🙄 Your current writers don’t deserve to be given the chance to become “veteran” writers. That term is reserved for writers who got their start in the twentieth century.
Why do you value new readers so much more than veteran readers like me? Is there something wrong with my money? In the past fifteen-twenty years there’s been a noticeable trend to shove older readers aside for new ones, not just at Marvel but also DC. Removing The Marriage fired the first and deadliest shot against us. You use us older readers up and then put us out to pasture, same as you do the actual veteran writers. My generation has more disposable income than the Zoomers.
If you think your current crop of X writers are producing material that’s better than or on a par with Chris Claremont’s work, you’re out to lunch. Shame on you. Chris, Ann Nocenti, Louise Simonson, Larry Hama, Peter David, and so on deserve your reverence, not your contempt.
I will continue to not read your books. No need to respond. Unsubscribed.
I thought this was written as a parody comment until I got to the end.
No shame on any of those veteran writers listed above, but they have all had books at Marvel across a variety of franchises that they are known for writing and none of them especially lit the world on fire.
They were all new voices at some point in time and challenged the orthodoxy of what came before them, just as new writers will continue to do. New voices bring new ideas, new artists bring new styles, tools, and approaches, etc. a strong industry is one that makes room for all kinds, with experiences from all corners of the map.
I focus on the Spider-line, where Marvel has young talent working on titles like Miles Morales, ASM, and others; talent that’s been around for 10-20 years on ASM, Ultimate, etc., and even more senior talent like JMD, Peter David, and more doing books.
The same is true of the X-line, with Claremont, Nocenti and more doing things here and there. Creators who, amongst other things, have lived and creative endeavors of their own that shouldn’t be tied to reproducing stories for a limited set of characters. They likely have their own interests and desires that don’t pertain to pleasing the same aging audience.
"Your current writers don’t deserve to be given the chance to become 'veteran' writers. That term is reserved for writers who got their start in the twentieth century."
Speaking as someone who got his start in the twentieth century, this is really dumb.
And aside from that not being what "veteran" means, isn't Chris working on a KITTY PRYDE & WOLVERINE series right now?
Because I'm not their property, Dylan. Among other things.
You seem to assume that any comics pro wants to be working for Marvel or DC above all else, and that all Marvel has to do is choose what they want the pro to be working on. So if, for instance, Charles Vess isn't drawing IRON MAN, it's not because Charles isn't interested, it's because Marvel has "cast him aside." This is dumb. Comics pros make choices of their own, and lots of them don't want to be doing material they don't own at a big editorially-controlled publisher.
In my case, I'm not writing much at all these days, because I've had an intractable migraine for almost four years now, which makes it hard to meet deadlines. But far from casting me aside, I've got open invitations from editors at both Marvel and DC to do projects with them.
If my doctors ever figure out how to get rid of my migraine, though, my first responsibility will be to series like ASTRO CITY, AUTUMNLANDS and ARROWSMITH. Not only are they creator-owned work that I co-own and get more financial reward for, I feel a responsibility to my partners and to the audience, who can't get more of the story without me.
If I get on top of that stuff, I'll talk with those Marvel/DC editors, since there's stuff I'd enjoy doing at both places. But in the meantime, I've had to tell them I can't, because of my health and other commitments. And if I do, it probably wouldn't be on a book where I have to coordinate what I write with crossovers and events and such; I've done enough of that so that I'm not wild about doing more.
This is real-world stuff about people having their own concerns and making their own choices, not weird imaginings that the only reason Marvel and DC aren't working with someone is that that person has been "cast aside." This isn't fantasy football.
I’m sorry to hear about your migraine. Hopefully your doctors will find a solution because I can’t imagine it’s comfortable to live with.
Personally, I don’t get the appeal of creator-owned comics. They don’t have the cultural cachet of DC or Marvel comics except in rare cases like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Astro City, for example, is nowhere near as famous as X-Men or JLA. I can sort of get the appeal because I’m someone who would need full creative control if I were a writer, and I wouldn’t allow an editor to tell me what I can or can’t write, or seek their permission or approval. That would drive me nuts. I also don’t understand why famous authors like Stephen King even allow editors to work on their books. He’s powerful enough to say, “Nope. We’re doing it my way”.
As a reader, I don’t have any power. All I can do is withhold my money until there is a book I want to support like the upcoming Wolverine & Kitty Pryde miniseries. But even when I do that it hasn’t resulted in getting Chris Claremont back on an ongoing set in present-day continuity. I’ve been withholding my money from DC for over a decade and they still haven’t erased what they did to Oracle.
Anyway, I’ve been disappointed with the Big Two for the past twenty or twenty-five years and nothing seems to be getting better. Disappointing, because this is my main hobby. I love reading. I also believe in the hierarchy of fandom, and longtime readers like me should be given more reverence than new, young ones.
To address a few of your points: You don't have to get the appeal of creator-owned comics to recognize that other people do. Cultural cachet and fame are not the only things that matter. Creative control is important to a lot of people -- you yourself say you would want complete creative control if you were a writer, and you can't get that on X-MEN or BATMAN. Even the writers you want back on the books didn't get it when they were writing the books.
And sure, Stephen King is powerful enough to say, "We're doing it my way," but in his case you misunderstand the ways in which a book editor and a work-for-hire comics editor are different. On X-MEN, the editor is the representative of the company, and the company owns the work. So the editor's word is law, unless the EIC, the publisher or other people higher in the company hierarchy say different. When King writes a novel, he's the owner, and the editor can't force him to make changes. But the editor makes suggestions, ranging from "I think you lost the theme in Chapters 27-48; you might want to present those chapter's from the kid's POV to make things more powerful" or "You called the killer Edwin for half the book and Edward for the other half, pick one."
So King _wants_ his editor to be there to make suggestions and help him see mistakes. The editor's there to help him make the book better. But in the end, he doesn't have to do what the editor says, because he's the owner.
That's a big part of the appeal of creator-owned books, too. When I do ASTRO CITY, our editors make suggestions but in the end it's up to me, Brent and Alex to decide, because we're the owners, not the publisher. So we have creative power. [Plus, if some movie studio wants to option the rights to make an ASTRO CITY TV show, the money comes to us. Not to the publisher. That's nice too.]
As a reader, the power of buying a book or not buying it is the power you should have -- you should buy and read things you like and skip stuff you don't. But no readers should get "reverence." They should get the best stories the creative team and the editors can deliver, but they don't choose the creative teams. If they don't like the stories, they should read something else, so you seem to be doing just fine there.
It might be worth considering, though, that the writers you want back are writers you liked when you were young, and they replaced writers who were in general older than them. If publishers had "reverence" for older readers back then, and thought that the only good writers were people who'd gotten their start over 25 years ago, none of the writers you like would have gotten work, because the publishers would be aiming their comics at audiences that didn't include you, and prioritizing writers of the 1950s and 1960s.
You got the comics you loved 25-50 years ago because the publishers had been hiring younger creators and aiming the comics at readers who were your age then. That's how publishing works, not by deciding which readers to revere.
ASTRO CITY!!! I reread (and in some cases firstly read) the entire run in hardbacks a year or so ago. I finally completed the collection and Kurt, you wrote some of the best stories there that I've read across all of my 50 years of reading comics. Massive kudos to you, Brent, Alex and everyone else involved.
Though I'm a massive Big Two reader, there is very little like reading a book that is completely under the control of the creator... Grendel, Locke & Key, Reckless, Nexus, HATE, Xenozoic Tales, Yummy Fur, Invincible, Stray Bullets and many more that I'm sure I've forgotten. It's a shame that some won't read those because they are not part of DC or Marvel.
Hope you get the migraine figured out, I can't even imagine dealing with that. Wish you the best.
"When that civility goes away, so does my interest in continuing to bang these pieces out every week."
The narcissism in this rant is off the charts. Literally no one is forcing you to respond to any of these silly questions. Everything you write here, you're writing for your own enjoyment. Which is fine, but to add a martyr complex on top of it is just... *mwah*
No-one is forcing him to respond to questions, but there a lot of us who appreciate the answers and the behind the scenes look at comics, especially from someone with a long history working for Marvel.
He's simply asking for people to act with kindness, something that you have failed to do here.
He created this space. I think it gives him the authority to ask that people act civilly. He doesn’t owe us his time. He’s asking that if we want him to continue that we act according to his comfort. It seems reasonable.
If I set up a “free lemonade” stand in my front yard and people lined up for it and then fought each other in the line, I think it’d be fine for me to say “hey, I didn’t set this up for you to fight. If you want to keep getting lemonade I am going to ask you to stop. If you can’t, it makes this less enjoyable for me and I’m going to take my lemons and go home.”
And yet week after week, he elevates those supposedly "uncivil" comments, inviting further discussion and debate. Again: he enjoys it. It helps promote his books. Which, again, is fine, but I have to giggle at the added dose of martyrdom.
He's said that many times before, but he continues to elevate those comments. After a while, it starts feeling like the cousin to superhero comics, professional wrestling.
Some people curse like "XXXXX," some like "$#@%," some like "****". Is that writers' preferences? And do some writers just write r-rated scripts, and it's edit's job to cut the ^%#& cursing down to a family-friendly audience?
I actually asked this on Bluesky a few months back, and the answer I got from a bunch of comic writers is...it depends. They all seem to have different rules for when and if they use actual swears or not
I LOVE that you have both Wieringo's original pencils and Kesel's final inks. This practice has become more commonplace these days. I have had discussions with inkers who truly HATE the process as it requires them to shell out more money on paper and printers that can actually print these blue lines. Plus, it's just not the same inking over a printed blue line and not the original pencils. Some inkers love it because they get to keep all the inks...inks that likely never even leave their studio as they will be scanned. Another discussion related to ownership of final pages...so pencillers felt that because their work was being inked, even though on a copy that they deserved a share of the final pages...while most inkers felt the pages were theirs since only THEY actual touched them. Some seemed to make a deal where they would exchange various pages so they, like you could have BOTH versions on a particular page. The other discussion I had was with COLLECTORS of comic art. What was more valuable? The original pencils or the final inks? Which was more desirable? Which was worth more? Should the inker share the proceeds of a page sold with the penciller? All very interesting, the the MOST desired purchase was to get BOTH the pencils and the inks. And some folks felt that final inks over blue lines were NOT as valuable as final inks over original pencils. The art is worth whatever it's worth to the person buying it. And today some artists are creating entirely DIGITAL which mean there is NO original art to be had. Thus...they make prints...sometimes draw a bit more on them to make them special. Interesting times for this sort of thing.
As a color artist, in the old days, Marvel provided my with my paints and copies of the art to color. If I wanted to use extra materials like MARKERS which are pricey, I had to pay for those myself, and as coloring got more complex, markers became an important tool. When things went digital, the costs of coloring comics went WAY up. At a minimum, we had to buy a computer, the software, portable digital storage devices and the expensive discs that would be sent to the office and an expensive printer for proofs. Over time, we all moved to buying digital tablets to color on with the computer as well. Now we don't need to print out proofs, or have portable digital storage as we can just upload it to a server. But it's all WAY more expensive just to operate than it was when I started. We DO get paid more, but it doesn't really cover the costs as well as we would like. And now we have no original to sell...there's a lot of things to consider with the art being produced today.
I picked up the Thor annual you mentioned in last week's letter (That Ladronn back up is out of this world!) as well as some issues from the concurrent Jurgens/JRJR run (lots of fun!)
I noticed the late great Dick Giordano was inking Thor at the time - as an old DC comic fan did you get a chance to chat/interact with this legend? He was editorial during a fertile period of creativity at DC - must have been interesting to pick his brain (any stories to share?)
Also cool that he continued to freelance after he no longer was part of editorial.
Hey Tom, hope you’re well. People need to stop complaining. I’m a long-time reader, but never of the X-titles until now, as this is a great jumping on point and I’ve enjoyed them.
There was a mention of Longshot, are we going to see him anytime soon?
I like the new “On The Spinner Rack” section. Was it at all inspired by Chris Ryall’s “Spinner Rack” section in his Tales of Syzpense Substack newsletters? https://chrisryall.substack.com
In a follow up to your answer to TD Mollusk's question: is there any professional heads up that editors give each other if they're hiring a writer for a large project elsewhere, like if Nick Lowe hired Ryan North to write Amazing Spider-Man would he check in with you? Not for permission, exactly, but as a courtesy?
I just want to counter the negativity of others. I always look forward to this substack each week and amazed how you fit it in. I publish one every week and I am now semi retired. So thanks again Tom. There does seem to be a large nostalgia comic group of older fans, I am 60 this week. I have passed on my love of comics to my son who is now 30, and he rings me every week to discuss this weeks comics and suggests things I might enjoy. I have cut down my consumption of new issues, but loving Uncanny at the moment - a great writer. And writers do have their day,I love my classic Claremont run of Xmen but don’t think he should come back. As I have said before, I would love more Captain Britain Alan Davis, but he’s probably had enough for the character. I am looking forward to Joe Casey’s new X related project. A question - what happened to Ladronn? I loved his Cable. Did you enjoy it?
I feel like I have seen somewhere that Alan Davis has retired. So I wouldn’t get my hopes up for more Captain Britain from. Ladronn’s Cable was epic! I think he’s been doing more work with European publishers, like Humanoids, but I’m not sure.
When Spider-office does their regular Spider-Verse events, the first appearances of alternate realities and characters are usually accompanied by numeric designations formatted in the Handbook style. I always find them useful as a reader. They either tell me “Yes, this is the same one you’re familiar with and are emotionally attached to; not a new version.” or “This is a brand new version, stop guessing whether it had appeared anywhere else and enjoy the current story.”
Is there a reason this labeling hasn’t been as consistent across other titles? For example, the Avengers from X-Force #4-5 (2024) look very much like they came straight from the “Forever Yesterday” arc in New Warriors (1991), Horus and Captain Assyria in particular looking identical. However, Geoffrey Thorne clarified that they’re actually different versions – but only on his Patreon blog, and that is not made clear within X-Force #5 itself.
This confusion could have been avoided by placing a yellow box with caption “Avengers of Earth-12345” on the page. And some Marvel titles do that consistently, while others – sporadically or almost never. Is this up to the preferences of individual editors, an established practice in an office? Or is it something the writers themselves need to put into scripts, and the appearance of prevalence is mere coincidence? These yellow box captions have become such a staple that even “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” movie featured them, and I can think of a reason not to include them, unless to preserve a to-be-revealed mystery.
Clearly the only available option is a Wrestlemania 6 level main event, babyface vs babyface, Storm vs Phoenix in the cosmos, (presumably not marketed well enough for either fan base) for all the marbles retirement match. Obviously that will solve all your problems.
🙄 Your current writers don’t deserve to be given the chance to become “veteran” writers. That term is reserved for writers who got their start in the twentieth century.
Why do you value new readers so much more than veteran readers like me? Is there something wrong with my money? In the past fifteen-twenty years there’s been a noticeable trend to shove older readers aside for new ones, not just at Marvel but also DC. Removing The Marriage fired the first and deadliest shot against us. You use us older readers up and then put us out to pasture, same as you do the actual veteran writers. My generation has more disposable income than the Zoomers.
If you think your current crop of X writers are producing material that’s better than or on a par with Chris Claremont’s work, you’re out to lunch. Shame on you. Chris, Ann Nocenti, Louise Simonson, Larry Hama, Peter David, and so on deserve your reverence, not your contempt.
I will continue to not read your books. No need to respond. Unsubscribed.
Bore off, mate.
Lord, deliver me from old men who insist that children’s and young adult entertainment must be geared first and foremost toward them.
Claremont, Nocenti, et. al. were all new at one time, too. Where would we be now if the editors of the era hadn't given them a chance?
I thought this was written as a parody comment until I got to the end.
No shame on any of those veteran writers listed above, but they have all had books at Marvel across a variety of franchises that they are known for writing and none of them especially lit the world on fire.
They were all new voices at some point in time and challenged the orthodoxy of what came before them, just as new writers will continue to do. New voices bring new ideas, new artists bring new styles, tools, and approaches, etc. a strong industry is one that makes room for all kinds, with experiences from all corners of the map.
I focus on the Spider-line, where Marvel has young talent working on titles like Miles Morales, ASM, and others; talent that’s been around for 10-20 years on ASM, Ultimate, etc., and even more senior talent like JMD, Peter David, and more doing books.
The same is true of the X-line, with Claremont, Nocenti and more doing things here and there. Creators who, amongst other things, have lived and creative endeavors of their own that shouldn’t be tied to reproducing stories for a limited set of characters. They likely have their own interests and desires that don’t pertain to pleasing the same aging audience.
"Your current writers don’t deserve to be given the chance to become 'veteran' writers. That term is reserved for writers who got their start in the twentieth century."
Speaking as someone who got his start in the twentieth century, this is really dumb.
And aside from that not being what "veteran" means, isn't Chris working on a KITTY PRYDE & WOLVERINE series right now?
Mr. Busiek, you have also been cast aside by the Big Two. Why don’t they have you writing Batman or X-Men?
Because I'm not their property, Dylan. Among other things.
You seem to assume that any comics pro wants to be working for Marvel or DC above all else, and that all Marvel has to do is choose what they want the pro to be working on. So if, for instance, Charles Vess isn't drawing IRON MAN, it's not because Charles isn't interested, it's because Marvel has "cast him aside." This is dumb. Comics pros make choices of their own, and lots of them don't want to be doing material they don't own at a big editorially-controlled publisher.
In my case, I'm not writing much at all these days, because I've had an intractable migraine for almost four years now, which makes it hard to meet deadlines. But far from casting me aside, I've got open invitations from editors at both Marvel and DC to do projects with them.
If my doctors ever figure out how to get rid of my migraine, though, my first responsibility will be to series like ASTRO CITY, AUTUMNLANDS and ARROWSMITH. Not only are they creator-owned work that I co-own and get more financial reward for, I feel a responsibility to my partners and to the audience, who can't get more of the story without me.
If I get on top of that stuff, I'll talk with those Marvel/DC editors, since there's stuff I'd enjoy doing at both places. But in the meantime, I've had to tell them I can't, because of my health and other commitments. And if I do, it probably wouldn't be on a book where I have to coordinate what I write with crossovers and events and such; I've done enough of that so that I'm not wild about doing more.
This is real-world stuff about people having their own concerns and making their own choices, not weird imaginings that the only reason Marvel and DC aren't working with someone is that that person has been "cast aside." This isn't fantasy football.
I’m sorry to hear about your migraine. Hopefully your doctors will find a solution because I can’t imagine it’s comfortable to live with.
Personally, I don’t get the appeal of creator-owned comics. They don’t have the cultural cachet of DC or Marvel comics except in rare cases like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Astro City, for example, is nowhere near as famous as X-Men or JLA. I can sort of get the appeal because I’m someone who would need full creative control if I were a writer, and I wouldn’t allow an editor to tell me what I can or can’t write, or seek their permission or approval. That would drive me nuts. I also don’t understand why famous authors like Stephen King even allow editors to work on their books. He’s powerful enough to say, “Nope. We’re doing it my way”.
As a reader, I don’t have any power. All I can do is withhold my money until there is a book I want to support like the upcoming Wolverine & Kitty Pryde miniseries. But even when I do that it hasn’t resulted in getting Chris Claremont back on an ongoing set in present-day continuity. I’ve been withholding my money from DC for over a decade and they still haven’t erased what they did to Oracle.
Anyway, I’ve been disappointed with the Big Two for the past twenty or twenty-five years and nothing seems to be getting better. Disappointing, because this is my main hobby. I love reading. I also believe in the hierarchy of fandom, and longtime readers like me should be given more reverence than new, young ones.
Thanks, Dylan --
To address a few of your points: You don't have to get the appeal of creator-owned comics to recognize that other people do. Cultural cachet and fame are not the only things that matter. Creative control is important to a lot of people -- you yourself say you would want complete creative control if you were a writer, and you can't get that on X-MEN or BATMAN. Even the writers you want back on the books didn't get it when they were writing the books.
And sure, Stephen King is powerful enough to say, "We're doing it my way," but in his case you misunderstand the ways in which a book editor and a work-for-hire comics editor are different. On X-MEN, the editor is the representative of the company, and the company owns the work. So the editor's word is law, unless the EIC, the publisher or other people higher in the company hierarchy say different. When King writes a novel, he's the owner, and the editor can't force him to make changes. But the editor makes suggestions, ranging from "I think you lost the theme in Chapters 27-48; you might want to present those chapter's from the kid's POV to make things more powerful" or "You called the killer Edwin for half the book and Edward for the other half, pick one."
So King _wants_ his editor to be there to make suggestions and help him see mistakes. The editor's there to help him make the book better. But in the end, he doesn't have to do what the editor says, because he's the owner.
That's a big part of the appeal of creator-owned books, too. When I do ASTRO CITY, our editors make suggestions but in the end it's up to me, Brent and Alex to decide, because we're the owners, not the publisher. So we have creative power. [Plus, if some movie studio wants to option the rights to make an ASTRO CITY TV show, the money comes to us. Not to the publisher. That's nice too.]
As a reader, the power of buying a book or not buying it is the power you should have -- you should buy and read things you like and skip stuff you don't. But no readers should get "reverence." They should get the best stories the creative team and the editors can deliver, but they don't choose the creative teams. If they don't like the stories, they should read something else, so you seem to be doing just fine there.
It might be worth considering, though, that the writers you want back are writers you liked when you were young, and they replaced writers who were in general older than them. If publishers had "reverence" for older readers back then, and thought that the only good writers were people who'd gotten their start over 25 years ago, none of the writers you like would have gotten work, because the publishers would be aiming their comics at audiences that didn't include you, and prioritizing writers of the 1950s and 1960s.
You got the comics you loved 25-50 years ago because the publishers had been hiring younger creators and aiming the comics at readers who were your age then. That's how publishing works, not by deciding which readers to revere.
ASTRO CITY!!! I reread (and in some cases firstly read) the entire run in hardbacks a year or so ago. I finally completed the collection and Kurt, you wrote some of the best stories there that I've read across all of my 50 years of reading comics. Massive kudos to you, Brent, Alex and everyone else involved.
Though I'm a massive Big Two reader, there is very little like reading a book that is completely under the control of the creator... Grendel, Locke & Key, Reckless, Nexus, HATE, Xenozoic Tales, Yummy Fur, Invincible, Stray Bullets and many more that I'm sure I've forgotten. It's a shame that some won't read those because they are not part of DC or Marvel.
Hope you get the migraine figured out, I can't even imagine dealing with that. Wish you the best.
Thanks, Geo.
"When that civility goes away, so does my interest in continuing to bang these pieces out every week."
The narcissism in this rant is off the charts. Literally no one is forcing you to respond to any of these silly questions. Everything you write here, you're writing for your own enjoyment. Which is fine, but to add a martyr complex on top of it is just... *mwah*
No-one is forcing him to respond to questions, but there a lot of us who appreciate the answers and the behind the scenes look at comics, especially from someone with a long history working for Marvel.
He's simply asking for people to act with kindness, something that you have failed to do here.
He created this space. I think it gives him the authority to ask that people act civilly. He doesn’t owe us his time. He’s asking that if we want him to continue that we act according to his comfort. It seems reasonable.
If I set up a “free lemonade” stand in my front yard and people lined up for it and then fought each other in the line, I think it’d be fine for me to say “hey, I didn’t set this up for you to fight. If you want to keep getting lemonade I am going to ask you to stop. If you can’t, it makes this less enjoyable for me and I’m going to take my lemons and go home.”
And yet week after week, he elevates those supposedly "uncivil" comments, inviting further discussion and debate. Again: he enjoys it. It helps promote his books. Which, again, is fine, but I have to giggle at the added dose of martyrdom.
In the quote you pulled out, he says that he doesn't enjoy the uncivil comments.
And that the volume has gotten so loud that he’s forced to comment, lest he shut the whole thing down.
He's said that many times before, but he continues to elevate those comments. After a while, it starts feeling like the cousin to superhero comics, professional wrestling.
Some people curse like "XXXXX," some like "$#@%," some like "****". Is that writers' preferences? And do some writers just write r-rated scripts, and it's edit's job to cut the ^%#& cursing down to a family-friendly audience?
I actually asked this on Bluesky a few months back, and the answer I got from a bunch of comic writers is...it depends. They all seem to have different rules for when and if they use actual swears or not
Apropos of nothing, but Hindsight Lad used to really give me Danny Chase vibes.
I LOVE that you have both Wieringo's original pencils and Kesel's final inks. This practice has become more commonplace these days. I have had discussions with inkers who truly HATE the process as it requires them to shell out more money on paper and printers that can actually print these blue lines. Plus, it's just not the same inking over a printed blue line and not the original pencils. Some inkers love it because they get to keep all the inks...inks that likely never even leave their studio as they will be scanned. Another discussion related to ownership of final pages...so pencillers felt that because their work was being inked, even though on a copy that they deserved a share of the final pages...while most inkers felt the pages were theirs since only THEY actual touched them. Some seemed to make a deal where they would exchange various pages so they, like you could have BOTH versions on a particular page. The other discussion I had was with COLLECTORS of comic art. What was more valuable? The original pencils or the final inks? Which was more desirable? Which was worth more? Should the inker share the proceeds of a page sold with the penciller? All very interesting, the the MOST desired purchase was to get BOTH the pencils and the inks. And some folks felt that final inks over blue lines were NOT as valuable as final inks over original pencils. The art is worth whatever it's worth to the person buying it. And today some artists are creating entirely DIGITAL which mean there is NO original art to be had. Thus...they make prints...sometimes draw a bit more on them to make them special. Interesting times for this sort of thing.
You raise points that I would never have thought of!
As a color artist, in the old days, Marvel provided my with my paints and copies of the art to color. If I wanted to use extra materials like MARKERS which are pricey, I had to pay for those myself, and as coloring got more complex, markers became an important tool. When things went digital, the costs of coloring comics went WAY up. At a minimum, we had to buy a computer, the software, portable digital storage devices and the expensive discs that would be sent to the office and an expensive printer for proofs. Over time, we all moved to buying digital tablets to color on with the computer as well. Now we don't need to print out proofs, or have portable digital storage as we can just upload it to a server. But it's all WAY more expensive just to operate than it was when I started. We DO get paid more, but it doesn't really cover the costs as well as we would like. And now we have no original to sell...there's a lot of things to consider with the art being produced today.
I picked up the Thor annual you mentioned in last week's letter (That Ladronn back up is out of this world!) as well as some issues from the concurrent Jurgens/JRJR run (lots of fun!)
I noticed the late great Dick Giordano was inking Thor at the time - as an old DC comic fan did you get a chance to chat/interact with this legend? He was editorial during a fertile period of creativity at DC - must have been interesting to pick his brain (any stories to share?)
Also cool that he continued to freelance after he no longer was part of editorial.
Hey Tom, hope you’re well. People need to stop complaining. I’m a long-time reader, but never of the X-titles until now, as this is a great jumping on point and I’ve enjoyed them.
There was a mention of Longshot, are we going to see him anytime soon?
That comparison 🤦♂️
I like the new “On The Spinner Rack” section. Was it at all inspired by Chris Ryall’s “Spinner Rack” section in his Tales of Syzpense Substack newsletters? https://chrisryall.substack.com
I also really enjoyed the SNL 4-part documentary. The 3-hour musical retrospective was amazing. The intro segment was perfect.
In a follow up to your answer to TD Mollusk's question: is there any professional heads up that editors give each other if they're hiring a writer for a large project elsewhere, like if Nick Lowe hired Ryan North to write Amazing Spider-Man would he check in with you? Not for permission, exactly, but as a courtesy?
I just want to counter the negativity of others. I always look forward to this substack each week and amazed how you fit it in. I publish one every week and I am now semi retired. So thanks again Tom. There does seem to be a large nostalgia comic group of older fans, I am 60 this week. I have passed on my love of comics to my son who is now 30, and he rings me every week to discuss this weeks comics and suggests things I might enjoy. I have cut down my consumption of new issues, but loving Uncanny at the moment - a great writer. And writers do have their day,I love my classic Claremont run of Xmen but don’t think he should come back. As I have said before, I would love more Captain Britain Alan Davis, but he’s probably had enough for the character. I am looking forward to Joe Casey’s new X related project. A question - what happened to Ladronn? I loved his Cable. Did you enjoy it?
I feel like I have seen somewhere that Alan Davis has retired. So I wouldn’t get my hopes up for more Captain Britain from. Ladronn’s Cable was epic! I think he’s been doing more work with European publishers, like Humanoids, but I’m not sure.
Thank you very much Tom. I look forward to reading more Phoenix. I've pre-ordered up to issue #10 and I hope we get to read many more issues of it.
Thank you for the plug Tom ❤️🙏🏼
When Spider-office does their regular Spider-Verse events, the first appearances of alternate realities and characters are usually accompanied by numeric designations formatted in the Handbook style. I always find them useful as a reader. They either tell me “Yes, this is the same one you’re familiar with and are emotionally attached to; not a new version.” or “This is a brand new version, stop guessing whether it had appeared anywhere else and enjoy the current story.”
Is there a reason this labeling hasn’t been as consistent across other titles? For example, the Avengers from X-Force #4-5 (2024) look very much like they came straight from the “Forever Yesterday” arc in New Warriors (1991), Horus and Captain Assyria in particular looking identical. However, Geoffrey Thorne clarified that they’re actually different versions – but only on his Patreon blog, and that is not made clear within X-Force #5 itself.
This confusion could have been avoided by placing a yellow box with caption “Avengers of Earth-12345” on the page. And some Marvel titles do that consistently, while others – sporadically or almost never. Is this up to the preferences of individual editors, an established practice in an office? Or is it something the writers themselves need to put into scripts, and the appearance of prevalence is mere coincidence? These yellow box captions have become such a staple that even “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” movie featured them, and I can think of a reason not to include them, unless to preserve a to-be-revealed mystery.
Clearly the only available option is a Wrestlemania 6 level main event, babyface vs babyface, Storm vs Phoenix in the cosmos, (presumably not marketed well enough for either fan base) for all the marbles retirement match. Obviously that will solve all your problems.