Was the Miracleman tease at the end of the first TIMELESS intended solely to promote the new series that was getting ready to come out or were there plans for a more direct Miracleman/Marvel crossover? I remember the second thing being speculated about at the time.
Hey Tom, I see you were in London recently with a bunch of other comic folk visiting the Fantastic Four Movie set. Do you have any stories to tell us about the visit?
PS. I am still buying every single new X-book and so far enjoying the majority of them. Some I wasn't sure about (X-Men, X-Factor) have picked up and some (Uncanny, Exceptional, X-Force) have been great. Only Dazzler has so far failed to ignite much interest. However every single book has had great art. Keep up the good work!
You mean the Citizen V who appeared after the T-Bolts' secret was revealed?
That was Dallas Riordan, and was always intended to be. That wasn't any long-simmering master plan, either. We just thought Citizen V looked great, so if Zemo wasn't going to be Citizen V any more, someone should be. We picked Dallas because it was something to do with her that might lead to interesting complications in her relationship with Atlas, but it blossomed into this whole history involving the V-Battalion that provided lots of fun stuff to do.
As I recall, my intent with the V-Battalion was that they were all descendants of the original freedom fighters who worked with the original Citizen V. When Fabian took over, he decided to expand them in a more superhero direction that surprised me but worked really well.
That is very cool Kurt ! And thanks for answering!
So I guess Dallas as the Crimson Cowl was a fake out (nice parallel with the original Cowl who was a fake out/brainwashed Jarvis) - I remember reading you originally wanted the Cowl to be Pym's old assistant (with ties to Ultron - again a nice parallel to the original Cowl's appearance in the Thomas/Buscema Avengers run).
Yes, I don't know if I knew who the new Cowl was when she debuted -- I may have just been thinking, "Good name, the character would look sharp as a woman, and it sets up a mystery." But I decided on Alice Nugent fairly early.
And Fabian went in a different direction with it, which was fine -- I told him where I was headed with all the unresolved plot lines, but I kept saying "but you don't need to do this." I just wanted him to know the intent, so he could build on or subvert the clues that were there.
The link to Twitter on your reading that issue of Eternals got me thinking. Has anyone ever done a mini where events carried on with the Eternals continuity never being forced into the main continuity by a very wrongheaded Roy Thomas? If it hasn't I do wish it were possible to be done in today's market. Too bad it would need a superstar list of creators (right through to letterer and color artist) to be even considered...
Your mention of using old stats for that Golden Age reprint reminded me, the version of Human Torch #2 (1940) on Marvel Unlimited appeared to be, last I checked, the inferior Marvel Masterworks 1st printing version. As I understand it, the first GA Masterworks was produced (at least in part) using microfiche as the base to recreate the art from, but the results weren't great, so the fiche was upgraded to paper scans and the art re-restored from those for subsequent printings. I realize this isn't your department, but if you wanted to pass it along to the appropriate parties, that'd sure be swell!
Anyway, great column as usual, Tom! And here's hoping the Thunderbolts talk is enough to get a certain KB to show up in the comments...
I'd add to great fight scenes the one by Wally Wood of Daredevil vs. the Sub-Mariner in DD #7. If you haven't seen it, you'd think "Well, that was probably a good three panels" as Namor vastly outpowers Matt. But that was the whole point of it. Matt acknowledges that from the beginning, so he's pulling out all the stops in terms of using whatever is at hand to maybe have a chance at just surviving the fight. At the end, he's almost passed out on the ground and still trying to grab Namor by the ankle. Namor is so impressed by Matt's courage and managing to last more than 5 seconds that he returns to the sea without doing any more mayhem (admittedly he had reason to; he'd already been delayed by a day from returning to stop a full fledged revolt by Warlord Krang).
As long as I'm writing, I'm curious if you might want to resolve a rather obscure loose end from Krakoa. While we finally saw Thunderbird I revived, to my knowledge (and a quick check of the Grand Comics Database), we never saw or heard anything about reviving the first X-Man to die. Namely, Professor X...or at least that's what was intended when the story was published. Near the end of the X-Men's first run, Xavier reappears and it was revealed the dead Xavier was actually just as obscure as the Orge Factor Three villain The Changeling who'd shapeshifted in Xavier's form at his request. You'd think Charles would think he'd owed the guy and gotten him resurrected, but he's never mentioned nor appears during the Krakoa era. Yes, you can probably count the number of folk wondering about this on one hand, so I probably know your answer, but figured I'd at least ask.
Hi Tom, thanks as always for your excellent email. Was thinking about a successor to the Deathlock Chronicles. How about reflections on your time writing Secret Defenders or Fantastic Force? I know you concluded that you shouldn't be a writer, so it might not be comfortable to talk about. But surely the lessons you learned writing a monthly informed your process as an editor?
Speaking of Harrison Ford’s comedic timing, I would suggest you listen to his episode of Conan O’Brien’s need a friend podcast. I listened to it on a flight and was trying not to laugh out loud. So I was just doing that thing where you do that silentmy laugh and get all the physical movements except the sound. So much so that my seat mate (a stranger) shook my shoulder and asked with 100% seriousness if I was having a seizure!
The conventions of how (and how often) characters name-drop other characters, and the grander shared universe of Marvel, change. Where do you feel it is right now? Tilting towards OFTEN or SELDOM?
Whatever happened to thought bubbles? I was reading Wolverine: Madripoor Knights by Chris Claremont recently, and in some panels there were characters thinking! With bubbly cloud balloons! It seems that in recent years, and not just in Marvel titles, there has been a shift towards narration boxes, while real-time thought bubbles have all but disappeared. Can you shed any light on this shift, when it happened, or why?
Jeff Ryan asks an interesting question. As far as I know, no book has ever been cancelled out of spite. HOWEVER there HAVE been books that an editor (not Tom) did not like or want to edit and did sabotage the book to get it cancelled. Sounds crazy...but I had a couple admit to it. When Heroes Reborn came about there was a LOT of anger because the creators on those books were left with no work whatsoever at Marvel...and it was felt that it was a major sip in the face too the editors as the books were taken from their control...but that's another story. I've never been better about cancellations. They were always a direct result of a book not selling and no editor ever cancelled a book.
This cover is one of my favorites done by Kevin. I loved coloring it. This story was not as confusing in the plot...funny how that goes. The biggest issue I have is that the coloring was done really fast and not acutely. And too many places where characters that really need to be colored correctly are instead knocked out in one color. I loved going BACK into the story from Captain America: Deathlok Lives. But the reader really needed to read THAT as well to keep it straight.
Hi Tom, I have been meaning to ask since #118 where you shared photos from several years ago of your boxes of comics, is there a hierarchy for receiving comps ? For instance does everyone who worked on a particular comic (including an anthology such as Marvel Voices) receive at least one comp copy and does that extend to cover artists as well ? Hypothetically for a facsimile of Fantastic Four #1 obviously both Stan and Jack have passed away and with a reprint of X-Men #1 (1991) would Jim Lee really want another copy ? Although in this digital age I do hope people still receive physical copies in recognition of their hard work.
I’ve been reading Christopher Priest’s Quantum and Woody, a great book by the by, one of his finest, and really digging it! Though they reference something I’ve never heard of before and I’m curious what it was about:
In #14 there’s a page that’s just basically an ad for a reprint of the 5th to 8th issues, and there’s a chalkboard of things that are funny and not funny. Among the list of unfunny things are stuff like Speedball and Peter David (who, from my own knowledge of behind the scenes drama of the 90s could be a good natured jab or the result of some feud lost to time), there’s one that says “90 bucks for 12 new KC pages”. That’s one I’ve never heard of before, and they seemingly circle back to it at the end of the ad promising the reprinting is “Way under 90 bucks and not one painting of Alex Ross’ dad”, so presumably, since Kingdom Come is a KC drawn by Ross, this is related to Kingdom Come. The question is simple: Do you know the story behind this 90 bucks for 12 pages bit? I must question how DC was planning to sell a four issue miniseries, dozen extra pages or not, at that price, no matter how high quality it is.
I know that the early trade/reprint of Kingdom Come had a few new sequences - including one with the New Gods and an epilogue with the big 3 heroes at the Planet Krypton restaurant. This may be a reference to that.
From Priest's blog, he seems to be friendly with Peter David and was instrumental at getting him work as a writer on the late 80s Spidey titles (which was met with some internal backlash) - again this is from his blog so take it with a grain of salt.
MacKay’s work with Kid Omega is incredibile. Loved X-Men #5. Are we going to see more of Quentin Quire’s past? And is Quire his surname prior to adoption?
Was the Miracleman tease at the end of the first TIMELESS intended solely to promote the new series that was getting ready to come out or were there plans for a more direct Miracleman/Marvel crossover? I remember the second thing being speculated about at the time.
Believe it or not, Robert Kanigher's How to Make Money Writing for Comics Magazines is available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945307366/?coliid=I2KEND334CISY7&colid=2ZNBES0DHUT5C&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_ys_dp_it
Hey Tom, I see you were in London recently with a bunch of other comic folk visiting the Fantastic Four Movie set. Do you have any stories to tell us about the visit?
PS. I am still buying every single new X-book and so far enjoying the majority of them. Some I wasn't sure about (X-Men, X-Factor) have picked up and some (Uncanny, Exceptional, X-Force) have been great. Only Dazzler has so far failed to ignite much interest. However every single book has had great art. Keep up the good work!
Sentinels was a surprise fave of mine from the recent batch of X-books - really got me hooked.
Right? I wasn’t expecting anything big but it really surprised me. Hope it sells well enough to become an ongoing.
LOVED the Thunderbolts!
What was the original plan for the identity of the 'good' Citizen V?
Kurt seemed to hint at various people under the mask working at different times. Can you share the original plans/origin/motivations?
Kurt sometimes shows up in the comments, maybe he'll tell you himself!
You mean the Citizen V who appeared after the T-Bolts' secret was revealed?
That was Dallas Riordan, and was always intended to be. That wasn't any long-simmering master plan, either. We just thought Citizen V looked great, so if Zemo wasn't going to be Citizen V any more, someone should be. We picked Dallas because it was something to do with her that might lead to interesting complications in her relationship with Atlas, but it blossomed into this whole history involving the V-Battalion that provided lots of fun stuff to do.
As I recall, my intent with the V-Battalion was that they were all descendants of the original freedom fighters who worked with the original Citizen V. When Fabian took over, he decided to expand them in a more superhero direction that surprised me but worked really well.
That is very cool Kurt ! And thanks for answering!
So I guess Dallas as the Crimson Cowl was a fake out (nice parallel with the original Cowl who was a fake out/brainwashed Jarvis) - I remember reading you originally wanted the Cowl to be Pym's old assistant (with ties to Ultron - again a nice parallel to the original Cowl's appearance in the Thomas/Buscema Avengers run).
Yes, I don't know if I knew who the new Cowl was when she debuted -- I may have just been thinking, "Good name, the character would look sharp as a woman, and it sets up a mystery." But I decided on Alice Nugent fairly early.
And Fabian went in a different direction with it, which was fine -- I told him where I was headed with all the unresolved plot lines, but I kept saying "but you don't need to do this." I just wanted him to know the intent, so he could build on or subvert the clues that were there.
The link to Twitter on your reading that issue of Eternals got me thinking. Has anyone ever done a mini where events carried on with the Eternals continuity never being forced into the main continuity by a very wrongheaded Roy Thomas? If it hasn't I do wish it were possible to be done in today's market. Too bad it would need a superstar list of creators (right through to letterer and color artist) to be even considered...
That's a great idea.
I don't know if it'd work commercially after Marvel's (and Marvel Studios') swings with the Eternals, but it's a terrific idea creatively.
Your mention of using old stats for that Golden Age reprint reminded me, the version of Human Torch #2 (1940) on Marvel Unlimited appeared to be, last I checked, the inferior Marvel Masterworks 1st printing version. As I understand it, the first GA Masterworks was produced (at least in part) using microfiche as the base to recreate the art from, but the results weren't great, so the fiche was upgraded to paper scans and the art re-restored from those for subsequent printings. I realize this isn't your department, but if you wanted to pass it along to the appropriate parties, that'd sure be swell!
Anyway, great column as usual, Tom! And here's hoping the Thunderbolts talk is enough to get a certain KB to show up in the comments...
No way.
I'd add to great fight scenes the one by Wally Wood of Daredevil vs. the Sub-Mariner in DD #7. If you haven't seen it, you'd think "Well, that was probably a good three panels" as Namor vastly outpowers Matt. But that was the whole point of it. Matt acknowledges that from the beginning, so he's pulling out all the stops in terms of using whatever is at hand to maybe have a chance at just surviving the fight. At the end, he's almost passed out on the ground and still trying to grab Namor by the ankle. Namor is so impressed by Matt's courage and managing to last more than 5 seconds that he returns to the sea without doing any more mayhem (admittedly he had reason to; he'd already been delayed by a day from returning to stop a full fledged revolt by Warlord Krang).
As long as I'm writing, I'm curious if you might want to resolve a rather obscure loose end from Krakoa. While we finally saw Thunderbird I revived, to my knowledge (and a quick check of the Grand Comics Database), we never saw or heard anything about reviving the first X-Man to die. Namely, Professor X...or at least that's what was intended when the story was published. Near the end of the X-Men's first run, Xavier reappears and it was revealed the dead Xavier was actually just as obscure as the Orge Factor Three villain The Changeling who'd shapeshifted in Xavier's form at his request. You'd think Charles would think he'd owed the guy and gotten him resurrected, but he's never mentioned nor appears during the Krakoa era. Yes, you can probably count the number of folk wondering about this on one hand, so I probably know your answer, but figured I'd at least ask.
Hi Tom, thanks as always for your excellent email. Was thinking about a successor to the Deathlock Chronicles. How about reflections on your time writing Secret Defenders or Fantastic Force? I know you concluded that you shouldn't be a writer, so it might not be comfortable to talk about. But surely the lessons you learned writing a monthly informed your process as an editor?
Speaking of Harrison Ford’s comedic timing, I would suggest you listen to his episode of Conan O’Brien’s need a friend podcast. I listened to it on a flight and was trying not to laugh out loud. So I was just doing that thing where you do that silentmy laugh and get all the physical movements except the sound. So much so that my seat mate (a stranger) shook my shoulder and asked with 100% seriousness if I was having a seizure!
I wholeheartedly second this recommendation. Laughed my butt right off on a long drive with that episode.
The conventions of how (and how often) characters name-drop other characters, and the grander shared universe of Marvel, change. Where do you feel it is right now? Tilting towards OFTEN or SELDOM?
Whatever happened to thought bubbles? I was reading Wolverine: Madripoor Knights by Chris Claremont recently, and in some panels there were characters thinking! With bubbly cloud balloons! It seems that in recent years, and not just in Marvel titles, there has been a shift towards narration boxes, while real-time thought bubbles have all but disappeared. Can you shed any light on this shift, when it happened, or why?
Pretty sure it went out of vogue in the early 2000's.
Jeff Ryan asks an interesting question. As far as I know, no book has ever been cancelled out of spite. HOWEVER there HAVE been books that an editor (not Tom) did not like or want to edit and did sabotage the book to get it cancelled. Sounds crazy...but I had a couple admit to it. When Heroes Reborn came about there was a LOT of anger because the creators on those books were left with no work whatsoever at Marvel...and it was felt that it was a major sip in the face too the editors as the books were taken from their control...but that's another story. I've never been better about cancellations. They were always a direct result of a book not selling and no editor ever cancelled a book.
This cover is one of my favorites done by Kevin. I loved coloring it. This story was not as confusing in the plot...funny how that goes. The biggest issue I have is that the coloring was done really fast and not acutely. And too many places where characters that really need to be colored correctly are instead knocked out in one color. I loved going BACK into the story from Captain America: Deathlok Lives. But the reader really needed to read THAT as well to keep it straight.
Hi Tom, I have been meaning to ask since #118 where you shared photos from several years ago of your boxes of comics, is there a hierarchy for receiving comps ? For instance does everyone who worked on a particular comic (including an anthology such as Marvel Voices) receive at least one comp copy and does that extend to cover artists as well ? Hypothetically for a facsimile of Fantastic Four #1 obviously both Stan and Jack have passed away and with a reprint of X-Men #1 (1991) would Jim Lee really want another copy ? Although in this digital age I do hope people still receive physical copies in recognition of their hard work.
Thanks for the insightful answer, Tom! Great to see you for a bit at the show.
I’ve been reading Christopher Priest’s Quantum and Woody, a great book by the by, one of his finest, and really digging it! Though they reference something I’ve never heard of before and I’m curious what it was about:
In #14 there’s a page that’s just basically an ad for a reprint of the 5th to 8th issues, and there’s a chalkboard of things that are funny and not funny. Among the list of unfunny things are stuff like Speedball and Peter David (who, from my own knowledge of behind the scenes drama of the 90s could be a good natured jab or the result of some feud lost to time), there’s one that says “90 bucks for 12 new KC pages”. That’s one I’ve never heard of before, and they seemingly circle back to it at the end of the ad promising the reprinting is “Way under 90 bucks and not one painting of Alex Ross’ dad”, so presumably, since Kingdom Come is a KC drawn by Ross, this is related to Kingdom Come. The question is simple: Do you know the story behind this 90 bucks for 12 pages bit? I must question how DC was planning to sell a four issue miniseries, dozen extra pages or not, at that price, no matter how high quality it is.
I know that the early trade/reprint of Kingdom Come had a few new sequences - including one with the New Gods and an epilogue with the big 3 heroes at the Planet Krypton restaurant. This may be a reference to that.
From Priest's blog, he seems to be friendly with Peter David and was instrumental at getting him work as a writer on the late 80s Spidey titles (which was met with some internal backlash) - again this is from his blog so take it with a grain of salt.
MacKay’s work with Kid Omega is incredibile. Loved X-Men #5. Are we going to see more of Quentin Quire’s past? And is Quire his surname prior to adoption?