Hey folks, Harry here... With Gray Haven's update about the web world of Marvel, as well as an interview with Joe Quesada, editor in chief of Marvel Comics... Unfortunately Andrew didn't ask Joe about his work on the upcoming DAREDEVIL movie.... ahem... but hey... Next time... right? RIGHT! Enjoy....Click to return to the previous comic column!!!
FOUR DIFFERENT COMIC BOOKS NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE EVERY MONTH AT WWW.MARVEL.COM!
Readers Make Theirs Marvel dotComics As Site Breaks 1,000,000 Hits!
Continuing their efforts to reach new readers, Marvel has expanded their Marvel dotComics program, offering fans four complete issues every month at DotComics. And The House's efforts appear to be working, as, over the last four months alone, the Marvel dotComics have attracted over one million hits.
"Currently, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, and Amazing Spider-Man are offered every month," explained Senior Developer John D. Roberts. "We've recently added a rotating fourth. These have included Fantastic Four #40, Uncanny X-Men #390, and Spider-Girl #33. In anticipation of Elektra's new series, Daredevil #168, containing her the first appearance, will be available soon. Also, since Alan Davis's run on Earth's Mightiest Heroes has been generating such great response, his and Kurt Busiek's issues of Avengers will be translated into Marvel dotComics."
"The Ultimate titles were created for new readers, so they were a natural choice as Marvel dotComics," said Sr. Online Editorial Manager Bill Rosemann. "Likewise, J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man is attracted mainstream press coverage so that too was a given. But we realize that there are other key issues that are sold out, such as Uncanny X-Men #390 (the death of Colossus), or represent good jumping-on points, like Fantastic Four #40. Either way, readers are missing out on the fun, and this is a way they can find out what everyone is talking about... and best of all, they're absolutely free!"
"Marvel dotComics offer, above all, convenience," stated Roberts. "They allow the fan, who may have limited access to specialty stores, the ability to read Marvel comics from the comfort of their own home. They also allows fans who may have missed an issue the ability to catch up. Finally, they offer readers the opportunity to be introduced, free of charge, to a book that they may not normally buy."
"As everyone has heard by now, the fans saved Spider-Girl from cancellation," added Rosemann. "But many asked how we could introduce this great book to a wider audience. That's where the Marvel dotComics program comes in. When we have a comic that we believe in, we can take action by putting it online for free. If readers like what they see with issue #33, perhaps they'll pick up the Spider-Girl trade paperback in October... and better yet, head into their local shop right now and seek out new issues!"
"In addition to all of this news is the fact that, in conjunction with Marvel.com's upcoming redesign, the Marvel dotComics will soon be upgraded," added Roberts. "As well as featuring a more user friendly look and feel, the Marvel dotComics menu will also introduce an e-mail form for people to use to send us feedback. This version is set to go live with the release of the new site design."
"Some companies are content offering one title a month online, while others choose to offer none," Rosemann concluded. "I'm just glad that Marvel has the vision to expand into the online arena -- and people who care enough to give the fans free comics each and every week."
Below is the Marvel dotComics publishing schedule for the rest of June, July, and August. Issues are posted in two chapters, on every Monday and Wednesday.
Release Date Issue
June 27th Ultimate Spider-Man #10 (part 1)
June 29th Ultimate X-Men #6 (part 1)
July 4th Amazing Spider-Man #31 (part 1)
July 6th Daredevil #168 (part 1)
July 11th Ultimate Spider-Man #10 (part 2)
July 13th Ultimate X-Men #6 (part 2)
July 18th Amazing Spider-Man #31 (part 2)
July 20th Daredevil #168 (part 2)
July 25th Ultimate Spider-Man #11 (part 1)
July 27th Ultiamate X-Men #7 (part 1)
Aug. 1st Amazing Spider-Man #32 (part 1)
Aug. 3rd Avengers #38 (part 1)
Aug. 15th Ultimate Spider-Man #11 (part 2)
Aug. 17th Ultimate X-Men #7 (part 2)
Aug. 22nd Amazing Spider-Man #32 (part 2)
Aug. 24th Avengers #38 (part 2)
Free Marvel dotComics are waiting for you right now at DotComics!
Joe Quesada: The AICN/GHM Interview
-by Andrew Goletz and Barry Wolborsky
What came first, the chicken or the egg? That’s an age-old question that really has no answer. Another could be: Did Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada bring about both a resurgence in his own company and the comics industry over all, or was the time just right for things to go this way? I have my opinions, and I think it all began when Joe headed up the Marvel Knights imprint at Marvel a few years ago. The accomplished writer, artist and self-publisher (Event Comics) was called in to help spark ‘something’ at the company. He took characters that no one cared about anymore: Daredevil, The Inhumans and Punisher (to name a few) and turned them into hits with the help of Kevin Smith, Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, among others.
He was continued to bring in top talent to Marvel while earning a promotion to EIC of the company. In less than a year, Marvel has become associated with names like Mike Allred, Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, David Mack, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, JM Straczynski, Matt Wagner and many, many more of the industry’s top creators. He’s revitalized the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises and turned the Ultimate imprint into a new reader friendly hit. With a Mature Line, Creator Owned Comics, and a Children’s Imprint all in the wings, as well as rumblings about Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and other Hollywood stars waiting to work for Marvel, you can be sure that Joe has no signs of letting the company’s success slow him down.
Joe, just about ready to drop from a serious bout with bronchitis, still agreed to sit down with Barry and I for an interview, but not before we had a chance to quickly check out the new Marvel offices. Even though they barely had time to unpack after their recent move, you could feel the rush of energy by watching the employees moving back and forth, doing their job. This is a world where people earn a living having something to do with the creation of a comic book. And there were a lot of comic books to be found. Comics on racks, on desks, bundled up on shelves. Marvel toys everywhere. I even saw the famous ‘shield’ that Senior Online Editorial Manager, Bill Rosemann is usually photographed with, unguarded in an open room. If I had a cleaner break at the door, it would have been mine. I felt like I was in my own personal, Willy Wonkaesq fantasy, with comics and comic book people everywhere you looked. Hopefully, we’ll be able to bring you a little look inside their doors at another time, but now here’s the interview.
GHM: You put out your numbers at the Wed meeting. Could you explain the difference between Marvel or the industry now and 6 or 7 months ago?
JQ: We took a concentrated look at putting the best talent on the best books. We had problems getting the books into the hands of new readers but there was a point where the quality of storytelling was so horrific that who cared if people weren’t reading.
It’s funny, as we move to our new office, you see old comics thrown about everywhere. I mean you go to the men’s room and there are comics in the stall. I picked up a few one morning while I was doing my business and it’s all this stuff from 93, 94 and so on. There’s all this gold and foil crap. You sort of forget how bad some of this stuff was because we were helping to feed the frenzy at the time. Marvel seemed to have this unspoken policy that if you were an editor, that somehow entitled you to get to write a book. You had assistant editors writing an X-Men book while the doors were closed to pursuing talent from other areas outside of Marvel. At the end of the day, getting guys like Grant Morrison on X-Men is what’s really going to move the needle on comic sales in a significant way that will make a lasting impression.
I haven’t spoken to a single retailer who has told me that their sales are down. In the last 3 or 4 months, sales have skyrocketed. The industry itself is feeling an increase up into the teens. Marvel itself is feeling a growth spurt in the 60-70 percent range. So overall, whatever Marvel is doing seems to be helping the industry overall.
GHM: Do you see Marvel wanting to get back to a point in the 90s where you were publishing so many books?
JQ: No. It’s like a laser. If you focus a laser beam on a point, it’s much stronger than expanding it. When you publish too many titles you become like a flashlight beam, fading as it goes off to the edges. The peripheral books eventually suffer. If you look at some of the books we published before, there was some really dreadful stuff. There’s artwork that I see from the age of the glut and stories that I read that I wouldn’t even entertain at a beginner’s portfolio review. There was just too much product and not enough talent.
GHM: Why do you think there was this over-saturation of books?
JQ: It’s the collector mentality. Well, let me take that back. It’s the speculator mentality, which is a big difference. When you have all these people coming in to buy titles that they’ll never even open to read, you can do something like publish multiple Thor monthly books or whatever. It was shortsighted but a lot of people got really, really rich and then they got out. There was no love for the comics with these individuals; it was just a quick buck and run.
GHM: Do you think you missed an opportunity with the first X-Men movie?
JQ: Oh yeah. When the movie was coming out, our books were so convoluted that they were impenetrable to anyone, even the core readers. That’s corporate suicide. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.
If the Spider-Man movie were to come out tomorrow, we’d be 100 times better prepared than we were for the X-Men, and that’s without even really being ready yet. We’ve made a lot of progress.
GHM: The movies are making a lot of business and you have 10 or 15 movies coming out. Do the creative teams have pressure to make the books more accessible to readers by maybe catering their stories to them?
JQ: The simple answer is that there is no rule. We’ve live by these very archaic rules that we don’t need to follow any more. If there was a movie coming out that was such a radical departure from what we’re doing in the main titles, we’d probably do an ‘Ultimate’ book. But we’ll play it by ear before deciding what to do.
GHM: Speaking of the Ultimate books, is there a reason for the slow down after such a strong start out of the gates?
JQ: It’s very simple. It’s a new philosophy, but we’re trying to wait until the time is right. Let’s not milk the reader for everything they have. Years ago, you’d see 20 Ultimate books pop up because of the success of the line and we don’t think that’s the right way to go. We want to make the right decisions. If you look at the X books (with the exception of Uncanny and New X-Men which sort of work together and that’s fine) there is something for everyone. They’re all pretty different. X-Treme is more for the old die hard fans, then you have Brotherhood and X-Force which are so different from what we’ve ever done, and then if you like sort of out there time travel stories, then you have Exiles. If you’re a fan of the original team and movie characters, we have mini-series coming out featuring those characters.
The other thing is if we do a 4th Ultimate title, there’s a very good chance it will be the last one. 4 titles, you figure 10 bucks and that’s a pretty good deal. And you don’t have to get anything else if you’re just reading the Ultimate books. You have your own concise little universe.
GHM: Are you going to try and promote characters like Blade or Cloak and Dagger, who have movies in the works?
JQ: We’re working on the Blade comic now. It will closely tie into the movie and we’re working on promotions around the movie. I don’t know about Cloak and Dagger yet because we’re not sure how close to production on the movie they are.
GHM: Marvel is putting its name out and getting attention while it seems like DC is hanging back.
JQ: DC is always hanging back. I can’t really speak for DC, but I’ve always heard that one of the goals over there has been to stay under the radar. If that’s the goal, they’re doing it very, very well. It’s not what I’m about. I’m very proactive in the industry and try to go out and promote IT. I mean people know comics are out there, they just think that they’re for little kids all the time. I want to raise that awareness. Outside of a national television campaign, I think we’re doing a pretty good job of getting the word out.
GHM: So when does the television campaign start?
JQ: That’ll start the minute you can walk out of this restaurant and on every other corner find a place that sells comics.
GHM: Last year Crossgen did a tie in with a teen magazine to try and bring in awareness. Do you see yourselves ever doing something like that?
JQ: If the opportunity presents itself and it’s a good marketing strategy, absolutely. We’re trying to do a lot like getting the Ultimate books out to new readers for free and working with our licensing people. We’d love to have more books that could be geared to that type of audience. Right now, all we have is Spider-Girl. Spider-Girl is entry level, good Marvel soap opera storytelling. I love the book.
GHM: Would it be a candidate to join the new young reader imprint?
JQ: Probably not. We’ll most likely keep it in the Marvel Universe but as we move to our new rating system, it’ll definitely be an ‘un-rated book’ which will mean it’s for all ages. The big misconception is that X-Men is for 8 year olds. X-Men hasn’t been for 8 year olds for 30 years. Neither is Spider-Girl, but that book is at least more appropriate.
GHM: How have sales been on the Spider-Girl title since the movement to save it from cancellation?
JQ: Better. It’s not huge, but there has been a blip and public awareness has definitely been raised on the book. It’s not a flashy book, but it’s a great book that gets the job done every month.
GHM: You have the Black Panther site on Marvel, but are there any plans to try and get the word out about other books in the ‘danger’ zone of cancellation?
JQ: We’re always trying to find new ways to save good books. Black Panther was saved because of that site and there’s a lot to be said for that. It definitely works.
GHM: How are the 2 magazines selling?
JQ: It’s doing okay. We hope that it does better. The Ultimate Magazine is nice, but the Marvel Knights Magazine is even better. There’s something about seeing J.G. Jones (Black Widow) or Steve Dillon’s (Punisher) art blown up like that We try to get the awareness out there, but then still see it with the comic section and it’s tough. We’re working on those things, but it hasn’t been an incredible hit yet.
GHM: I went into a store and asked for the magazine recently and they told me that comic books were in the back.
JQ: Breaking the perceptions about the magazine are going to be difficult. vGHM: How would you go about doing that?
JQ: Obviously word of mouth. It’s a tough gig. Word of mouth and trades are a good way to do it, and really it’s up to the fans and general public to stop treating us like kiddie fare.
GHM: But the books themselves are a lot more accessible.
JQ: I get emails every day from new fans. DC fans curse me for making them buy Marvel books. Then there are the fans who left Marvel years ago and have returned saying they’ve heard little things on the net and came back to the fold to check out the new books.
GHM: Keeping an optimistic or even an objective view of these changes and titles would help, too. The net has been filled with negativity and cynicism for so long.
JQ: That’s always out there no matter what you do. There are people that will always hate Marvel. People will always think of Marvel of some corporate beast out to destroy comics. You don’t hear anyone from Marvel saying just buy Marvel books and ignore the self-published stuff! Just buy and read comics, period.
GHM: And creators like Brian Michael Bendis are feeling the affects of their Marvel success with their own books like ‘Powers’.
JQ: At the end of the day what happens is, and I know this because I was an indy publisher, the companies with the big icons are the ones that plow the roads and do the heavy lifting. Even if Bendis wasn’t working for us, his books would do better naturally, because we’re all doing better. Jenkins book at Top Cow will sell more because people are going to the comic stores. They go there and they don’t just look for one type of book. They may have grown out of superheroes and want to try something else. That’s why I don’t understand why some people in the indy market are so hostile towards us. We’re trying to build the business for all of us.
GHM: Do you think Marvel needs to make a conscious effort to put out more books without a superhero feels?
JQ: Absolutely. We should cover every end of the spectrum. I often wonder what would have happened if we didn’t let the Image guys go years ago and instead offered them their own imprint within Marvel. We’re going to launch the Mature Line with some more adult superhero titles, but we’ll slowly start to see more non-traditional Marvel titles without costumed heroes. It was pretty much what was proposed to us, too. I’m not going to say no to Garth Ennis pitching a Nick Fury comic.
GHM: Why do you feel it’s so important to interact with the fans as EIC?
JQ: I was the same way when I was on Marvel Knights. I just never changed. The fans are the ones who pay my rent. The fans are the ones that basically gave me the job I have. Any time I have spare time available, I want to make myself accessible. And there are times where someone will suggest something or remind us of something that we think, ‘that’s a great idea’.
A guy like Stan Lee had the magical talent of writing this soapbox and making everyone think he was writing it personally to them. I don’t have that talent so I have to write to everyone. I read all my emails and I try to respond to each and every one as soon as possible because by the second day you get like 2000 emails you need to get to.
GHM: Why did you put Captain America in Marvel Knights instead of just putting the new creative team on the core book, especially since the book isn’t getting renumbered or anything?
JQ: Well we may still renumber it. When we first took on Daredevil, it was a book that was selling in the 20/30 range so we have the same challenge with Cap. So we’re going to give him to Marvel Knights and let them work their magic.
GHM: So is the creative team set?
JQ: Yes. We’re going to announce it in Chicago.
GHM: Do you have a desire to start getting represented more with awards like the Eisners?
JQ: It’d be great. It isn’t necessary, but I’ll take awards, absolutely. It’d be great to win an award. This year we have Millar and Bendis nominated, but I think next year we’ll probably have a lot more stuff out there. We have some really amazing projects.
GHM: The first year of your tenure, all the talk was about Spider-Man and the X-Men. What do you see as the next big thing?
JQ: The next thing is that you have to take care of the core heroes: Cap, Thor, Hulk. And also the toughest thing we’re going to have to do is create a line of books for young readers because traditionally they just don’t sell. We have to find the magic touch to make it work because I’d really hate to do it and then have it fail.
GHM: Any time frame?
JQ: When it’s ready. You’re going to see a couple of books launched here and there and you may see it grow with time.
GHM: Is this the same as with the creator owned line?
JQ: Well Robert Weinberg has one coming out, so it’s already starting. You’re going to start to see more trickle out and it’ll come out through the mature imprint or regular Marvel and you’ll see more and more of it come out slowly but surely.
GHM: You’re getting a lot of big name superhero writers, so will you go after similar names in the children’s lit field?
JQ: We actually have some people on staff that know that style so we’ll probably go in the direction, but if a bigger kids writer says, ‘hey, I’d like to dabble’, we’ll definitely check it out.
GHM: Do you feel a need to restructure the traditional lines with all of the new imprints coming along like the Mature Readers and Kids line?
JQ: We have an interesting thing going on, with a bunch of different editors jumping around and working on things that they don’t normally focus on. I certainly would like to be at a point where I could hire more editors because that would mean we have more books. The problem years ago when we were publishing 100 titles is that they were all pretty much the same type of book: guys running around in tights. We’d like to expand that and get a little more diverse.
GHM: One of the things I discovered about the ‘old’ Marvel while working on the Life of Reilly story is that certain decisions were made more by the marketing team than the editorial and creative side. They would influence the teams to drag stories out longer, etc. How do you prevent that from being an issue now?
JQ: We just took it out of their hands, period. There’s no one that comes down to me and says ‘Ultimate’ is successful so we need 10 more titles. I’m not getting any of that, at all. What we’re encouraging people to do is say, ‘hey, this is working so let’s think of something else that could work instead of cannibalizing something else’. It would be very easy to put an Ultimate or Marvel Knights logo on every book, but then it’d weaken their lines. We’re just trying to be a little smarter about it.
GHM: What kind of reaction have you been getting from Hollywood people when you approach them for gigs?
JQ: The reactions from Hollywood people are great but the problem is time. And there are a lot of people there who are very good writers that may not be big names.
GHM: Would you promote them that way, too? John Doe, screenwriter of the most successful movie of the year writes book X.
JQ: Yes. We’d be very foolish not too.
GHM: Do you think Kevin Smith increased comic’s visibility outside the industry?
JQ: Absolutely. I think we did a better job than DC did, but yes. These guys have real world contacts and connections that they bring in. I can honestly say that the seeds to this new period of growth were planted when Kevin decided to write comics
GHM: What’s one character that you don’t have now that you’d love to bring to Marvel?
JQ: Batman. I hate seeing how low Batman sells. If we had the same creative team with that character, we’d make Detective a top five book.
GHM: Do you have a desire to do more crossovers like JLA/Avengers?
JQ: We’ll see as it comes up. Right now JLA/Avengers is shaping up to be a great project and I can’t think of anything else I’d want to do, but you never know.
GHM: Any plans to reveal who Writer X (Brotherhood) is?
JQ: I have no reason to say who it is. Writer X is fine being Writer X.
GHM: You’ve brought in people who’ve never worked for Marvel before and now you’re talking to Alan Moore…is there a wish list you have of people you want to approach to write?
JQ: The one person I’m trying to get a hold of that I can't seem to reach is M Night Shyamalan. I don’t even know if he’s really a comic guy or if he just did research for Unbreakable, but that’s someone who could put asses in the seats, so to speak. There’s always someone.
GHM: Do you have any new artistic projects coming up?
JQ: I’m doing an 11-page story for Marvel and another penciling gig that is not for Marvel that Marvel gave me permission to do, but I’m still waiting for the script. But it’s got a decent writer and it should be interesting.
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