New Joe Fridays: Week 16

[Specter313]

http://www.newsarama.com/NewJoeFridays/NewJoeFridays16.html

Highlights:

~ Thoughts on the Stephen Wacker/Mike Marts company switches

~ Joe addresses a screw up on Rawhide Kid's sexuality

~ New art team announced for Cable & Deadpool (Fabian is staying on)

~ Annihilation and Civil War will not crossover, even with the Negative Zone prison

~ Preview of Civil War: Choosing Sides

~ Delays are not expected when Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan take over Runaways

~ She-Hulk may learn what Iron Man, Reed Richards and the others did to her cousin(launching him into space) in her upcoming "Planet Without a Hulk" arc

~ The seeds of Omega Flight will be planted in Choosing Sides

~ They're addressing a pitch to do a MAX title for Terror, Inc.

~ Darthpere gets another question answered!

[incurock31]

That David Aja art is

[GNR]

Can't wait for Iron Fist.Might actually pick up that Choosing Sides tie-in.

[Sebastos]

That ws so awesome. I can't wait either, and Aja's art is really something to talk about. The Iron Fist ongoing all with his part in choosing sides are going to be great reads.

[Sebastos]

Pics.

[Sebastos]

Last one, heh.

[Specter313]

This is the Cable & Deadpool art:

[GNR]

Aja needs to do something Batman related.His style would be perfect for Battyman.

[Dread]

This is the line I paid most attention to:

Originally Posted by JQ

: No, while we don’t anticipate any delays, the unquestionable benefits of Joss writing Runaways far outweighs any possible loss.

Two reasons:

1). When has Joe Q, at least within the past, oh, 4 years, ever ACTUALLY anticipated or outright admitted a delay before the fact, such as at the start of a launch or creative run, even when every layman who watches the parties involved can predict delays? Did Joe Q predict a delay when, say, ULTIMATES 2 launched? Of course not, he was all, "monthly this time!" and then had to backtrack and go, "oh, well, Hitch is pretty and all our suckers buy it, so shut up and be patient" when it started getting later and later...and now ships a mighty 3 issues a year (on a good year). Usually when Marvel initially releases a book, their original shipping schedule is, at best, overly optimistic, and at worst, clouded in goggles of denial and pixie dust, unable to look at reality until it smacks them in the face (and either the book is already a month late, or maybe 2 weeks from original release).

My point? Delays are not the exception, but the rule. NO artist, not ONE, at least one who was hired professionally by Marvel after about 1997, can produce more than 5 issues monthly, one time, anymore. That is stern, cold reality. Those artists who can are usually vets from the pre-1997 era like Bagley, or rare exceptions. And even those exceptions will usually need some rest and can't be expected to do 12 a year, one time (even guys I love like Alphona, who can pull off 9 on time these days, which is a bloody miracle). On the other end, if you have a writer who has a "day job" like writing for TV or movies, they will naturally see that job through first and the lower paying Marvel one as a side-gig, something that's fun to do sort of thing. As Marvel are complete suckers for anyone who has ever written for Hollywood (and perhaps understandably so as the majority of them seem to be competant if not good, Hudlin as an exception), this also has to come into play. But hiring these writers, from Whedon to Heinberg to the guy from LOST, means that inevitably stuff may drag on their end. Heinberg, for one, denies delays are his fault. Of course not. It's just MAGIC that every book you write is late. Unlucky, unlucky, unlucky. Look, I love the guy's work, but his books are late after maybe 1-2 issues, like clockwork, and that is all that matters. After all, a movie or a TV never starts on it's expected date with a message that says, "WE'RE SORRY, BUT THE MOVIE/EPISODE YOU WERE EXPECTING IS RUNNING LATE BECAUSE THE WRITERS ARE AWEFULLY BUSY. BE PATIENT, WE LOVE YOU, KEEP FEEDING US MORE MONEY THAN ANY OF YOU WILL EVER POSSIBLY EARN." But late comics get that all the time.

I'd take Joe Q more seriously here if he said, "While we will publish the Joss/Ryan RUNAWAYS issues as timely and often as we can, the reality of the current medium is that a book will be late after about 6 issues or less, on average. That is something you and I have had to realize and deal with. Now, I could attempt to pre-empt this fact by attaching a second or even third artist to the launch team at the outset, but that would be a rational, logical, competent leadership choice. I have a rep to maintain as someone who never does anything innovative unless DC has done it first (and even if it didn't work for DC; after all, something that fails to work when DC does it will magically work when we do it, exactly the same way, because we're...um...Marvel), and to spin stuff on the web for hype." Now, THAT I would buy. It'd be honest.


2). The last bit of the line WAS actually honest. Basically, because Joss Whedon is on it, they expect RUNAWAYS to instantly jump into selling in the Top 50 or better, and therefore they know this run will probably print it's own money. Therefore, Joe is setting the stage for the inevitable "quality takes time" line when the book inevitably runs behind. Which it will. Most books are late after 3-5 issues and maybe 1% of them are on time every month of the year. I'm calling it now. I'd like to be wrong, but I won't be. Unlike Joe, I actually pay attention to market realities, instead of just wishing they didn't happen.

I still look foward to that run, though. I'll miss Vaughan & Alphona on RUNAWAYS but out of all the A-List writers to attach to the book, Whedon would be amung my top choices.

That said, glad Joe Q admitted a mistake somewhere, and that ANNIHILATION won't be attached to CW. While an attachment would boost sales, at least that book isn't as afraid of making "good" and "bad" guys act as such instead of blending the two. Nice dodge of the villian question, BTW. It's a topic I've mentioned in a few topics lately.

[Darthphere]

I just command that much respect, though ill have to take a look at the answer more throughly since I think the issue he mentioned doesnt explicitly show that.

Also, David Aja is awesome. I cant wait for Iron Fist, and really, those pages need no words.

[Dread]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

I just command that much respect, though ill have to take a look at the answer more throughly since I think the issue he mentioned doesnt explicitly show that.

Also, David Aja is awesome. I cant wait for Iron Fist, and really, those pages need no words.

I agree, Aja is good. Can't wait for IMMORTAL IRON FIST. If the last slate of new Marvel mini's and titles from this week, DR. STRANGE: OATH and ANT-MAN are any indication, it may be that Marvel is getting stuff in gear with reviving some characters this year. Hopefully the sales back it up.

[Sebastos]

Question. Is the Iron Fist art that we see from the new on-going? Or is it from CW: Choosing Sides? Cause Aja is also doing the art for the story in which Danny chooses sides.

[Specter313]

Originally Posted by The Iron Fist

Question. Is the Iron Fist art that we see from the new on-going? Or is it from CW: Choosing Sides? Cause Aja is also doing the art for the story in which Danny chooses sides.

Choosing Sides.

[Sebastos]

Thought so, thanks Specter.

[Dread]

Something else I thought to comment about:

Jef - This is probably a question you'll need to pass on to one of your colleagues, but as you are our conduit in to the inner workings of Marvel, I thought I'd ask you. So, I've been nabbing the "Spider-Man Collectible Series" from the New York Post over the last several weeks, and while I get a kick out of reading the old Lee/Ditko run, I was curious as to why Marvel didn't decide to publish more modern tales? That is, I'm concerned that the effort to grab new readers is undermined a bit by giving away titles that are a bit antiquated in their storytelling modes, compared to the narrative idioms utilized by modern comics. I'm not complaining, mind you, just curious.

JQ: Hey, Jef, first and foremost, the inserts aren’t just in the NY Post but in 120 newspapers nationwide, how cool is that! That said, the decision to use classic Spidey stories was made by News America as they felt that it was the best material for their readership.

Unlike Jef, I'm actually glad that the NY POST and the other papers wanted to reprint the classic Lee/Ditko Spider-Man stories. Too many fans, perhaps like Jef, take current "modern-ness" for granted and sometimes forget that much of the Marvel Universe as we know it, including this "modernity", was done on the back of Lee, Ditko, Kirby, and others. Sure, many of these issues have been reprinted elsewhere before, but for .25-.75 for 11 pages (in full color), it's a cheap alternative for kids. I'm still amazed at the non-compression of those days. Sure, the stories were simplier, but a lot more got done back then. Granted, Lee & Ditko were sort of flying high until after the first year or so of ASM and then really got going. My point is that introducing new fans to the classic Spider-Man is a good idea, regardless of whether it was Marvel's or the paper's.