The news came out this past week that JHU, the successor operation to Jim Hanley’s Universe, was going to be consolidating its efforts and thus closing its Manhattan branch.
Oh, I wasn't asking for a reboot, I'm pretty firmly anti-reboot. My feeling about DC post-New 52 is pretty much the same as you, it's confusing not knowing if things happened or not (Or being told the continuity was wiped only for it to return, as with so much of Rebirth-era Superman). I just wondered, personal interests aside, if Marvel brass had ever considered going that route at some point.
Starting in the 1980s, Marvel and DC held line-wide summer crossovers exclusively in annuals: Evolutionary War, Atlantis Attacks, Armageddon 2001, Invasion, Bloodlines, etc. It's a real challenge to come up with a threat for both individuals and teams, street-level characters as well as cosmic entities. Which decades-past crossover do you think offered creative teams the best way to "play ball" and tell the type of story their fans expected?
Weirdly this newsletter answered a question I had saved up: why do covers seems to be slightly left aligned at times.
So I shall ask a different one: who do you listen to know whether a comic you created is good?
Do you value letters, or critics, or other editors, or people reaching out on social media? How do you filter out the thoughts of people who might hate it for unuseful reasons (e.g. it has a woman as the lead, or it doesn't undo a status quo someone dislikes)?
Happy you received and enjoyed the Greek editions! They had some in depth articles on Ross Andru and other creators of that era. Whoever is in charge of them in Greece is a historian and true fan.
I fondly remember going there as a kid and reading black and white reprints of the Len Wein era Spidey bundled together with Mike Zeck era Shang Chi and early Rom issues all in Greek. Helped improve my greek reading skills.
New(-ish) subscriber here - first off, loving the newsletter! Thank you for all your interactions and your thoughtfulness.
I want to respond to your question about why fans are so reboot-happy. I'm occasionally tempted to think that way myself... though when I go off too long in that direction, I always come back to the idea that the MU is just fine the way it is. That said, I think one reason is that the continuity of the Marvel Universe DOES sometimes feel unwieldy, and like it might collapse under its own weight. I became a Marvel fan with the X-Men animated series, and 30 years of continuity to learn was a LOT, but it was manageable. Nowadays, that's exactly HALF the history of the 616 in time (WAY less than half the issues), and my son (who's now the age I was then) has a lot more to learn! A second reason is that fans want to get rid of the "mistakes" - the storylines or runs THEY wish hadn't happened. (Of course, this is a double-edged sword, because do we REALLY want to read Dark Phoenix or whatever again? If they change anything, we'll hate it; if they make it the same, we'll hate it. This is the biggest reason I come down as anti-reboot.) The third reason, I would say, is that there are two characters (Professor X and Magneto) whose history is bound up in a VERY particular time, and it's hard/impossible to change the setting of that without a hard reboot - clever as Mark Waid's History of the Marvel Universe was to create a WWII-Korea-Vietnam War stand-in. It just won't work for Magneto, and therefore Professor X. All of that said... the MU is the longest-running continuous continuity anywhere in fiction, and I'd hate to see it go anywhere! Maybe the time will come to reassess, but hopefully that's a long time away! Again, with all that said, I think the Ultimate Universe was a nice compromise, as was the underrated classic Thor: the Mighty Avenger or (the non-crossover-y parts of Spider-Gwen) - a comic simply set in its own continuity, with chances to spin old stories again, but not destroying a whole amazing universe!
One reason the Crisis reboot of DC mostly worked is the books that followed didn’t feel the need to retell stories. We didn’t see the same Justice League origins tweaks or Superman’s classic stories retold.
That was probably mostly due to those “classics” being so old. And DC quietly tried to keep the good stuff in continuity. (Ie JLI was far from the first Justice league in DC’s history despite being the Jl that followed the reboot.
It also saved early Ultimate that the stories were so largely changed. Not minor changes. Though later on it still felt like “time to introduce this 616 character now”
Reboots are tougher with modern stories. You either go all out and start over. Seemingly impossible for reasons you said. Or you half way reboot and it just feels confusing.
"I also watched the first two episodes of Netflix’s live action adaptation of ONE PIECE, the eternally long-running anime and manga. [...] I’m perhaps helped in my affinity for this adaptation in that I never really sat down and either read or watched the anime or manga apart from an occasional bit here or there, so i have no strong attachment to the work. [...] And it does make me want to explore the original work in greater depth, so mission accomplished there."
I'm gonna be 100% serious when I say this: One Piece is, for me, one of the Great Works of Literature of Current Times. It's just as good and more. Worth reading and living. If you're interested after the live-action, go for it. It's quite a journey full of dreams, hopepunk, adventure, drama, tears, friendship... And Eichiro Oda just keeps improving over the years. He knows his craft and delivers non-stop. I put One Piece up there with whatever book you might be thinking right now as one of the greatest in history (be it Don Quijote, Hamlet or whatever is your cup of tea) and i think Luffy is an icon in the same weight division as Sherlock Holmes, Superman or Spider-Man.
I read the manga back in 2021 for the first time and totally hooked. I know I'm probably sounding like a crazy fan, but I honestly believe everything I've just written. If you end up reading it, I'll be more than happy to read your thoughts.
Once again, thanks for this newsletter. Interesting, as it always is.
Might be remembering incorrectly, but I believe a few years ago Rick Remender revealed that Jerome Opeña was originally going to be the artist on the relaunched Captain America book. Know Opeña did a few designs before obviously things changed and John Romita Jr. became the Cap artist and Opeña became involved in Hickman's Avengers. Possible my memory is just shoddy but curious if Opeña was indeed meant to draw Remender's Cap book?
I’ve noticed what feels like slightly thicker cover stock on some standard-priced Marvel books, last week’s Blade #2 and Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #37 being recent examples. Is there a chance we’ll see thicker covers on more books soon?
As prices continue to rise, is there a conversation about improving paper stock or a possible return to 22 story pages, or would that just eat any additional profits from higher cover prices?
Something I've been wondering lately due to the regular discussion on comics pricing - What's the process for setting a non-standard price point for a comic? I've always assumed it's a publishing call that can be negotiated to a degree by senior editors and creators with significant pull, but you know what they say about assumptions...
Oh, and just so you know, there is a new Biblioteca Marvel currently being published in Spain. It's in color, compiling all of Marvel from the beginning. Spider-Man, Hulk, Avengers, X-Men, Namor, Nick Fury, Daredevil, Fantastic Four... From the 60s onward, including the original fan-letters, complementary texts giving context and all of it being published in chronological order. ( https://www.panini.es/shp_esp_es/biblioteca-marvel-1-los-cuatro-fant-sticos-1-sbmar001-es01.html ) You may also like the Guía para lectores del Universo Marvel, a reading guide for the spanish editions up to the 2015 Secret Wars. A nice little companion for libraries and readers alike ( https://www.panini.es/shp_esp_es/gu-a-para-lectores-del-universo-marvel-sguim001-es01.html ). 2023 has been the first year for this new line and its proven to be quite popular once again.
Hi Tom, I would be really interested to know a little more about the following:
Can the current owners of the Conan licence print a facsimile edition of a Marvel comic including all the non story content such as inhouse adverts and letters pages ?
Are there any restrictions or reasons that Marvel itself may not reprint a facsimile for instance a letter from little Charley Manson from Ohio or an advert that modern eyes now deem inappropriate ?
Lastly where are all the files/story pages actually held for example are all the Dark Horse Star Wars comics in Marvel's possession or is there an inter company communication when a collection/omnibus is planned ?
Thanks in advance from the other side of "the pond"
I agree with your assessment about a reboot being a jumping off point for readers. Although, ironically, it was Crisis on Infinite Earths that got me to jump on the DC Universe and it wasn't a reboot, but Identity Crisis that really made me jump off. However, I've watched all the DC reboots from afar since then increasingly thinking, "Why should I invest emotionally in characters that aren't going to stick around, but be inevitably replaced by another reboot?" I was really worried that Secret Wars was going to do the same to Marvel, but I seem to be buying more Marvel lately than I have in a while. So you're doing something right.
"How long did Chip Zdarsky write DAREDEVIL?"
Thanks for asking! With Specials and the event, it was 61 issues! One issue longer than (checks notes) Mark Waid's run! Have a great day!
-Chip
Gotta be a joke somewhere here but I can't find it.
Pretty interesting part on cover design.
Oh, I wasn't asking for a reboot, I'm pretty firmly anti-reboot. My feeling about DC post-New 52 is pretty much the same as you, it's confusing not knowing if things happened or not (Or being told the continuity was wiped only for it to return, as with so much of Rebirth-era Superman). I just wondered, personal interests aside, if Marvel brass had ever considered going that route at some point.
Starting in the 1980s, Marvel and DC held line-wide summer crossovers exclusively in annuals: Evolutionary War, Atlantis Attacks, Armageddon 2001, Invasion, Bloodlines, etc. It's a real challenge to come up with a threat for both individuals and teams, street-level characters as well as cosmic entities. Which decades-past crossover do you think offered creative teams the best way to "play ball" and tell the type of story their fans expected?
Weirdly this newsletter answered a question I had saved up: why do covers seems to be slightly left aligned at times.
So I shall ask a different one: who do you listen to know whether a comic you created is good?
Do you value letters, or critics, or other editors, or people reaching out on social media? How do you filter out the thoughts of people who might hate it for unuseful reasons (e.g. it has a woman as the lead, or it doesn't undo a status quo someone dislikes)?
Happy you received and enjoyed the Greek editions! They had some in depth articles on Ross Andru and other creators of that era. Whoever is in charge of them in Greece is a historian and true fan.
I fondly remember going there as a kid and reading black and white reprints of the Len Wein era Spidey bundled together with Mike Zeck era Shang Chi and early Rom issues all in Greek. Helped improve my greek reading skills.
New(-ish) subscriber here - first off, loving the newsletter! Thank you for all your interactions and your thoughtfulness.
I want to respond to your question about why fans are so reboot-happy. I'm occasionally tempted to think that way myself... though when I go off too long in that direction, I always come back to the idea that the MU is just fine the way it is. That said, I think one reason is that the continuity of the Marvel Universe DOES sometimes feel unwieldy, and like it might collapse under its own weight. I became a Marvel fan with the X-Men animated series, and 30 years of continuity to learn was a LOT, but it was manageable. Nowadays, that's exactly HALF the history of the 616 in time (WAY less than half the issues), and my son (who's now the age I was then) has a lot more to learn! A second reason is that fans want to get rid of the "mistakes" - the storylines or runs THEY wish hadn't happened. (Of course, this is a double-edged sword, because do we REALLY want to read Dark Phoenix or whatever again? If they change anything, we'll hate it; if they make it the same, we'll hate it. This is the biggest reason I come down as anti-reboot.) The third reason, I would say, is that there are two characters (Professor X and Magneto) whose history is bound up in a VERY particular time, and it's hard/impossible to change the setting of that without a hard reboot - clever as Mark Waid's History of the Marvel Universe was to create a WWII-Korea-Vietnam War stand-in. It just won't work for Magneto, and therefore Professor X. All of that said... the MU is the longest-running continuous continuity anywhere in fiction, and I'd hate to see it go anywhere! Maybe the time will come to reassess, but hopefully that's a long time away! Again, with all that said, I think the Ultimate Universe was a nice compromise, as was the underrated classic Thor: the Mighty Avenger or (the non-crossover-y parts of Spider-Gwen) - a comic simply set in its own continuity, with chances to spin old stories again, but not destroying a whole amazing universe!
One reason the Crisis reboot of DC mostly worked is the books that followed didn’t feel the need to retell stories. We didn’t see the same Justice League origins tweaks or Superman’s classic stories retold.
That was probably mostly due to those “classics” being so old. And DC quietly tried to keep the good stuff in continuity. (Ie JLI was far from the first Justice league in DC’s history despite being the Jl that followed the reboot.
It also saved early Ultimate that the stories were so largely changed. Not minor changes. Though later on it still felt like “time to introduce this 616 character now”
Reboots are tougher with modern stories. You either go all out and start over. Seemingly impossible for reasons you said. Or you half way reboot and it just feels confusing.
Just tell good stories.
"I also watched the first two episodes of Netflix’s live action adaptation of ONE PIECE, the eternally long-running anime and manga. [...] I’m perhaps helped in my affinity for this adaptation in that I never really sat down and either read or watched the anime or manga apart from an occasional bit here or there, so i have no strong attachment to the work. [...] And it does make me want to explore the original work in greater depth, so mission accomplished there."
I'm gonna be 100% serious when I say this: One Piece is, for me, one of the Great Works of Literature of Current Times. It's just as good and more. Worth reading and living. If you're interested after the live-action, go for it. It's quite a journey full of dreams, hopepunk, adventure, drama, tears, friendship... And Eichiro Oda just keeps improving over the years. He knows his craft and delivers non-stop. I put One Piece up there with whatever book you might be thinking right now as one of the greatest in history (be it Don Quijote, Hamlet or whatever is your cup of tea) and i think Luffy is an icon in the same weight division as Sherlock Holmes, Superman or Spider-Man.
I read the manga back in 2021 for the first time and totally hooked. I know I'm probably sounding like a crazy fan, but I honestly believe everything I've just written. If you end up reading it, I'll be more than happy to read your thoughts.
Once again, thanks for this newsletter. Interesting, as it always is.
Might be remembering incorrectly, but I believe a few years ago Rick Remender revealed that Jerome Opeña was originally going to be the artist on the relaunched Captain America book. Know Opeña did a few designs before obviously things changed and John Romita Jr. became the Cap artist and Opeña became involved in Hickman's Avengers. Possible my memory is just shoddy but curious if Opeña was indeed meant to draw Remender's Cap book?
I’ve noticed what feels like slightly thicker cover stock on some standard-priced Marvel books, last week’s Blade #2 and Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #37 being recent examples. Is there a chance we’ll see thicker covers on more books soon?
As prices continue to rise, is there a conversation about improving paper stock or a possible return to 22 story pages, or would that just eat any additional profits from higher cover prices?
Thanks for ignoring my typos and incomplete sentences while answering my questions.
This newsletter is a highlight of my comic book week.
Morning Tom,
Something I've been wondering lately due to the regular discussion on comics pricing - What's the process for setting a non-standard price point for a comic? I've always assumed it's a publishing call that can be negotiated to a degree by senior editors and creators with significant pull, but you know what they say about assumptions...
Oh, and just so you know, there is a new Biblioteca Marvel currently being published in Spain. It's in color, compiling all of Marvel from the beginning. Spider-Man, Hulk, Avengers, X-Men, Namor, Nick Fury, Daredevil, Fantastic Four... From the 60s onward, including the original fan-letters, complementary texts giving context and all of it being published in chronological order. ( https://www.panini.es/shp_esp_es/biblioteca-marvel-1-los-cuatro-fant-sticos-1-sbmar001-es01.html ) You may also like the Guía para lectores del Universo Marvel, a reading guide for the spanish editions up to the 2015 Secret Wars. A nice little companion for libraries and readers alike ( https://www.panini.es/shp_esp_es/gu-a-para-lectores-del-universo-marvel-sguim001-es01.html ). 2023 has been the first year for this new line and its proven to be quite popular once again.
If Tom give us an adress, we will more than happy to send him a few issues!!
Thanks! You can always send me anything to the main Marvel address, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
A box is on the way!
count on it!
Hi Tom, I would be really interested to know a little more about the following:
Can the current owners of the Conan licence print a facsimile edition of a Marvel comic including all the non story content such as inhouse adverts and letters pages ?
Are there any restrictions or reasons that Marvel itself may not reprint a facsimile for instance a letter from little Charley Manson from Ohio or an advert that modern eyes now deem inappropriate ?
Lastly where are all the files/story pages actually held for example are all the Dark Horse Star Wars comics in Marvel's possession or is there an inter company communication when a collection/omnibus is planned ?
Thanks in advance from the other side of "the pond"
I agree with your assessment about a reboot being a jumping off point for readers. Although, ironically, it was Crisis on Infinite Earths that got me to jump on the DC Universe and it wasn't a reboot, but Identity Crisis that really made me jump off. However, I've watched all the DC reboots from afar since then increasingly thinking, "Why should I invest emotionally in characters that aren't going to stick around, but be inevitably replaced by another reboot?" I was really worried that Secret Wars was going to do the same to Marvel, but I seem to be buying more Marvel lately than I have in a while. So you're doing something right.