A few questions for you about creative team turnovers. Is there a typical “notice period” that creators give, or that you ask for, when you have a creator or set of creators working on a book? What the shortest notice period you’ve had to deal with? Also, is there still a backlog of fill-in stories to pull from if and when the Dreaded Deadline Doom hits, like there used to be in the past? Also, what goes into the decision to keep a series’ numbering versus starting with a new number one issue; or these days is a number one issue pretty much an automatic thing with every new creative team?
About Marty Nodell, I can say with some authority that the story you relate about GL’s origin is more certain than “legend has it.” Marty told me approximately the same story while I attended my friend’s wedding (Marty was my friend’s uncle). The only thing I would add to what you wrote is that Marty told me that it was specifically the 1940 hit movie “The Thief of Baghdad”’s use of a magic, wish-fulfilling lamp that gave him the idea to give GL’s lantern, which was indeed inspired by a subway worker’s lantern, a similar power.
RIP Tom Palmer - his painted cover to Avengers 273 (Black Knight) is still etched in my mind! His collaborations with John Buscema on Avengers are my definite Avengers (still surprised to hear Roger Stern was not always happy with the art from Buscema/Palmer on Avengers that deviated from his script as the results are childhood classics for me).
My first encounter with Palmer was probably "Archie Meets the Punisher," still the greatest comic book crossover I've ever read. Because I wasn't very familiar with John Buscema's art at the time I didn't fully appreciate what a great job Palmer did in handling the unusual arrangement of having different characters drawn by people from different companies (Buscema for Marvel, Stan Goldberg for Archie) even when they appeared in the same panel.
Hey Tom, what are your thoughts on one genre (superheroes) dominating the mainstream American comics scene? I love superheroes so I don't mind it, but it also seems incredibly weird! One way I described it to a friend is that it's like if all movies were westerns and people said "No I don't feel like watching a movie, I'm not in the mood for cowboys right now."
In one of your blog posts of old, you relate the tale of how a Venom guest-appearance in Secret Defenders was deleted, then un-deleted, because the absence of Venom in a comic solicited as having Venom in it would make the book returnable. Is that rule still in place? I’ve read some comics that vary wildly from their solicits…
Hi Tom, how up to date do you keep with Marvel books that you're not involved with? I'm sure you're made aware of important developments via summits and whatnot, but do you have any books that you read as they come out monthly or in trade?
Hi, Tom! I'm really enjoying your Substack so far and thank you for featuring the piece on my grandfather! One comment--where you write Gardner Fox I think you mean Bill Finger. Perhaps this error has been addressed elsewhere and if so, please disregard this comment! Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the excellent Tom Palmer memories, but I'm never buying you dinner.
A few questions for you about creative team turnovers. Is there a typical “notice period” that creators give, or that you ask for, when you have a creator or set of creators working on a book? What the shortest notice period you’ve had to deal with? Also, is there still a backlog of fill-in stories to pull from if and when the Dreaded Deadline Doom hits, like there used to be in the past? Also, what goes into the decision to keep a series’ numbering versus starting with a new number one issue; or these days is a number one issue pretty much an automatic thing with every new creative team?
Love the newsletter!
About Marty Nodell, I can say with some authority that the story you relate about GL’s origin is more certain than “legend has it.” Marty told me approximately the same story while I attended my friend’s wedding (Marty was my friend’s uncle). The only thing I would add to what you wrote is that Marty told me that it was specifically the 1940 hit movie “The Thief of Baghdad”’s use of a magic, wish-fulfilling lamp that gave him the idea to give GL’s lantern, which was indeed inspired by a subway worker’s lantern, a similar power.
RIP Tom Palmer - his painted cover to Avengers 273 (Black Knight) is still etched in my mind! His collaborations with John Buscema on Avengers are my definite Avengers (still surprised to hear Roger Stern was not always happy with the art from Buscema/Palmer on Avengers that deviated from his script as the results are childhood classics for me).
My first encounter with Palmer was probably "Archie Meets the Punisher," still the greatest comic book crossover I've ever read. Because I wasn't very familiar with John Buscema's art at the time I didn't fully appreciate what a great job Palmer did in handling the unusual arrangement of having different characters drawn by people from different companies (Buscema for Marvel, Stan Goldberg for Archie) even when they appeared in the same panel.
Hey Tom, what are your thoughts on one genre (superheroes) dominating the mainstream American comics scene? I love superheroes so I don't mind it, but it also seems incredibly weird! One way I described it to a friend is that it's like if all movies were westerns and people said "No I don't feel like watching a movie, I'm not in the mood for cowboys right now."
In one of your blog posts of old, you relate the tale of how a Venom guest-appearance in Secret Defenders was deleted, then un-deleted, because the absence of Venom in a comic solicited as having Venom in it would make the book returnable. Is that rule still in place? I’ve read some comics that vary wildly from their solicits…
Hi Tom, how up to date do you keep with Marvel books that you're not involved with? I'm sure you're made aware of important developments via summits and whatnot, but do you have any books that you read as they come out monthly or in trade?
Hi, Tom! I'm really enjoying your Substack so far and thank you for featuring the piece on my grandfather! One comment--where you write Gardner Fox I think you mean Bill Finger. Perhaps this error has been addressed elsewhere and if so, please disregard this comment! Keep up the great work!