I don't know if this is something you're comfortable discussing, but: will you discuss what got Avengers Arena greenlit? (If you know, I mean) The series seemed to me, both then and now, cruel and anti-fan. The fans of the individual characters (I really liked SENTINEL) were rewarded for their investment of emotion by seeing their characters killed in offhanded ways. Why not simply leave the characters be for another time?
Or is this a case of giving the readers what they really want vs what they think they want?
Is there any chance of Pul Levitz doing more work for you? Three of my favorite series, Huntress, JSA, and Legion were segregated from the main continuity and with all things multiverse now that part could be duplicated. Imperial Guard Academy pops to mind half-seriously.
(Oh and I loooove Greg Land's work. There's such joy in his characters and his storytelling is dynamic and easy to follow(
Is there something about giant robots that, paradoxically, doesn't work in comics? You mentioned Sentinel, I remember IT, THE LIVING COLOSSUS (not really a robot, but,well kinda) even Red Ronin back in the days of Marvel's Godzilla. Is there some reason the Really Big Guys can't catch a break?
You left out one bit of Justin and his Sentinel. Between his own series and Avengers Arena, he also appeared for a while in Avengers Academy. They were even featured in one story, I believe during the Avengers vs. X-Men event, in which Emma Frost and other mutants were very much not pleased that a Sentinel was running around loose and near mutants, despite Justin's pointing out that he'd installed blocks against it harming them.
Coincidentally, I’ve been rereading Dan Jurgens run on Thor recently. Such a great and interesting bunch of stories. Any good behind the scenes stories? Anything you remember from this?
You probably can't or won't answer this, and I suppose it may be answered anyway in the next two issues of Punisher, but will Frank go back to his traditional look with the iconic skull and black duster?
Will he go back to using more traditional weapons like guns, knives, grenades, and other heavy ordnance?
Please please please make that happen. I hate to be negative but I have not been a fan of the current era of Punisher, with all the supernatural, leader of the Hand stuff.
Punisher is such a great character, and I've noticed a definite downplay-ing of his prominence in comics and collected editions such as omnibus, and I would love to see him restored to his former glory. Thank you.
I wanted to go back to what you said in your column on Secret Invasion. The marketing campaign seemed to imply that the Skrulls would inhabit Earth and mix with humans openly, perhaps giving rise to a new landscape.
However, the plot of the event went in a completely different direction. Was there a different plan that later changed? How did you come up with the idea that Dark Reign would come after Secret Invasion?
I do think the changeover from Marvel Two-In-One to the Thing, and the lost year on the Secret Wars planet, and the year with the wrestlers, and the whole Alicia/Johnny/Ms. Marvel love business didn't help. And while I don't expect you to say anything negative about Steve Englehart, I think his run on FF killed the momentum of the FF, and it took a long time for the book to become a top read again.
But there's one thing I really miss from the old days of the FF- the scenes of Ben and Alicia walking the streets of New York City. There's something magical about those scenes. Alicia might not be able to see what's going on, but she loves being around Ben when he's relaxed, and the city can be experienced through sound and smell (sometimes good, sometimes not so good). And those scenes seem to be the only time that Ben is relaxed in public.
As one of those kids who bought FF and Marvel Two-In-One on the rack at 7-11, I wasn't looking for the berserker rage of Wolverine. I had enough rage at home going on in our house. But a walk around the still-glamorous city of New York? No one making fun of her blindness or his...orangeness? Those were the moments I treasured.
I got a question I've found about for a long time, it's the alien languages marvel comics have been using. I can't believe Knull's symbiotes and the island Krakoa are speaking the same language! Same one I also saw at least once in one 00s FF issue. After further reading I think the first time you used it was from Maximum Security. So the question is who created it and is it just something passed around for the editors to use when they need some alien language?
I read SENTINEL as a kid, and finally read Avengers Arena this past Christmastime after years of being curious about it, and did not realize until this newsletter that that's who that character who died was! Now I'm sad haha
Thanks for answering my question! I really appreciate it. Also, thank you for the book recommendation in TwoMorrows’ American Comic Book Chronicles! I spent too much money at C2E2 this past weekend, but have those pages bookmarked for when I recover. Lol Thanks again for everything!
"What’s more, he became something of a minor fan of Geoffs, and he was completely puzzled with Geoff took an exclusive deal with DC (having completely forgotten his abusive behavior in speaking with him.) He asked me on a couple of occasions, genuinely puzzled, why Geoff was leaving to go to DC full time."
You probably don't recall this, but at the time Geoff left, he let it be known through certain channels that Bill's interference was why he left. I mentioned this on a discussion board, and not wanting to share where I'd gotten the information from, I said something like "People can believe this or not as they choose" and you promptly weighed in with something to the effect of "I don't believe it. And I'm in a position to know."
It amused me then and now because you've always been public about your position that given that the audience has no inherent right to know about behind the scenes stuff, it's fair to give a response that misleads without outright lying, if it mitigates headaches the situation might otherwise bring. So I was well aware there was likely something in the way I worded it that made it *technically* true to say you didn't believe it, but damned if that strategy doesn't still work, time and again, to this day! People will STILL say in those kinds of situations "Tom denied it" and even when it's pointed out by a few that you actually didn't, mission already accomplished. I doff my hat to you for that, Man With A Hat!
"And is often the fate of characters who slip into the limbo of non-publication, Justin Seyfert and his Sentinel later came back in AVENGERS ARENA, where they were both killed off horribly."
I too would like to hear you talk more about Avengers Arena, and specifically the trope in comics you're referencing here which that book seemed to center on; using established characters who are no longer popular (or never were) as cannon fodder (see also Civil War, Infinite Crisis, etc, etc). I take it you see that as having some creative merit (it's personally near the top of my list of creatively bankrupt choices in storytelling).
You've answered several times over about the roles of various tiers of editors — but I am wondering to what degree the upper roles like President, Chief Creative Officer, Publisher, (and other bigwigs that I wouldn't even know to ask about) has on the stories that make it to the readership. I know Bill Jemas could be super hands-on, but if he wasn't representative of that position's typical role, what is?
For instance, I was surprised to learn that an unenthusiastic assessment from the sales department could axe a book before it even launched (am I remembering that correctly?) Similarly, — and I know you can't speak out of school — but as someone hoping to get some Luke Cage stories all through these last few years where a bulletproof black man seemed to be especially relevant, I was disappointed that Ho Che Anderson's microseries got axed by Those Who Sit Above in Shadow.
I think some of this question has to do with the online peanut gallery either over- or understating the impact these upper-level positions have on the piece of paper we hold in our hands and was hoping to get a more sober insight as to how much or little they affect the storytelling.
Or is this the least ideal time to be asking questions about these upper-level positions?
during your long career at Marvel you've never really worked on the X-Men line of books (aside from the occasional project or crossover) and I for one would love to have you as the main X-line editor. Is it something that was never offered to you or is it that you never had interest in it? If the former, do you think it's a job you might be interested in at some point?
I don't know if this is something you're comfortable discussing, but: will you discuss what got Avengers Arena greenlit? (If you know, I mean) The series seemed to me, both then and now, cruel and anti-fan. The fans of the individual characters (I really liked SENTINEL) were rewarded for their investment of emotion by seeing their characters killed in offhanded ways. Why not simply leave the characters be for another time?
Or is this a case of giving the readers what they really want vs what they think they want?
Is there any chance of Pul Levitz doing more work for you? Three of my favorite series, Huntress, JSA, and Legion were segregated from the main continuity and with all things multiverse now that part could be duplicated. Imperial Guard Academy pops to mind half-seriously.
(Oh and I loooove Greg Land's work. There's such joy in his characters and his storytelling is dynamic and easy to follow(
Is there something about giant robots that, paradoxically, doesn't work in comics? You mentioned Sentinel, I remember IT, THE LIVING COLOSSUS (not really a robot, but,well kinda) even Red Ronin back in the days of Marvel's Godzilla. Is there some reason the Really Big Guys can't catch a break?
You left out one bit of Justin and his Sentinel. Between his own series and Avengers Arena, he also appeared for a while in Avengers Academy. They were even featured in one story, I believe during the Avengers vs. X-Men event, in which Emma Frost and other mutants were very much not pleased that a Sentinel was running around loose and near mutants, despite Justin's pointing out that he'd installed blocks against it harming them.
Coincidentally, I’ve been rereading Dan Jurgens run on Thor recently. Such a great and interesting bunch of stories. Any good behind the scenes stories? Anything you remember from this?
You probably can't or won't answer this, and I suppose it may be answered anyway in the next two issues of Punisher, but will Frank go back to his traditional look with the iconic skull and black duster?
Will he go back to using more traditional weapons like guns, knives, grenades, and other heavy ordnance?
Please please please make that happen. I hate to be negative but I have not been a fan of the current era of Punisher, with all the supernatural, leader of the Hand stuff.
Punisher is such a great character, and I've noticed a definite downplay-ing of his prominence in comics and collected editions such as omnibus, and I would love to see him restored to his former glory. Thank you.
-Tyler
Hello Tom:
I wanted to go back to what you said in your column on Secret Invasion. The marketing campaign seemed to imply that the Skrulls would inhabit Earth and mix with humans openly, perhaps giving rise to a new landscape.
However, the plot of the event went in a completely different direction. Was there a different plan that later changed? How did you come up with the idea that Dark Reign would come after Secret Invasion?
Thanks a lot,
So with the Ben Grimm question...
I do think the changeover from Marvel Two-In-One to the Thing, and the lost year on the Secret Wars planet, and the year with the wrestlers, and the whole Alicia/Johnny/Ms. Marvel love business didn't help. And while I don't expect you to say anything negative about Steve Englehart, I think his run on FF killed the momentum of the FF, and it took a long time for the book to become a top read again.
But there's one thing I really miss from the old days of the FF- the scenes of Ben and Alicia walking the streets of New York City. There's something magical about those scenes. Alicia might not be able to see what's going on, but she loves being around Ben when he's relaxed, and the city can be experienced through sound and smell (sometimes good, sometimes not so good). And those scenes seem to be the only time that Ben is relaxed in public.
As one of those kids who bought FF and Marvel Two-In-One on the rack at 7-11, I wasn't looking for the berserker rage of Wolverine. I had enough rage at home going on in our house. But a walk around the still-glamorous city of New York? No one making fun of her blindness or his...orangeness? Those were the moments I treasured.
I got a question I've found about for a long time, it's the alien languages marvel comics have been using. I can't believe Knull's symbiotes and the island Krakoa are speaking the same language! Same one I also saw at least once in one 00s FF issue. After further reading I think the first time you used it was from Maximum Security. So the question is who created it and is it just something passed around for the editors to use when they need some alien language?
I read SENTINEL as a kid, and finally read Avengers Arena this past Christmastime after years of being curious about it, and did not realize until this newsletter that that's who that character who died was! Now I'm sad haha
Thanks for answering my question! I really appreciate it. Also, thank you for the book recommendation in TwoMorrows’ American Comic Book Chronicles! I spent too much money at C2E2 this past weekend, but have those pages bookmarked for when I recover. Lol Thanks again for everything!
Catching up on this and the prior week....
"What’s more, he became something of a minor fan of Geoffs, and he was completely puzzled with Geoff took an exclusive deal with DC (having completely forgotten his abusive behavior in speaking with him.) He asked me on a couple of occasions, genuinely puzzled, why Geoff was leaving to go to DC full time."
You probably don't recall this, but at the time Geoff left, he let it be known through certain channels that Bill's interference was why he left. I mentioned this on a discussion board, and not wanting to share where I'd gotten the information from, I said something like "People can believe this or not as they choose" and you promptly weighed in with something to the effect of "I don't believe it. And I'm in a position to know."
It amused me then and now because you've always been public about your position that given that the audience has no inherent right to know about behind the scenes stuff, it's fair to give a response that misleads without outright lying, if it mitigates headaches the situation might otherwise bring. So I was well aware there was likely something in the way I worded it that made it *technically* true to say you didn't believe it, but damned if that strategy doesn't still work, time and again, to this day! People will STILL say in those kinds of situations "Tom denied it" and even when it's pointed out by a few that you actually didn't, mission already accomplished. I doff my hat to you for that, Man With A Hat!
"And is often the fate of characters who slip into the limbo of non-publication, Justin Seyfert and his Sentinel later came back in AVENGERS ARENA, where they were both killed off horribly."
I too would like to hear you talk more about Avengers Arena, and specifically the trope in comics you're referencing here which that book seemed to center on; using established characters who are no longer popular (or never were) as cannon fodder (see also Civil War, Infinite Crisis, etc, etc). I take it you see that as having some creative merit (it's personally near the top of my list of creatively bankrupt choices in storytelling).
You've answered several times over about the roles of various tiers of editors — but I am wondering to what degree the upper roles like President, Chief Creative Officer, Publisher, (and other bigwigs that I wouldn't even know to ask about) has on the stories that make it to the readership. I know Bill Jemas could be super hands-on, but if he wasn't representative of that position's typical role, what is?
For instance, I was surprised to learn that an unenthusiastic assessment from the sales department could axe a book before it even launched (am I remembering that correctly?) Similarly, — and I know you can't speak out of school — but as someone hoping to get some Luke Cage stories all through these last few years where a bulletproof black man seemed to be especially relevant, I was disappointed that Ho Che Anderson's microseries got axed by Those Who Sit Above in Shadow.
I think some of this question has to do with the online peanut gallery either over- or understating the impact these upper-level positions have on the piece of paper we hold in our hands and was hoping to get a more sober insight as to how much or little they affect the storytelling.
Or is this the least ideal time to be asking questions about these upper-level positions?
Hi Tom,
during your long career at Marvel you've never really worked on the X-Men line of books (aside from the occasional project or crossover) and I for one would love to have you as the main X-line editor. Is it something that was never offered to you or is it that you never had interest in it? If the former, do you think it's a job you might be interested in at some point?