New Joe Fridays - Week 24

[Sebastos]

http://www.newsarama.com/NewJoeFridays/NewJoeFridays24.html

Great edition.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

2007 = The Year Of Spider-Man. Sounds good to ME.

Intrigued by Fool Killer as well. He got his start in the old Man-Thing series, iirc, and even crossed paths with Spidey once or twice. Could be interesting.

 

[Specter313]

Ultimate

~ Most significant line development: Year of Ultimate Spider-Man
~ Most impactful storyline: Ultimates 2
~ Favorite single issue: Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #2, Ultimate Spider-Man #100
~ Most Valuable Title: Ultimate Spider-Man
~ Most Valuable Star/Character: Kitty Pride
~ Most Valuable Creator: Mark Bagley
~ Moment he could take back: Would have held up Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk
~ Thoughts on 2007: "Welcome Jeph Loeb"


Marvel U. non Civil War

~ Most significant line development: Rise of core heroes (Captain America, Iron Man, Avengers)
~ Most impactful storyline: Ed Brubaker's Captain America
~ Favorite single issue: *skipped*
~ Most Valuable Title: Moon Knight
~ Most Valuable Star/Character: Iron Man, with Winter Soldier a close second
~ Most Valuable Creator: Steve McNiven, Lenil Yu
~ Moment he could take back: Shipping things out on time
~ Thoughts on 2007: New titles in Thunderbolts, Slott's new book, and New Warriors, and it will be the year of Spider-Man


Marvel Knights

~ Most significant line development: Returning the line to its roots
~ Most impactful storyline: Spider-Man: Reign
~ Favorite single issue: last page of Spider-Man: Reign
~ Most Valuable Title: Moon Knight
~ Most Valuable Star/Character: Black Panther
~ Most Valuable Creator: Hudlin, Andrews, and Lisner/Palmotti/Gray
~ Moment he could take back: Wanted to have gotten more prestige out of the line
~ Thoughts on 2007: Watch for Spider-Man: Reign, Silver Surfer Requiem by Straczynski and Ribic, Logan by Brian K. Vaughan and Eduardo Risso, Punisher: The People Vs. Castle by Guggenheim and Leinil Yu


Icon

~ Can't really give a best of since he's not involved with it much, but is very happy with everything it's done.


MAX

~ Most significant line development: Expansion of the line
~ Most impactful storyline: Barracuda arc in Punisher
~ Favorite single issue: When Nighthawk killed the clown in his series
~ Most Valuable Title: Punisher
~ Most Valuable Star/Character: Frank Castle
~ Most Valuable Creator: Garth Ennis
~ Moment he could take back: The original splash page in Punisher #36 was "eyebrow raising"
~ Thoughts on 2007: More line expansion with books such as Barracuda and Foolkiller


Third Party Publishing

~ Most significant line development: Picking up Halo and the Dabel Brothers
~ Most impactful storyline: Halo graphic novel
~ Favorite single issue: too early
~ Most Valuable Title: too early
~ Most Valuable Star/Character: too early, but for now Anita Blake
~ Most Valuable Creator: Stephen King
~ Moment he could take back: *skipped*
~ Thoughts on 2007: *skipped*


Comics for Kids

~ Most significant line development: Just continuing and publishing more stuff like MA: Avengers and Franklin Richards, Son of a Genius
~ Most impactful storyline: The New Girl in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #6-#10. The Gwen Thing, in Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #9.
~ Favorite single issue: Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #12, Doom Where’s My Car?
~ Most Valuable Title: Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
~ Most Valuable Star/Character: Giant Girl from MA: Avengers
~ Most Valuable Creator: Sean McKeever
~ Moment he could take back: wouldn't change a thing
~ Thoughts on 2007: Power Pack being added back into continuity, X-Men First Class II, and more Franklin

For explainations behind each choice, visit the link.

 

[GNR]

Come on,no mention of WWH?That's probably the best thing Marvel has going for it in 2007.

 

[Darthphere]

Not to be an ass, but every year is the year of Spider-Man.

 

[Kitsune]

Oh man, I had to laugh at this....

 

[herakles]

Dude When Are We Going To Hear Anything On Thor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dread]

Comments:

- Nice that Joe Q is so happy about ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, although if he thinks #100 was "the best issue yet", then he seems to have poor taste. A shame, then, that CLONE SAGA isn't better, and that Joe has been using crossovers to cause ASM and other titles to bump USM out of the Top 10 sales slots for almost the entire year.

- Glad to know he like Steve McNiven, the artist who, while good at what he does, has single handedly caused CIVIL WAR to be delayed TWICE. Can you sense my sarcasm?

- Mini-Marvels is awesome

- Good to see Jack Flagg somewhere, even if the Suicide Squa-- I mean the new New Thunderbolts are about to throw him an arse kicking.

- Spider-Man's powers "have gone up and down"? I never remember his strength going up before, or him being able to control spiders, and other powers he's gained and HAS NOT USED SINCE! Unless you count his time as Capt. Universe.

- That SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE cover with MJ looking cross as Firestar seems to hug Spider-Man; PRICELESS. It almost makes me want to check out that title.

But I won't.

- Joe Q does have a point about CW and the main MU; for years during the 90's, Marvel all but abandoned the MU in favor of the X-Men. Even HOM was a mostly X-centered event. But CW has really embraced the entirity of the Earth based Marvel Universe. True, the story could have been better, and it'd have been nice if some characters weren't butchered in the flesh or in character. But it still is drawing on the backlogs of the Handbook instead of limiting itself to the X-Mansion, and that is something to be appreciated. Even if I question whether Iron Man has become "interesting" or "bat-crap evil". He's sold out his friends and allowed the nation to ridiculously overreact to Stamford. But Mr. Fantastic's fared far worse.

- Good to see him give props to FRONTLINE. Now if only the main CW title could hide spoilers as well, all would be good.

- All the preview art is pretty, really. And MOON KNIGHT does indeed rock.

- You regret releasing the first 2 issues of ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS. HULK, Joe? Hey, join the club! Will you actually learn a lesson from it and not entrust a full time TV writer so much? I'm guessing...no.

I find it irksome when Joe Q "wishes" about releasing comics more timely. Dude, you're the EIC. You're not there to "wish". You're there to make stuff happen. If you can't at Marvel, no one can. The fans are the ones who wish for things. People inside the industry, especially at the top, have to be doers. Frankly, switching artists on CW would have only backfired if the artist chosen sucked, or, they pulled an INFINITE CRISIS and cheated fans with the trades. But, what's done is done. Surely the delays will help Marvel's bottom line. The longer they can drag out CW, the better. I'm surprised it's not been made an ongoing.


I've seen better weeks.

 

[stillanerd]

Couple of things which really stand out for me:

1. The way Joe Q touts the Ultimate books, it's quite apparent that he wishes THIS is what the Marvel universe should be like. Of course, I'm of the opinion that a lot of what made the Ultimate line interesting is starting to wear off, but that's just me.

2. Certainly the core Marvel titles are gaining interest again and being on par with the X-Men titles, which of course is a good thing. However, in order for that to happen, Marvel had to retcon virtually most of the developments brought in by Grant Morrison on the New X-Men title, and the whole X-Men: Reloaded stunt turned out to be a flop, and of course there was House of M which, despite a reduction in mutants actually INCREASED the number of X-titles. And lets not forget Chuck Austin's "stellar" work on Uncanny shall we. So I would contend that it was because a lack of quality on the the X-Men titles (not even Claremont doing writing chores helped considering how apparent it was that he ran out of gas long ago) that made readers gravitate more towards the core Marvel titles, although it's picking up again with Brubaker on Uncanny and Whedon on Astonishing.

3. Not to say anything against Civil War:Frontline, but if people wanted to dig deep into Civil War, why isn't that happening in, I don't know, Civil War?

4. From his picks for Most valuable character, I'd have to guess that the Spidey/Kitty/MJ relationship will be played past exhaustion over in Ultimate, Iron Man will be the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Winter Soldier will be the new Captain America--cause I have a feeling Cap's going to "die" in Civil War, Black Panther will be promoted even more by having him lead the Fantastic Four.

5. And here's the best cover of the lot:

Spider-Ham goodness.

 

[Roughneck]

Why would it be X-men First Class II


Wouldn't X-men Second Class make more sense....?

Depends on the story I guess.

 

[Roughneck]

and I love that Chris G seems to be coming back.

 

[Harlekin]

Return of the Mini-Marvels!

 

[Marcdachamp]

I find it irksome when Joe Q "wishes" about releasing comics more timely. Dude, you're the EIC. You're not there to "wish". You're there to make stuff happen. If you can't at Marvel, no one can. The fans are the ones who wish for things. People inside the industry, especially at the top, have to be doers. Frankly, switching artists on CW would have only backfired if the artist chosen sucked, or, they pulled an INFINITE CRISIS and cheated fans with the trades. But, what's done is done. Surely the delays will help Marvel's bottom line. The longer they can drag out CW, the better. I'm surprised it's not been made an ongoing.

The way I see it, he's willing to admit his own mistakes. We live in a country where a president lied about reasons for going to war and then said he couldn't think of a single mistake he made in office. It's refreshing to see honesty sometimes.

And kudos to Marvel for bringing back Chris Giarusso and his Mini Marvels! PLEASE make this an ongoing! Make it an ongoing and I'll pull list it now! That strip is awesome.

 

[Nasty-B]

What do you guys think about this statement: "Tony Stark’s comic book star is on the rise! It’s a shame he’s going to d—whoa, almost blew that one out of the water." Is this a red herring or what?

 

[Dread]

The way I see it, he's willing to admit his own mistakes. We live in a country where a president lied about reasons for going to war and then said he couldn't think of a single mistake he made in office. It's refreshing to see honesty sometimes.

And kudos to Marvel for bringing back Chris Giarusso and his Mini Marvels! PLEASE make this an ongoing! Make it an ongoing and I'll pull list it now! That strip is awesome.

Joe Q doesn't admit a mistake until long after it has already become impossible to ignore and blows up in their faces, and his response can change from year to year, as to the advert debacle. 2005, it was, "never again, and if so it'll be in the back of the book". 2006, it's "we like money more than readers, so grin and bare it the next few months, suckers!"

Frankly, what's worse than denying mistakes is admitting them but doing nothing to change them. At least someone in denial can be classified as being stubborn. But someone who eventually admits mistakes but rather than take direct, precise actions, just shrugs his/her collective shoulders and goes, "such is life" is even worse, because apparently this person isn't in denial but CHOOSES that path. Joe Q has admitted, say, that late books are a problem but has to date not done anything about it. He continues to indulge TV-Day-Job writers and artists who never miss doing a side cover job due to a late ongoing like there was no tomorrow. Creators seem to like him, but maybe that is the problem; who in their right minds obey bosses they like? No, you take ADVANTAGE of a friendly boss. That's human nature. A boss who is a sticklier hard-arse usually gets the best results. Maybe Joe can't do that, and that may be a problem. Some people are great to hang out with but don't have that tenacity to be fierce leaders. I mean, if this fact wasn't true, boot camp sargents would give all their recruits flowers on first day or something. In real life, most people at their jobs work hard to keep their schedule and do 110% not because they like their boss, but because they fear the wrath should they fail. Because they know there will be rupercussions. There seems to be none of that at Marvel, and that can be a problem.

One could say, "Oh, well, if Joe pissed off a creator they'd just jump ship", but in the age of exclusive contracts, that loses water. Besides, a writer or artist who can't maintain a schedule is going to screw over DC just as much as Marvel; call the bluff. I mean, look at Heinberg on WW.

 

[Darthphere]

So were getting into a semantical argument because Joey Q used the word "wishes". Wow, and here I thought ive seen it all.

 

[SpideyInATree]

Still no mention from who will be replacing JMS on Amazing Spider-Man?

That's all I want to know, damnit.

 

[Dread]

So were getting into a semantical argument because Joey Q used the word "wishes". Wow, and here I thought ive seen it all.

Are you kidding me? Semantics tend to be the trigger for a good number of MB debates, whether consciously or accidentally. Lord knows I've had people toss valid counterpoints at me when I would say something like, "all Bendis written female heroines act like ____" or so on. I could argue it's merely semantics and pretend to be Humpty Dumpty from ALICE IN WONDERLAND -- words merely mean what I want them to mean. Or people could expect others' words to be carefully chosen. Am I so wrong for feeling that Joe Q could be a better EIC if he gave off more direct effort at confronting a particular problem? He is with some things (getting Spider-Man & Wolverine on New Avengers, I am pretty sure, was his editorial edict) but not with others.

I am willing to drop it. Joe Q's Marvel has plenty of mistakes to look at, but it also has successes. At least he keeps slugging away at relaunching some older icons, and keeping RUNAWAYS afloat.