Marvel to resurrect CrossGen properties next year

[Whiskey Tango]

http://robot6.comicbookresources.co...l-to-resurrect-crossgen-properties-next-year/

During this afternoon's "Cup O' Joe" panel at Comic-Con International, Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada teased the audience with an image of CrossGen's original "Sigil" logo and the date "2011."

The obvious implication was, of course, that the CrossGen comics properties, purchased in 2004 by Marvel's new parent Disney, will be making a return next year. The question is, however, in what form.

"We're gonna be doing some CrossGen stuff," Quesada confirmed to CBR TV. He said that although Marvel does have a plan for the properties, "we're not really prepared to talk much about it right now."

"But we have started to work on some concepts based on the old CrossGen concepts, trying to strengthen them up, and eventually bring them to Marvel," he said.

"It just offers us a wider variety of stories to tell than just the normal Marvel Universe kind of stories," Quesada added later. "I think with the CrossGen stuff you're going to see us attempt a little more genre publishing, which I think is much-needed in our imprint."

Founded in 1998 by Florida entrepreneur Mark Alessi, CrossGen featured a line of titles in a variety of genres with a shared universe, or "Sigilverse," with characters broadly linked by the Sigils they received. The first wave of comics launched in 2000 with the space opera Sigil, the fantasies Meridian, Mystic and Scion, and the "untold tales" anthology CrossGen Chronicles. Later additions included the Victorian detective series Ruse, the contemporary horror Route 666, the pirate adventure El Cazador, the fantasy Sojourn and the wuxia comedy Way of the Rat.

CrossGen was unique among comics publishers at the time, with creators initially working as full-time employees out of its Tampa offices. Alessi brought together a mix of industry veterans -- Mark Waid, Barbara Kesel, Ron Marz, Chuck Dixon, Butch Guice and Brandon Peterson, among them -- and then-relative unknowns, such as Greg Land, Mike Perkins and Tony Bedard.

With a solid talent roster, high production values, even higher ambitions, and a variety of genres and titles with (potentially) broad audience appeal, CrossGen seemed poised to give major comics publishers a run for their money. However, by mid-2003 reports emerged that the company had fallen behind on payments to freelancers, exposing a shaky financial plan that apparently was undermined by massive returns from Barnes & Noble and Borders.

CrossGen filed for bankruptcy in 2004. Later that same year, Disney bought the company's assets for $1 million, with designs on Abadazad, the children's fantasy book by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Ploog. Disney released three subsequent volumes, but canceled the fourth. With the exception of a handful of licensed reprint collections from Checker Books, no other former CrossGen titles have been published.

 

[random_havoc]

I'd love to see them get Land and a good writer to finish that book that he used to work on.
Only problem is they would inevitably drag it out indefinitely/forever instead of just finishing it cuz that's just how marvel does things.

 

[Scourge2099]

They resurrect CrossGen , but not Malibu. It's cool and all , but I kinda want to see Nightman in the Shadowland arc.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ooh, neat. There was a lot of fantasy-based stuff at CrossGen, right? Could really enrich Marvel's magic/fantasy side, which currently consists of basically Thor and Dr. Strange, and that's it.

 

[JewishHobbit]

sojourn!!!!!!

 

[Scourge2099]

Ooh, neat. There was a lot of fantasy-based stuff at CrossGen, right? Could really enrich Marvel's magic/fantasy side, which currently consists of basically Thor and Dr. Strange, and that's it.

You forgot about Illyana.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I try to forget about everything X-related.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

sojourn!!!!!!

I hope so. They had a lot of cool books but Sojourn was my favorite.

 

[Phaedrus45]

sojourn!!!!!!

I SOOO thought about you when I read this, JH. You must have thought you were dreaming.

(Speaking of dreaming, I saw Inception today. Awesome movie! I thought it was genius.)

 

[Max J Power]

The only CrossGen comic I've ever read is Ruse. I'd like to see it come back.

 

[Scourge2099]

I try to forget about everything X-related.

I gotta admit that I hated it when they brought her back. Should've left her dead instead of connecting her with Pixie.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I SOOO thought about you when I read this, JH. You must have thought you were dreaming.

I about jumped out of my seat when I saw the thread title. Sojourn was my absolute favorite book while it was being published and I HATED the fact that it wasn't finished. I'm curious how Marvel plans to do these books, whether they continue where Crossgen left off or if they're going to attempt their own takes on them. I'm hoping they just continue but I don't really see that happening. I'm really eager to hear more about this.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That was back when Greg Land's art was still tolerable, right?

 

[THANOSRULES]

This is great news!

I became a big fan when they started re-rekeasing old issues in those cheap trade formats....you can catch up on cross gen very cheap.

I was amazed at the talent and quality of the art.

 

[JewishHobbit]

That was back when Greg Land's art was still tolerable, right?

Yup... that was when he actually drew his comics instead of traced most of them. He'd have an accational trace (I specifically remember Sean Connery) but mostly it was original. Though he left the title maybe 5 or so issues from the end and that art wasn't near as good as Land's. But it was still decent.

 

[Sawyer]

I've never read any CrossGen. Though, judging from your reactions, I'm guessing they're good?

 

[Anubis]

Ehhh, depends on the book.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Now's the time to invest in that old property! Luckily, I've bought quite a few CrossGen comics over the years since JH recommended Soujourn to me. Too bad we'll never see Malibu again.

 

[Anubis]

I wouldn't rule it out. 10 years ago if you said Bucky would be alive and Captain America, most people woulda had you committed where you'd get extreme shock therapy and a 7 foot tall Native American would smother you to death with a pillow then throw a sink out a window and runaway.....so anythings possible.

 

[Sawyer]

I need to do some research on CrossGen to see if I'm actually going to be interested in this.

 

[[rono]]

More stories to consume for readers. A little more work opportunities for creators. If they keep the higher production value, more quality books for collectors. I think there's a little in CrossGen for everyone. I would pray for quality of production; it's good for the medium in general.

With more good comics-based movies coming out each year, there are more potential new readers and fans out there. And that's great for the industry.

 

[Sawyer]

I did some reading about the CrossGen books on wikipedia. They sound weird as ****.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I know some of them did sound odd and there was a collective universe to them in some way, though I'm not sure how being that most of them were nothing alike. I only read Sojourn and when it was coming out it was my favorite book each month. I strongly recommend that book. It's well written and the art is great. That's what kills me about Greg Land these days. He copies so much and his art just looks cheap, but the dude actually CAN draw, and draw well. He's just gotten lazy. I do think that he's getting better over the past few months, but I think his Sojourn stuff was his best art.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I wonder how they'll bring the CrossGen stuff back. Will they give them their own alternate universe like they did with the few Malibu characters/comics they tried to bring back or will they integrate them into the Marvel universe...

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Maybe an alternate uni like the New Universe or something? There's bound to be a crossover at some point. Of course they might do it as an altogether separate imprint.