Comic Book Resources

"Make that Marvel mine!": Brevoort and Quesada on controlling character crossovers

The (Old) New Avengers

Let's say you're the writer for Marvel's new Pugnacious Paste-Pot Pete ongoing. You'd like to do the obvious thing and bring in Unus the Untouchable for a six-issue grudge match. But the X-office has just solidified plans for its "Unus-ted We Stand" crossover, in which Double-U plays a leading role. Who decides who gets to play with the Untouchable?

Two of Marvel's top editors weighed in on this very question (albeit using far less absurd hypothetical examples) on Monday. First, in his weekly Cup o' Joe column here at CBR, Editor in Chief Joe Quesada fielded a question from reader Andyb regarding the reported inability of Avengers writers Dan Slott and Kurt Busiek to use the X-Men characters Nightcrawler and the Beast in their respective runs. Though he averred that more often than not the answer to whether a character could cross from his or her usual franchise to another title is "yes," Quesada explained that the decision typically rests with the writers and editors of that character's usual "family," who receive priority in terms of their customary characters' handling:

For example, back when Brand New Day started, Steve Wacker and the Spider-Man creators, of which Dan was one, asked that there be a moratorium on classic Spidey villains in other Marvel books. The reason for this was because they were appearing in so many titles, that they were losing their impact and the Spider titles were suffering because of that. I agreed with this logic as the plan was to let some time pass and then allow the Spider group to revamp and reintroduce the villain heavy-hitters.

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The Fifth Color | Joe Quesada gave good face

Wednesday we were treated to the first and last one-on-one with Joe Q wherein we get the skinny on the Marvel/Disney buyout for the time being. It's pretty skinny, folks, as we're told up front (and at the back) that until the deal goes through, the shareholders make their vote and the checks get written, all the juicy details of what could and could not happen are in the hands of the legal department, not the comic editor.

There is no possible better man for the job, however, than our own Joe Quesada then to handle the multitudes of questions and concerns we fans have because there is no finer EEK out there who can just put his fingers in his ears and go la-la-la!

Kiel Phegley: There are also lots of properties that aren't in comics these days within the Disney catalogue from some of the classic animated movies through modern hits like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and teen-centric stuff like "High School Musical." Are there any Disney stories you'd like to bring into comics given the chance?

Joe Quesada: La-la-la-la-la, I can’t hear you. You’re sneaky Phegley, but I know what you’re trying to do! This is your version of “Duck Season-Wabbit Season!” isn’t it? Oh wait, wrong company (laughs).

Brilliant! Even though it was even phrased as a softball "In your, not the company's, opinion" question, Joey Q just can't be stopped. Or started.

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The Fifth Color's 6 Points of Marvel Zombietude for SDCC

You can feel it, can't you?  After the strange wave that is the last week in June for Marvel comics, things seem to be getting... smaller at the shelves.  You not walking away with as much.  You feel the tide is rolling back.  And, if you're like me, you took home one title this week and when you looked in the calm clear water in your glass at lunch, you saw a ripple.  A ripple of things to come.

The ground shook, and you ignored it.  People came to you looking for costuming ideas and you ignored that too.  Only when hotel rooms started getting bandied about, when the desperate cries for tickets rang out like sirens in the air, only when you felt that hoover-like pull at your wallet and woke to dreams of the fresh salt sea air of San Diego did you understand.

Comic-Con is coming.

This is it, folks.  Gird your loins!  Hydrate!  Deodorize!  For the mad press of fan flesh and pro extravaganza is upon us once more!  And, of this we can be certain, nothing will ever be the same again.  These are the six unmissable Comic Con panels for the Marvel devotee.

Because we can't be sure of anything in the House of Ideas, these won't be ranked, just listed by day and time.  Synchronized watches.... now.

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Thunderbolts: Rebirth?

Thunderbolts #137

As I've been following the current Thunderbolts run by Andy Diggle, particularly the subplot involving Songbird and her mission to take down Osbourn's team, one of the questions that's been on my mind is, "Where the heck are the rest of the original Thunderbolts?" It's been awhile since we've seen Atlas, MACH-IV and the rest of that crew, and you figure if Songbird's going to ask someone for help, wouldn't it make sense to give her old friends a call?

Well, in issue #134, that call goes out.

As revealed in yesterday's Cup o' Q&A with Joe Quesada over at the main CBR site, the original team is coming back to help Songbird. Two other fans apparently had the same question that I did, and asked Marvel's Editor in Chief about Baron Zemo -- the team's original leader -- and the rest of his crew.

"It's a great question, Steven and Mike, and I guess you can say you heard it here first," Quesada responded. "Old school T-Bolts fans rejoice! Songbird is actually going to begin to assemble the original TBolts in issue #134. Her mission basically is to destroy Norman Osborn and his crazy pack of killers who have taken the good name of the original T-bolts. And yes, Zemo has been discussed internally, so stay tuned. We haven't decided just yet... or maybe we have and I’m just not going to tell you. [laughs]"

From the artwork above, it looks like at least MACH-IV and Techno are back, teaming with Songbird and ... well, if you've read the most recent issue (or even if you just recognize those bracelets) you know who they're standing with ...

Quesada explains Wolverine shuffle, says goodbye to 'MySpace Cup o' Joe'

Wolverine #73

In this week's installment of "MySpace Cup o' Joe," Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada says farewell to ... "MySpace Cup o'Joe," and delves into the reasons for shuffling the Wolverine publishing schedule so that Issue 73 will ship a week before Issue 72.

Issue 73, the first of a two-part contemporary story by Jason Aaron, Daniel Way, Adam Kubert and Tommy Lee Edwards, will be released on May 13, and is viewed as a better introduction to the comic for viewers of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Issue 72, the penultimate issue of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's near-future "Old Man Logan" storyline, will follow on May 20.

"It’s a tough moment," Quesada tells Jim McLauchlin. "You try to keep the integrity of creators and their stories, and keep their run together. And at the same time … well, we have books we have to publish, and with that Wolverine movie coming out, we need our Wolverine books out there. It was one of those things where we had the Solomon-esque decision to make and unfortunately in this version, the baby gets split in half. There’s no pleasant way to do this. I know some people aren’t happy that the numbers are out of order but I don’t think people would have been happy if we had just said that Mark Millar and  Steve McNiven’s run was going to have to be canceled.  Their run on Wolvie is just an epic story that people are raving about, so there was no way we wanted to do that. So … this was just the only way we found to go about this in a manner that maintained some semblance of a straightforward and linear story when it was all put together and would hopefully keep the completist happy."

As for the end of his weekly MySpace column, Quesada cites a busy schedule that frquently has led other editors and creators to step in for him: "We’ve had a lot of fill-ins that have been great, but it’s more than I’d like in a column we call MyCup o’ 'Joe.' Someday I’d like to come back to this — hopefully sooner rather than later — but I’d like to come back to it in a way that I can really devote the proper time to it."

The publisher, however, will continue its presence on MySpace with a "Marvel Fridays" preview feature.

A look at Joe Quesada's cover for Amazing Spider-Man #600

Wraparound variant cover for "The Amazing Spider-Man" #600, by Joe Quesada

On Twitter, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada offers a sneak peek at his variant wraparound cover for The Amazing Spider-Man #600, the 104-page special issue due out in July.

Sex and the single Marvel super heroine

Marvel Divas

In his weekly MyCup o' Joe column on MySpace, Marvel chief Joe Quesada announced today a new mini-series called Marvel Divas by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Tonci Zonjic:

This also seems like the perfect time to announce our Marvel Divas limited series, beginning in July, from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Tonci Zonjic, featuring some of the Marvel Universe’s greatest female heroes in a way you haven’t seem them before. I’ll let Roberto explain:

“The idea behind the series was to have some sudsy fun and lift the curtain a bit and take a peep at some of our most fabulous super heroines. In the series, they're an unlikely foursome of friends--Black Cat, Hell Cat, Firestar, and Photon--with TWO things in common: They're all leading double-lives and they're all having romantic trouble. The pitch started as "Sex and the City" in the Marvel Universe, and there's definitely that "naughty" element to it, but I also think the series is doing to a deeper place, asking question about what it means...truly means...to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns. (And I mean both the super hero industry and the comic book industry.) But mostly it's just a lot of hot fun.

This week's column also includes a Q&A with War of Kings scribes Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Which gives me an excuse to link to something I've been meaning to mention -- Kirk Warren at the Weekly Crisis has an excellent series of primers on War of Kings that introduce all the major players, in case you haven't been keeping up with Marvel's cosmic comics.

Quesada confirms Diggle on renumbered Daredevil

Daredevil #500, by Marko Djurdjevic

In this week's "My Cup o' Joe," Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada confirms what he let slip in the previous column: that writer Andy Diggle will take over Daredevil this summer, with the renumbered Issue 501.

Make that Marvel-exclusive writer Andy Diggle.

"I thought for whatever reason that we had already announced that one, but I guess we hadn’t," Quesada says, explaining the quickly deleted slip.

"But man, I can’t get away from this without complimenting [outgoing writer] Ed Brubaker.
Ed did just an amazing, amazing run, following up after Brian Bendis, which was no easy feat. I mean, Ed’s run has been legendary, but he just needed to cycle off. I think he’s had a workload that just felt like 'one book too many,' and he’s told all the Daredevil stories he feels he needs to for right now."

So, why Diggle?

"Well, I think Andy really showed us something when he took over Thunderbolts," Quesada says. "He has a certain feel, a certain 'bite' to his stories, and he just writes tremendous, tremendous villains.
He writes mean characters! [laughs] And there’s something there that resonated with all of us in editorial, where we just thought he could write the piss out of Daredevil."

Update: Diggle writes on Twitter that his contract with Marvel is for two years.

Quesada talks about 2009 plans in latest MyCup 'O Joe

Fantastic Force

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada chats with the Hero Initiative's Jim McLauchlin about Marvel's 2009 plans in his latest MyCup 'o Joe column. The chat includes a laundry list of several of their major storylines and initiatives, including digital comics:

The digital world is the great unknown. It could be the promised land, it could be nothing at all. We’ll see. We’re testing the waters, and I will tell you this: I think we’re taking a leadership position in this.

I may be wrong, but I certainly don’t see another comics publisher producing the volume of new material with well-known and established characters for digital first that we are.

So many people seem afraid of it. But I do see it as being an enhancement to our core monthly comic business, much the way I saw trade paperbacks back in the day.

Remember, so many people were just dead-set sure that paperbacks were gonna kill monthly comics.

But it’s really helped monthly comics; it’s provided a new avenue for people to discover them, and get in to these adventures.

In many ways—and think about this—trade paperbacks really replaced the newsstand system, which was the old feeder system to the comic book stores. I certainly see the digital world as very much the same thing, a way of introducing fans to the material who might not be familiar with it, or are lapsed readers, or who might not live anywhere near a comic store. So for those people who might be fearful, I say again: This will not replace the monthly comic. This will accentuate the monthly comic.

The ultimate goal is…man, I tell you, I still hear people who say, “Comic books? I thought they didn’t make those anymore.” The ultimate goal is to make sure no one…ever…utters those effing words again.

He also shares a few pages of script for the upcoming Fantastic Force comic, starring the future heroes introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four (and who you can see in the artwork up top).

I haven't been following Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's run on Fantastic Four, and I also haven't seen a lot of people talking about it ... at least not at the level that you'd expect to see for a book being done by the guys who brought you Ultimates. I guess it isn't just me, as Tom McLean mentions it in his review of the latest issue (which he really liked). So who out there is reading Fantastic Four? Is it worth picking up in trade form?