Talk about the Ultraverse made me think of a marketing gimmick about which it might interesting to hear your thoughts: the issue of James Robinson' s Firearm that came with a video tape. I don't remember all the details off the top of my head, but I wonder how you would handle the idea of packaging (literally and figuratively) a filmed story along side the corresponding comic. Happy new year.
When Ben Reilly was brought back in Clone Conspiracy, what was your reaction to that decision? Do you think it was the right call to take away the spotlight from Kaine and give it back to Ben instead?
Hi Tom, a comment you made in one of the holiday mini-newsletters combined with bringing up MARVEL #1000 and #1001 has me thinking about this. You mentioned in your story about an attempt to retcon the Hulk origin that you regretted letting Peter David basically laugh at it on the page, and yet as much as I loved MARVEL 1000 and 1001, there are several stories in those that were either partially or wholly about old writers disparaging the work of new ones (the Hercules sequence in 1000 that was particularly unkind to INCREDIBLE HERC and the Squirrel Girl sequence in 1001 come to mind). Do you have any particular memories of sequences like those?
As ever, a read I look forward to every Sunday morning. One follow-up about the Valerie Vector question up above: I doubt the fan asking it actually read NO SURRENDER and was probably working off second-hand information about the character given that the entire point of Valerie was to be a mislead, a fake retcon that wasn't true. So it wasn't at all "the same exact thing" as the Avengers retcon in the end.
It's interesting how many of those "lost member returns" characters we have had, from Triumph and The Sentry to whatever the deal was with all those JSA sidekicks a couple years ago.
For me it’s more he’s a symptom of the spider office’s inability to have Peter be happy. Like oh yes let’s have his girlfriend cheat on him in another dimension and build it up as if he did something awful or wrong that had the whole superhero community turned against him, then reveal she just adopted imaginary kids and didn’t want to get back with Peter. Like the whole thing is a mess! And I want it to be done, so we can move onto the next hair brained idea to keep the once happily married couple apart
The Captain Britain response was hard to hear when a lot of us are Betsy fans and she currently has the moniker.
Although she had a great issue in X-Force and I think the writer is trending positively with his depiction of her.
It is sort of a gut punch to know that she was given a moniker that is “relatively mid list” and not a main focus of the X-Office. I don’t think the corps has to be prominently featured as it’s only ONE aspect of Betsy. Many, as I’ve noticed on many social media spaces, not just Xwitter; feel that she is stuck with the moniker.
She was never put on an Avengers team and during the Krakoa era she was on the outskirts of all the big events. So there was never really a push in my opinion. She was given three different titles which fans quickly came to realize were just extended arcs of the Krakoa Excalibur run.
Marvel doesn't have any problems pushing mid list Captain Carter she pops up more often concurrently during Betsy's Captain Britain role.
I guess the only thing I can ask is if you can now state maybe the positive side of having this character and moniker in the X-Office with two very seasoned editors? (You and Mark Basso)
Also Captain Avalon is way below mid list. Is there any chance to make a title with the twins (Betsy and Brian) both leads in a Captain Britain title both with the moniker as Jonathan Hickman has portrayed them.
Yuck, Paul Rabin is hooking up with Jean Grey and Phoenix, and the Wolverine series project idea is the worst; no thanks. Thank God Tom Brevoort isn't going forward with such an idea. Paul Rabin hooking up with Jean Grey should remain in fanfic. As for the Phoenix and Wolverine issue, I'll quote Tom's words, "......I feel like the long-simmering something between Logan and Jean has held both characters back, ....... so I’m much more inclined to move away from it..." I would rather keep things as they are. Jean Grey married with Scott Summers. Besides, I think Jean Grey's cheating on Scott destroys her character and doesn't make her a good role model for women, especially young teen girls (cheating implies that cheating on your boyfriend or husband is a good thing, but it isn't). Since the Fall of Krakoa, the polyamorous marriage between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Logan has ended. It's back to regular monogamous marriage between Scott Summers and Jean Grey, which Tom Brevoort confirmed when he took over as Group Editor for all X-Men titles and confirmed Jean Grey and Scott Summers are still married during an interview he made with Homo-Superior Podcast.
Apologies if this isn’t the appropriate venue, but I’d like your thoughts on a situation regarding the recent publication of DC’s Style Guide.
I’ve always been a design nerd and process junkie, and back in 2015, I supported a publishing group that crowdfunded high-quality books on niche design topics. After backing their first two campaigns, I noticed they were soliciting suggestions for future projects, and as an admirer of their work, reached out to say I had an idea I thought was perfect for them. They responded promptly, asking me to email them with more details.
Specifically, I suggested creating a book based on Jose Luis Garcia-López’s 1982 DC Comics Style Guide — explaining that it was a legendary piece of design history that has been highly sought after but never officially published.
In my email, I provided a detailed overview of the project, links to relevant resources, and notes on why this was such a significant cultural artifact. I explained how much Mr. Garcia-López’s work meant to me and how I hoped publishing the book would give him more of the recognition he deserves.
After sending the email, I never heard back, and assumed they’d decided it wasn’t a fit for their portfolio.
Fast forward nearly a decade, and I see an article about how DC Comics was finally publishing the tome. Excited, I immediately went to pre-order it — only to discover it wasn’t being published by DC themselves, but by the same group I had originally contacted.
While I’m thrilled to see the Style Guide finally brought back to life — and fully understand that “Someone should publish the DC Comics Style Guide!” is hardly an original idea — the fact that this specific company, with no prior comics-related experience or passion, spent the subsequent years taking meetings, securing licensing agreements, gathering assets, etc., all without circling back to the person who put the project on their radar in the first place, was obviously disappointing.
Although they’ve done fantastic work publishing style guides and graphic collateral for organizations like the NYC MTA and NASA, their entry into the comic book world was directly linked to the idea I presented to them. Without that email, I genuinely don’t believe this project would have happened — at least not through them. When I reached out to them this summer, I learned that as of June 2024, they had still not met or spoken with Mr. Garcia-López, either.
Green and naive as I was at the time, I didn’t realize I should formalize a finder’s fee arrangement or request acknowledgment, as I’ve since learned is standard in my licensing work. The explanation they gave me was that they had moved and lost my email address, and now that I had followed up, they offered me a free book, along with including my name somewhere inside it. While I appreciate the gesture and am waiting to see if/how it materializes, their handling of the situation still seems disingenuous.
Am I wrong for thinking this? Is it just how things work in the industry?
I’m not trying to be confrontational or create unnecessary drama, but I would genuinely appreciate insights on how situations like this might have been handled over on W. 50th Street.
As happy as I am for everyone who will finally get to hold a copy in their hands, and expecting it to be this publisher’s most successful project to date, I can’t help but feel a bit foolish.
"You’d really need something to make Captain Britain a hell of a lot more popular and central than they are at the moment to front-burner the Corps in this manner."
A fair point. I hope that she can be one day though! Captain Britain and Askani, multiversal powerhouses with a team at their back, so much potential! But understandably hard to market... Especially when most people seem to think she's Captain America with a British flag - that's Captain Carter, y'all! Maybe with Spider-Verse being such a popular concept, bringing back Betsy's multiversal relative Billy aka Spider-Man can help? Is he still dead? I genuinely cannot remember...
This last issue of X-Force was fantastic for our Captain and her lady love. Thank you for having them in a book that can explore their connection as well as their individuality.
I always thought Louise Simonson did the most effective 'Claremonting'. Even when the technique started to fall out of fashion she always seemed to make sure that whenever you picked up an issue she was writing, you got the important 'who and what' organically as part of each issue's story. It was a very simple and effective technique that got you hooked as a new reader.
Speaking of simple and effective. I've been reading the 'From The Ashes' relaunch via Marvel Unlimited so I'm up to the third issue of most of the titles. So far most of the titles have felt lukewarm and muddled, but the third issue of Jed Mackay and Ryan Stegman's 'X-Men' clicked for me in a big way.
Not sure whose idea it was, but the idea of spending the issue laying out the team's 'reason to exist' was excellent and really elevated the book. This issue bumped 'X-Men' to the top of my reading list and I'm looking forward to the next issue dropping. Hopefully the rest of the books in the relaunch will do something similar.
Thank yo so much for both the Ranma 1/2 video and the knowledge of a new Remo Williams book (with Will Murray)! The Ranma video is amazing and I now have the Remo book on order! Such a fun way to start 2025! Thanks, Tom!
"ANAD" refers to the "All New, All Different" team of X-Men introduced in Giant-Size X-Men #1: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine, etc. They're also referred to as "Second Genesis" sometimes.
I figured it was something (that should have been) obvious like that. Thanks. Of course, at this point Storm and Colossus have been core X-Men for far longer than the original team existed as such.
I am curious as to how Storm will continue to be written as part of the Avengers team and other X-Men comics now that the book's writer has confirmed on twitter/X that Storm "will be the most powerful being in the universe". I can see how that works for her solo book, but will this not ruin the dynamics for her team book in Avengers and other possible team-book appearances?
Thanks for reading -- and liking! -- A MOUSE DIVIDED!
Weekly Q is a hypothetical: what if a reprint issue (say Fantastic Four #1) accidentally ships with its original cover art, and thus a ten-cent cover price?
the chart tracks 100 stores which is a pretty small number and most of this seems like personal opinion rather than some shared consensus
Talk about the Ultraverse made me think of a marketing gimmick about which it might interesting to hear your thoughts: the issue of James Robinson' s Firearm that came with a video tape. I don't remember all the details off the top of my head, but I wonder how you would handle the idea of packaging (literally and figuratively) a filmed story along side the corresponding comic. Happy new year.
When Ben Reilly was brought back in Clone Conspiracy, what was your reaction to that decision? Do you think it was the right call to take away the spotlight from Kaine and give it back to Ben instead?
Hi Tom, a comment you made in one of the holiday mini-newsletters combined with bringing up MARVEL #1000 and #1001 has me thinking about this. You mentioned in your story about an attempt to retcon the Hulk origin that you regretted letting Peter David basically laugh at it on the page, and yet as much as I loved MARVEL 1000 and 1001, there are several stories in those that were either partially or wholly about old writers disparaging the work of new ones (the Hercules sequence in 1000 that was particularly unkind to INCREDIBLE HERC and the Squirrel Girl sequence in 1001 come to mind). Do you have any particular memories of sequences like those?
As ever, a read I look forward to every Sunday morning. One follow-up about the Valerie Vector question up above: I doubt the fan asking it actually read NO SURRENDER and was probably working off second-hand information about the character given that the entire point of Valerie was to be a mislead, a fake retcon that wasn't true. So it wasn't at all "the same exact thing" as the Avengers retcon in the end.
It's interesting how many of those "lost member returns" characters we have had, from Triumph and The Sentry to whatever the deal was with all those JSA sidekicks a couple years ago.
Man I was looking forward to free comic book day but now I have to read a book with Paul in it? Unless he’s dying, that’s gonna be a negative
And putting him in the Ultimate one, forcing anyone who wants to read the best new series to look at Paul’s ugly mug. Curses
man what a world it would be if spider man fans could stop obsessing over this one dumb character
For me it’s more he’s a symptom of the spider office’s inability to have Peter be happy. Like oh yes let’s have his girlfriend cheat on him in another dimension and build it up as if he did something awful or wrong that had the whole superhero community turned against him, then reveal she just adopted imaginary kids and didn’t want to get back with Peter. Like the whole thing is a mess! And I want it to be done, so we can move onto the next hair brained idea to keep the once happily married couple apart
The Captain Britain response was hard to hear when a lot of us are Betsy fans and she currently has the moniker.
Although she had a great issue in X-Force and I think the writer is trending positively with his depiction of her.
It is sort of a gut punch to know that she was given a moniker that is “relatively mid list” and not a main focus of the X-Office. I don’t think the corps has to be prominently featured as it’s only ONE aspect of Betsy. Many, as I’ve noticed on many social media spaces, not just Xwitter; feel that she is stuck with the moniker.
She was never put on an Avengers team and during the Krakoa era she was on the outskirts of all the big events. So there was never really a push in my opinion. She was given three different titles which fans quickly came to realize were just extended arcs of the Krakoa Excalibur run.
Marvel doesn't have any problems pushing mid list Captain Carter she pops up more often concurrently during Betsy's Captain Britain role.
I guess the only thing I can ask is if you can now state maybe the positive side of having this character and moniker in the X-Office with two very seasoned editors? (You and Mark Basso)
Also Captain Avalon is way below mid list. Is there any chance to make a title with the twins (Betsy and Brian) both leads in a Captain Britain title both with the moniker as Jonathan Hickman has portrayed them.
Yuck, Paul Rabin is hooking up with Jean Grey and Phoenix, and the Wolverine series project idea is the worst; no thanks. Thank God Tom Brevoort isn't going forward with such an idea. Paul Rabin hooking up with Jean Grey should remain in fanfic. As for the Phoenix and Wolverine issue, I'll quote Tom's words, "......I feel like the long-simmering something between Logan and Jean has held both characters back, ....... so I’m much more inclined to move away from it..." I would rather keep things as they are. Jean Grey married with Scott Summers. Besides, I think Jean Grey's cheating on Scott destroys her character and doesn't make her a good role model for women, especially young teen girls (cheating implies that cheating on your boyfriend or husband is a good thing, but it isn't). Since the Fall of Krakoa, the polyamorous marriage between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Logan has ended. It's back to regular monogamous marriage between Scott Summers and Jean Grey, which Tom Brevoort confirmed when he took over as Group Editor for all X-Men titles and confirmed Jean Grey and Scott Summers are still married during an interview he made with Homo-Superior Podcast.
Hi, Tom,
Apologies if this isn’t the appropriate venue, but I’d like your thoughts on a situation regarding the recent publication of DC’s Style Guide.
I’ve always been a design nerd and process junkie, and back in 2015, I supported a publishing group that crowdfunded high-quality books on niche design topics. After backing their first two campaigns, I noticed they were soliciting suggestions for future projects, and as an admirer of their work, reached out to say I had an idea I thought was perfect for them. They responded promptly, asking me to email them with more details.
Specifically, I suggested creating a book based on Jose Luis Garcia-López’s 1982 DC Comics Style Guide — explaining that it was a legendary piece of design history that has been highly sought after but never officially published.
In my email, I provided a detailed overview of the project, links to relevant resources, and notes on why this was such a significant cultural artifact. I explained how much Mr. Garcia-López’s work meant to me and how I hoped publishing the book would give him more of the recognition he deserves.
After sending the email, I never heard back, and assumed they’d decided it wasn’t a fit for their portfolio.
Fast forward nearly a decade, and I see an article about how DC Comics was finally publishing the tome. Excited, I immediately went to pre-order it — only to discover it wasn’t being published by DC themselves, but by the same group I had originally contacted.
While I’m thrilled to see the Style Guide finally brought back to life — and fully understand that “Someone should publish the DC Comics Style Guide!” is hardly an original idea — the fact that this specific company, with no prior comics-related experience or passion, spent the subsequent years taking meetings, securing licensing agreements, gathering assets, etc., all without circling back to the person who put the project on their radar in the first place, was obviously disappointing.
Although they’ve done fantastic work publishing style guides and graphic collateral for organizations like the NYC MTA and NASA, their entry into the comic book world was directly linked to the idea I presented to them. Without that email, I genuinely don’t believe this project would have happened — at least not through them. When I reached out to them this summer, I learned that as of June 2024, they had still not met or spoken with Mr. Garcia-López, either.
Green and naive as I was at the time, I didn’t realize I should formalize a finder’s fee arrangement or request acknowledgment, as I’ve since learned is standard in my licensing work. The explanation they gave me was that they had moved and lost my email address, and now that I had followed up, they offered me a free book, along with including my name somewhere inside it. While I appreciate the gesture and am waiting to see if/how it materializes, their handling of the situation still seems disingenuous.
Am I wrong for thinking this? Is it just how things work in the industry?
I’m not trying to be confrontational or create unnecessary drama, but I would genuinely appreciate insights on how situations like this might have been handled over on W. 50th Street.
As happy as I am for everyone who will finally get to hold a copy in their hands, and expecting it to be this publisher’s most successful project to date, I can’t help but feel a bit foolish.
Thanks for reading.
Sean
"You’d really need something to make Captain Britain a hell of a lot more popular and central than they are at the moment to front-burner the Corps in this manner."
A fair point. I hope that she can be one day though! Captain Britain and Askani, multiversal powerhouses with a team at their back, so much potential! But understandably hard to market... Especially when most people seem to think she's Captain America with a British flag - that's Captain Carter, y'all! Maybe with Spider-Verse being such a popular concept, bringing back Betsy's multiversal relative Billy aka Spider-Man can help? Is he still dead? I genuinely cannot remember...
This last issue of X-Force was fantastic for our Captain and her lady love. Thank you for having them in a book that can explore their connection as well as their individuality.
I always thought Louise Simonson did the most effective 'Claremonting'. Even when the technique started to fall out of fashion she always seemed to make sure that whenever you picked up an issue she was writing, you got the important 'who and what' organically as part of each issue's story. It was a very simple and effective technique that got you hooked as a new reader.
Speaking of simple and effective. I've been reading the 'From The Ashes' relaunch via Marvel Unlimited so I'm up to the third issue of most of the titles. So far most of the titles have felt lukewarm and muddled, but the third issue of Jed Mackay and Ryan Stegman's 'X-Men' clicked for me in a big way.
Not sure whose idea it was, but the idea of spending the issue laying out the team's 'reason to exist' was excellent and really elevated the book. This issue bumped 'X-Men' to the top of my reading list and I'm looking forward to the next issue dropping. Hopefully the rest of the books in the relaunch will do something similar.
Thank yo so much for both the Ranma 1/2 video and the knowledge of a new Remo Williams book (with Will Murray)! The Ranma video is amazing and I now have the Remo book on order! Such a fun way to start 2025! Thanks, Tom!
Patrick Brower/Challengers Comics, Chicago
That Ranma video was such fun! I don't think I ever would have known about it otherwise so thanks for the link.
This may be a silly question, but what is "ANAD" in "ANAD character"?
"ANAD" refers to the "All New, All Different" team of X-Men introduced in Giant-Size X-Men #1: Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine, etc. They're also referred to as "Second Genesis" sometimes.
I figured it was something (that should have been) obvious like that. Thanks. Of course, at this point Storm and Colossus have been core X-Men for far longer than the original team existed as such.
I am curious as to how Storm will continue to be written as part of the Avengers team and other X-Men comics now that the book's writer has confirmed on twitter/X that Storm "will be the most powerful being in the universe". I can see how that works for her solo book, but will this not ruin the dynamics for her team book in Avengers and other possible team-book appearances?
Thanks for reading -- and liking! -- A MOUSE DIVIDED!
Weekly Q is a hypothetical: what if a reprint issue (say Fantastic Four #1) accidentally ships with its original cover art, and thus a ten-cent cover price?
In fact, I think Nick Lowe would make for a great EIC someday! (After Cebulski, of course.)