way back in '86 when I lived in LA and shopped at the late, great, Hi De Ho Comics. One new comics day I was looking at the new books, which were on a series of racks. Someone was blocking my view of the next rack, so I asked if they might please move over just a bit. They replied "Of course. Sorry to have gotten in the way". And I realized I'd just asked Luke Skywalker to get out of my way. Didn't say anything else, as he wasn't there as Mark Hamill, actor and celebrity, but Mark Hamill, comics fan.
"Ultron Unlimited" remains one of my favorite Avengers storylines after all these years. I love the blending of personal and global stakes. It represents pretty much everything I look for in an Avengers comic.
Hi Tom. It was said that the PHOENIX book was Annalise idea, so i wonder if there was an original plan to Jean/Phoenix before that? I imagine that it would be really difficult to fit an Entity in a X-Men team, since she can solve their problems with a tought. How would Jean fit there?
Songbird joining the Earth's Mightiest Heroes was one of the great teases from Avengers Forever. Were there ever any plans in place to make that happen before Al Ewing brought her into Avengers Idea Mechanics?
"No idea what I’m going to do with the stupid thing—maybe I’ll make it a prize of some sort."
Now that's no kind of attitude, Tom. Imagine if Bruce Wayne had said, "No idea what I’m going to do with this stupid bat—maybe I’ll make it a prize of some sort." Or if Don Blake, trapped in a cave in Norway with a geefy-looking old walking stick, figured that who knows, if he got out safely, maybe he'd give it away as a prize.
The universe is speaking to you, Tom, and it wants you to peel some corn.
Maybe wait for next summer, since the season's over for fresh corn on the cob. But next year? Corn chowder, corn bread, corn fritters. Elote!
Who knows what kind of superhero you might become? And with delicious corn-containing foods along the way!
Tom! Was really nice to see you in Baltimore and catch up a bit. Huge congrats on the award! I missed you on Sunday, otherwise I would've congratulated you in person!
I LOVED the Busiek/Perez era of Avengers and how it tied into Thunderbolts as well. Fun comics that used continuity in a cool way that added texture to the books.
Tom - do you know what Roger Stern's original plans for the Rita Demara Yellowjacket character were? I know at one point she was considered for the T-Bolts but her story got too convoluted during the Crossing.
Stern seemed to be setting her up as a villain with ties to Hank Pym. Anyone know?
Mariko Yashida is Wolverine's true love
Looking forward to Cable Love & Chrome. One has to wonder if this may involve Hope in some way. (Is the “love” in “love & chrome” maybe less romantic love like it implies or paternal/fatherly love?) Kidding of course I know the real answer is “it’s just a cool and marketable title.” But I feel the need as like, the only Hope Summers fan, to keep bringing her up lmao I guess this was what you’d mentioned before when the topic of Hope’s death or “death” will at least be acknowledged. Looking forward to it even if it’s not much deeper than cable going “my daughters dead and that’s a real bummer” it’s better than nothing
Also on the topic of shonen jump and viz you I definitely recommend Me & Roboco. Very fun and very wholesome comedy manga, each chapter is like a standalone slice of life episode. It lovingly parodies popular manga tropes from both modern and classics, particularly Dragon Ball comes up a lot.
Hey Tom, thank you so much for answering questions. Here's one I've had for a while. I'll structure it based on your Marvel-focused experience.
Imagine a writer who has worked primarily on DC is being brought in to Marvel. Outside of elements of the specific character or story, are there any lines of thought that would be given to the writer, like "we write Marvel stories this way, which is different than they do at DC". I feel like there is some sort of tonal difference to the lines in general, but can't decide if that's a real thing or just something I'm imagining.
You said X-force will be getting a larger than normal issue for #300, I'm guessing wolverine will get one for #400. Will those also have multiple creators doing back up stories and priced at 9.99?
Tom, do you think Madelyne Pryor could become a constant X-Man? I mean, it's not impossible for former villains to become important members of the X-Men, Magneto and Emma Frost are there to prove it. But I feel that Maddie is a bit complicated, not least because she's a clone of one of the X-Men's pillars.
Dark X-Men gave us a taste of what it might be like to see her working alongside the good guys, as well as showing that she also has great leadership potential. I'm not a fan of hers, but I confess it would be interesting to follow her journey from villain to anti-hero to hero.
Congrats on the award...and you really should embrace the love when it comes your way..Yeah I'm the only one who hates the white covers. But they do ALWAYS WORK. And this one is great. I really enjoyed getting to do a Siege solo story with my pal Steven Butler on this. I wish I could've found a way to make him moire different from all the other big gun type characters...sigh. Kirk Jarvenin was also fin to work with with a little slice of life type story. Love his "homage" to Granny from the Warner Brothers cartoons. I loved seeing my pal John Hebert get another shot at drawing Deathlok in this annual...and a little jealous I didn't write it. John was always fun to work with. The trouble with annuals is that they tended to be stories that didn't "count". You pick up a character and drop them off right where you left them, unless you are the regular writer. Evan Skolnick was always thinking up new characters and this annual was perfect for him. It's really more of a TRACER story than a Deathlok story. I would have utilized the character if the book had gone on longer. It's too bad he didnlt get used again. Of course MOST of the characters that were forcible created that year met the same fate. You bring up an interesting point regarding the criticism of the "nepotism" that was pretty rampant at the time. What a lot of folks don't understand is that it wasn't always easy to get folks who didn't work in the office to commit to doing an annual or a short story that wasn't going to count. And some of the changes that had to be dealt with were just too frustrating for someone not in the office. Using a writer or artist who worked in the office made making changes easier, made it easier to get the work in on time and meant you had someone with access to all the information needed for the assignment at hand. And there was no shortage of writers in the office looking for work. I had great experiences having Tom DeFalco, Ralf Macchio, Bob Harras, Howard Mackie, Archie Goodwin, and even Mark Gruenwald writing for me. I used the bullpen letterer often and the Romita Raiders as well. And then there were the large assortment of people from the office who could color a book over night. There really was more benefit to it than just giving work over to a friend in the office. But from the outside...the optics weren't so great.
I just happen to be able to say Tracer appeared in Spectacular Spider-Man 211, as I re-read it not too long ago. Something I never thought about til this week: Was it ever intimidating to be coloring the covers of a book written by an accomplished colorist on Deathlok? Did editors routinely handle cover colors back then?
Re: your encounter with John Wesley Shipp. While in general I agree with your approach when a celebrity is "off the clock"*, I have found that it works if, when the encounter is about to end and you go your separate ways, you say then something like "By the way, just wanted to say that I've enjoyed your work". In one particular case, I was seated next to the then poker tournament all-time money leader and his family at a Vegas restaurant. We chatted briefly when his infant son grabbed his hat and threw it at me, but only about that. When they were leaving, I wished him good luck in the then ongoing World Series of Poker (i.e. Yes, I know who you are). He thanked me for that and for having not interrupted his family dinner with poker talk.
*My personal top such incident was way back in '86 when I lived in LA and shopped at the late, great, Hi De Ho Comics. One new comics day I was looking at the new books, which were on a series of racks. Someone was blocking my view of the next rack, so I asked if they might please move over just a bit. They replied "Of course. Sorry to have gotten in the way". And I realized I'd just asked Luke Skywalker to get out of my way. Didn't say anything else, as he wasn't there as Mark Hamill, actor and celebrity, but Mark Hamill, comics fan.
"Ultron Unlimited" remains one of my favorite Avengers storylines after all these years. I love the blending of personal and global stakes. It represents pretty much everything I look for in an Avengers comic.
Hi Tom. It was said that the PHOENIX book was Annalise idea, so i wonder if there was an original plan to Jean/Phoenix before that? I imagine that it would be really difficult to fit an Entity in a X-Men team, since she can solve their problems with a tought. How would Jean fit there?
I’m pretty sure he said Phoenix was his own idea so that answers your question
Hi Tom,
Any stories, characters, titles etc. you were worried wouldn’t connect with fans before being pleasantly surprised?
Congratulations on your award!
Is that Avengers foil cover the back of the award? That’s fun. Does each award get a different foil back or was it just lifetime awards?
Songbird joining the Earth's Mightiest Heroes was one of the great teases from Avengers Forever. Were there ever any plans in place to make that happen before Al Ewing brought her into Avengers Idea Mechanics?
"No idea what I’m going to do with the stupid thing—maybe I’ll make it a prize of some sort."
Now that's no kind of attitude, Tom. Imagine if Bruce Wayne had said, "No idea what I’m going to do with this stupid bat—maybe I’ll make it a prize of some sort." Or if Don Blake, trapped in a cave in Norway with a geefy-looking old walking stick, figured that who knows, if he got out safely, maybe he'd give it away as a prize.
The universe is speaking to you, Tom, and it wants you to peel some corn.
Maybe wait for next summer, since the season's over for fresh corn on the cob. But next year? Corn chowder, corn bread, corn fritters. Elote!
Who knows what kind of superhero you might become? And with delicious corn-containing foods along the way!
Tom! Was really nice to see you in Baltimore and catch up a bit. Huge congrats on the award! I missed you on Sunday, otherwise I would've congratulated you in person!
I LOVED the Busiek/Perez era of Avengers and how it tied into Thunderbolts as well. Fun comics that used continuity in a cool way that added texture to the books.
Tom - do you know what Roger Stern's original plans for the Rita Demara Yellowjacket character were? I know at one point she was considered for the T-Bolts but her story got too convoluted during the Crossing.
Stern seemed to be setting her up as a villain with ties to Hank Pym. Anyone know?