Blah Blah Blog – Reader Questions 7

Another old post from my Marvel blog of a decade ago, in which I answer some questions from teh readership.

Reader Questions 7

April 28, 2007 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General

All right, we’re getting down to the end on Reader Questions, so we should have this all wrapped up by tomorrow.

>What are the top 3 collections which haven’t been collected yet that you’d like to see quickly?

Posted by Dusty. on 2008-03-29 01:24:29>

This is a tougher question than you might think, since so much of Marvel’s back-catalogue has at this point been collected, or is on track to be. Only a few short years ago, the notion that there’d be a volume collecting the entirety of Steve Ditko’s SPIDER-MAN work would be laughable. So strides have really been made in this area, thanks to the dedicated work of Sales VP David Gabriel and the Collections Department headed up by Jeff Youngquist. (Heck, they’ve even reprinted a bunch of stuff that wasn’t any good the first time it saw the light of day!) So right this moment, I’ll say:

1) NOT BRAND ECHH MASTERWORKS
2) NEW WARRIORS by Nicieza and Bagley
3) DR. STRANGE by Stern and Rogers

>1) Being at the bottom of the totem pole within the corporate world, I’m kind of curious about the “unsung heroes” that work within Marvel comics. We all know about the writers, artists, the EiC, and the odd editor or two, but what about the employees that work underneath you and others, from your assistants even down to the symbolic “mail-room”. What is a day in the life of Tom Brevoort’s assistant’s assistant like? Joe Q’s assistant, etc… (Truthfully, all that being said, and I’m pretty sure you mentioned before what a day in your job is like, but still, what about a day in yours?)

Posted by Thomas More on 2008-03-29 15:59:20>

Whew! That’s a big question–and one I’m not certain I have the space or the time to address here, not to mention the perspective. But Joe’s assistant is mostly dealing with his schedule, making sure that he’s available for any crucial meetings and so forth. My assistant’s day is filed with the innumerable and thankless tasks necessary to get a whole line of books out the door to the printer every month–everything from moving pages from point A to point B in the production cycle, overseeing schedules and staying in touch with the assorted writers and artists about the whereabouts of their work, the same kind of proofreading and story review that I do, interfacing with the Bullpen and the production department, making sure that Recap Pages and Letters Pages are written, designed and put together, making sure that all of the covers for a given month get done in time for the sales catalogue to go out–all this and a lot more. And all but the newest and rawest of the junior editorial staff also have at least one or two projects of their own to manage on top of all this.

>2) What does the business side (non-creative side) of Marvel do on a daily basis? Is there a difference between your office and the accounting, legal, etc… or do you have to deal with it all in your position. What does Dan Buckley and his world within Marvel do exactly? (I know that is really bad grammar).

Posted by Thomas More on 2008-03-29 15:59:20>

Some of this is relatively simple: the accounting department makes sure that everybody gets paid, and that anybody billable gets invoiced (for licensing agreements, for instance.) They’re the part of the outfit that all the money goes through, so they’re under constant scrutiny and pressure. The legal department handles all legal matters relating to the business (not just the comics, but the movies, the licensing–the whole ball of wax), so they generate contracts, review deals, register trademarks, send cease & desist letters when warranted, check if a particular usage of some element in a comic book might be a problem, and all sorts of stuff beyond that. And Dan, as the Publisher and President of Publishing oversees the entirety of our operation, making sure that we’re meeting our budget, and that we’re maximizing any potential opportunities that come our way. He’s also the one who brokers deals with outside properties (such as the Stephen King DARK TOWER book), as well as being the final negotiator with our exclusive talent, as well as with the printers and paper suppliers and the all-important staple lobby.

>is there any way that Emma could be a skrull? Please?

Posted by domino21710 on 2008-03-29 18:39:13>

Sure. She was among those who stepped out of that Skrull ship in the Savage Land in SECRET INVASION #1, so it’s more than remotely possible.

>Tom, what are the chances of Mr. Fish popping up in a GLA or Dan Slott related project?

Posted by Dr. Chaos on 2008-03-29 21:48:35>

Better than the chances of Dan Slott showing up on a GLA project any time soon.

More later.

Tom B