Seeing Squirrel Girl, Nancy and Braindrain drawn by RB Silva got me thinking about stylistic changes at Marvel over the last decade. To be at least, it feels like there is less diversity in artistic styles than there was around say 2015. Specifically it feels like cartooning and more exaggerated styles (like Henderson or Charm on Squirrel Girl, Aja on Hawkeye, Samnee on DD) have fallen out of favor.
What's your perspective on expanding the public's understand of what "superhero art" can be vs giving them what they already expect? I'm guessing in the minds of many in commercial art it's a balance but what makes you take a risk and go with something outside the norm? One great example of a time Marvel has done this was switching from the Wildstorm stylings of Ian Churchill on X-Force to the popart of Mike Allred. What would drive you to take that big of a swing?
Tom - I loved (LOVED) Livewires. Even as I get older I’ll revisit that digest (my poor eyes) and eat it up. Led me to getting a lot more Adam Warren stuff.
1. Livewires is on Marvel Unlimited! Woot! I'll have to give it a read.
2. I've been doing a Guardians of the Galaxy binge read lately, so I've gotten to read the introduction of Angel to the Marvel Comics Universe. I found it interesting that the character's origin twisted so quickly from a fairly simple retelling of her role in Spawn to her ultimate role as Thor and Loki's sister. Do you recall anything about the introduction of Angela into Marvel Comics, and how or why she ended up tied to Thor and Loki?
So many thoughts but too weak from some bug to note any.
Other than that Perkins drawing is the prettiest picture of the Thing I’ve ever seen not inked by Joe Sinnott. (Requisite shout out for that Batman mini Perkins drew. Too lovely a job for words.)
The beautiful Thing from Mike Perkins, indeed one of the industry’s kindest, inspired this question…for years and years, Mike wanted to draw a Deathlok book as he loves that character, and eventually did (short-lived but gorgeous). Curious if you had a particular story of a writer and/or artist pining after a character they had such affinity to eventually getting to take a shot?
Adam Warren has become a good friend of mine and, when I was in the thick of writing a bunch of Marvel titles, Adam mentioned to me that he would love to see Livewires make their return some day, even just in a cameo. I ended up using them in a 2-part story in Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #5+6 alongside Deadpool and it was a ton of fun to put together - Deadpool VS Black Panther VS out of control nano-powered cyber-agents!
At the end I also left a tiny story thread hanging in case any other creators want to use the Livewires again down the road...Unlikely, I know, but that's the magic of the Marvel Universe. You never know what might come back and make an unexpected splash.
Hey, this sounds like the perfect "in" to get Adam back for another Livewires mini-series! I can see a cross-over with Vision against Ultron to help insert them more into the Marvel Universe, heck even bring in a Doombot or two as leftovers from the current Doom storyline!
I own and have read every single one of Warren's Empowered (except the one that just came out sitting in my To Read pile) and they are great fun and enjoyable. Love his artwork.
Hi Tom. I recently re-read Magneto Testament, and was blown away. As an HS history teacher, I immediately thought that I wanted to get a class set to use to teach the lead up to and the Holocaust, because it does such a tremendous job showing the aspects people often don’t know about (it even has teaching suggesting in the TPB) and I’ve been trying to add more comics and graphic novels into my teaching. But I was shocked to see it’s no longer in print. How can we as a fan base change this? Do you have any say as the EIC in what goes to print from the back catalogue? This isn’t just a comic but it is a historical teaching tool that matters. Thanks.
I remember asking about that theory of yours for Scott and Jean a year ago or something. Super happy it's going to play out, and hopefully it plays out across more books. I would love to read a crossover for X-Men and Phoenix in space.
I’ve been reading a lot of issues from the 2015-2018ish era lately, and read through “Power Man and Iron Fist”, and the first 6 issues of Jessica Jones (Marvel Now). I couldn’t find much online so I wanted to ask, what went into the decision to have Jessica start the series in the position she did? I.E separated from Luke, hiding her daughter, on a deep undercover op.
This question came to me as I say how Marvel was publishing an adaptation of the Last Jedi film - I assume the Star Wars movie adaptations are perennial trade sellers.
Do you think there is a market for comic book adaptations of the Marvel films? A nice trade collection of MCU phase 1 with phot covers in bookstores? Do you like movie adaptations Tom?
I can see in the age of streaming how they are no longer as useful or relevant but I cannot deny there were some classics back in the day - Simonson on ALIEN, The Goodwin/WIlliamson Empire Strikes Back and Jedi, John Buscema on Raiders, etc.
Bonus deep cut question - inspired by your blog post on the Hulk issue starring Machine Man - do you know what Roger Stern had planned for Machine Man and the Avengers during his aborted "Heavy Metal' arc of Avengers (circa issues 286-289)?
He seemed to have an arc with Machine Man seeded over several guest appearances (like in Hulk) - possible links to the Fixer and the Super Adaptoid.
Tom or anyone else please chime in - does Machine Man work in the Marvel U or should he be in his own special parallel Earth Prime type world where he is a 'special' occurrence?
As I mentioned on that blog, I think Machine Man, like the Eternals, would be better off, creatively, on another world than the main Marvel Universe.
He could share that world with the Eternals just fine. But he's not as impressive in a world where there have been superheroes (and intelligent androids) since 1939. He's just, "Oh, another one."
I was working with Mark Gruenwald at the time Roger was writing the Heavy Metal arc (Sorry to say I came up with that title yeesh). At that time we were having a conflict with Roger over the Captain Marvel character having been put in as leader of the Avengers. We had hoped to resolve the conflict (Roger has written about it a little, but there was more to it that someday I might reveal heheheheh)but what I can see today as a lack of proper communication and understanding between us all led to him being removed from the title just as he was starting the arc. Being that we all were more concerned with out conflict, he never told us if he had any future plans with Machine Man. Likely he DID, as Roger is a talented writer who doesn't tend to write throw away stories. What wound up being published was our rethinking of his original stories to move towards the continuity we had wanted for the book that he disagreed with. I doubt that the story everyone read was the story Roger I tended to tell. And sadly, we had to fill in issues until we were able to bring Simonson on board to write the title, only to have hid original story forcibly altered by folks in charge...which led to his leaving the book with John and doing the story he wanted in Fantastic Four...
Seeing Squirrel Girl, Nancy and Braindrain drawn by RB Silva got me thinking about stylistic changes at Marvel over the last decade. To be at least, it feels like there is less diversity in artistic styles than there was around say 2015. Specifically it feels like cartooning and more exaggerated styles (like Henderson or Charm on Squirrel Girl, Aja on Hawkeye, Samnee on DD) have fallen out of favor.
What's your perspective on expanding the public's understand of what "superhero art" can be vs giving them what they already expect? I'm guessing in the minds of many in commercial art it's a balance but what makes you take a risk and go with something outside the norm? One great example of a time Marvel has done this was switching from the Wildstorm stylings of Ian Churchill on X-Force to the popart of Mike Allred. What would drive you to take that big of a swing?
Tom - I loved (LOVED) Livewires. Even as I get older I’ll revisit that digest (my poor eyes) and eat it up. Led me to getting a lot more Adam Warren stuff.
So this is one very grateful fan.
1. Livewires is on Marvel Unlimited! Woot! I'll have to give it a read.
2. I've been doing a Guardians of the Galaxy binge read lately, so I've gotten to read the introduction of Angel to the Marvel Comics Universe. I found it interesting that the character's origin twisted so quickly from a fairly simple retelling of her role in Spawn to her ultimate role as Thor and Loki's sister. Do you recall anything about the introduction of Angela into Marvel Comics, and how or why she ended up tied to Thor and Loki?
So many thoughts but too weak from some bug to note any.
Other than that Perkins drawing is the prettiest picture of the Thing I’ve ever seen not inked by Joe Sinnott. (Requisite shout out for that Batman mini Perkins drew. Too lovely a job for words.)
Josh Cassara is doing a great job on FF covers, but I for one thought the Alex Ross covers were perfectly pulpy to match the tone of North's stories.
The beautiful Thing from Mike Perkins, indeed one of the industry’s kindest, inspired this question…for years and years, Mike wanted to draw a Deathlok book as he loves that character, and eventually did (short-lived but gorgeous). Curious if you had a particular story of a writer and/or artist pining after a character they had such affinity to eventually getting to take a shot?
Adam Warren has become a good friend of mine and, when I was in the thick of writing a bunch of Marvel titles, Adam mentioned to me that he would love to see Livewires make their return some day, even just in a cameo. I ended up using them in a 2-part story in Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #5+6 alongside Deadpool and it was a ton of fun to put together - Deadpool VS Black Panther VS out of control nano-powered cyber-agents!
At the end I also left a tiny story thread hanging in case any other creators want to use the Livewires again down the road...Unlikely, I know, but that's the magic of the Marvel Universe. You never know what might come back and make an unexpected splash.
Hey, this sounds like the perfect "in" to get Adam back for another Livewires mini-series! I can see a cross-over with Vision against Ultron to help insert them more into the Marvel Universe, heck even bring in a Doombot or two as leftovers from the current Doom storyline!
I own and have read every single one of Warren's Empowered (except the one that just came out sitting in my To Read pile) and they are great fun and enjoyable. Love his artwork.
Hi Tom. I recently re-read Magneto Testament, and was blown away. As an HS history teacher, I immediately thought that I wanted to get a class set to use to teach the lead up to and the Holocaust, because it does such a tremendous job showing the aspects people often don’t know about (it even has teaching suggesting in the TPB) and I’ve been trying to add more comics and graphic novels into my teaching. But I was shocked to see it’s no longer in print. How can we as a fan base change this? Do you have any say as the EIC in what goes to print from the back catalogue? This isn’t just a comic but it is a historical teaching tool that matters. Thanks.
Patrick! I wrote my master’s thesis on using Magneto to teach about the Holocaust and Testament was a big part of it.
Oh, gosh! It's one of the William Castle films, isn't it? House on Haunted Hill?
Close!
Are there any future plans in store for Kid Omega? Mentorships, friendships or a romantic relationship?
I remember asking about that theory of yours for Scott and Jean a year ago or something. Super happy it's going to play out, and hopefully it plays out across more books. I would love to read a crossover for X-Men and Phoenix in space.
If Marvel Comics had to all get smaller (digest sized, like manga) or bigger (magazine sized), which one would you choose?
I’ve been reading a lot of issues from the 2015-2018ish era lately, and read through “Power Man and Iron Fist”, and the first 6 issues of Jessica Jones (Marvel Now). I couldn’t find much online so I wanted to ask, what went into the decision to have Jessica start the series in the position she did? I.E separated from Luke, hiding her daughter, on a deep undercover op.
This question came to me as I say how Marvel was publishing an adaptation of the Last Jedi film - I assume the Star Wars movie adaptations are perennial trade sellers.
Do you think there is a market for comic book adaptations of the Marvel films? A nice trade collection of MCU phase 1 with phot covers in bookstores? Do you like movie adaptations Tom?
I can see in the age of streaming how they are no longer as useful or relevant but I cannot deny there were some classics back in the day - Simonson on ALIEN, The Goodwin/WIlliamson Empire Strikes Back and Jedi, John Buscema on Raiders, etc.
Hi,
That still is from 1959’s “The Tingler”, directed by William Castle and starring Vincent Price. One of my faves!
Ah, dang! I LOVE The Tingler - really spooked me out as a kid - but just didn't recognise the still, darn it! ;-) Good spot, Matt!
Yeah, the The Tingler is a terrific one! I think it and “Haunted Hill” are my two faves of Castle’s… but they’re all pretty great.
Bonus deep cut question - inspired by your blog post on the Hulk issue starring Machine Man - do you know what Roger Stern had planned for Machine Man and the Avengers during his aborted "Heavy Metal' arc of Avengers (circa issues 286-289)?
He seemed to have an arc with Machine Man seeded over several guest appearances (like in Hulk) - possible links to the Fixer and the Super Adaptoid.
Tom or anyone else please chime in - does Machine Man work in the Marvel U or should he be in his own special parallel Earth Prime type world where he is a 'special' occurrence?
As I mentioned on that blog, I think Machine Man, like the Eternals, would be better off, creatively, on another world than the main Marvel Universe.
He could share that world with the Eternals just fine. But he's not as impressive in a world where there have been superheroes (and intelligent androids) since 1939. He's just, "Oh, another one."
I was working with Mark Gruenwald at the time Roger was writing the Heavy Metal arc (Sorry to say I came up with that title yeesh). At that time we were having a conflict with Roger over the Captain Marvel character having been put in as leader of the Avengers. We had hoped to resolve the conflict (Roger has written about it a little, but there was more to it that someday I might reveal heheheheh)but what I can see today as a lack of proper communication and understanding between us all led to him being removed from the title just as he was starting the arc. Being that we all were more concerned with out conflict, he never told us if he had any future plans with Machine Man. Likely he DID, as Roger is a talented writer who doesn't tend to write throw away stories. What wound up being published was our rethinking of his original stories to move towards the continuity we had wanted for the book that he disagreed with. I doubt that the story everyone read was the story Roger I tended to tell. And sadly, we had to fill in issues until we were able to bring Simonson on board to write the title, only to have hid original story forcibly altered by folks in charge...which led to his leaving the book with John and doing the story he wanted in Fantastic Four...
Thank you Greg! Would love to hear more about the Stern/Buscema era Captain Marvel and what happened there on the way to Avengers 300.