1) When Mort Weisinger spoke to Jim Shooter for the first time and found out his age, he said, "Put your mother on the phone." True story!
2) Wrexham was bought by a Canadian and an American (Ryan Reynolds isn't American, but all of Canada forgives you for making that mistake).
3) I'm surprised that you didn't put that Roy Thomas Crisis II letter here in your newsletter under "Behind the Curtain." Not that I didn't enjoy the Stan Lee email, which brings me to:
4) For a guy whom people keep accusing of stealing credit from others, Stan Lee put the credits in Marvel comics. He even gave credit to the letterer! Comic book credits -- as we know them today -- are due to Stan Lee. DC wasn't doing that. Outside of things like "Batman by Bob Kane" (even when it wasn't) credits were reserved to a seldom few. Stan didn't have to do that, but he did.
"So saying that the reason that the audience doesn’t agree with whatever you want is because they’ve been programmed not to by years of publishing is, frankly, a little bit steeped in arrogance."
Oh, I don't think anybody has been brainwashed by years of crossover events. I simply think the audience for Marvel and DC periodicals has been winnowed down to those who legitimately enjoy that as the dominant model. In a similar way that decades ago, there was a much higher percentage of girls reading Timely/Marvel and National/DC. In both cases, as the years went on, publishing decisions were made that reflected what those in charge believed would sell best.
Were they too focused on immediate profits and not enough on the long-term risks of shrinking the overall audience? Perhaps, but either way, the solution now is clearly not as simple as "Change the publishing program", because it's a very difficult thing to rebuild an audience as broad as "girls" or "kids" or even "people who prefer a complete story" from scratch.
'Fraid you misremembered two bits about Adventure #369. First, minorly, Mordru wasn't first defeated by being buried underground, but by being trapped in what amounted to an improvised vacuum chamber vault. No one having told then new member Shady about this, she unknowingly cracked the seal just enough to revive him. When Mordru escaped, only four Legionnaires were in the building; Superboy, Mon-El, Duo Damsel, and Shadow Lass. They promptly got out of Dodge and back to 20th century Smallville and we don't see anything more of the 30th century until the end of next issue. So the other Legionnaires were not annihilated before those four escaped.
At the start of the next issue, Mordru muses to the four escapees that he's taken care of the rest of the Legion. But at the end of it, back in the 30th century, we learn that Dream Girl had a premonition that Mordru would pop back to the 30th century and destroy Legion HQ, presumably with at least a fair number of Legionnaires in it. To counter it, she called in her sister, the White Witch (I believe in her second appearance) and Princess Projectra; the Witch cast a protection spell around HQ and Jeckie cast an illusion that Mordru's attack destroyed it. In an unfortunate final panel, Mon muses "Well I'll be darned! To think of all the trouble *we* had dodging Mordru! How ironic that he was foiled by *three girls*!" Surprisingly, the Witch did not turn him into a toad in response.
Also, related to how scary Superman could appear in the early days, I've wondered how many kids, on first seeing the cover to Action #1 back in 1938, thought he was the bad guy. I mean, superheroes weren't a thing, and this weirdly clothed guy was destroying a car for unknown reasons with people running in terror from him as he does so.
"I’m dead certain that it was Kurt who insisted we bring him on board for this story, and he may have made it a condition of his writing the issue as well, since he already had plenty of other work on his plate."
I have a vague memory of saying something along the lines of "I'll do it if you can get Sal," but I'd probably have done it anyway -- I wanted to promote the book at least as much as you did. But I didn't want to have to script around someone who had a flashy style but limited storytelling ability, and I thought Sal would fit well with the approach that Bags was delivering.
Plus, I'd only gotten to work with Sal twice before, on a two-part SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, and I enjoyed it immensely (not the deadlines, but the creative part). So it was a real treat to get to work with him again, and I wish I'd been able to do more of it.
Hi Tom - As a Marvel fanatic, I greatly appreciate the behind-the-scenes insights you're sharing here. A question for you - Whatever happened to Isiah Bradley, Josiah X, and Eli Bradley? Isiah's story in Truth: Red, White and Black has certainly had an MCU-inspired resurgence of late, but the character and their family have been largely absent from any comics for an astoundingly long time. There are rumors (but no sources I could identify) that suggest there are rights issues at play; wondering about your perspective or anything you can share! Thank you! Dave
Hey Tom! Thanks for another awesome newsletter (and for one of your old Spider-Man emblazoned business cards)
Speaking of Spidey, I just noticed your name as Editor on the first issue of the Ryoichi Ikegami Spider-Man manga Marvel translated and released in America in the 90s. What can you tell us about that? How did it come to exist in the first place, and how did you wind up working on the American version?
Thanks again. These newsletters have become a highlight of my “social media time” each week
As someone who's seen his fair share of old comics, when you read them, do you prefer them old or new? That is, does a 1960s comics "read" to you better if it's yellowed or browned, its colors are faded and blurry, its printing imperfect? Or do you prefer the crisper modern reconstructions, which is undoubtedly easier and clearer to read but sometimes feel antiseptic?
That Stan Lee letter made me think on how important (to me) it is to have a strong editorial 'face' in comics (and entertainment in general). Stan Lee was obviously the pioneer in the 60s. This fell off in the 70s and had a nice resurgence in the 80s with Shooter (and Mark Gruenwald who was great at communicating with readers).
Again no one really embodied this in the 90s (and sales seems to flounder - for many more reasons than this but I think it contributed to it). Quesada brought this back in a cool way. A great marketing genius with amazing communication skills.
DC had a bit of this in the 80s with Kahn and Giordano but never really mastered it until Didio came along - say what you want about him as an editor but he was enthusiastic and available to fans. James Gunn seems to have fallen into the 'spokesman' role recently.
Do you place any importance on this? I find it also helps in TV (networks used to have a 'face' associated with each channel which has dropped off). Creator owned books also are a better read when there is a writer's or creator's voice in it - letters, behind the scenes, etc..just an interesting effect that I would like your thoughts on.
Hi Tom, I love the news letter and I was wondering how different is it putting together a vertical comic like the infinity comics vs the traditional comic book? Are the two totally different animals or are the similar with little differences? Thank you everything and keep the comics coming!
I noticed that you've got a "special thanks" credit on the utterly delightful Avengers three-parter that Katie Cook and Butch Mapa did for IDW's Marvel Action line a few years ago (including the best Paste-Pot Pete story ever). Can you say a bit about that project and your involvement with it?
Can you give outsiders any sense of the transformation of Marvel's publishing business? I am confused why other publishers publish Marvel comic content when Marvel is already a publisher of comics content.
I'm speaking not only of the IDW Marvel Action line that Clive Reston asked about, but also books like the prestige Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Abrams. Or the Panel-by-Panel books that Abrams does. The news item that made me think about this subject most recently was learning that Fantagraphics is reprinting Marvel's Atlas-era comics. But I'm also thinking about the Artist Editions that IDW did, or the various Penguin Classics Marvel reprint series as well as original content like Scholastic creating Miles Morales: Shock Waves graphic novel and Viz creating a manga Deadpool: Samurai.
It's hard to shake the feeling that Marvel is farming out a core part of its business and as a longtime reader whose primary attachment is to its printed comic material, that gives me… feelings? I'm sure this must sound very silly. Can you offer some perspective?
Thanks for writing this newsletter, I always find the behind the scenes of the industry fascinating.
A post on social media I saw recently about retcons that people like had me thinking - are there any retcons in comics you particularly like? Any that you think made the character/story/etc better, or even just any you enjoy a lot even if you're not sure they're overall a positive? Doesn't just have to be in comics.
A number of the ones mentioned I hadn't even realised were retcons, like Alfred raising Bruce Wayne, the Kents adopting Superman, and Magneto's helmet stopping Xavier's telepathy. Swamp Thing's updated origin, the Winter Soldier, Moira in House/Powers of X and Ewing's rewriting of the Hulk mythos were other notable mentions.
Personally I love some of the smaller, but character defining retcons. Mr Fantastic naming himself that and making the FF famous out of guilt for taking his friends normal lives away, JJ Jameson partially giving Peter Parker a job as he felt he needed help in the wake of Uncle Ben's death (though I can't remember if that's canon). I'm also partial to the idea that Dr Doom's mask conceals one tiny scar, but I think I'm in the minority on that one, and I'm not sure that retcon was actually made (though certainly I've read some writers discussing their views on it).
Thanks again for the writing, and all the great comics over the years.
That Stan Lee email is a gem.
1) When Mort Weisinger spoke to Jim Shooter for the first time and found out his age, he said, "Put your mother on the phone." True story!
2) Wrexham was bought by a Canadian and an American (Ryan Reynolds isn't American, but all of Canada forgives you for making that mistake).
3) I'm surprised that you didn't put that Roy Thomas Crisis II letter here in your newsletter under "Behind the Curtain." Not that I didn't enjoy the Stan Lee email, which brings me to:
4) For a guy whom people keep accusing of stealing credit from others, Stan Lee put the credits in Marvel comics. He even gave credit to the letterer! Comic book credits -- as we know them today -- are due to Stan Lee. DC wasn't doing that. Outside of things like "Batman by Bob Kane" (even when it wasn't) credits were reserved to a seldom few. Stan didn't have to do that, but he did.
Any chance for Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew ) returns to te Avengers in the near future? Thanks Sir.
"So saying that the reason that the audience doesn’t agree with whatever you want is because they’ve been programmed not to by years of publishing is, frankly, a little bit steeped in arrogance."
Oh, I don't think anybody has been brainwashed by years of crossover events. I simply think the audience for Marvel and DC periodicals has been winnowed down to those who legitimately enjoy that as the dominant model. In a similar way that decades ago, there was a much higher percentage of girls reading Timely/Marvel and National/DC. In both cases, as the years went on, publishing decisions were made that reflected what those in charge believed would sell best.
Were they too focused on immediate profits and not enough on the long-term risks of shrinking the overall audience? Perhaps, but either way, the solution now is clearly not as simple as "Change the publishing program", because it's a very difficult thing to rebuild an audience as broad as "girls" or "kids" or even "people who prefer a complete story" from scratch.
Loved that Stan letter. Thanks for sharing.
'Fraid you misremembered two bits about Adventure #369. First, minorly, Mordru wasn't first defeated by being buried underground, but by being trapped in what amounted to an improvised vacuum chamber vault. No one having told then new member Shady about this, she unknowingly cracked the seal just enough to revive him. When Mordru escaped, only four Legionnaires were in the building; Superboy, Mon-El, Duo Damsel, and Shadow Lass. They promptly got out of Dodge and back to 20th century Smallville and we don't see anything more of the 30th century until the end of next issue. So the other Legionnaires were not annihilated before those four escaped.
At the start of the next issue, Mordru muses to the four escapees that he's taken care of the rest of the Legion. But at the end of it, back in the 30th century, we learn that Dream Girl had a premonition that Mordru would pop back to the 30th century and destroy Legion HQ, presumably with at least a fair number of Legionnaires in it. To counter it, she called in her sister, the White Witch (I believe in her second appearance) and Princess Projectra; the Witch cast a protection spell around HQ and Jeckie cast an illusion that Mordru's attack destroyed it. In an unfortunate final panel, Mon muses "Well I'll be darned! To think of all the trouble *we* had dodging Mordru! How ironic that he was foiled by *three girls*!" Surprisingly, the Witch did not turn him into a toad in response.
Also, related to how scary Superman could appear in the early days, I've wondered how many kids, on first seeing the cover to Action #1 back in 1938, thought he was the bad guy. I mean, superheroes weren't a thing, and this weirdly clothed guy was destroying a car for unknown reasons with people running in terror from him as he does so.
"I’m dead certain that it was Kurt who insisted we bring him on board for this story, and he may have made it a condition of his writing the issue as well, since he already had plenty of other work on his plate."
I have a vague memory of saying something along the lines of "I'll do it if you can get Sal," but I'd probably have done it anyway -- I wanted to promote the book at least as much as you did. But I didn't want to have to script around someone who had a flashy style but limited storytelling ability, and I thought Sal would fit well with the approach that Bags was delivering.
Plus, I'd only gotten to work with Sal twice before, on a two-part SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, and I enjoyed it immensely (not the deadlines, but the creative part). So it was a real treat to get to work with him again, and I wish I'd been able to do more of it.
Hi Tom - As a Marvel fanatic, I greatly appreciate the behind-the-scenes insights you're sharing here. A question for you - Whatever happened to Isiah Bradley, Josiah X, and Eli Bradley? Isiah's story in Truth: Red, White and Black has certainly had an MCU-inspired resurgence of late, but the character and their family have been largely absent from any comics for an astoundingly long time. There are rumors (but no sources I could identify) that suggest there are rights issues at play; wondering about your perspective or anything you can share! Thank you! Dave
Hey Tom! Thanks for another awesome newsletter (and for one of your old Spider-Man emblazoned business cards)
Speaking of Spidey, I just noticed your name as Editor on the first issue of the Ryoichi Ikegami Spider-Man manga Marvel translated and released in America in the 90s. What can you tell us about that? How did it come to exist in the first place, and how did you wind up working on the American version?
Thanks again. These newsletters have become a highlight of my “social media time” each week
As someone who's seen his fair share of old comics, when you read them, do you prefer them old or new? That is, does a 1960s comics "read" to you better if it's yellowed or browned, its colors are faded and blurry, its printing imperfect? Or do you prefer the crisper modern reconstructions, which is undoubtedly easier and clearer to read but sometimes feel antiseptic?
That Stan Lee letter made me think on how important (to me) it is to have a strong editorial 'face' in comics (and entertainment in general). Stan Lee was obviously the pioneer in the 60s. This fell off in the 70s and had a nice resurgence in the 80s with Shooter (and Mark Gruenwald who was great at communicating with readers).
Again no one really embodied this in the 90s (and sales seems to flounder - for many more reasons than this but I think it contributed to it). Quesada brought this back in a cool way. A great marketing genius with amazing communication skills.
DC had a bit of this in the 80s with Kahn and Giordano but never really mastered it until Didio came along - say what you want about him as an editor but he was enthusiastic and available to fans. James Gunn seems to have fallen into the 'spokesman' role recently.
Do you place any importance on this? I find it also helps in TV (networks used to have a 'face' associated with each channel which has dropped off). Creator owned books also are a better read when there is a writer's or creator's voice in it - letters, behind the scenes, etc..just an interesting effect that I would like your thoughts on.
Hi Tom, I love the news letter and I was wondering how different is it putting together a vertical comic like the infinity comics vs the traditional comic book? Are the two totally different animals or are the similar with little differences? Thank you everything and keep the comics coming!
I noticed that you've got a "special thanks" credit on the utterly delightful Avengers three-parter that Katie Cook and Butch Mapa did for IDW's Marvel Action line a few years ago (including the best Paste-Pot Pete story ever). Can you say a bit about that project and your involvement with it?
Can you give outsiders any sense of the transformation of Marvel's publishing business? I am confused why other publishers publish Marvel comic content when Marvel is already a publisher of comics content.
I'm speaking not only of the IDW Marvel Action line that Clive Reston asked about, but also books like the prestige Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Abrams. Or the Panel-by-Panel books that Abrams does. The news item that made me think about this subject most recently was learning that Fantagraphics is reprinting Marvel's Atlas-era comics. But I'm also thinking about the Artist Editions that IDW did, or the various Penguin Classics Marvel reprint series as well as original content like Scholastic creating Miles Morales: Shock Waves graphic novel and Viz creating a manga Deadpool: Samurai.
It's hard to shake the feeling that Marvel is farming out a core part of its business and as a longtime reader whose primary attachment is to its printed comic material, that gives me… feelings? I'm sure this must sound very silly. Can you offer some perspective?
Thanks for writing this newsletter, I always find the behind the scenes of the industry fascinating.
A post on social media I saw recently about retcons that people like had me thinking - are there any retcons in comics you particularly like? Any that you think made the character/story/etc better, or even just any you enjoy a lot even if you're not sure they're overall a positive? Doesn't just have to be in comics.
A number of the ones mentioned I hadn't even realised were retcons, like Alfred raising Bruce Wayne, the Kents adopting Superman, and Magneto's helmet stopping Xavier's telepathy. Swamp Thing's updated origin, the Winter Soldier, Moira in House/Powers of X and Ewing's rewriting of the Hulk mythos were other notable mentions.
Personally I love some of the smaller, but character defining retcons. Mr Fantastic naming himself that and making the FF famous out of guilt for taking his friends normal lives away, JJ Jameson partially giving Peter Parker a job as he felt he needed help in the wake of Uncle Ben's death (though I can't remember if that's canon). I'm also partial to the idea that Dr Doom's mask conceals one tiny scar, but I think I'm in the minority on that one, and I'm not sure that retcon was actually made (though certainly I've read some writers discussing their views on it).
Thanks again for the writing, and all the great comics over the years.