"Seriously, the guy wore a cape but no shirt, who does that?"
I forget just where, maybe in the John Ostrander written series, but I'm pretty sure that at some point in the modern age it was established that the Spectre's outfit only consists of the green cowl, cape, trunks, gloves, and booties, with all the rest being his dead white skin rather than a white bodysuit as previously assumed.
Since you mention Derek Landy, someone I know mostly as the novelist behind Skulduggery Pleasant, I wanted to ask a question in response to something you said many newsletters ago.
You mention that to break into comic writing, you don't have to write comics, necessarily. You mention Landy coming from prose fiction. Do you find any trends when writers from other areas write their first comic? For example, do novelists write more than what you'd need for a comic strip, or do screenwriters struggle to describe things to an artist (both abitrary examples). How much work do you do to help to get their writing into "comic" shape? And does Marvel have guidelines for these writers for what a script should look like?
As someone in the marketing field, I have tons of ideas + thoughts about what the comic book industry and retailers could do to augment the existing model of 'Free Comic Book Day', or start something new altogether. What are your thoughts? Thank you sir! 🙌
According to Dwayne, apparently he was forced to write Misty Knight out of his DEATHLOK series because John Byrne was using the character in his NAMOR book.
You mentioned that you weren't much of a Punisher guy: that got me thinking. It of course matters if writers and artists like their subject matter, but does it mater if editors do? Could an editor do a credible job on, say, Silver Surfer if they never got the character's appeal, but the creative team did?
Love the newsletter! In a previous question, someone mentioned that they were reading every Spider-Man appearance in chronological order. I've always enjoyed coming up with 'reading lists' and trying to figure out where every little cameo and team-up fits in (even if, for the really popular characters, it sometimes turns out to be a fool's errand). Does Marvel have its own reading orders for editorial use? If so, have they ever considered publishing those for fans to look at?
Great anecdotes, as always, though I did chuckle at the way you talk about the Deathlok series starting on rough footing in terms of the creative planning, but it still ran for 34 issues. Obviously times have changed, but few creative teams get that much track nowadays and that ever-shortening cycle is a problem in terms of retaining readers.
Thought of the day: if autocorrect is so crappy, why does anyone think that generative AI (at this point) is good enough for serious use? Great example is that recent story about a lawyer who wrote a brief with ChatGPT and it was a disaster.
But I digress.
What I really want to do is note that Zak Ewing (I presume -- name on GoFundMe is Alisdair, but that tracks with his accent) made a really generous contribution to the Kaminsky GFM. That’s all.
Just read the conclusion to the 12 part Punisher series by Aaron and Saiz - brilliant ! What a great story that kept me guessing. Seems final for the Punisher in the main Marvel U (as final as comics can be I guess - this is also coloured by real life events/news as to why Marvel may want to de-emphasize the logo/character for a while).
Will we still see the Punisher Max mini that was teased by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov (a second MAX mini set in Vietnam - Get fury I believe was the working title)? or any other iteration of the Punisher (would love to see a sequel to the western Punisher story Chuck Dixon wrote in the 90s)?
Was Susan Storm Richards (616/Prime) first referred to as a doctor during the Fraction run or at some other point? Has it been established what she is a doctor of? What was the impetus for making her a doctor? It feels like a bit of a retcon that seems conspicuously absent from most of the FF's run, but I will say that I have always been an advocate of developing Sue's characterization (she got a late start compared to the boys, IMHO).
I hope her expertise is in the soft sciences. It's my opinion that by establishing her expertise as something distinct from the hard science expertise of Reed would prevent her from being relegated as "redundant" if not "less than" her genius polymath husband.
As a FF superfan (and oh yeah… Editor), what is your point-of-view on Sue's background?
"Seriously, the guy wore a cape but no shirt, who does that?"
I forget just where, maybe in the John Ostrander written series, but I'm pretty sure that at some point in the modern age it was established that the Spectre's outfit only consists of the green cowl, cape, trunks, gloves, and booties, with all the rest being his dead white skin rather than a white bodysuit as previously assumed.
Since you mention Derek Landy, someone I know mostly as the novelist behind Skulduggery Pleasant, I wanted to ask a question in response to something you said many newsletters ago.
You mention that to break into comic writing, you don't have to write comics, necessarily. You mention Landy coming from prose fiction. Do you find any trends when writers from other areas write their first comic? For example, do novelists write more than what you'd need for a comic strip, or do screenwriters struggle to describe things to an artist (both abitrary examples). How much work do you do to help to get their writing into "comic" shape? And does Marvel have guidelines for these writers for what a script should look like?
Thanks, as always, for being so open.
Thanks for your candid approach to your newsletter. I always learn so much, thank you.
Hola Mr. Breevort! Are you familiar with Record Store Day? If not: https://recordstoreday.com/CustomPage/614
As someone in the marketing field, I have tons of ideas + thoughts about what the comic book industry and retailers could do to augment the existing model of 'Free Comic Book Day', or start something new altogether. What are your thoughts? Thank you sir! 🙌
According to Dwayne, apparently he was forced to write Misty Knight out of his DEATHLOK series because John Byrne was using the character in his NAMOR book.
You mentioned that you weren't much of a Punisher guy: that got me thinking. It of course matters if writers and artists like their subject matter, but does it mater if editors do? Could an editor do a credible job on, say, Silver Surfer if they never got the character's appeal, but the creative team did?
Love the newsletter! In a previous question, someone mentioned that they were reading every Spider-Man appearance in chronological order. I've always enjoyed coming up with 'reading lists' and trying to figure out where every little cameo and team-up fits in (even if, for the really popular characters, it sometimes turns out to be a fool's errand). Does Marvel have its own reading orders for editorial use? If so, have they ever considered publishing those for fans to look at?
Great anecdotes, as always, though I did chuckle at the way you talk about the Deathlok series starting on rough footing in terms of the creative planning, but it still ran for 34 issues. Obviously times have changed, but few creative teams get that much track nowadays and that ever-shortening cycle is a problem in terms of retaining readers.
JLA/Avengers went off the rails? How so? I haven’t read it years, but I remember being utterly delighted with the series from beginning to end!
Thought of the day: if autocorrect is so crappy, why does anyone think that generative AI (at this point) is good enough for serious use? Great example is that recent story about a lawyer who wrote a brief with ChatGPT and it was a disaster.
But I digress.
What I really want to do is note that Zak Ewing (I presume -- name on GoFundMe is Alisdair, but that tracks with his accent) made a really generous contribution to the Kaminsky GFM. That’s all.
I subscribed to the Quesada column BUT don't sell yourself short. It'll take a lot to dethrone you as my favorite one.
Just read the conclusion to the 12 part Punisher series by Aaron and Saiz - brilliant ! What a great story that kept me guessing. Seems final for the Punisher in the main Marvel U (as final as comics can be I guess - this is also coloured by real life events/news as to why Marvel may want to de-emphasize the logo/character for a while).
Will we still see the Punisher Max mini that was teased by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov (a second MAX mini set in Vietnam - Get fury I believe was the working title)? or any other iteration of the Punisher (would love to see a sequel to the western Punisher story Chuck Dixon wrote in the 90s)?
Was Susan Storm Richards (616/Prime) first referred to as a doctor during the Fraction run or at some other point? Has it been established what she is a doctor of? What was the impetus for making her a doctor? It feels like a bit of a retcon that seems conspicuously absent from most of the FF's run, but I will say that I have always been an advocate of developing Sue's characterization (she got a late start compared to the boys, IMHO).
I hope her expertise is in the soft sciences. It's my opinion that by establishing her expertise as something distinct from the hard science expertise of Reed would prevent her from being relegated as "redundant" if not "less than" her genius polymath husband.
As a FF superfan (and oh yeah… Editor), what is your point-of-view on Sue's background?
Thank you for answering my question! I really enjoy this newsletter and appreciate your dedication to your work and fans.