Very sad to hear about the great Carlos Pacheco - a wonderful talent and human being. I wish him well.
Talking about Avengers Forever (a fave of mine) made me think about the reference pages in the back ("This sequence happened in Avengers 8") that i found was less obtrusive than in panel editor notes (that also got tiresome when they tried to be too funny) and informative as it led me to dig up other stories, trades, back issues.
I remember them in series like Hobgoblin Lives, Untold tales of Spidey and Marvel Universe. I think the recent Marvels series by Busiek and Cinar (which i loved) would have benefited from this back matter. What are your thoughts Tom? Is it from a bygone age or could be useful in some series like Avengers Forever?
(not that i was confused in any of these series as they all worked but it added another level of enjoyment for me).
I think that excel document is an amazing historical artifact, and I'd hate to see all that history lost as each column is deleted once the month expires, so I'm going to ask if you'd ever consider right-clicking and just hiding the colum so it's gone from view, but not from our hearts...?
Carlos Pacheco is amazing and it's very sad to hear this news. As a comic-book reader and a spaniard, he is a referent in the field. And, from everything I've heard, a really nice person.
2008 for X-Men #1? We are approaching a point in which the comic book 616 universe would be as old as the MCU. That's one interesting way to look at it, I think.
In regards to thought balloons, I like them. I understand why they aren't used that much nowadays, but they have its place.
Apart from Rob Liefeld for the 90s (but I don't know which writer to select here right now), I agree with the rest of your choices. I'll take this chance to once again praise Brian Michael Bendis and his work in the Marvel Universe. I still see a lot of critics of his nowadays, but I'm a fan all the way through. He is truly one of the best writers in the entire Avengers history.
Thank you for sharing the spreadsheets you use! Very interesting document, but I concur with Ryan K Lindsay in the comments: just hide it! Why delete information?
Gotta say, after reading Savage Avengers #5, I understand why you like David Pepose. While the series is not exactly for me, his prose is definitely good. I'll pay attention to more of his work and see where it goes.
These last few days I've been thinking a lot about Marvel OGN thanks to the launch of Fantastic Four: Full Circle. Out of the 2010s books, Family Business was my favorite. I re-read just yesterday and found it still very entertaining. Gabriele Dell'Otto was simply astonishing in this book, what an amazing work he did. And the plot by Waid & Robinson is very underrated. Teresa Parker was polarizing, but I love her concept. It was a very intelligent way to use a plot-point (Peter's parents) that's never loved, but can be nurtured. By using Teresa, you have a connection to that section of the spider-world that feels more natural and important. Chip Zdarsky elaborated more on that, but it's a pity that The Chameleon Conspiracy backtracked on it as it did. I'm looking forward to a future story to reestablish Teresa and utilizes her with the potential that Family Business has. I still think that book is one of the most important for Spidey in the previous decade.
All this brings me to ask, could we expect more dedicated OGNs in the future? To my eyes, the current Marvel Arts might be the start of a new line of Graphic Novels. But I read your paragraph about the cost of such a line and I'm not that optimist after that. But books like Family Business or Rage of Ultron were special and pretty cool. That's always fun to have.
I finally got hold of Devil's Reign TPB and it brought a question to mind. Kingpin and maaaaybe Norman Osborn, are the only two heavies at Marvel who could conceivably be considered "white-collar". I've lost track of how many street-punks and petty robbers Spider-Man, Daredevil, et al have faced, but in this age when the headlines read of millionaire football stars ripping off Welfare, and governors kidnapping immigrants (not to get political, mind you) as well as crooked judges and even election officials, why are there so few white-collar criminals in comics, given that their crimes are blaring from the papers and arguably, do a lot more damage, both to individuals and society? DC of course, changed Lex Luthor from a Science Gangster to an Evil Industrialist back in the 80's, but other than the two villains I mentioned, superheroes at Marvel mostly fight street punks (except in the 80's, when they were all beating up punk rockers, for some reason). Howcome?
Very sad to hear about the great Carlos Pacheco - a wonderful talent and human being. I wish him well.
Talking about Avengers Forever (a fave of mine) made me think about the reference pages in the back ("This sequence happened in Avengers 8") that i found was less obtrusive than in panel editor notes (that also got tiresome when they tried to be too funny) and informative as it led me to dig up other stories, trades, back issues.
I remember them in series like Hobgoblin Lives, Untold tales of Spidey and Marvel Universe. I think the recent Marvels series by Busiek and Cinar (which i loved) would have benefited from this back matter. What are your thoughts Tom? Is it from a bygone age or could be useful in some series like Avengers Forever?
(not that i was confused in any of these series as they all worked but it added another level of enjoyment for me).
I think that excel document is an amazing historical artifact, and I'd hate to see all that history lost as each column is deleted once the month expires, so I'm going to ask if you'd ever consider right-clicking and just hiding the colum so it's gone from view, but not from our hearts...?
Carlos Pacheco is amazing and it's very sad to hear this news. As a comic-book reader and a spaniard, he is a referent in the field. And, from everything I've heard, a really nice person.
2008 for X-Men #1? We are approaching a point in which the comic book 616 universe would be as old as the MCU. That's one interesting way to look at it, I think.
In regards to thought balloons, I like them. I understand why they aren't used that much nowadays, but they have its place.
Apart from Rob Liefeld for the 90s (but I don't know which writer to select here right now), I agree with the rest of your choices. I'll take this chance to once again praise Brian Michael Bendis and his work in the Marvel Universe. I still see a lot of critics of his nowadays, but I'm a fan all the way through. He is truly one of the best writers in the entire Avengers history.
Thank you for sharing the spreadsheets you use! Very interesting document, but I concur with Ryan K Lindsay in the comments: just hide it! Why delete information?
Gotta say, after reading Savage Avengers #5, I understand why you like David Pepose. While the series is not exactly for me, his prose is definitely good. I'll pay attention to more of his work and see where it goes.
These last few days I've been thinking a lot about Marvel OGN thanks to the launch of Fantastic Four: Full Circle. Out of the 2010s books, Family Business was my favorite. I re-read just yesterday and found it still very entertaining. Gabriele Dell'Otto was simply astonishing in this book, what an amazing work he did. And the plot by Waid & Robinson is very underrated. Teresa Parker was polarizing, but I love her concept. It was a very intelligent way to use a plot-point (Peter's parents) that's never loved, but can be nurtured. By using Teresa, you have a connection to that section of the spider-world that feels more natural and important. Chip Zdarsky elaborated more on that, but it's a pity that The Chameleon Conspiracy backtracked on it as it did. I'm looking forward to a future story to reestablish Teresa and utilizes her with the potential that Family Business has. I still think that book is one of the most important for Spidey in the previous decade.
All this brings me to ask, could we expect more dedicated OGNs in the future? To my eyes, the current Marvel Arts might be the start of a new line of Graphic Novels. But I read your paragraph about the cost of such a line and I'm not that optimist after that. But books like Family Business or Rage of Ultron were special and pretty cool. That's always fun to have.
I finally got hold of Devil's Reign TPB and it brought a question to mind. Kingpin and maaaaybe Norman Osborn, are the only two heavies at Marvel who could conceivably be considered "white-collar". I've lost track of how many street-punks and petty robbers Spider-Man, Daredevil, et al have faced, but in this age when the headlines read of millionaire football stars ripping off Welfare, and governors kidnapping immigrants (not to get political, mind you) as well as crooked judges and even election officials, why are there so few white-collar criminals in comics, given that their crimes are blaring from the papers and arguably, do a lot more damage, both to individuals and society? DC of course, changed Lex Luthor from a Science Gangster to an Evil Industrialist back in the 80's, but other than the two villains I mentioned, superheroes at Marvel mostly fight street punks (except in the 80's, when they were all beating up punk rockers, for some reason). Howcome?