Two posts from my old Marvel blog, the first of which is a call for reader questions and the second is the first portion of answers to those questions.
May 22, 2009 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General
It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, and it seems like most of the people who are posting in the comments section recently have questions they’re wondering about. So I’m making next week a Reader’s Questions week here at the Blog.
House rules will remain the same as always: any one person can ask up to two questions. Post your questions in the reply section of this thread only–if they’re elsewhere, or have previously been posted in other threads, I’m not going to be able to find them. And, as in the past, any reader can veto any question for any reason.
Let me also restate the obvious: I’m not going to spoil upcoming storylines, so be advised of that.
Otherwise, the floor is yours. What do you want to know?
Tom B
May 26, 2009 | 1:00 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General
All right, folks, the question period is over and the topic is closed–no further questions will be accepted from this point on. All Vetos have been tallied (and just for the record, since this seems to confuse people every time, anybody can veto any question for any reason, and you can’t “un-veto” a question.) So now and for the remainder of the week, let this be a time of answers.
>In War of Kings #2 it is stated that Polaris is a mutant again, but before that it was unclear how the Celestial technology was repowering her. I was wondering what depowered mutants who have been repowered various ways are currently mutants again?
Posted by ECH2007 on 2009-05-22 11:42:51>
I don’t think this is a simply binary question–it’ll be different in every case. It’s still not been made clear precisely what the Celestial tech did to Polaris, and whether that amounts to reactivating her X-gene and returning her powers to her, or finding other ways of giving her similar abilities. And I’d think this would be different for any other character who might have gotten their powers restored through some other means (such as the return of Quicksilver’s speed.)
In short, I don’t have a clear answer for you on this one.
>There is a big history here, a lot of continuity….
… so the question is this, a simple question with a not simple answer – where does a new reader start?
Posted by murk1e on 2009-05-22 12:15:49>
Anywhere they want to, with whatever catches their eye or attention. There tend to be some obvious, perrennial titles that function as a gateway to the Marvel Universe (ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN vol. 1, ASTONISHING X-MEN, CIVIL WAR, etc) but in theory, if we’re doing our jobs right, an interested party should be able to dive in virtually anywhere and be able to understand and appreciate the story they’re reading. So go where your desires take you!
> Brian Bendis is my favorite writer, Joe Quesada is one of my favorite artist on Spider-Man & others. These guys as a team may have the best Marvel comic in them in its 70 year history. When will they team up on a Spider-Man comic?
Posted by pineappleprotein on 2009-05-22 12:22:22>
July. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #600.
>what I really want to know is if someone considered Leinil Yu as a regular artist for Nova …? And also : what will be Michael Lark and Travis Foreman’ next projects ?
Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-05-22 13:44:17>
Several people may have considered Leinil Yu for NOVA, but the big question would really be does Leinil Yu have any interest at all in illustrating NOVA? (My guess would be probably not.) In terms of Michael and Travis, as soon as we’re ready to announce something, you’ll hear about it, but that falls outside of the scope of this column.
>So, why are the relaunches of the Ultimate comics being priced at $3.99?
Posted by maser on 2009-05-22 14:06:33>
For the same reason that any of our other titles are being priced at $3.99 going forward in the future. I think this is territory that we’ve well-covered in the past few months, spelling out how we’re trying to limit the number of titles that carry a price increase so as to be able to hold the line on the rest of the publishing line. But that does mean that you are going to see some titles that you like going up in price. As anybody who’s followed our hobby for any length of time can tell you, such increases are inevitable.
>1. Considering how badly Marvel has treated the character of Mary Jane Waston since OMD (the Paper Doll Arc was NOT kind to her), what has led the Spidey Brain Trust to finally bring her back proper (and hopefully with some OMD questions answered) in ASM, not to mention getting her own Graphic Novel in August (which I’m REALLY excited about by the way, thanks Marvel!)? >
I think this is a matter of opinion, at least from where I sit, Derek. I don’t think we’ve treated MJ badly at all (heck, she hasn’t been around often enough TO treat badly!) Regardless, MJ is and always has been an important character in Spidey’s world, so it’s inevitable that we’d be bringing her back onto the canvas sooner or later. And it feels like enough time has passed now that maybe we’ve got a chance of doing so without there being rioting on the Internet, apart from the well-known bastions of Pro-Marriage sentiment.
>2. Could Marvel ever clear up the origins of the Zombie Sentry from the Original Marvel Zombies? Aside from a reference to involvment from Magneto and picking on a certain guntotting wisecracker in heaven, we know little about how he landed in the MZ Universe? If nothing else it would be a nice idea for a Marvel Zombies One-Shot, that and exactly how Ultimate Doctor Doom got back to the Ultimate Universe.
Posted by Derek Metaltron on 2009-05-22 14:54:40>
I’m afraid you’ve got me at something of a loss. I may just have not been paying enough attention to that corner of the Marvel U, but I’m unaware of the questions concerning the Zombie Sentry. I’d just presume he was the regular Sentry turned into a Zombie like all of his fellow Marvel Zombies–but if it were that simple, I expect there wouldn’t be a question about it.
Ultimate Doom took the bus home to the Ultimate U.
>In recent previews, there is no Thor news. Is Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales and Laura Martin still the regular artistic team after Marko Djurdjevic’s run? Please make it so!
Posted by Bladai on 2009-05-22 16:08:28>
As soon as there’s THOR news, there’ll be THOR news, Bladai. Sorry I can’t give you any better info at this time.
>1: Without really being accusatory or offended, I’m just curious what happened with the Millar/Hitch Fantastic Four run? It was originally months ahead of schedule, but it’s fallen behind and now they’re not even finishing their climactic storyline, bringing in a new art team and co-writer. >
Both Mark and Bryan have discussed this elsewhere, so I’m going to assume that it’s fine to be similarly straightforward about my answer. First, Mark had a big medical scare around Christmastime that knocked him out of action for about six weeks, which necessitated his pal Joe Ahearne stepping in to finish up the actual scripting on FF #568 and #569 (though the stories in both issues were by Mark.) And on Bryan’s side of the fence, his mother passed away after a substantial bout of illness, and that cost him about a month’s time lost–and with us needing him for the still-secretive REBORN project, that meant that something had to give, and that something was FF.
>2: Is the Twelve going to resume publication any time soon.
Posted by mcross76 on 2009-05-22 16:16:24>
We’d sure like it to, but it all depends on whether we receive more script from JMS. Everything’s stalled until he can find the time to get back to it.
More tomorrow!
Tom B
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
The Zombie Sentry origin was answered, wasn’t it? One of the Marvel Zombies sequels has them landing on a parallel world and starting the zombie plague there, finally infecting that world’s Sentry… who Uatu then sends back in time to the original Marvel Zombies Universe, this turning the whole saga into a self-fulfilling loop.
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