Off topic, but now the Marvel app has closed are we going to be able to buy marvel trades digitally anywhere?
I've spent a fair amount of dosh on discounted Marvel digital trades over the years, and it was a great way to plug the gaps in my collection, (Amazon is unusable).
I don't expect you to announce your new partners before the deals are ready, but please reassure us that some deals are in the pipework.
Thanks again for your answers. Reading my question back, it seems harsher on Dan Slott than intended, and that was definitely not the intention.
I'm currently reading through every Spider-Man issue, and that means every issue he's ever appeared in. As I've put together my reading list, I've noticed that he often appears in either the first issue of a new run, or one of the last issues.
Is this because Marvel try to include popular characters in first issues to lure a fan base over to a new character, or in later/last issues to try to save the series from cancellation? Or is this just coincidence?
Couldst thou grace us with the guide to Marvel Asgardian grammar dispatched to thine offices by a linguistics specialist, mentioned some newsletters ago? ‘Twould be most amusing to see how badly I hath mangled it in this comment.
Thanks for answering my question, and for writing these great newsletters in general! It’s like a classic Soapbox for our times! I do have another probably silly question: do our views on Marvel Unlimited help a title “sales” wise at all, or do those subscriptions basically not subsidize ongoing series at all? Thanks!
Great question! Been very curious about this myself. Can I add on "Are the Marvel Unlimited comics eligible for the sales bonus that creators get when a comic does well?"
Thanks for all the work you do to share some of your insight and behind the scenes experience with fans!
I’ve been really enjoying Ryan North’s FF run, and issue #7 (or 700) was another great issue. I happened to come across a short story Ryan wrote featuring the Fantastix from a “Fantastic Four: Negative Zone” special issue (with art by Steve Uy.) It too was “smart and clever and fun”, as you recently described Ryan’s writing. I was curious if more planned with those characters for the Dan Slott run of the time? They seemed to kind of go away quickly. Not sure there was all that much to do with them (they had a bit of Great Lakes Avengers feel about them) and Ryan’s story could actually have been an ending of sorts, but was just curious. Also, did that short story at all make you think of Ryan when Dan decided he was ready to leave the book? Thanks for all you do!
Hi Tom! I have been on a Daniel Way reading kick these days - great underrated writer who I have not seen in recent years on anything new.
I heard about 2 series that never saw the light of day - an Ant Man Max and a Deathlike Max series both written (or pitched) by Daniel Way - any background on these? Will they ever see them? or anything new at marvel by Daniel?
"...Marvel’s line had shrunk almost to the point where it could no longer cover the overhead costs for the operation.
***
"At the same time, Bill was steadily growing disenchanted with Joe Quesada and the editorial staff. He was stuck working with what he had to work with, but he’d occasionally be wistful about working with Bob Harras in his early days in the position. What Bill really wanted was a bunch of editors who thought the way he did."
***
"...a bunch of books that could be put out cheaply and without straining the reduced editorial staff..."
***
"...getting prospective creators to have to buy your comic to get the instructions for how to submit theirs. The guidance given in this issue is snarky, self-aggrandizing, a bit nasty, and a bit contradictory."
***
"Bill seriously underestimated the number of submissions he would receive, and before long they began to litter the hallways, literally. There were thousands of them, and they were everywhere. What’s more, upon receiving the first batch of submissions, Bill grew cold on the whole process. he was convinced that the vision he’d so clearly laid out in MARVILLE #7 would result in a bunch of excellent projects that were just what he had in mind. But what he got was a lot of amateur material pitched by creators who weren’t quite yet ready for the big league—and whose sensibilities didn’t come close to mirroring Bill’s. In the end, Bill’s bosses stepped in and announced an all-hands-on-deck effort to clear out the backlog of unanswered material."
***
"Bill Jemas’ interpretation of why this was the case was pretty simple: the book wasn’t black enough, or the wrong kind of black. He felt that the series would do much better if the lead character was in a much more recognizable American urban setting."
You've made valiant efforts to be even-handed when discussing Bill's misadventures previously, and I must confess to a morbid curiousity as to whether anything could be presented "on the other hand" when faced with all of the above!
I'm assuming the Eisner committee gave you the Moon Knight nomination as a make-good for never giving you one for FANTASTIC FORCE.
Speaking of that title, I've been doing my big read of the Fantastic Four series from issue 1, and am currently in the early 400s. I'm not going to lie; I didn't like DeFalco's writing at the time. I've since realized that Tom was aiming for a younger audience than myself- I was in my early 20s, and that book clearly was aimed at the newsstand audience. And he has said the book sold like hotcakes there, so who am I to argue?
I've also been re-reading your Fantastic Force book, and had a realization and a few questions.
At the end of the first issue, the Force is doing the "we're in this together" foursome fist bump- and a photo of the original team fist bump appears. And it dawned on me- THIS IS MY CHANCE FOR A NO-PRIZE! Because there was nobody around when the FF landed that rocket to take the photo! So clearly, it's an error!
But, as I recall, to qualify for a No-Prize, a reader must supply an explanation for how this happened. I figure that, since Nathaniel Richards and Scott Lang were playing around with time platforms during this time, one of them must have gone back to that fateful night when the Fantastic Four were born and snapped a Polaroid. They brought the picture back to the present, but misplaced it, and it slipped off a table and into view during the end of FanForce 1.
I think this might actually qualify me for a No-Prize.
One other question- any idea why the non-Franklin characters didn't reappear for a loooong time? While Vibraxas has appeared in quite a few Black Panther issues, Huntara didn't reappear until Civil War (and then in Dan Slott's last FF issue), and Devlor got one appearance when Jessica Jones was looking for a nanny. These were some quality characters! I'm not saying we need Fantastic Force: The Re-Force-En-Ing or anything, but someone's got to use them, right?
Do editors or the talent department have any tools to help keep track of artists with their visual styles, speed, page rate, or other relevant details? Or is it all managed "up here" [points to head].
My assumption in assigning a project is that the editors will gravitate towards a particular style that suits the story being told, and they have a shortlist of potential artists that might fit the bill, and then its a matter of availability and expense, etc.
I've begun creating a database of sorts of my own (https://i.imgur.com/b9ilb0k.jpg) just as a fan because there's so many great artists, I'm finding it challenging to keep everybody straight without a reference.
Thanks for another great newsletter!! Congratulations on your Eisner nominations as well! Are there any genres you’d like to see more of in comics? For example, a friend of mine likes sports manga but wonders why that hasn’t really taken off in American comics. And he’s not even a sports guy! Lol Sorry if you’ve already answered a question similar to this before. Thank you!
I was wondering if you have any thoughts on when it's effective to make heroes less heroic. I was talking to someone who argued that even if "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" went too far in that direction, the Scarlet Witch's current level of popularity would never have happened if she had been the unambiguous hero in the MCU that she was in most comics, because "WandaVision" takes heavy inspiration from "House of M" and the Byrne Avengers run and other stories that her fans (including me) sometimes gripe about.
And that got me to thinking of how Vision's most popular comic story makes him very morally compromised and turns on his willingness to commit murder -- again, not what Avengers purists would consider in-character, but certainly something that must have struck a chord even with readers who would rather see him as his usual heroic self.
But it can't be as simple as turning a hero into an anti-hero to make them more interesting, because for every success like WandaVision or Vision, there are other stories that make a character go darker without making them more interesting (coincidentally I was in a bookstore the other day where they were selling a new Iron Man collection of "The Crossing"). I don't know if you have any theories on when it adds to a hero's appeal to have some un-heroic stories under their belt or if any examples come to mind of a hero becoming more popular that way (without being unusable as a hero, I suppose).
Off topic, but now the Marvel app has closed are we going to be able to buy marvel trades digitally anywhere?
I've spent a fair amount of dosh on discounted Marvel digital trades over the years, and it was a great way to plug the gaps in my collection, (Amazon is unusable).
I don't expect you to announce your new partners before the deals are ready, but please reassure us that some deals are in the pipework.
Thanks again for your answers. Reading my question back, it seems harsher on Dan Slott than intended, and that was definitely not the intention.
I'm currently reading through every Spider-Man issue, and that means every issue he's ever appeared in. As I've put together my reading list, I've noticed that he often appears in either the first issue of a new run, or one of the last issues.
Is this because Marvel try to include popular characters in first issues to lure a fan base over to a new character, or in later/last issues to try to save the series from cancellation? Or is this just coincidence?
I loved The Crew, so thanks for giving it a spin, even if it did seem to last for weeks.
I LOVED The Crew! I am hungry for a street-level book with the tone of The Crew or Alias or Gotham Central.
This is so interested. I had no idea thatMarvel took that direction in 2003. Always insightful, I really love reading your posts. Cheers.
Couldst thou grace us with the guide to Marvel Asgardian grammar dispatched to thine offices by a linguistics specialist, mentioned some newsletters ago? ‘Twould be most amusing to see how badly I hath mangled it in this comment.
Thanks for answering my question, and for writing these great newsletters in general! It’s like a classic Soapbox for our times! I do have another probably silly question: do our views on Marvel Unlimited help a title “sales” wise at all, or do those subscriptions basically not subsidize ongoing series at all? Thanks!
Great question! Been very curious about this myself. Can I add on "Are the Marvel Unlimited comics eligible for the sales bonus that creators get when a comic does well?"
For what it’s worth, I loved THE CREW, though I’m grateful Priest didn’t get to do his take on Alex Power from POWER PACK.
Thanks for all the work you do to share some of your insight and behind the scenes experience with fans!
I’ve been really enjoying Ryan North’s FF run, and issue #7 (or 700) was another great issue. I happened to come across a short story Ryan wrote featuring the Fantastix from a “Fantastic Four: Negative Zone” special issue (with art by Steve Uy.) It too was “smart and clever and fun”, as you recently described Ryan’s writing. I was curious if more planned with those characters for the Dan Slott run of the time? They seemed to kind of go away quickly. Not sure there was all that much to do with them (they had a bit of Great Lakes Avengers feel about them) and Ryan’s story could actually have been an ending of sorts, but was just curious. Also, did that short story at all make you think of Ryan when Dan decided he was ready to leave the book? Thanks for all you do!
Thank you for answering my question, there were certainly some nuances I wasn't aware of.
All things being equal, would you rather a comic have great art but a pedestrian narrative or pedestrian art but a great narrative?
Hi Tom! I have been on a Daniel Way reading kick these days - great underrated writer who I have not seen in recent years on anything new.
I heard about 2 series that never saw the light of day - an Ant Man Max and a Deathlike Max series both written (or pitched) by Daniel Way - any background on these? Will they ever see them? or anything new at marvel by Daniel?
"...Marvel’s line had shrunk almost to the point where it could no longer cover the overhead costs for the operation.
***
"At the same time, Bill was steadily growing disenchanted with Joe Quesada and the editorial staff. He was stuck working with what he had to work with, but he’d occasionally be wistful about working with Bob Harras in his early days in the position. What Bill really wanted was a bunch of editors who thought the way he did."
***
"...a bunch of books that could be put out cheaply and without straining the reduced editorial staff..."
***
"...getting prospective creators to have to buy your comic to get the instructions for how to submit theirs. The guidance given in this issue is snarky, self-aggrandizing, a bit nasty, and a bit contradictory."
***
"Bill seriously underestimated the number of submissions he would receive, and before long they began to litter the hallways, literally. There were thousands of them, and they were everywhere. What’s more, upon receiving the first batch of submissions, Bill grew cold on the whole process. he was convinced that the vision he’d so clearly laid out in MARVILLE #7 would result in a bunch of excellent projects that were just what he had in mind. But what he got was a lot of amateur material pitched by creators who weren’t quite yet ready for the big league—and whose sensibilities didn’t come close to mirroring Bill’s. In the end, Bill’s bosses stepped in and announced an all-hands-on-deck effort to clear out the backlog of unanswered material."
***
"Bill Jemas’ interpretation of why this was the case was pretty simple: the book wasn’t black enough, or the wrong kind of black. He felt that the series would do much better if the lead character was in a much more recognizable American urban setting."
You've made valiant efforts to be even-handed when discussing Bill's misadventures previously, and I must confess to a morbid curiousity as to whether anything could be presented "on the other hand" when faced with all of the above!
I'm assuming the Eisner committee gave you the Moon Knight nomination as a make-good for never giving you one for FANTASTIC FORCE.
Speaking of that title, I've been doing my big read of the Fantastic Four series from issue 1, and am currently in the early 400s. I'm not going to lie; I didn't like DeFalco's writing at the time. I've since realized that Tom was aiming for a younger audience than myself- I was in my early 20s, and that book clearly was aimed at the newsstand audience. And he has said the book sold like hotcakes there, so who am I to argue?
I've also been re-reading your Fantastic Force book, and had a realization and a few questions.
At the end of the first issue, the Force is doing the "we're in this together" foursome fist bump- and a photo of the original team fist bump appears. And it dawned on me- THIS IS MY CHANCE FOR A NO-PRIZE! Because there was nobody around when the FF landed that rocket to take the photo! So clearly, it's an error!
But, as I recall, to qualify for a No-Prize, a reader must supply an explanation for how this happened. I figure that, since Nathaniel Richards and Scott Lang were playing around with time platforms during this time, one of them must have gone back to that fateful night when the Fantastic Four were born and snapped a Polaroid. They brought the picture back to the present, but misplaced it, and it slipped off a table and into view during the end of FanForce 1.
I think this might actually qualify me for a No-Prize.
One other question- any idea why the non-Franklin characters didn't reappear for a loooong time? While Vibraxas has appeared in quite a few Black Panther issues, Huntara didn't reappear until Civil War (and then in Dan Slott's last FF issue), and Devlor got one appearance when Jessica Jones was looking for a nanny. These were some quality characters! I'm not saying we need Fantastic Force: The Re-Force-En-Ing or anything, but someone's got to use them, right?
Best wishes.
> I'm assuming the Eisner committee gave you the Moon Knight nomination as a make-good for never giving you one for FANTASTIC FORCE.
I literally LOLed — thank you for that.
Do editors or the talent department have any tools to help keep track of artists with their visual styles, speed, page rate, or other relevant details? Or is it all managed "up here" [points to head].
My assumption in assigning a project is that the editors will gravitate towards a particular style that suits the story being told, and they have a shortlist of potential artists that might fit the bill, and then its a matter of availability and expense, etc.
I've begun creating a database of sorts of my own (https://i.imgur.com/b9ilb0k.jpg) just as a fan because there's so many great artists, I'm finding it challenging to keep everybody straight without a reference.
Thanks for another great newsletter!! Congratulations on your Eisner nominations as well! Are there any genres you’d like to see more of in comics? For example, a friend of mine likes sports manga but wonders why that hasn’t really taken off in American comics. And he’s not even a sports guy! Lol Sorry if you’ve already answered a question similar to this before. Thank you!
I was wondering if you have any thoughts on when it's effective to make heroes less heroic. I was talking to someone who argued that even if "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" went too far in that direction, the Scarlet Witch's current level of popularity would never have happened if she had been the unambiguous hero in the MCU that she was in most comics, because "WandaVision" takes heavy inspiration from "House of M" and the Byrne Avengers run and other stories that her fans (including me) sometimes gripe about.
And that got me to thinking of how Vision's most popular comic story makes him very morally compromised and turns on his willingness to commit murder -- again, not what Avengers purists would consider in-character, but certainly something that must have struck a chord even with readers who would rather see him as his usual heroic self.
But it can't be as simple as turning a hero into an anti-hero to make them more interesting, because for every success like WandaVision or Vision, there are other stories that make a character go darker without making them more interesting (coincidentally I was in a bookstore the other day where they were selling a new Iron Man collection of "The Crossing"). I don't know if you have any theories on when it adds to a hero's appeal to have some un-heroic stories under their belt or if any examples come to mind of a hero becoming more popular that way (without being unusable as a hero, I suppose).