#159: There's Meaning In Everything

So, we’ve got a tiny bit of drama going on in my family. My mother didn’t like the new Superman teaser footage that was released a week or so ago. She’s something of a fan of the character, at least on film, and she was the one who took me to see the original SUPERMAN THE MOVIE and SUPERMAN II back in the day (but not SUPERMAN III—we both avoided that tragedy.) She made it a point to tell me that she’d watched only a portion of it, but that it had “Superman lying around in the snow with some dog jumping all over him.” This isn’t what she wants from her Superman, that’s for certain. She’s also a big Henry Cavill fan, thanks to his work in THE WITCHER, so she really liked him as the Man of Steel and I don’t know that she’s quite ready to accept somebody else in the role. It’s looking more and more like I may have to disown her.

Elsewhere, courtesy of reader Rob Imes, here’s a link to a portion of an episode of the science fiction news program PRISONERS OF GRAVITY that includes a long section (broken up throughout this run time) concerning STREET-POET RAY and its creation. I have to say, the titular poet is maybe trying just a smidge too hard with is look here, even if it was the early 1990s.

And then, to wrap up our introductory segment for the week, I’ve been listening a bunch to the back catalogue of Japanese singer milet (always lower case, apparently), whose work has been used as the intro or outro songs for a couple of different television series and anime, including the current fascination FRIEREN: BEYOND JOURNEY’S END. So as is my way, here’s a link to the (non-animated) music video for the ending theme to that series, complete with helpful subtitles. It’s a pretty addictive tune, and she’s got a great vocal range.

Lots of questions this time, looked like. So let’s get into it!

Joe West

I would love to know how Imperial came to be, as it is my most-hyped comic book event of the year! There’s rumors that it started from a Krakoan-era Imperial Guard series pitch from Hickman, but how/why was it revisited and expanded into what it is now? What made now the right time to create a DnA-esque interconnected saga of cosmic books?

IMPERIAL didn’t start with Jonathan’s proposed IMPERIAL GUARD idea, Joe, though it may have folded in a few thoughts originally put together for that project. It’s more of a direct outgrowth of the fact that Marvel is looking to have Jonathan use his boundless creativity to build out assorted areas of the MU that have maybe fallen into neglect, such as the cosmic arena here. And I don’t know that anything makes this the right moment to try it apart from the fact that we had the idea now. We’ll see how it all goes over.

Glenn Simpson

Seeing Human Cannonball's pink leggings reminded me of a thought I had about how a lot of Golden Age male character ran around bare-legged, like Black Condor. Is it fair to say that concepts about what constitutes "manly" have either evolved or were viewed differently when it comes to funnybook characters?

With a bunch of the very early super heroes, Glenn, the color schemes weren’t made up by the creators or publishers so much as the color separation houses. And so, often the people working there weren’t conversant with the emerging idioms of super heroes such as shorts-over-tights, and figured that the short pants must mean that the character’s legs were bare. So it wasn’t so much about what was considered manly as being simply an idea that hadn’t trickled down into the overall consciousness just yet.

Jenn

with Marvel Rivals' new map bringing in lots of fun animal friends like Logan, Amazing Baby and Shogo (I feel weird calling him an animal friend, but... he is currently in animal form)... any chance of a new X-Pets for Marvel Unlimited?

Also, I was wondering what the motivation was for publishing Claremont's limited Days of Future Past prologue in wide release? Is this going to tie into future plans that the office wants to explore with Phoenix, Askani or White Phoenix of the Crown?

No idea whether we might at some point do an X-Pets or something similar for Marvel Unlimited, Jenn. Feels like we’re already providing plenty of animal-themed content there as it is. And the motivation for publishing Chris’s story is simply the fact that we remembered that it existed and had never been released outside of the big expensive hardcover it was in. So it isn’t related to any future X-plans specifically, sorry.

Mark Coale

Since Mark Gruenwald came up this week, did you ever talk to him about his continuity fanzine Omniverse? As someone devoted to that kind of thing as a kid in the Pre Crisis era, I wish I had known about it then and not found out about them as grizzled middle aged comics reader.

I spoke with Mark about Omniverse a bit, Mark, but almost always in passing so I don’t know that I have much that I can specifically tell you. Mark did have a third issue that was almost completed when he was hired on staff at Marvel, and it was something that he still wanted to finish up and put out. But it never happened during his lifetime.

Bob Budiansky

I hated an issue of New Warriors? I don't even remember ever reading an issue of New Warriors! But your memory of these events is always better than mine, Tom, so if you say so then it must have happened. (Coincidentally, I was just explaining Sabra to a friend of mine a couple of days ago when he proposed that I should create a Jewish super hero with a star of David on his/her forehead. I told him someone had already done that.)

At the time, Bob, NEW WARRIORS had been grouped into the Spider-Man line, so you were reading over scripts and final lettering as a matter of course. And yes, you really didn’t like the first half of that sabra two-parter.

Shaun

Have you played any Marvel Rivals? What are you're thoughts on the new Krakoa/Hellfire Gala season that's got everybody excited?

I have to say that I’ve never played the game, Shaun, but I seem to be the only one. And I think it’s cool that they’re building a season around Krakoa and the Hellfire Gala.

Christopher Krayer

What's the reasoning behind restarting Fantastic Four this summer with a new #1, yet still have the same writer? As a 40 year long reader I've finally gotten used to new #1's when the writer changes. But like Zdarsky's Daredevil run, the sudden ending of his first volume and restarting with a #1 in 2022 just seemed like a sales grab at this point. Is there going to be a big story change between volumes to justify this? For those of us amateur comic book historians multiple volumes by the same writer make talking about a run more difficult.

You may have heard about this, Christopher, but just to be sure: there’s a big new FANTASTIC FOUR film on the way, which means that a whole bunch of new people are suddenly going to be interested in our cosmic quartet. And it’s always nice to give folks like that an easy access ramp with a new #1 rather than hoping that they’ll jump on for #34 or whatever. And we do have a new artist, the terrific Humberto Ramos, as well as a big story to start with, so hopefully it’ll feel like it’s worth it to you. Or it’s a big cash grab, I’m fine with that since I like cash and it enables us to keep the lights on and the presses running. I’m confident that the comic book historians will be able to figure it out, they always do.

Gwen

does Emma’s introduction in Marvel Rivals have any impact on comic book sales? The game has brought her name back into popular culture — not that she wasn’t known before, but it was mostly among comic book readers. Now that her ship with Tony has gained popularity because of the game, is there a chance we’ll see them together again?

I think the use of any character in the MARVEL RIVALS game represents at least the potential for sales, Gwen, if players become interested in the character and thus open to seeking out stories about them. But it’s far from a sure thing. So there’s no immediate connection between Emma being used in the game and what she’ll be getting up to in the comics, sorry.

David Brazier

will you be reading John Higg’s new Dr Who book? Higgs is a brilliant writer and I thoroughly recommend his books on William Blake and the KLF.

I’m completely unaware of this book, David, but I’ll make it a point to seek it out now, thanks.

Adam

I know we haven't seen Arakko in the X-books so far - it's returning in the pages of Timeless: Power Man, apparently - but do you have any plans for it or for the characters that come from Arakko? I know they are newer characters, but a lot of people found Arakki like Solem and Khora of the Burning Heart fun and interesting and would like to see them return.

We just saw Solem in DEADPOOL, Adam, and the cover reveals that Bei the Blood Moon will be turning up in X-MEN #19 alongside Doug Ramsey and Warlock, so the Arakki characters will continue to pop up as stories require them.

Alison Cabot

On the cover of Uncanny X-Men #16, Rogue, Wolverine, and the Outliers are wearing new outfits. Is there any chance that these are their new official uniforms? Because they look absolutely amazing! And while we're at it, when can we expect more information on Emma's solo series?

Glad you like them, Alison—but you’ll have to wait and see, no spoilers here from me! And you’ll hear more about Emma’s throwback series as it gets closer to publication.

Seastar

Regarding Giant-Size, how did you decide on how to put the backup stories together? Did people like Al Ewing and Steve Foxe pitch ideas to you or were some of these concepts you had and had writers bring them to life?

In most cases, Seastar, I had some general idea as to what stories and ideas i wanted to feature in those back-ups and we reached out to the proper creators for those stories as a result. Tough to say more than that without potentially spoiling some of those pieces, though. But yes, Al and Steve each contributed the specifics to the stories that they’re doing, even if the initial impulse of them came from me.

Clonegeek

Wait, so you're ok with letting Rogue and Gambit be married because of "fan investment" but not Peter and MJ? Even when its pretty clear that fans are rather invested in the Peter/MJ relationship considering the amount of MJ variant covers that ASM gets even when she isn't in the title.

It’s almost as though different characters require different things, isn’t it, Clonegeek? When Reed and Sue got married, not every character in the line suddenly had to get married, for example.

Ben Morse

I always wondered where those Marvel Vault projects came from—and now I know! Why did they not continue? Is it anything more complex than they didn’t sell?

I think the answer here is pretty self-evident, Ben: we did all of the projects that we had materials for and stopped when we ran out. Can’t really produce more Vault books when the Vault is empty.

Neon Frost

I know these are alternate versions of characters/non-616 but are you involved in how the characters you’re editor for are portrayed/written? Do the game devs/writers have to clear everything by you first or again because it’s alt versions, they have more leeway in how the characters are portrayed?

Just like with film or television, Neon, the games producers don’t have to run anything past me, though there are other Marvel people who’ll need to sign off on developments to make sure the characters are generally consistent across divisions. So I don’t know just what they’re going to do with whom until they announce it or they tell us.

Kick

I have a question regarding the identity of Kindred from Nick Spencer's ASM run.

It's one of my favorite Spider-Man runs and I also like Kindred, I thought he was a pretty interesting villain.

Official Marvel sources say they are the Stacy twins pretending to be Harry Osborn, but that doesn't make sense. Kindred acted and thought like Harry even when he was alone, why would Gabriel and Sarah do that? I believe it is AI Harry because in ASM #73 Kindred talks about how Sarah is gone, she and Gabe are fake and were created by him. In ASM #74 Harry confirms that the twins are vessels created for the digital copy of Harry he created before he died. So does that mean that AI Harry is the real Kindred? Am I right or will we never know?

You’re asking me to litigate the details of a storyline from several years ago that I didn’t work on directly here, Kick, so I’m afraid I don’t have anything of value that I can tell you. I would suggest that the details given within the story are probably genuine, though.

Branden

To start simply, is the cosmic queen costume Jean's primary costume going forward? I'll have to admit I will miss the classic green and gold look that we got at the end of the Fall of X for the new solo.

With the return of Sara Grey, Cyclops appearing semi-frequently in the title, and Cable having a role in the third arc of the title - is there a chance that we might see Jean interact with Rachel Summers any time soon? Rachel has her own long and storied history with the Phoenix Force - going all the way back to the 811 universe, which the Prelude to Days of Future Past one-shot that was just revealed illuminates - and her relationship with Jean is one that is often overshadowed by her brothers'. Not just that, I know there were a lot of people excited at the prospect of the Askani variant for Phoenix #11... which turned out to be more an Askani'son variant... potentially hinting at her appearance in the book.

And on that subject, since the launch of From the Ashes Jean has been in her own little corner of the Marvel Universe, as Phoenix is - at least as of now - the only cosmic ongoing that is releasing at Marvel at this time. But I can't help but miss Jean's interactions with the rest of the X-Men; I understand wanting to explore her cosmic nature and her role as an existential force and hero, but knowing she is going to appear in Giant-Size X-Men #2 has me curious. Can we expect to see Jean a bit more involved with the rest of the mutant-sphere going forward?

I liked the green-and-gold too, Branden, but the creative team wanted to make a change, and so I let them. It’s possible but far from guaranteed that Rachel will show up in PHOENIX at some point. And Jean is still an X-Man even though she’s living somewhat at a remove from Earth at the moment, so you can certainly expect her to come into stories from time to time, either guest-starring or in crossovers that enter into her series.

Andrew Albrecht

I’ve been on the fence for the upcoming Giant Size 5 one shots. I’m a big fan of Ms Marvel, and I guess I’m wondering why this isn’t another miniseries about her in the present. Despite her going back in time to other events that have already occurred, some of the synopsis implies there might be another big change coming for Kamala. I don’t want to miss out on her story, but at the same time I don’t have much of an interest in her going back to these events, especially since I haven’t had the chance to read the original stories yet

You’re off-base about the starting point of those GIANT-SIZE books, Andrew. We began with the fact that this year is the anniversary of a bunch of big key X-Men storylines and wanted to build a modern day story that would reflect that anniversary. and we chose to use Kamala for it because she’s enough of a newcomer to the X-world that she wasn’t directly in any of those earlier stories and so could provide a newcomers ground level point of view to their events. End of the day, it’s up to you whether you want to take the plunge on these stories with us, but whatever information you need along the way we’ll be working to make sure that you’ve got, so don’t worry on that account.

Alan J Porter

Do you or any Marvel editorial ever read the more technical academic studies on how comics are structured and consumed? I’m thinking of stuff like the work of Neil Cohn’s “Patterns of Comics” etc. - And if so does it help with developing the craft?

I’m sure that some people do, Alan, but I couldn’t say whether it has any particular benefit or not.

Paul Cornell

Having never heard it pronounced, I always called Darkseid ‘Darkseed’. I think I may have still been doing that even after I’d written him.

Me too, me too, Paul! I didn’t know from Germanic spelling then.

Cory Strode

1) With the Micronauts getting an Epic collection, there are rumors Marvel has rights to do NEW Micronauts comics, any truth to those?

2) As far as I can remember, the last comic from Marvel in what was called the "Prestige Format" was Avengers/JLA. I LIKED that format and wondered why it has fallen out of favor as well as how a comic was determined to be in that format back when it was used.

3) Do you think mainstream comics like Marvel and DC could have moved into the trade paperback market sooner? I remember hearing that the 70's Fireside books sold well and I like to play "What If" where instead of those tiny Pocket Book reprints, a similar line of Conan, Spider-Man, etc... trade book might have sold.

1. Nope, not that I’m aware of, sorry.

2. It’s simply a matter of cover price, Cory. Those Prestige Format books used to cost $3.95, $4.95, even $5.95. But over time and with inflation, they’d cost more than $10.00 today, and that feels like it’s too much for most people to want to spend.

3. Just about anything could have happened earlier, Cory. But it all happened when and how it happened, so there isn’t much more that I can say about things than that.

Venus

I was a fan of Marvel Age 1,000 when it came out and felt like it deserved more buzz. I've read about your handling of Marvel Comics 1,000, which was also great but so different. What made you decide on this approach for Marvel Age 1,000 and some of the stories in it? I thought Rainbow Rowell and Ms. Sauvage did amazing for our dear, star X-Men couple. And Steve McNiven's story was so moving too. It would be absolutely beautiful if those creators did some work for your office today.

Glad that you enjoyed MARVEL AGE #1000, Venus. The idea was to create stories that captured the spirit of classic Marvel when it was first just starting out, which is why they all feature characters from the 1960s and earlier. And that was just a function of needing a central theme to hang the project on, otherwise you’d just end up with a stack of nice-but-unconnected adventures.

LZ

I'm not sure if you're the right person to ask but is there any chance of a new Wonder Man solo ongoing comic? I would really like to be able to point people to a comic book series to read prior to his MCU series! I know you're in the business of selling comics, so what sells is priority, but I am curious if a Wonder Man comic is on the list of books to come.

With X-Factor cancelled, Is it possible that we'll see Polaris join the X-Men again? Winning the X-Men vote seemed like a clear indicator that readers wanted to see Lorna on the X-Men with her peers. I understand some characters will get shelved, but I really would like to see Polaris on a X-Men team again with her peers. Maybe another X-Men team series with characters like Bishop and Sunfire? Again, I recognize initially what a writer pitches and what sells are what ends up on shelves, but I believe fan demand plays a part too. What else does Polaris have to do to show that there's a demand to see her in the X-Men comic books?

It’s not outside of the realm of possibility that we might do something with Wonder Man in the near future, LZ. And the same is true for Polaris joining the X-Men again. That said, she was just in an X-team book with a bunch of other characters and that series didn’t go the distance. So I think there’s got to be more to it than simply grouping Lorna with a bunch of other random folks. Some fans have talked about wanting to see more of Lorna with Magneto, and that immediately seems like a more fruitful line to think down, for example.

Chris Sutcliffe

When designing a cover, is there any work done to make sure that it doesn't look too similar to recent covers or too similar to other titles across the line, to avoid consumer confusion?

Absolutely there is, Chris. And while we occasionally drop the ball in this regard, in general every effort is made to insure that when you see a new issue on the stands you can quickly recognize it as a new issue. As an example, here’s a page from that Marvel Covers book that I serialized here a year or so back.

Michael

How old does Marvel consider Peter Parker/Spider-Man now?

I'm thinking back to the Silver/Bronze Age, where DC thought of Superman (and I think most of its other adult heroes) as being 39.

Marvel time is a bit flexible, Michael, so we don’t tend to lock things down precisely. But in general, Peter Parker, Johnny Storm and Scott Summers are all the same age and are all around 28 years old, give or take. And back in the Silver/Bronze age, Superman was eternally said to be 29 years old, rather than 39 as you mentioned.

Pandoro

Are there any future plans to explore Kid Omega's past? Percy and Shammas explored a bit of his past but a lot (and believe me when I say a lot) of fans would like to know more about it.

No specific plans, Pandoro, but I’m sure that it will get delved into as opportunities for such explorations arise naturally in stories.

Malachi Wells

How far in advance do the writers usually discuss their future plans with the editors? If there is a minor character named Gary on the page, does the script include a secret note saying "[Gary is actually THANOS in disguise, this will not be revealed until issue #22]" or is that something you will learn when issue #22 script actually arrives? On that note, are the writers required to explain the mysteries they set up in advance, in case their intended resolution turns out to be something that for whatever reason cannot allowed?

In theory, writers should let their editors know of anything that’s important that’s being put down on the page, Malachi, as otherwise, it’s entirely possible that something may get changed or that the editor will reject whatever the eventual plan is and something else will need to be worked out. But the when really boils down to the level of trust and experience between the writer and the editor. Brian Bendis would frequently drop things into his stories that he intended to get back to later, but that was fine because for the most part what he eventually proposed made sense to me and didn’t cause any problems or conflicts. In terms of mysteries, you’d better have a solution in mind when you set out to tell such a story, and probably the editor should know what it is ahead of time, yes. Not doing so is what leads to debacles like the Hobgoblin’s identity reveal.

Rich Douek

There are a lot fewer sites focusing on comics, and many of the ones that do tend to just post listicles or filler content. Also, social media with regards to comics has really splintered, whereas you used to have a pretty strong community centered on Twitter, it’s all over the place now.

So how do you keep on top of what books are getting buzz? Do books even get buzz anymore?

It’s a really problem these days, Rich, getting the news out about upcoming releases and having a place where you can easily see what everybody else is publishing. In terms of buzz, we tend to listen to the feedback that the retailer community gives to us, as they’re in a position to know what books are selling well in their stores and what titles their clientele are talking the most about.

Ben Forte

1. Since you mentioned Wally West, In what form might we see young heroes be able to take the spotlight and get that kind of development at Marvel when the older heroes might need to absent for that happen?

2. Another aspect of the new Ultimate Universe that I enjoy are the consist sets of artists on each series. What challenges are there when trying to 1-2 artists on a series for its duration? In particular when an artist switches from one series to another like Martín Cóccolo from Immortal Thor to Wolverine relatively early into Immortal Thor, if I remember correctly?

1. I don’t really know, Ben, We’ve certainly seen occasions in the past where other younger heroes have stepped into roles left vacant by older characters who had either died or through story machinations been unable to serve. But few of them lasted the test of time so concretely as Wally West did (though even Wally’s time came to an abrupt end eventually, even if he’s still around.)

2. Consistency of artists always seems to me like something readers are only interested in when they really love the artist in question. But artists who are rock-steady on their delivery are often taken for granted. For example, absolutely nobody has commented upon the fact that we’ve so far released 7 issues of EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN with #8 on the way this week and all of them were drawn by Carmen Carnero. I feel like the artists on the ULTIMATE books haven’t been notably more consistent than those on other titles, more or less, but it may simply be that you like the work of those particular artists more. But there are always going to be new projects, new series, that need high-quality artists, so there are always going to be those creators who leap-frog from one assignment to the next.

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Off The Wall

This is a lovely double-page spread from HEROES REBORN: DOOMSDAY #1, the kickoff to the seven-book Fifth Week Event that I put out back in 1999 or so. It was drawn by Mike McKone, who sent it to me as a gift at some point after the project had wrapped. This was a series of connected one-shots that reworked a bunch of the new characters and ideas left behind at the end of the HEROES REBORN publishing event, bringing it all more firmly into the mainstream Marvel Universe. Those three television screens had images from elsewhere in the story statted into them for the final release.

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On The Spinner Rack

Spin on, and we’re looking at a batch of new old books this week. We’re back around to the THOR side with two different Stan Lee/Jack Kirby issues of the series in evidence at the top. Below that is AVENGERS #89, the beginning of the Kree/Skrull War, followed by a battered 100-Page Super-Spectacular issue of BRAVE AND THE BOLD starring Batman and the Metal Men. Next is a Gene Colan issue of DAREDEVIL with a cool photo-background cover, and then AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #574 in which soldier Flash Thompson has his legs amputated. Then there’s an issue of MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION reprinting AVENGERS #25, the 50th issue of NEW WARRIORS with a glow-in-the-dark cover, another issue of DOUBLE DRAGON that I wrote and finally a reprint of two issues of BATMAN: HUSH, which seems timely right this moment.

And over on the rack of my stuff, we’re back around to the Busiek/Perez AVENGERS with issue #9. Then there’s the jam-special AVENGERS: THE ULTRON IMPERATIVE which was jointly written by Kurt Busiek, Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart and Roger Stern, then DEATHLOK #19 with its all-foil cover, and FANTASTIC FOUR #600, a huge book all written by Jonathan Hickman. Next is another issue of CIVIL WAR, the reprint of ALL-WINNERS COMICS #19 introducing Marvel’s golden age super team, the All Winners Squad. Then comes an issue of FF on which Mike Allred did a MAD-style fold-in cover which was pretty cool. Then there’s an issue of SHE-HULK, another Warren Ellis-written SECRET AVENGERS and finally a Waid/Wieringo FANTASTIC FOUR down at the bottom.

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I Buy Crap

I bought an Eisen shirt, largely because I admire his fine beard game.

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Behind the Curtain

This one’s a bit of a lost piece of Marvel history.

What you see here is a Fantastic Four wall scroll offered for sale in 1984 featuring artwork by John Byrne. The thing is, this artwork hasn’t really been reprinted anyplace else before. It looks like it may have been done specifically for this product, one of a series of wall scrolls that were available in the early-mid 1980s. That’s the original color guide for the piece at the top, which isn’t great to be honest. But product such as this sometimes had severe limitations on just how many colors could be used, so that may have played a role in why this is colored the way that it is. Or ti could simply be that somebody without a lot of practical experience did the colors for it. The piece almost looks like it was printed from Byrne’s pencils rather than being inked—certainly the tech lines are extremely thin and dead, which makes them feel a bit lifeless. No idea whatever happened to the original art, but if we could get a good black and white scan of it, we’d definitely include it in future Byrne FF collections and possibly use it as a variant cover on some modern title.

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Pimp My Wednesday

More new comics from our kitchen to your plate, metaphorically speaking.

EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN #8 continues with our current storyline that sees our new and young characters facing off against Mister Sinister—what we thought of as throwing them into the deep end. As I mentioned above, it is once again illustrated by Carmen Carnero and written by Eve L. Ewing.

And over in CABLE: LOVE AND CHROME #4, the story takes a turn for the bizarre as we begin to involve more time travel, as Nathan Summers tries to save his recently-demised lady love with surprising consequences. It’s the work of David Pepose and Mike Henderson. And I quite like this cover by Ian Chuchill, too.

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A Comic Book On Sale 80 Years Ago Today, April 13, 1945

It’s always a bit fun to look at the covers to these earlier issues of BATMAN to see how the character has evolved over the years despite having changed very little. Tough to imagine the grim, dark crusader of the past thirty years clowning around with Robin on 19th century-style bicycles. But in this period reading tastes were beginning to move away from super heroes and fall more squarely on other genres: crime, western, romance, war and humor. So more humorous cover images was good for business. Behind this lovely Dick Sprang cover you got four stories for your dime. In the opening tale, Batman and Robin deal with a criminal who is obsessed with the number one—kind of like a singular Two-Face. Dick Sprang is here again—he drew all of the Batman stories in this issue, skipping only the next piece, which was an Alfred solo feature. It, though, was illustrated by Jerry Robinson, so there was no loss in quality. In it, Alfred it called upon to train a criminal in the ways of being a butler so that the crook can use his skills to infiltrate the home of a wealthy mark. The Alfred stories tended to be more overtly comedy-centric. The third story in this issue I read when I was a kid, when it was reprinted in one of the era’s 100-Page Super-Spectaculars. “Heroes by Proxy” tells the tale of a pair of broken down private detectives who pose as Batman and Robin in order to crack a big case. Of course, it’s up to the real Batman and Robin to bail them out of trouble—but the pair proves that their detective skills are actually quite good, guaranteeing them future clients. In the issue’s final tale, Batman takes over for a wounded postman when a criminal is desperate to get his hands on a registered letter containing the plans for an invention worth millions. In all of these stories, Batman works side-by-side with the police and is treated as a defacto lawman by all he encounters—so the mode that the 1966 Batman television program would follow, though not played for laughs here. We can look back at these adventures and find them quaint and simplistic by today’s standards, but they did their job of entertaining readers of the age, and they were popular enough to keep Batman in publication long after most of his fellow costumed crime-busters had been sent to the showers.

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A Comic I Worked On That Came Out On This Date

This issue of SILVER SURFER first came out on April 13, 2016, and was one of two anniversary specials that fell early in this series’ run. This one commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Surfer’s first appearance in FANTASTIC FOUR. Three issues later, we had legacy issue #200. So part of the trick here was in not going to the well too often in too short a span. Accordingly, while it’s an anniversary issue and marketed as such, it isn’t oversized or anything. Rather, it’s the ending to the first storyline of this second iteration of the title. When we were first brainstorming about the book as a whole. writer Dan Slott and I came up with three tentpole stories that we knew we wanted to get to and which formed the rough blueprint of the series. This was the climax to the second, in which we learn that the inhabitants of Zenn-La, the Surfer’s homeworld, led by his one-time love Shalla Bal, had begun a crusade to bring culture and reason to the universe, by force if necessary. As this entire series was built around the burgeoning relationship between the Surfer and new character Dawn Greenwood, bringing in Shalla Bal as an “evil ex” seemed like a smart move. Dan also chose to involve Alicia Masters, who was also briefly involved with the Surfer, thus allowing us to compare and contrast the different women in Norrin Radd’s history and bounce them off of one another. By the end of the tale, the Surfer renounces his Zenn-Lavian heritage, and every trace of the planet’s culture is wiped from existence. Instead, the surfer declares himself to stand withe the Earth. So in the aftermath of this issue, we see that many of the countries on the planet are now ready to welcome him with open arms thanks to his sacrifice. But the real strong point here, as always, was the playful artwork of Mike and Laura Allred, who gave the title a charming snap and bounce that built from the classic Jack Kirby depiction of the character. Allred’s Surfer is, I think, the first one who legitimately posed as though he was literally surfing, something Mike, who’s done some surfing in his time, was intimately familiar with.

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The New Warriors Chronicles

This time out, we’re beginning with a few words from NEW WARRIORS writer Evan Skolnick about our last installment.

Evan Skolnick

Wow, Tom, I had no idea that there was pushback from Bob on the concept for this two-parter. Thanks for shielding me from that additional pressure as I tried to fill those huge shoes Fabian left behind. I know you'll say it was your job, and you'd be right, but appreciated nonetheless, these many years later.

The timing of your coverage of this issue is amazingly serendipitous! Yesterday (on the exact same day your newsletter came out), I was interviewed by a leading Israeli news outlet regarding Sabra's appearance in this two-part storyline, and the VERY loose connection to the "Sabra" who controversially shows up in CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. So maybe not the most 90s-marketable concept for a two-parter, but clearly one with some staying power. :-)

During that interview, I kind of stumbled to what felt like a personal revelation about this storyline. In it, Justice is trying to fill a role that Captain America opted to decline, and Vance is struggling to meet that almost impossible standard. It occurs to me that that's how I felt taking on the writing of NEW WARRIORS in the wake of Fabian's incredible 53-issue run. So I guess this two-parter may have been personal to me in more ways than one!

I have to imagine that I must have told you about Bob’s feelings about issue #58 at some point, Evan, even if just in the context of trying to make #59 better and more to his liking if nothing else. But if I didn’t, hey, good on me, that was wise.

Segueing over to NOVA #17, the series was reaching its end at this point. And as I’ve recounted previously, I had inadvertently backed us into doing a storyline involving a new Nova, one whose appearance in this issue had already been announced and previewed by way of this cover by departed series writer and artist Chris Marrinan. Having learned that the title would be ending with issue #18, my original plans to bring on a new creative team had fallen by the wayside, and instead I turned to the aforementioned Evan Skolnick to write the final two issues, figuring that we could use them to dovetail into events in the main series and then play forward Rich Rider’s future over there.

Evan had given the matter some thought and came back with the essence of the plot that we wound up executing. Our new replacement Nova would be Garthan Saal, a Xandarian who had previously battled the Avengers in the overpowered identity of Super Nova. In the story, the Xandarians in the person of Suzerain Adora, had been convinced by envoys of the Shi’ar Empire to strip Richard Rider of his powers and title, assigning the reformed Saal to be Nova as his replacement. This issue is mostly a fight between Saal and Rich, as the former journeys to Earth to take over his new duties, and Rich assumes that he’s still up to no good. By the time the story concludes, the action has shifted to Xandar, where Rich learns that everything that Saal has claimed is accurate, and his powers and position are going to be taken from him. To be continued!

Artwork on this issue was provided by Phil Gosier, an artist about whom I remember precious little, including where I might have found him. He had been doing assorted small jobs here and there at around the same time, so it’s likely that he was simply looking for work and that I thought his style was appealing enough to carry the two issues. Looking at these pages now, he’s not quite fully-formed—his faces get weird and his figures become rubbery and distorted quite often. But his work had energy and there was an appeal to his characters. A quick internet search shows that he went on to do more work as an art director and illustrator and crafted a couple of graphic novels aimed at the youth market. So good for him.

The cover is pretty striking this time out, and even the overworking of the coloring mostly does what it’s supposed to, adding energy and radiance to the central figure. Even the starburst effect in the logo doesn’t prevent it from being legible as was sometimes the case in the past. The two bits I don’t love looking at it today are the green in the Marvel box, a color that is otherwise absent from the piece, and Marrinan’s enormous credit box, similarly colored green. It had become a thing among the artists of that generation to sign their work super-large, especially on covers. Today, I’d reduce that signature box by maybe half and try to stick it into a corner where it was less obtrusive.

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Monofocus

It was a big week for television, as the new anime season seems to have started, resulting in my either carrying on with or sampling a bunch of new shows. And of course, DOCTOR WHO came back for its second Disney+ season yesterday. I wrote about the episode at length over on my website, and the link to that page is down below, in the next section.

Prior to that, though, I started working on the latest season of LOVE ON THE SPECTRUM on Netflix, a documentary series concerning people on the autism spectrum dating and looking to find love. This season in particular was dedicated to success stories more than anything else, which is good, as it can be heartbreaking to watch these very nice, individually weird people struggling with the basics of human interaction and not quite being able to get there. You cannot help but root for all of the different people who are spotlighted. Having followed some of these folks for three seasons at this point, seeing them have some success and finding potential matches that just might work out was heart-lifting.

I also sampled the first episode of WITCH WATCH, based on a well-loved manga. It’s a show that a lot of people in the community were looking forward to and seemed excited by, but I have to admit that the first episode didn’t do much of anything for me. It wasn’t bad, but it was a bit by-the-numbers. it follows the adventures of Morihito Otogi, a boy descended from ogres who has a duty to act as the mystical familiar of his childhood friend Nico Wakatsuki, who is now a practicing witch in training. Morihito needs to keep Nico’s powers under wraps and safeguard her from harm, a job that’s made all the more difficult by the fact that Nico has had a crush on him since they were both children together, as well as some serious restraint problems when it comes to using her magic. It’s got something of the vibe of a BEWITCHED or an I DREAM OF JEANNIE about it in how Nico’s magic sets off stories in their otherwise-normal high school that Morihito needs to navigate.

More successful, and a show that I had been waiting for after having read the manga, was the spin-off of the popular MY HERO ACADEMIA called VIGILANTES (or ILLEGALS as it’s often listed on-screen.) It takes place in the same universe as the original MHA but is set maybe ten years earlier, and concerns itself with the adventures of a trio of unlicensed heroes who try to use their quirks positively despite having no formal training or backing. They include the hapless lead Koichi who is alternately known as either Nice Guy or The Crawler, the wannabe-idol singer Pop Step and the powerless, seedy Batman figure Knuckle Duster. Additionally, many of the established pro heroes of the main series turn up throughout the narrative. I thought the first episode was pretty good, with a slightly harsher edge than the parent program. I’ve linked to the trailer before, but here’s a look at the opening title sequence.

Also now available on Amazon Prime is the first episode of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM GQuuuuuuX, the latest GUNDAM project which is noteworthy for being spearheaded by longtime fan Hideaki Anno, the director of EVANGELION. The first episode was something of a mixed bag, in particular in how pretty much none of the characters are names, which is annoying. But the show has a great look, and even if it relies a bit more heavily on a working knowledge of the original 1979 MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM to really hit (it’s set in an alternate timeline in which Zeon won the One Year War) it still seemed entertaining and fun. At the moment, this one is mostly succeeding on vibes more than anything else, but the strong character design gives it a nice personality, so the hope is that it will grow into something unique. It does have to be said, though, that the title is absolutely terrible. It’s pronounced Gee-Quacks, apparently, for those playing along at home. The title sequence doesn’t seem to be available online just yet, but here’s the dubbed trailer.

Finally, last night was dedicated to watching the latest batch of four episodes to drop of BE FOREVER YAMATO: REBEL 3199, the currently in-production series. It’s a very different Yamato from the classic version that I’m used to, with more emphasis placed on long-form plotting and characterization across a wide swath of characters. Accordingly, it’s a bit less overtly exciting than the original, but also a lot more textured and thoughtful. In other words, it carries more of a 21st century aesthetic to it, which I’d imagine that it needs to in order to be successful. The show combines elements from the 1980 film BE FOREVER YAMATO with the 1981 truncated SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO III, mix-mastering them into a new concoction that is far more distinct from its source material than the previous 2199 entries. Perhaps the best thing about it is that my expansive familiarity with those earlier productions doesn’t give me much of a leg up in terms of working out where the story is going.

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Posted at TomBrevoort.com

Yesterday, I wrote about the debut episode of the new season of Doctor Who

Five years ago, I wrote about 5 Best Forgotten Marvel Super Heroes

And ten years ago, I wrote about this Great Cover. Look at how creepy this thing is!

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And we are outta here! Hang loose or hang tight, depending on your preference, and we’ll get back into matters a week from today. Or that’s the hope, at least!

Hat’s All, Folks!

Tom B