Another post from my long ago Marvel blog in which I answer reader questions. I have no idea why so many of these are numbered 7.
March 23, 2010 | 9:46 AM | By Tom_Brevoort | In General
Another week of more answers to your questions. Almost wrapped up here.
>Is the Marvel universe sort of come back to normal in the heroic age, for example, with Dr. Strange, Black Panther, and Steve Rogers?
Posted by RCcarroll on 2010-02-08 09:27:43>
I don’t think so, not in the way you mean. If you’re looking for everybody to be back in their traditional places as though nothing has happened, and for everything to become staid and predictable and boring, guess again. The three characters you list, for example, are still outside of their traditional roles right this moment.
>Tom. For me the X-Men in the 90’s were and probably always will be my favorite times in comics. They were when I started reading them, so for me at least, they’re the bees knees and everything else is held to their standard. I know that the vox populi seems to be that this was the epitome of the worst about comic books, and I must be honest, I couldn’t disagree more. But whatever. One day I’m sure someone will explain it to me so that I can understand, and then you know what, I’ll disagree anyway. But, eventually, as I grew older I realized that there was more to the X-Men comics then the one’s that I had read/was reading now. I learned about back issues, past stories that were more monumental then I could have ever imagined. Sagas of life and death, darkness and redemption were read by me, and while my fanboy-ism stayed firmly rooted in the late 80’s/90’s, my appreciation for the characters, not to mention writers/artists/everyone else, went up by many-a-fold. Now, until the day when I can realistically say, start with 1960’s X-Men number one and go forward, I have a pretty good grasp on what X-Men stories from the past to offer and recommend to someone should they ever ask the question about back-issues, past-stories, or too long dead mythical firebirds. Let’s face it, some stories from the past just HAVE to be read if you’re a fan of those characters. Finally at the question part. I’ve read all (and will continue to read all) of Brubaker and the previous guys Captain America, and HoM/Civil War/Secret Invasion/Siege as well as all of JMS’ Thor run, Fraction’s Iron Man run, and Bendis’ Avengers since the relaunch and the prison breakout on day One. Heck, I even try and keep up to date on my Daredevil. I’ve gotta say, wow, loving them all, especially now that Brubaker’s e p i c (sorry) story has finally come to a magnificent close. But when it comes to those character’s pasts (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Avengers) I’m, well, clueless. The online websites list hundreds of TOP (this persons’) books, and that can be quite mind-boggling/overwhelming to figure out which one’s are the best, and not just someone’s personal favorites. So, I was hoping that you could give me the companies opinion, or your opinion of, “read these three stories/sagas/epics” for Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Avengers please along the same lines as, “origin issues/The Phoenix Sagas/ Wolverine/ Mutant Massacre/ X-Tinction Agenda or Infernus or etc… etc…” >
Any list I’m going to give you is going to be just as subjective and personally biased as anybody else’s. But let me quickly run down a few stories for each character, apart from the stuff you’ve already read.
IRON MAN: The big storylines probably include “Demon In A Bottle”, “Armor Wars”, “War Machine” and “Extremis”
THOR: You can’t go wrong with the Stan and Jack run, but also Walt Simonson’s era (handily collected in a series of Thor: Walt Simonson Visionaries collections), Warren Ellis’s brief run “Worldengine”, the start of the Dan Jurgens/John Romita Jr sequence, and the “Avengers Disassembled: Thor” story of Ragnarok. As a stand-alone story, THOR: BLOOD OATH is pretty good too.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: Apart from Stan and Jack, the Steve Englehart era from the ’70s is quite good. Also, Mark Waid’s run (done mostly with Ron Garney), and the Roger Stern/John Byrne material.
AVENGERS: “The Kree/Skrull War”, “The Avengers/Defenders War’, “The Korvac Saga”, “Operation: Galactic Storm”, “The Morgan Conquests”, “Ultron Unlimited” and “Avengers Forever”. And the first “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” series by Joe Casey and Scott Kolins is an excellent summation of the early days of the team.
Fortunately, most or all of this material is readily available in collected editions.
>I was going to ask what would you write if you were ever given the opportunity to write, but it turns out a certain run of Fantastic Force exists so huh, go you… So instead I’ll ask this, in the decades that you’ve been working here, if you had to pick one single page or double-page spread that you’re either the most proud of, or like the most, or wish you could own, or anything like that, from ALL of the titles/anything really, you’ve been an actual part of, what would it be? If there’s a page/double-page and a different page of dialogue that’d be fine too. More importantly, why. I’d like to tell you mine too. Pages 13 and 14 from Uncanny X-Men #307 written by Scott Lobdell has my favorite piece of dialogue ever, the Black Widow telling the General Assembly of the United Nations what the Avengers stand for has been, even to this day the one that always first comes to mind. My favorite art (apart from the Day a Superman died) has to be the eighth and the 9-10 double page splash pages of the Onslaught Marvel Universe pencilled (I’m learning, I didn’t write drawn) by Kubert and Bennet (the finale one-shot) within the Onslaught GN. The top half shows the bodies of the X-Men flying through the air, and the bottom half shows (the “Marvel way” of doing things I’m sure,) parts of the individual heroes costumes before leading into a mighty splash page. The dialogue also helps; “Silence filled the air. All was lost. And yet… Through the haze of the dust… Xavier sensed a coming… Of hope… Of courage… (turn page to the next page which is the splash page of all the heroes, and wham!) … Of Marvels.” It has, and always will remain, to me at least, priceless. Oh yeah, and the issue where Illyana Rasputin dies as a child from the Legacy Virus always leaves a knot in the back of my throat too. >
I don’t know if I have anything quite so specific as the examples you tossed out, Thomas. But one page I do own is from AVENGERS/JLA #1, Page 21, in which the Flash first vibrates his way into the Marvel Universe. That was a plot moment that I advocated for, and after that page arrived from George Perez, it became known around my offices as “Tom’s page.” So when George eventually put the artwork from AVENGERS/JLA up for sale, I went ahead and bought that page.
> If there was anyway that you could drag Axel Alonso from what must be a luxurious penthouse worthy of the editor of the X-Men within the office to the little Avengers room to answer a few fan questions such as these it’d be better then awesome, (I have to) it’d be Marvelous. Thanks T.
Posted by thomas more on 2010-02-08 12:31:33>
That’s entirely up to Axel, I’m afraid. This sort of online interaction really doesn’t seem to be his thing, at least not on any kind of regular basis.
>Will the debate about the Mimic being a super-human or a mutant be decided?
I’m for super-human. >
I didn’t realize that there was any debate. His father gave him his powers with a big scientific machine-he’s not a mutant.
> Marvel policy on submitting new character or story ideas, is this due to Marvel Comics have sole ownership to an in-house idea – preventing any legal problem to the company?
Posted by mimic616 on 2010-02-08 12:46:38>
Marvel does not accept unsolicited submissions of any kind, sorry. And that’s to prevent any problems if an idea winds up being similar to something we’ve already got cooking somewhere (which happens all the time-fans figure out where we’re going, write in to suggest that direction as an idea, then get upset and accuse Marvel of having stolen their concept.)
>Tom I really love all other timelines and I think it’s great what Marvel did with Ultimate Universe (and Ultimatum – big event just for Ultimate Universe that is awesome) so I just wanted to ask if there are any plans for another timeline to get little bit of spotlight (like Marvel 2099 or Spider-Girl reality). I ask because it looks like Marvel is trying to remind us that this Universe still exist (for example mini serie like American Dream, Timestorm 2009/2099, Spider-Man 1602) Thank you for your answer and have a nice day.
Posted by Zajdalen on 2010-02-08 12:50:22>
We don’t tend to think about these projects in terms of universes, Zaj, so much as in terms of stories. So if we have a story we think is cool that features Spider-Man 2099 or American Dream or whomever, then we go ahead and do it. But we rarely sit around thinking “what other timelines or universes can we bring back now?” It all begins and ends with the stories.
>I think we’re all dying for a report on the x-jammers, (and me as a monster havok fan) and we are just dying to know! Did their spaceship crash? When are we going to see them?
Posted by iplasmic77 on 2010-02-08 14:34:26>
I have no idea, I’m afraid-this is entirely in the world of the X-office, and I don’t know what they’ve got planned, if anything. Oh, if only Axel Alonso answered questions online.
>My first one concerns the history of Spider-girl, and by history I mean of the universe that Spider-girl lives in and the heroes and villains that live in it.
You see before all this next-generation of heroes thing in Marvel, there was SPIDER-GIRL. I mean besides the fact that she is an alternative future for Spider-man, she also a part of an alternate future where we see the offsprings of many other Marvel heroes and villains. Offsprings who stories we have yet to hear from. I mean there even a son for the Hulk, before the events of Greg Pak’s Skaar storyline, in this world.
So really my question is that when are we ever going to learn the true history and origins Spider-girl’s world ? >
I’m not sure what you’re asking precisely, but it seems like what you’re after are more projects that tell about the events within Spider-Girl’s world, revealing how some of the heroes and villains of her time came to be (or came to be descended from various modern day Marvel characters.) And I think the only answer I can give you is that we’ll touch on that stuff in SPIDER-GIRL when it’s germane to the story at hand. But there aren’t any plans at the moment for a big “History of the Spider-Girl Universe” project of any kind.
> My other question sort of relates to my previous one and that is due to the relationships that Spider-girl has with other heroes. Like the Fantastic Four of her world and how they know each other very well.
Is there any chance taht there could be another mini-series detailing the relationship that Spider-girl has with the heroes of her world, especially when it comes to her current storyline ?
Posted by CAmbm on 2010-02-08 15:59:39>
This seems like very much the same question. And I think that, throughout the course of her adventures, we’ve seen the first time that Spider-Girl met the Fantastic Five, and the A-Next Avengers, and so forth. This has all been covered over the last ten years of her publishing history. So I’d guide you towards the collections of her past stories for the answers you’re looking for in this regard.
>Which series will be concerned by the World War Hulks crossover ? Will it be more of a “Second Coming” kind of event (one big storyline which can be followed throughout all the titles), more like a “Fall Of The Hulks” one (no main storyline, just stories that are interconnected) or a “Siege”-type one (a major event and its tie-ins) ?
Posted by softverre on 2010-02-08 16:19:09>
I believe, of the options you mentioned, that it will follow the model of “Fall of the Hulks” most closely. As you might expect, given that it’s being done by the same creators right on the heels of that storyline.
>Are you guys going to be doing any “The Heroic Age” Digital Comics Previews? >
We’ll probably do something, but the specifics haven’t been ironed out yet. More news as it becomes available.
>Are you going to do like a “day In The Life Of A Marvel ___”? In that blank…Artist, Editor, or Writer.Just wondering…:)
Posted by truebeliever789 on 2010-02-08 16:27:27>
Don’t know if we’ll do that necessarily. But along those lines, we’ve begun filming a couple of our regular editorial Reading circles, at which we analyze and dissect a recent comic. The first one can be found here:
http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.11589.watch_marvel_reading_circle~colon~_asm_%23620
More later.
Tom B
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
18 years later I still think it would’ve been a cool nod to Kirby to have let Flash still access the Speed Force in the Marvelverse. BECAUSE, Mark Waid or Paul Kupperberg (in “Takion”) tied the Speed Force, the quantum field (Captain Atom’s power source), and even Oan Guardian energy, to The Source. The Source comes from Kirby, and Kirby is co-creator of the bones of the Marvelverse. Yes, he created the Source for DC only, BUT the same Kirby Krackle Dots inhabit both fictional realities (oxymoronic). It would’ve worked.
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Tim — I don’t think it would have. Look at how much explanation you’ve engaged in, all to explain something no one in the story would have noticed. If the Flash’s powers worked the same in the Marvel Universe as in the DCU, there’d have been no need to explain why, any more than we need to explain why Superman’s or Wonder Woman’s did.
So it’d have just been a scene where the Flash gets to the Marvel Universe and still runs around just fine, and no one would have felt a need to comment on it or explain anything, so there’d have been no “cool nod to Kirby.”
Whereas what we did was a plot complication, and as such explaining it mattered to the story, and made it more textured, gave more of a sense that the worlds had different properties, something that was important to the story.
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Good points. I realize every bit of real estate on a page is limited. The 1st idea I can think of now would involve a bit player that would take maybe too much valuable space from everything else. Putting Flash close to someone like Orion as they search for the Cosmic Cube in the Marvelverse. Orion’s Mother Box noting his Astro-Force is similar to the energy in the Cosmic Cube, which is how Orion can still access it in a different reality.
If it’s Barry as Flash, he might work out the logic faster than Wally, that there’s energy in that other “universe” that allows him to access the Speed Force, or it acts as a substitute. Maybe Barry wonders out loud what type of power connects the 2 realities w/ Orion & Thor present in the same panel. Or some other prominent Kirby visuals. The question doesn’t need to be answered. Readers can reach their own conclusions.
The Silver Surfer isn’t an Avenger, so that rules out his recognizing Flash’s Speed Force as similar to the Power Cosmic. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read my initial comment and for your explanation.
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