MARVEL CHECKLIST

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JM: That said, solely on a publishing front, we're a mere five days away from Secret Invasion 2. What's in store, kemosabe?

JQ: We're bringing back Mark Gruenwald's fan-favorite character "Buried Alien." No, sorry, got confused there for a moment. Identity crises.

There will be moves and counter-moves. Rampaging dinosaurs. A heart-rending reunion. The Young Avengers on the streets of Manhattan. And Skrulls, Skrulls, Skrulls!

JM: One more con note: I wasn't there, but a couple folks told me at one of your panels, you did the fake phone call bit from Dan DiDio at DC Comics, with the punch line being he was "looking for his market share." Look, I know you say you like to stir things up and stick a thumb in the eye, but…isn't this just sophomoric? Low class?

JQ: If you were there, you would have seen that it was done in great fun. It's not like you can go to a DC panel and they don't take shots at us. I'd venture to say that they probably take a few more than we do from time to time. But the truth of the matter is that it doesn't matter. It's just comics. It's fun, it's a friendly rivalry, and I think competition and the jabs here and there just intensify it and make it that much more fun for the fans. Sure, I'm sure the DC faithful don't like it, but that's okay. I've done these fake phone calls on several occasions, each with a different gag. What makes them funny is that most of the time they're actually unplanned and unscripted. It always happens when I forget-like an idiot-to turn my phone off at panels. Someone invariably calls me, usually my wife just calling me when I'm away at a show to see how I'm doing. Suddenly she'll hear me go into a shtick…and it peeves her off to no end. One time, she wouldn't speak to me for an entire day afterward.

JM: So that's good. Because Venom is bad. Right?

JQ: As always, time will tell. At this point, all I'm allowed to say in addition is that it involves someone's Auntie.

JM: Aunt Petunia?

JQ: Not quite. And just wait 'til we introduce Uncle Venom.

JM: And it looks like we have a return of a Green Goblin. But I'd bet donuts to Deutsche marks this isn't Harry Osborn, but rather Norman.

JQ: Wow, how weak has the dollar gotten? You have to bet in foreign currency? I'll take that bet and maybe even your money.

Marcos asks:
Is Marvel ever gonna release Essentials collection of runs from obscure characters such as Darkhawk or Sleepwalker? Also, what about the old Marvel 2099 line? Spider-Man 2099 was another great series.

JQ: Marcos, while there are no plans at present for those Essentials, Darkhawk would make an interesting Classic Collection, wouldn't it?

With Howard Chaykin coming on board to finally revive the Squadron Supreme, any chance of getting another oversized hardcover of the J. Michael Straczynski run? All of the stuff he did post-MAX plus the Nighthawk vs. Hyperion mini- would be a nice collection.

JQ: Chip, m'man, there are no plans at the moment.

And it was X-Men Group Editor Axel Alonso who came up with the idea for Cable's baby holster. He wanted to call the storyarc "Bjorn to be Wild" as well, but he got out-voted. Thankfully.

Hola Joe,
1) Can you give us more hints or details on the image you showed at the end of a panel at New York Comic Con where a long-haired man was surrounded by wolves and had skulls at his feet?
2) Can we expect to see Kang or Count Nefaria going against the Avengers at some point?
3) Red Hulk vs. Mighty Avengers. Coming up?
4) If a fan takes it upon himself to commission an artist to revamp a character's design in a drawing, then e-mails the design to you, could it be implemented in the books if the design is really good?

JQ: Shaolin, just how deadly are you? I'd just like to know before I answer your questions
1) Nope, you'll just have to stew on it for a bit.
2) Sorry, not in the immediate future.
3) It's probably inevitable. I mean, after all, the Red Hulk is secretly Ares. Wait! Who said that?
4) Nope, it can't. There are many things that go into designing our characters and being assigned freelancer work from Marvel. Many of these things have to do with getting assigned and paid by Marvel to do the work, and the legal contract behind those assignments. Also, Marvel would have to have a desire or need to have the character in question redesigned, and that's the kind of info that's only known internally. When we do have that need, we hire the artist we feel most appropriate to do the assignment.

ey Joe! What's the deal with the Sentry? I know a lot of people who don't give the Sentry a lot of credit, but I love him. Will we ever see a solo series or even another mini with him? It would be totally cool to see him take on someone other then the Void. If it happens, you should do the cover for the 1 issue. Instant hit!

JQ: Chris, I'm right there with you, I love the Sentry. When Paul Jenkins first pitched me the character idea, we had a blast coming up with some of the intricacies of him and his world. There's some more fun Sentry stuff in the works and some very big plans for him in late 2009 and early 2010. Keep your eyes on the sky.

Joe, I'm a longtime comic fan who stopped reading for a while, and recently got back into it during the tail end of Civil War when I saw the Spider-Man unmasking piece in the newspaper. I've tried to pick up some DC titles, but nothing piques my interest, and I've only read a few books from the other publishers. You guys just keep on churning out the stuff that's appealing to me. So my question (sorry it took so long!) is that if each publisher has their own group of "zombies," what do you think brings new readers to Marvel and not the other publishers?

JQ: Great question, Robbie. Do you mean outside of my charm? ;-)

I think the biggest reason is something that Stan Lee and company created long ago that everyone has tried to copy at one point or another: Marvel is a universe that's closer to the real world than any other, and our characters are the most human. Before the advent of the Marvel character, the hero with feet of clay, all superheroes were more godlike than human. They were more paternal and maternal figures than relatable icons.

Marvel introduced the superhero we could all relate to, the hero that we could see ourselves being. This was a dynamic shift in how superhero books were being created. Add to this the fact that Spider-Man swung through New York City and not "Metropolis," and you see that Stan and crew put these humanistic characters on a real-world canvas. This canvas became the setting on which all Marvel stories were written and drawn, and it's easy to see why Marvel kicks major booty.

To me, that's why stories like Civil War are so successful—because while a Marvel Universe story at its core, the "real world" metaphors are instantly recognizable to our readers. The same is true of the core metaphors behind our characters. Spider-Man and X-Men are great examples of these.

I'd also add to this that I believe that our writers and artists are firing on all cylinders today, and creating some of the greatest stories in the history of the industry across a large variety of our titles. and it's clearly reflected in our market share and mainstream interest in our books.

And finally, Marvel is a very different place than it was just 10 years ago. Not only are we doing some fun stuff, but when you look at our line, I can't think of a time when the variety of the types of books we're doing has ever been seen in our history. We have our superhero universes in the Marvel U. and the Ultimate Universe. We're doing Classic stories, as well as a Marvel Adventures line for kids. We have a line of books based around well-known authors such as Stephen King, Orson Scott Card and Laurel K. Hamilton. There's our MAX line for adults, and a creator-owned line in Icon. Add to all of this the fact that we have the top collected editions department in the industry, and it makes keep up and catching up much easier for the casual reader. That's a lot of variety when you consider that just 10 years ago we had no collected editions department, and all we were publishing was superhero books, half of them X-Men.

1) Ultimate Origin leads into Ultimatum. There is a discovery (the big discovery of the Ultimate Universe) that rocks the very foundation of some character's world. Everything they believed in turned out to be a lie. This revelation and realization sets off Ultimatum. I don't want to say much more other than some books may go away because some characters will no longer be around to drive them. Hard times a-coming to the world of the Ultimates.

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