Today is the birthday of my youngest brother, Mike. Given our age gap, he’s the brother that I know the least, given that I was out of the house and off to Marvel before he hit his teenage years. And in more recent times, he’s been the toughest to connect with as he relocated to Colorado many years ago. But like the rest of my siblings, he’s done well for himself in the field of computers and technology, married well and raised an extensive family of five kids, all of whom are far more active and physically fit than anybody from my branch of the tribe. Seriously, they’re a pretty amazing group. Anyway,
Are there any plans for Sam Alexander/Nova in the works? I feel like he used to be everywhere in the 2010s but now is so rarely utilized (he hadn’t appeared in anything between Fallen Friend in 2023 and New Champions #3 this month). With Imperial seemingly being the next sprawling cosmic epic, and Richard Rider apparently having a role (based on the teaser), could a place be found for Sam Alexander either in that book or elsewhere?
Since a reader brought up lettering, the first thing that comes to mind is Ken Bruzenak’s work on American Flagg!, which to me, was as important to the spirit and tone of the book as Howard’s writing and art.
Tom, will Emma wear the uniform she wears on the covers of Exceptional X-Men, or is it just for promotional purposes? Also, do you have any other plans for Emma, like appearances in other books or something more focused on her?
Tom, is there an answer on what happens if Rogue and Venom attempt to bond and whose powers would affect them in what way? My brother and I have been going back and forth for weeks now between "just Rogue, but more" and "life draining symbiote horror show" and we could use an expert authority.
And at Marvel HQ, when these sorts of situations come up when X does Y and it's never happened before, is there a dedicated process for these scenarios, or is it more of what works for the story at hand and what plays nice with the greater universe, and trying to find the balance between the two?
Are there any smaller comic publishers that you have your eye on, either out of professional curiosity, interest in the indie side of the industry, or as a place where you're keeping an eye out for up and comers? Not talking about like Image and Dark Horse and IDW, but actual smaller publishers
Tom, How do you navigate moves that stimulate the comic collector's market? For example, the 1st appearance of a new character prompts some of us to buy a book we may not otherwise be reading. How tempting is it to keep pressing that button? Do you have internal numbers that guide this kind of decision?
BTW, in addition to that Rover book from Blackthorne, there's also a collection from 1976 called (ahem!) "Gasoline Alley" (Flare/Avon) that has several excellent sequences from Moores' run. Both books are pretty easy to find for cheap in the usual places.
The big GA blank spot for me of course is the long Sunday-only run by Bill Perry, which I don't believe the Boston Herald ran and which, as far as I know, has never been reprinted.
My experience of those Bill Perry Sundays is that they're not as well-written or drawn as either the contemporaneous King/Moores dailies around them, and that the characters often seems slightly out of character.
But they're pleasant enough, usually one-off gags rather than a part of the ongoing stories, but with nice-enough slice-of-life bits.
Hey Tom. Over in the Spider-Man arena on Reddit, there is a recurring idea that the success of the new Ultimate Spider-Man (with a married Peter Parker) is an indication that the regular 616 Peter's marriage to MJ should be reinstated, and that it is a fault of the editor(s) over there for not recognizing that and thus reaping similar sales success. I don't necessarily agree, but wondered about your thoughts about how the one book's success affects the other.
Thanks for answering my question - I have just put a bid on a couple of the Kirby 2001 issues that are on eBay uk. So fingers crossed. Do you know much about the genesis and story behind that Kirby commission?
-Will X-Men and Uncanny ever receive a roster shake up? New characters coming in, or will the rosters stay the same?
-The storm war looks interesting I can't wait for that!
-Same goes for Phoenix's upcoming arc, the designs on both Jean and Storm are great... Make sure the artists know that they are appreciated
-I saw Ogun and Sabretooth on Wolverine's April cover, will you be resurrecting Sabretooth this early or Will Wolverine be heading to Japan to fight ogun? If so, I hope he goes to Mariko Yashida.
-I grabbed a few issues of psylocke yesterday and it's good! alyssa wong, never heard of that writer but I'm really enjoying it!
On the topic of deciding to pull the plug on a series due to low sales--Is the decision taken based on the sales of the latest issue of a title? Sales over the financial quarter: i.e. three months, typically? Pre-order numbers for issues down the line?
Are there any plans for Sam Alexander/Nova in the works? I feel like he used to be everywhere in the 2010s but now is so rarely utilized (he hadn’t appeared in anything between Fallen Friend in 2023 and New Champions #3 this month). With Imperial seemingly being the next sprawling cosmic epic, and Richard Rider apparently having a role (based on the teaser), could a place be found for Sam Alexander either in that book or elsewhere?
Since a reader brought up lettering, the first thing that comes to mind is Ken Bruzenak’s work on American Flagg!, which to me, was as important to the spirit and tone of the book as Howard’s writing and art.
“According to Grok AI”…my god.
it's really wild how much people let those things do the thinking for them
Tom, will Emma wear the uniform she wears on the covers of Exceptional X-Men, or is it just for promotional purposes? Also, do you have any other plans for Emma, like appearances in other books or something more focused on her?
Tom, is there an answer on what happens if Rogue and Venom attempt to bond and whose powers would affect them in what way? My brother and I have been going back and forth for weeks now between "just Rogue, but more" and "life draining symbiote horror show" and we could use an expert authority.
And at Marvel HQ, when these sorts of situations come up when X does Y and it's never happened before, is there a dedicated process for these scenarios, or is it more of what works for the story at hand and what plays nice with the greater universe, and trying to find the balance between the two?
Are there any smaller comic publishers that you have your eye on, either out of professional curiosity, interest in the indie side of the industry, or as a place where you're keeping an eye out for up and comers? Not talking about like Image and Dark Horse and IDW, but actual smaller publishers
Tom, How do you navigate moves that stimulate the comic collector's market? For example, the 1st appearance of a new character prompts some of us to buy a book we may not otherwise be reading. How tempting is it to keep pressing that button? Do you have internal numbers that guide this kind of decision?
BTW, in addition to that Rover book from Blackthorne, there's also a collection from 1976 called (ahem!) "Gasoline Alley" (Flare/Avon) that has several excellent sequences from Moores' run. Both books are pretty easy to find for cheap in the usual places.
The big GA blank spot for me of course is the long Sunday-only run by Bill Perry, which I don't believe the Boston Herald ran and which, as far as I know, has never been reprinted.
My experience of those Bill Perry Sundays is that they're not as well-written or drawn as either the contemporaneous King/Moores dailies around them, and that the characters often seems slightly out of character.
But they're pleasant enough, usually one-off gags rather than a part of the ongoing stories, but with nice-enough slice-of-life bits.
Hey Tom. Over in the Spider-Man arena on Reddit, there is a recurring idea that the success of the new Ultimate Spider-Man (with a married Peter Parker) is an indication that the regular 616 Peter's marriage to MJ should be reinstated, and that it is a fault of the editor(s) over there for not recognizing that and thus reaping similar sales success. I don't necessarily agree, but wondered about your thoughts about how the one book's success affects the other.
"But I don’t know that the audience is necessarily going to turn out for a random Ant-Man issue from 1962" - *cough-cough* ;-)
Thanks for answering my question - I have just put a bid on a couple of the Kirby 2001 issues that are on eBay uk. So fingers crossed. Do you know much about the genesis and story behind that Kirby commission?
You think they should have let Princess Di be a mutant?
How long do you plan on being the X-Men editor?
well, if you say so, you said not to worry. I'll not worry. I shouldn't be worried about it. It was only a few panels
-Will X-Men and Uncanny ever receive a roster shake up? New characters coming in, or will the rosters stay the same?
-The storm war looks interesting I can't wait for that!
-Same goes for Phoenix's upcoming arc, the designs on both Jean and Storm are great... Make sure the artists know that they are appreciated
-I saw Ogun and Sabretooth on Wolverine's April cover, will you be resurrecting Sabretooth this early or Will Wolverine be heading to Japan to fight ogun? If so, I hope he goes to Mariko Yashida.
-I grabbed a few issues of psylocke yesterday and it's good! alyssa wong, never heard of that writer but I'm really enjoying it!
Hi Tom!
On the topic of deciding to pull the plug on a series due to low sales--Is the decision taken based on the sales of the latest issue of a title? Sales over the financial quarter: i.e. three months, typically? Pre-order numbers for issues down the line?