Joe Quesada: What's He Not Saying Now?

Bloods End

wwtMask wrote:

Corvus wrote:

Please god, don't let Collective Post man dude be the new Guardian.

Edit:Who strapped traffic cones to Spider-Woman's chest? I mean, I know this is comic books, but fapfapfapfap

Amirite? :winky:





[spoiler:d52bea5eed]Come on, I know I'm not the only person thinking that.[/spoiler:d52bea5eed]

No.

You are.

Those just aren't human.

wwtMask

I should've specifically directed that at people who like hot womenz.

Yeah, I went there.











Just kidding. Seriously, what's wrong with her tits?

Toji Suzuhara

So you're saying you don't like "hot womenz"?

I think the problem is a one-two punch. First, they're perfectly round, even though she's in motion (where's the inertia?) and... well, the fact that breasts aren't perfectly round. Second, the shading is terrible. The specular highlight is bizarre. The shading makes them look 10 more sorts of wonky.

Corvus

Toji Suzuhara wrote:

So you're saying you don't like "hot womenz"?

I think the problem is a one-two punch. First, they're perfectly round, even though she's in motion (where's the inertia?) and... well, the fact that breasts aren't perfectly round. Second, the shading is terrible. The specular highlight is bizarre. The shading makes them look 10 more sorts of wonky.

Basically, they'd don't like tits. Not even fake, silicon enhanced tits.

The Muffin Man

Ms. Marvels mask really bugs me.

Some people draw it as a mask. Like an actual mask.

Others draw it...like that.

Although her ass is a nice bonus, it's no Raven's ass.

Corvus

Also, Sasquatch's clothes aren't supposed to rip when he transforms. His human body goes into storage in another dimension or some shit. He looks bad ass though, so it evens out.

Diablo Fett

Joe Quesada wrote:

Bryan Hitch

JQ: Finished with Ultimates 2 #13 and hidden away, working on a top-secret project.

Did i read that right? Is Ultimates 2 finally done? When the hell is #13 coming out, for God's sake?! It's 4 freaking months since the last issue. I wish Ultimates 3(with Jeph Loeb hooray) would just start and we could "eventually" get #13.

Seriously, if Hitch is done, then what the hell is taking so freaking long for this book to come out?

kdrudy

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but being a Jubilee fan I liked seeing his collection of thoughts on her brought together there and basically him saying she's not just going to disappear into the background forever only to show up to say hi to Logan now and again.

deadonthestreet

Diablo Fett wrote:

Joe Quesada wrote:

Bryan Hitch

JQ: Finished with Ultimates 2 #13 and hidden away, working on a top-secret project.

Did i read that right? Is Ultimates 2 finally done? When the hell is #13 coming out, for God's sake?! It's 4 freaking months since the last issue. I wish Ultimates 3(with Jeph Loeb hooray) would just start and we could "eventually" get #13.

Seriously, if Hitch is done, then what the hell is taking so freaking long for this book to come out?

Inking, coloring, lettering, printing, shipping.

Fencingsax

Corvus wrote:

Also, Sasquatch's clothes aren't supposed to rip when he transforms. His human body goes into storage in another dimension or some shit. He looks bad ass though, so it evens out.

Well, he's just been proposed to, so he's under some stress.

Diablo Fett

deadonthestreet wrote:

Diablo Fett wrote:

Joe Quesada wrote:

Bryan Hitch

JQ: Finished with Ultimates 2 #13 and hidden away, working on a top-secret project.

Did i read that right? Is Ultimates 2 finally done? When the hell is #13 coming out, for God's sake?! It's 4 freaking months since the last issue. I wish Ultimates 3(with Jeph Loeb hooray) would just start and we could "eventually" get #13.

Seriously, if Hitch is done, then what the hell is taking so freaking long for this book to come out?

Inking, coloring, lettering, printing, shipping.

Joe Quesada wrote:

Steve McNiven

JQ: Turned in the final Civil War page this week and, believe it or not, he’s actually heading to Disney World.

Civil War #7 comes out in 2 weeks. If that's really how long that whole process takes, then i'll say it again; Why isn't Ultimates 2 #13 out yet?

Owenashi

Some stuff from this week's Joe Fridays, including his thoughts on CW's end and the furor it's caused on boards like ours. Some preview covers and pages are down below.

http://www.newsarama.com/NewJoeFridays/NewJoeFridays37.html

Newsarama's Joe Fridays wrote:

NRAMA: Any funny, scary, interpreting or otherwise stories can you tell (from NYCC)?

JQ: Nothing I can speak in public [laughs]. Truth be told, I was being dragged from one panel to another so my major interaction was mostly with large crowds at panels. Let me thank all the wonderful fans who came to the Marvel panels, it was just great to see. Cup 'O Joe was two hours long and standing room only, I was floored by that and the incredible support shown by the fans.

That said, there were two interesting moments for me. The first was finding out on Thursday that Roy Thomas was under the weather and they needed someone to moderate the Stan Lee panel on Friday. This request came to me through our convention planning crew and while I was flattered to be considered I relayed a message that in all honesty, Kevin Smith is the guy they want if Roy couldn't make it. I guess as it turned out Kevin either wasn't able to make it or they didn't get around to asking, I honestly don't know. All I know is that on Friday I got confirmation that it was going to be me and that the panel was following directly after our Civil War panel. What this meant was that I would be doing three panels back to back on Friday. I figured it would be no big deal since I would just stand at the podium and let Stan do his thing and answer fan's questions.

Well, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Right after the Civil War panel I rushed off to the green room to meet up with Stan and the con folk. When I got there they proceeded to mic me up, this was kind of weird since all I was going to do was moderate the panel, right? Well, not so much. Seems that the panel was scheduled to be an “Inside the Actor's Studio” style of interview with Stan and myself.

WHAT!?!?

If I had known this ahead of time I would have prepared a proper interview and introduction for Stan, now I had to wing it, but hey, no one can say it wasn't going to be fun in perhaps a disastrous sort of way [laughs].So, they whisk me away and onto the stage of the huge hall to give Stan his big intro, which I did. The only problem was that when I said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the man you're all hear to see, MR. STAN LEE!” There was no Stan. I guess they forgot to tell Stan's people in the green room that we were under way. So, after much stuttering in a feeble effort to vamp, Stan, like every great Marvel hero, came running in to save my hide. Photographers went wild, I felt like I was on stage with Paris Hilton for a second. I then asked everyone to chill and sit and that we would be taking some questions from the audience. Well, this was a mistake as there were no mics on the floor so a large number of people rushed the stage and began raising their hands to ask Stan questions. Finally the con folk were able to come to the rescue and order was restored.

Needless to say, Stan was as magical as always and he took over the show and all I had to do was kick back and let him do his thing. I got to tell you, every time I'm around him or on stage with him, not only do I feel blessed and honored to be around him, and I always learn something. Whether it be about story, editing, characters or just how to work a crowd, he is the master!

The second funny anecdote happen partially behind the scenes. This story requires a bit of background, so let me backtrack a bit.

Since the very first day I met him, to every single email I've sent, I've only been able to refer to Stephen King as Mr. King. I don't know what it is, maybe it's my upbringing combined with my respect and love for his work, but I just couldn't get past it.

Well, at the Stephen King panel at the con I kept referring to him as Mr. King, well, at least until he called me on it on stage and took the moment to make suitable fun of me. It was a great moment and I even played along with not being able to call him Stephen, stuttering on occasion. We had a blast.

Later, backstage, Stephen (still tough to type) was doing a round robin of interviews, just one reporter after the next, taking five minutes in between to catch his breath. During one of these breaks he decided to lay back on a table to stretch his back a bit. After a few minutes the publicist asked if he was ready to go, he said yes and then cracked a dirty joke. I seized the moment and added an even dirtier joke. King started laughing hysterically and at that point I took the joke even further and filthier as did he. Everyone was looking at me and I'm sure they were all thinking, “I can't believe he went there,” except for Mr. King who was still laughing. It's at that point that I said, “See what happens when you ask me to call you Stephen, now you just get the bottom of my barrel.” We had a great laugh after that!

NRAMA: So are you ready to start calling him Stephen now and in future conversation??

JQ: It's still very tough. I have such hero worship it's ridiculous. I'll be able to if he opens with a dirty joke every time I meet him.

NRAMA: King mentioned that the panelists held a conversation in the green room about future adaptations of King's works. We don't expect an announcement today, but give us what you personally feel are the current odds of something new after Dark Tower? 10-1, 5-1, 2-1?

JQ: Yeah, thanks for reminding me. That was another great backstage type story. I went into the green room and shook S-s-st---Stephen's hand and the first thing he said to me was, 'We need to do The Stand, what do you think?” I was floored!!! He told me how much fun he was having and how impressed he's been with the whole experience and the final product. I guess that to me was what was ultimately important, he liked what we were doing and wanted to do more.

So, I would say the odds are good that we'll do something else, but like all these things, there are a lot of moving parts and stuff can always go wrong. But, what's important is that we all have a great working relationship so that major “getting to know ya” hurdle has already been crossed.

Have I mentioned how I have the best job in the world!

NRAMA: Okay, World War Hulk, not much to ask about this, as it seems pretty clear what this is.

JQ: You think? What if I told you that the Hulk was coming back for tea and crumpets? [laughs]

NRAMA: Anything you want to add to the dialogue at this stage given what's now out there and you've seen some response to it?

JQ: There's very little, this one is pretty much as advertised. I know, I know, pretty rare for me to be at a loss for words or hyperbole [laughs]. I guess what I can add to this is that the next batch of Marvel books and stories on the horizon will be of a whole different tone from Civil War and the books that we've published around the event. While MCW was chock full of goodness, it was also heavy in a thought provoking manner. World War Hulk is like the lovely green sorbet after the big heavy meal that was Civil War.

NRAMA: Now with Frontline, X-Men, Gamma Corps, and Young Avengers, while not as expansive as Civil War, it's still pretty huge by any pre-House of M standard. We know X-Men is the next event and we're assuming they'll be a Frontline for that too, so is status quo for the foreseeable future? Some event of this kind at most times from here forward?

JQ: I don't know if there will be a Frontline for the X-Men event to be honest with you, we're still a bit away from that but as currently planned, this may be an even smaller event than World War Hulk with respect to title count.

But, speaking about World War Hulk, first, it's actually smaller than House of M and not counting the actual WWH issues and the actual Hulk title which would naturally tie in, we're currently looking at 25 individual issues that tie in over the course of a four month period. That's just about six issues a month that tie in, less than two a week. I don't know if that constitutes a large event in my mind. Also, like all of our events, we're not asking fans to pick up a bunch of Marvel comics that they don't usually pick up. If you just wannt the main story just pick up World War Hulk #1-5.

Now, with respect to the “event” thing, the way I see it, nothing has really changed in our publishing plan with the exception that fans are far more open and are enjoying huge events like Civil War at this current time. What I think they want that is of crucial importance is to know that the events count and matter and effect change that is directly proportionate to the size of the event.

We're also making sure that we spread these stories out so that they don't bump into each other and give our fans (and us) a breather. And (and this is important) World War Hulk has nothing to do with Civil War. You don't need to read Civil War to understand WWH; it's its own thing.

Sure, the events of Civil War will effect how the story is told, but that's by virtue of the fact that the new post Civil War-status quo is in effect and that's just a continuity thing. WWH will be affected by MCW in the very same way that every Marvel title published from this point will be. So, we're not selling nor forcing readers to read WWH from MCW nor telling them that they have to read MCW in order to understand and enjoy WWH.

Let me also add to that that the X-event is not a dangling plot line of WWH or MCW. They are all disconnected with the exception that they all occur in the Marvel Universe. So, it's not like MCW was the first act in what will be culminating in another story at this point. There will be a story that perhaps brings up some issues from MCW but that won't happen until at least 2008 at the very earliest. That's why when fans were predicting that the Annihilation wave was going to come to Earth and become the big event at the end of Civil War, nothing could have been further from the truth. Could we have done it, of course, but wow, would that have sucked for the folks who weren't reading Annihilation.

Also, how satisfying an ending would it have been to have the big conclusion come from a story that wasn't even introduced in the pages of MCW?

NRAMA: You talked about the metaphor, the relevancy of Civil War a lot in the marketing run-up, what's the essence of World War Hulk if you had to sum it up succinctly?

JQ: Revenge.

NRAMA: Oh, and World War Hulk: Young Avengers - just a one-shot, but should fans take this as any indication you're starting to think of this title/concept having a life if Allan Heinberg isn't able to return in the foreseeable future?

JQ: No more or less so than Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways. It's always been a possibility that we'd have to move ahead with these characters without Allan at some point, but the real reason for Young Avengers' success isn't the characters, but the work of Allan and Jim Cheung--without them, you're missing the most essential ingredient that made that series what it was. So yes, at some point we may choose to pull the trigger and proceed with a limited involvement from Allan, but if there's any way to avoid that, we'd prefer to hold the line.

NRAMA: Joe, we're going to wrap up this week with a few more thoughts on Civil War, and the interview we did with Mark Millar this week.

First of all, looking back at our post-Civil War conversation in last week's New Joe Fridays with a little distance, it dawned on us how many times you said that so many questions readers had would be answered in future titles and storylines.

As a publisher of serial fiction, how hard is it to balance trying to craft a satisfying end to a story like Civil War, but knowing the nature of your business is it has to also lead somewhere else..?

JQ: It's not difficult at all as long as you deliver what you promise with the opening salvos of your story. This story was about two sides with different beliefs going at each other, one side won, the other lost. Civil War ended the way it should have with someone winning the war, Cap surrendered, the pro reg side won. But guess what, now we have a universe to continue running and there are tons of more stories to be told because of the fallout from the ending of Civil War. It's not like the last page of Civil War is going to read “The End” and that was going to be the last Marvel Comic ever published? If it were, then yeah we would have resolved a lot of issues [laughs]. There is now a new status quo in the Marvel Universe and many very cool stories to tell and questions to answer and even more to ask.

NRAMA: Newsarama has covered enough major publishing “events” the last decade to know some readers are almost never happy with the end. Now the third act is always the hardest in any storytelling medium, but if readers - be it 50 or 50k - come away feeling unsatisfied with the ending, is it a failure of the story or simply the fact if it's in continuity, the story can never really end, as it's all one big, ongoing story?

JQ: Of course it is, but you've hit the nail on the head, no ending to an event this large is every fully big enough for some. That became abundantly clear to me during my days as a fan reading Watchmen.

When Watchmen #12 came out I remember there being a big uproar from fandom about how the ending was a letdown, how it should have been bigger, more significant. This was weird to me because I thought it was brilliant. Then someone explained to me this is just what happens with stuff like this. Fans envision something so huge that you couldn't possibly do it. I mean we could have lit a nuclear explosion and everyone could have died, that might have been big enough [laughs]. Or heck, maybe the Annihilation wave could have done it. It doesn't matter, pick one and there will always be someone disappointed.

At the end of the day, time is really the great test with stories like these. The ones that are truly disappointing won't really be remembered in the end, I think time proved Watchmen's greatness and time will eventually determine what Civil War meant to the Marvel U if anything at all but keep in mind that we're not trying to create history here, we're just trying to tell great stories. So, to me, I weigh these things simply, did we take out readers for a ride, did we give them a good yarn and did it effect change in the end that was worth their time and money, I believe Civil War did just that.

Let me also add this as well. Every story we do, I mean every single one, single issues, story arcs, mini series, all have their own vocal detractors, nothing goes unscathed. As an aside, the stuff that usually receives the least amount of negative criticism is usually the stuff that sells the least, I don't know why, but it's just a global truth for us here at Marvel. Sorry, just had to mention that.

Anyway, with that said, of course there will be those online that have something harsh to say about MCW and of course it's easy to focus on those because they're fun to read, but the positive response has been overwhelming, beyond even what I imagined was going to happen. And you know this as well Matt, you were at the Civil War panel, it was a love fest. I was floored because I was sure someone was going to get up there and tell us about some dissatisfaction or another. So, all in all, when it comes to huge events like this, I've seen negative reaction and then I've seen negative reaction and whatever negative reaction there might have been to Civil War was nothing compared to some of the stuff I've seen and experienced. Take Marville for instance [laughs].

NRAMA: No, we don’t think we will…

We referenced how you often referred to the metaphor of Civil War in the early marketing days. Mark Millar downplayed the political allegories and he said he viewed it as mostly a big superhero smash-up.

Has your thoughts changed over time, or do you and Mark just disagree over this?

JQ: I don't think we disagree at all. Mark was at the meetings where we talked about the metaphors, how Miriam Sharpe was our Cindy Sheenan character, etc. I think what Mark then did is say, okay all that's well and good and it's in the story through in through, but now I want to get the good stuff. This is really about hero beating on hero and that's the fun stuff the fans want to see. No one wanted to get caught up in the heavy political stuff, it's already there, the biggest debates were within fandom, Civil War just gave you most of the punching and the rest was all in the subtext. That's kind of the “Loebness” as I call it, that Jeph brings to the table. “Yeah, yeah, there's a message, okay fine, but tell me who the #@$% hits who?”

NRAMA: Joe, I>Front Line #11 came out this week, and in it, there was a pretty major revelation about Tony Stark that cast his role in Civil War in a different light. Was this the plan all along, to have a pretty big character bump happen in the companion book?

JQ: I don't know if I would call it a character bump as much as a reveal of certain layers. I think that Front Line peels away a few more emotional layers from both Cap and Tony and that was important for Front Line because that's the kind of book it was all along. While Civil War gave you all the big punches and gut wrenching events, Front Line was telling the smaller more emotional side of the story. That's what we always said that title was about, so the little peeks into the head of Tony and Steve were exactly where we were headed and as advertised.

NRAMA: In your view - what does Front Line's revelation do for Tony as a character? Is it in line with what he's done to date?

JQ: Absolutely, one of the things that we spoke about early on in the development of the story was that Tony was doing this because he didn't trust anyone with the data bank that was going to be filled with heroes names and identities, that he knew full well that pro-reg was the wave of the future and what kind of future was ahead of them all if the person who was going to be in charge, who would have all the names and know where the bodies are buried wasn't one of them. Even worse, what if it was someone who wasn't an advocate of the things they did.

As someone who developed weapons for a living at one time in his life, as someone who has seen his technology used for nefarious means in the wrong hands, Tony knows full well what was possible in the end when pro-reg became the law of the land. Knowing that and the possible outcome meant that he had to do whatever it took to keep control, even if it made him look like a villain to those around him and even if it cost him his reputation in the end and that's what a hero does. So, to me the actions in Front Line were right in line with the moment when Tony speaks of controlling the list of names at the end of Civil War #7.

Scooter

I'm not usually an art critic, but damn, Hulk sure messed his arm up.

august

Yeah. There should have been some sort of comprimise between Front Line and Civil War, I think. You know, like a book with the big stuff, AND the emotional stuff.

Algertman

Scooter wrote: »

I'm not usually an art critic, but damn, Hulk sure messed his arm up.

Man that is one fucked up arm

Owenashi

Algertman wrote: »

Scooter wrote: »

I'm not usually an art critic, but damn, Hulk sure messed his arm up.

Man that is one fucked up arm

Think Ben's thinking that same thought in a different context.

Caveman Paws

Sadly I haven't seen one image of hulk from WWH that I like. His "gladiator" armor looks like it was rented from a costume store that is aimed at male strippers. And yes his arm looks all kinds of fucked up in that pic of him wailing Ben. The proportions are all wrong, look at Hulk's forehead! You could land a plane on that thing! And his torso is just...off.

I just hope these are the "low rez" shots they are handing out for free, and keeping the good shit for the paying customers.

Judas

That Hulk promo art pic is fucking hideous.

Owenashi

Some words from Joe-Q this week, along with a couple of covers from June's solicits.

http://www.newsarama.com/NewJoeFridays/NewJoeFridays39.html

Joe Fridays wrote:

Newsarama: Joe, before we hit on Cap #25 some more, a couple of quickies - Iron Man director Jon Favreau recently posted this on his Myspace page…

"Speaking of the books, Joe Quesada, Adi Granov and myself have been collaborating on a very cool project that you will soon be hearing about. You want to know more, pester Marvel publishing."

So Joe, taking Favreau’s cue, what’s up with this?

Joe Quesada: Some cool stuff, but it’s a bit too early to discuss.

NS: Most of the questions centered on why you choose the story to allowed to be spoiled via the mainstream press, with many fans commenting that while sites like Newsarama included some level of spoiler warning, if one simply happened to check CNN.com in the morning, they couldn’t protect themselves against having the story spoiled for them.

We suspect what the nature of your answer will be, but we’re going to give our readers the respect of asking it and getting their answer.

JQ: Simple - the only place we went to break the news was the New York Daily News for that Wednesday morning. Anyone who picked it up from there did so of their own accord. Once it hit the AP wire, its up to individual news outlets to pick up the story and decide what coverage to give it if at all.Their call, not ours and totally out of our control. Jim McCann and our PR firm were too busy fielding calls from every news outlet to even start going out to others and shop the story, outside of the Daily News, everyone else came to us.

Let me also add that when you do something like this, one never has any real idea of whether it will be big news or not. We got lucky in the sense that outside of the Scooter verdict, there wasn’t much breaking news that day (or the entire week for that matter), so Cap went from being a normal news item to a national headline news sensation.

Also, and let’s be real here folks, it’s not like the first eager/surprised/outraged fan that read the story that wanted to speak about it online wasn’t going to spoil it for 99% of those of us who read comics and have computers. That’s the nature of this new world we live in, information travels quickly, whether it be through CNN, Newsarama, or someone’s Myspace page.

We could have also have advertised the death in Previews and spoiled it for everyone months in advance which is what usually happens with things like this and then there would have been no surprise at all.

Also, the news would have picked it up then prompting people into comic shops that wouldn’t have the book available to them. By the time the issue hit all the wind would be out of its sails and the media really wouldn’t give that much of a damn about it by publication date.

I think one of the other bonuses and one of the major contributing reason to why there was such a media blitz was because the media (if they could get their hands on a copy) could read the story and see the incredibly intense and beautiful Steve Epting art. The story was incredibly powerful and I think that’s along with the Civil War tie was the biggest contributing factor to this, there was tons of art out there. If the media would have had this news, sans the comic, sans the art three months prior at solicitation time, I can only imagine how headlines would have been twisted and how people would have been writing the story in their own minds. I’ve had experience with this happening as well with events that broke too early and believe me, it can get twisted pretty badly.

NRAMA: But Joe, do you think considering the breadth and velocity of the coverage, that in acknowledged hindsight having a mainstream news source “break” it early was ultimately necessary? It seems the fast and furious reaction was due less to that fact that another source reported on it, and that many news outlets considered it news regardless of how it broke.

JQ: We have to let someone break it day & date. Otherwise, it leaks out like a leaky tire. What do you think the media impact would have been if the breaking news of the event would have come from an internet fan writing on a message board “OMG! They killed Cap!” vs. the incredibly well-done story Ethan Sacks wrote for the Daily News?

If the first place a story like this breaks is on someone’s fan blog, you can be sure that the media interest will wane simply because at that point it’s not consider breaking news. Do so through a large paper or magazine and suddenly it goes out across the AP and you stand a chance of catching fire. What happened here was a feeding frenzy, because the Daily News broke it, it legitimized it for every other media outlet. I’m not saying that if it broke on a fan forum that it wouldn’t be news, but I’m pretty certain that the frenzy wouldn’t have been there.

NRAMA: So if you had to do it over gain, would you do it any differently?

JQ: No, I think in the end, much like delaying Civil War so that Steve [McNiven] could finished the whole series, in time people will see that it was decision that was made for the good of the story, the fans and industry. I know that there are a few out there that would like to think otherwise, but there’s nothing I can do about that. We thought long and hard about this decision and as a group we decided that this was the best course of action and I stand by it.

NRAMA: We’ll get back to that point in a moment…

How do you explain the reaction by the press? Do you think the symbolic sociological/political underpinnings are the cause there? Or just pop culture interest?

JQ: It’s a perfect storm of convergences. The country’s climate … the political landscape … the war … pop culture interest … and let’s not discount the story itself and Civil War.

One of the unique things that I’ve noticed recently in my life during and post-Civil War is that I actually get stopped in the streets now, not just at comic cons, by complete strangers saying that they read Civil War or that they just started collecting comics because of Civil War. Nearly every reporter I spoke to, every TV show I was on last week all had one thing in common -they had read Civil War.

Say what you will, but that also added to the Cap frenzy, the death came as a byproduct of a story that was “about” something and not just a death of a comic character at the hands of the big villain of the month.

Earlier this week during the taping of a television interview I was doing, a tech came up to me and said how Civil War got him interested in reading comics. He sheepishly apologized because he said that when he was in the shop he picked up some DC books as well and now collects both Marvel and DC and has a $60 a week habit. Much to his surprise, I was thrilled because we’re all in the same business and readers are readers and that puts dollars in retailers’ cash registers. To me in the end what’s important is that we’re getting bodies through the doors of retailer’s stores. It’s a big wide world of comics and if one project allows retailers to up sell someone on something else, got for it, just get people reading.

NRAMA: Joe, given that some hardcore fans are upset that the story got spoiled, and/or they weren’t able to get an issue last Wednesday, what would your response be to them individually?

No one can deny how this attention will serve Marvel, and the argument can then be made this is good for comics overall, but as the old saying goes, all politics are local, so can you try to explain to one of these fans why this is good for them specifically, either now or down the line?

How is this a good thing for them as Marvel/comic book readers? Or is this just as a case where you need to ask for their understanding and take one for the team – or to quote Spock, “the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many”?

JQ: Okay, once again, I don’t buy the spoiling thing. A death as big as Captain America would have been spoiled for readers long before it came out if we hadn’t planned it that way. People woke up to it in the morning as though it was real news! If we told one person too many, it would have been out there and expected, the only thing remaining would have been for fans to see how we executed it which is exactly the same thing that happened for those that had it spoiled the day of.

Heck from the cover alone you would have figured it out and when do you think Rich Johnston would have had it exactly? The boy is good, what can I say.

Anyway, in the most global sense, how this is good for them (the fan) is because it’s good for comics. It wasn’t that long ago that the entire comics industry went belly up and became extinct. The more people that are aware of our industry, the more readers we get the better it is for our incredible industry and the brighter the future. Not just from a financial standpoint but from a creative one as well as we’ll be able to expand into more genres and do more off the beaten path kind of projects.

And for those who didn’t get a copy on Wednesday, well there are now copies available everywhere.

Plus, and maybe I’m off base here, but don’t most stores have pull-lists for their hardcore customers these days? I mean pull lists are kind of like the win-win for both parties - the customer gets guaranteed their favorite books despite the scarcity of the product and the retailer knows that they have a guaranteed sale which is important in a non returnable marketplace.

So, I’m kind of perplexed by this one, maybe there are more stores than I’m aware of that don’t have pull-lists for their customers? But, if you do go to a store that has a pull-list and if you have Cap reserved and if your retailer tells you that they sold it to some one else, well then I say you have an issue with your local retailer that you need to resolve.

Q: Hawk fan 03-08-2007 01:46 PM

Given the fact that Captain America has been shot, point blank before (in Priest's Captain America and the Falcon series) and given that he also apparently died at the end of Captain America Volume 3 (in an issue written by Dan Jurgens where in he was caught in an exploding bomb so that the only thing left was his shield) only to appear alive and unharmed, with no explanation given, under John Ney Rieber when the title moved to the "Marvel Knights" imprint, what are the chances Steve Rogers is still alive and that what we actually saw was an LMD being killed?

In other words, without undermining the event, why should we take this "death" any more seriously then his previous two?

JQ: Hawk fan, another great question. I honestly don’t know that answer other than we’re taking it seriously at Marvel and the rest is really up to you. While I’m not going to spoil our future plans, I can tell you that I think you’ll dig where we’re going.

Q: daske 03-09-2007 11:16 PM

I distinctly remember you saying either in one of your Joe Fridays or in a panel at NYCC that "Steve Rogers will be Captain America" post-Civil War. Was that you just being clever given that Rogers was killed after the end of the mini? And if so, are we supposed to take everything you say so literally?

JQ: Guilty as charged, daske ! That’s exactly what I what I meant. I had to think long and hard about answering that question. I didn’t want to straight out lie about it, but I also didn’t want to give the story away. So, I did a little dance and managed not to lie to you guys, Steve Rogers was still Captain America post-Civil War, I just didn’t tell you that it would only last one issue [laughs].

Q: Shadow180 03-12-2007 05:47 PM

I read Cap #25 and was a little surprised but to tell you the truth, I saw it coming since Marvel revealed the Fallen Son title. My question is, does Cap #25 happen before or after Civil War: The Initiative? I mean if it happens before, what's up with Carol Danvers telling Jessica that he's still alive?

JQ: Shadow180 read New Avengers #28 on sale this past Wednesday.

Q: lfhobbies 03-10-2007 01:24 PM

1.) In the Civil War: Aftermath Spotlight there is a list of 'everyone' that died in the Civil War but Cap’s name is not on it. However, in the ‘Key Points of Civil War; Cap #25 is mentioned as his death. Is this a slip or are you letting the careful reader know the truth

JQ: Hey, lfhobbies, no, that Top 10 list was done at the last second in-house to keep from spoiling it. In order to keep the death of Cap a secret, not a single creator that wasn't involved with the event was told about it (at least to my knowledge). This included the Marvel Spotlight folks. As a result, we are doing a special, stand-alone Spotlight: Captain America Remembered in May and also check out the special “Captain America Assassinated” issue of our latest Daily Bugle, which is in stores now. Even though the Daily Bugle is free, it’s on some stores’ best-seller list! Is that possible - to be a best-seller when it's free? Ah, whatever.

2.) Now that Civil War is over, can you tell us who/what that blond "Cap looking" guy in Reed’s lab in Civil War #4 (second last page) was. McNiven is an amazing artist that is perfect to the detail - and that detail was a little too perfect.

JQ: Happy Hogan.

Q: cwmartin 03-10-2007 04:44 PM

I am one of those that agree that this is the absolute wrong time for a patriotic icon like Steve Rogers to be eliminated. The Marvel list of patriotic heroes was a short one and with what has happened to Jack Flag and the exile of USAgent, is pretty much extinct. Why in a time so dark for those who believe in this country and her ideals did you feel the need to eliminate patriotic heroes from marvel?

Also, this seems to be a time of turning Marvel heroes ever more to the darker side. Considering that the Distinguished Competition has just reset their entire universe just to lighten up their core three icons, why would Marvel take such steps to go the other direction, when recent history leads us to believe they will also have to reset things in the near future?

JQ: Hey, cwmartin, at Marvel we follow our own direction, the one we feel our readers will enjoy the most. That’s the single road we follow and we try to do that to the best of our abilities. Also the Marvel Universe is a pretty diverse place, it’s not all light and airy and it’s also not all grim and gritty. I think you’ll see this explored beautifully in books like Mighty Avengers vs. New Avengers or Avengers The Initiative vs. New Warriors.

As for the loss of Cap during these dark times, well that’s what makes it such an interesting story to me. Joe Simon had a brilliant quote last week in which he said something to the effect of it’s a shame that we’re losing Cap just when we need him most. I agree with Joe 1000% and that’s why I feel that this is a worth while story to tell. What is a world without Cap like just when we need him the most? How do we fill that void, do we fill it. Do we step up or do we step down. There’s some pretty powerful stuff to explore there and certainly worth telling.

Q: Spidey616 03-11-2007 04:19 PM

Now that everyone's talking about the death of Captain America, do you feel that the concept of "comic book deaths" trivializes death in general? It seems like the past year in particular has its fair share of character resurrections such as Thor, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man in 2006, who barely stayed dead for three issues. And do you believe "comic book deaths" affect very young readers in any way?

JQ: Spidey616, actually, a post right here Newsarama was pointed out to me the other day, and I thought it was wonderful and worth reposting because it really says it so much better than I ever could.

Originally Posted by kitty_tc

“What seems to be getting ignored here is the fact that heroic stories have always included an element of death and rebirth, from the time of Beowulf on to the current day. This is so prevalent and so much an essential part of the genre that Joseph Campbell, in his famous studies of the mythic heroic cycle, declared the "death-underworld-return" concept to be a requirement for any story that follows the classic formula.

“Does anyone really think that superheroes are not the modern day equivalents of Beowulf and Gilgamesh and Heracles and every other classic heroic epic? Hell, some of those classic mythical heroes are still appearing in superhero stories today. It's the same thing, a storytelling tradition that has existed for all of recorded human memory. Superheroes are just the latest iteration of an idea as old as we are.

“Mythic heroes are supposed to die, conquer death, and return. It's an integral part of the genre. Comic books didn't screw up by making their heroes die and come back, people screwed up by ever expecting otherwise.”

Q: Ziggy 03-09-2007 08:44 PM

Whenever the question of lateness comes up, and especially when the example of Damon Lindelof is used, after you give a long-winded explanation about how lateness is "just a part of comics" you always follow it with something like "besides, I hear he's a busy with a little something called Lost."

By saying that, aren't you stating that comics is a second-class medium? That television or movies are more important than comics, so it's okay for a creator not to fulfill his commitments on time. Would you ever expect a TV exec to say "sorry, no Lost this year. Our executive producer's busy with a little something called Wolverine"?

JQ: First, TV and movies are bigger than comics, Ziggy, let’s not kid ourselves. It’s what we aspire to and I know we’ll eventually get there. Also, we know that when a guy like Damon comes on board that they have a previous commitment. It’s not like Damon says to us that if the doody hit the fan he would do his Marvel stuff before Lost. We all understand that Lost is his first and most important commitment, we’re merely borrowing him for a short time.

I get asked to do things outside of the comics industry all the time and I always stipulate that Marvel is my first priority and that if I accept their project there’s always the possibility that I would have to delay things at a moments notice.

Q: KyleV 03-11-2007 03:02 AM

I think a lot of problems people have had with Civil War and its fall out is due to confusion on where things stand. I'm hoping you can help with that.

Iron Man (and S.H.I.E.L.D.) currently has info on all the registered superhumans in America. But the SHRA is an American law, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is an international peacekeeping organization. This would be akin to the U.N. having classified U.S. information. And since Iron Man is no longer a government official, that doesn’t make much sense. No matter how high level Iron Man's access is in S.H.I.E.L.D., someone else is bound to have access to that info.

That's probably something that could use an explanation and the sort of thing that would give readers more faith in Marvel, were it answered clearly.

JQ: While S.H.I.E.L.D. has been made responsible for implementing the Registration Act, KyleV, because there wasn't any indigenous organization capable of getting the job done, the long-term goal is to gradually turn over much of the day-to-day responsibility to the Commission on Superhuman Affairs.

However, outside of being the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony Stark is also an American citizen--and part of the agreement he brokered with the President when he started down the road to becoming the figurehead of the Pro-Registration movement was that he'd get to oversee and hold the Registration information himself. So consider him, in this case, a Special Advisor to the President (which is more or less what he was during Civil War) as well as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Hope that helps

Q: BKKID 03-11-2007 02:12 PM

Hey Joe, after Spider-Man was killed by Morlun, he emerged from his cocoon with several new powers and attributes. Will we be seeing any more of those new powers in the future?

JQ: We've seen those new powers in evidence over the last few months from time to time, most notably in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. So we'll continue to use them where applicable.

Caveman Paws

When more than one representitive of the "X" teams is seen together in a cemetery pick one thought sends shivers of dread down my spine.

Jean Grey.

*Crosses fingers* You can't have enough hot redheads around but I think keeping Jean in the ground (or off doing phoneix stuff) is the better road to take.

august

It dosen't really look to me like they're there to dig someone up.

Besides, isn't she buried the arctic or some shit?

Sentry

No, she's buried in New York. I think the Phoenix crash landed in the Arctic with Wolverine during Endsong... but I'm sure they took her body back.

august

Oh. Well, okay then.

Owenashi

Some words from this week's Joe Fridays, though barely any with Joe himself...

http://www.newsarama.com/NewJoeFridays/NewJoeFridays45.html

Newsarama's Joe Fridays wrote:

Newsarama: Joe, first of all, time to talk about another Marvel editorial retreat. First of all, this week was a major planning session where you’ll try to laid out big beats for whichever time frame you’re currently planning for, right?

Joe Quesada: Yes, right now, we’re looking at a story map that takes us into 2008 and just barely into 2009.

NRAMA: Let’s hit the usual questions – who attended from the creative community this time around and can you give fans any insight as to which characters or corners of your publishing slate you’re concentrating on?

JQ: Attending are Brian Bendis, Dan Slott, Jeph Loeb, Joe Straczynski, Ed Brubaker and Greg Pak.

I can tell you that much of the discussion at this week’s summit revolved around the Avengers and the fallout of from Civil War. We have a whole new landscape to play with and it does set up some interesting future storylines. Also of concern was hammering out the details of an idea Bendis has been seeding in his books for the last year or so. Fans will get the very first glimpse of this in New Avengers #31 shipping in June.

NRAMA: Ideally, what were you hoping to walk out of the two days with? A list of potential new titles you’ll go seek creative teams for if one of your attendees doesn’t claim it? A through-line for an “event” down the road?

JQ: It’s very rare that we head into these things with a plan to come out of it with new titles. New titles are usually an offshoot of what our main goals are at these summits. What we always look to achieve at our summits are the bit global events that will be affecting the Marvel U for the next two to three years. Take Civil WarOmega FlightNew Warriors

NRAMA: Moving things over to the guests, then…we’re going to have you to put modesty aside for a moment, as you are one of a small handful of creators asked to be part of this…What do you hope as an individual to bring to the table at a session like this one? A particular unique skill or insight?

Ed Brubaker: I just appreciate being part of the room, honestly. This is my third full Marvel line summit, and I finally feel like I understand how they work, and when to talk and when to shut up. I think, if I bring anything special at all to the table it's a sense of structure, and of asking what comes next? What do we do AFTER such and such great sounding idea? I also have a real passion for these characters that I sometimes don't even realize until I'm in that room.

Greg Pak: As the "World War Hulk" guy, one of my jobs was to help set the stage for brainstorming about what comes next. And I tried to impress Ralph Macchio with a reference to an obscure Marvel villain from the seventies at least once a day.

Dan Slott: A lifelong love of the Marvel U. and a chipper "can do" attitude.

Jeph Loeb: I am here to annoy Bendis. This time I didn't do so well since we agreed on practically everything. His boyish charm is finally working on me, DAMMIT!

J. Michael Straczynski: My job is to listen to everyone else argue because very often the answer walks into the room mid-argument but nobody notices because everybody is busy protecting their turf. So my place is that of Grand Vizir, thankyewverymuch.

NRAMA: Which of your fellow creators do you enjoy hearing from right now or think is doing exceptional work?

Brubaker: I'm a big Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis fan, and I think both of them are doing amazing stuff in all their books right now. I barely know either of them, though. I think Bendis is also still at the top of his game. It's kind of Eerie, really.

Pak: There's a huge amount of amazing stuff going on at Marvel right now. To pick just one example -- I laughed out loud three times while reading Dan Slott's latest She-Hulk issue. In the indie world, I think Gene Yang is a genius and his American Born Chinese OGN deserves every accolade and more that it's received thus far.

Slott: It's always fun to see Bendis work the room. He's got these BIG sweeping ideas and it's hard not to get caught up in them. It's also fun to see him and Loeb go at it. The energy from their ideas--they're just SO charged! You know how you can run a lightbulb off a potato? You could probably run the entire Eastern Seaboard off of Bendis and Loeb's ideas.

Loeb: Well, "enjoy" hearing from is a little strong... the one who I LIKE hearing from the most is Mark Millar because with his Scottish accent I can't understand a word he's saying, so I just pretend he's saying nice things about me.

Straczynski: Frankly, I'm fed up with all of them. But the good part is that we all get to do R&D for Heroes.

NRAMA: What corner of the Marvel Universe do you expect or would like to see get some love in the next year or so?

Brubaker: I think the Ultimate line is going to be really exciting for the next year and a half, based on what I heard in that room. I say that strictly as a reader, too, since I'm not involved over there right now.

Pak: All Hulk, all the time, baby!

Slott: The supervillains. With Civil War we've seen a lot of super heroes smacking each other around. Now I really want to see some classic Marvel bad guys take center stage.

Loeb: The ULTIMATE UNIVERSE will ROCKKKKKKK!!!!!

NRAMA: Ed, did you ever see yourself help setting the overall direction of a/the major comic book universe and does it take the same set us muscles you used to get here?

Brubaker: I never saw myself doing this kind of thing, or having a voice in a room of writers and editors like this. And it takes totally different muscles than writing. It's more like a game, or like bouncing stuff around a room. It's a miasma of collaborative energy, really, and it teaches you not to be precious with ideas, and not to hold back. I think one of the most important lessons you can learn as a writer is that ideas are not unique and not currency, it's what you do with a good idea that makes it interesting.

NRAMA: Greg, given we know World War Hulk is in fact just the second act of a three act Hulk story, is that your role this week? To make sure that not only WWH but what comes after is understood by all as the bigger framework is built?

Pak: This summit gave us a great chance to delve into possible post-"World War Hulk" ramifications for the Marvel Universe, and I'm extremely excited by some of the ideas that came up -- particularly those regarding one of Hulk's primary WWH antagonists, whose alliterative name I dare not mention. Editor Mark Paniccia and I also hobnobbed quite a bit about our plans for our super-secret third part of our trilogy -- my personal coup for the day was securing a certain key character to play a big lead role in the book.

NRAMA: Dan, of the five, you're the guy who hasn't yet had steered that big, flagship ongoing or helmed a major event like World War Hulk. First of all, as perhaps one of the (for lack of a better term) "newer" guys along with Greg, what's it like playing on the same team with guys like these?

Slott: Y'know before last year, I would've said "intimidating." This time I'd say "exciting". I mean, everyone who's reading this on New Joe Fridays, you know what I'm talking about. After you read your books on Wednesday, you get together with your friends and talk about 'em. And you say, "Wouldn't it be cool if this character did this, or that character did that? Or what if all the X-Men fought these guys? Or what if that hero gave up, and that other guy took his place?" Just imagine-- if instead of just wondering about it-- imagine if you got to do that for REAL. How could you not get excited about that?

NRAMA And is that big flagship title or event just in the hopper for you, and hence your presence there this week?

Slott: What? Is this a test? You KNOW I can't talk about this. If I say one word my editor will toss me into a wood chipper.

NRAMA: Jeph, as the creator in the group with the most recent experience at Marvel and having some hand in a fairly recent major even of their, readers might be very interested in some insight as to how this type of planning differs at the two major publishers. Can you share any insight on the differences and similarities in approach to planning the direction of major comic book universes?

Loeb: Uh... you mean "DC" right? For me, there's no particular right way or wrong way. It's just different. At Marvel, most of that stems from Joe Quesada since he's a storyteller -- both a writer and an artist, so all his instincts come from what makes a good story. While I was across the street, I have to admit that I got to do creatively pretty much what I wanted -- which was great fun with terrific people -- but I did see more and more story being dictated from a corporate point of view. Like I said, not right or wrong, just different.

NRAMA: Joe, we know you intended to change your approach to focusing ore more finite projects - why? What the reason this change in focus/direction?

Straczynski: I want to focus on Thor, creating and reviving the mythology of the character, and do a bit here and there on smaller stories is fun.

Algertman

Sorry but the DC coprorate thing is stupid. Marvel and DC both are ran by big coporations.

DJ Eebs

You don't need to copy and paste the majority of the article.

Owenashi

Geebs wrote: »

You don't need to copy and paste the majority of the article.

::nods::Sorry. I usually try to go for just the highlights. However, it seemed like they decided not to devote much space to it this week since Joe was around for only one question.

On another note, think Ronin's ident has anything to do with this 'internet-cracking moment' they're all talking about in NA#31?

Redeemer

I could've done without the billion paragraphs comparing Superman to Elvis

Owenashi

From a double-sized edition of Joe Fridays...

http://www.newsarama.com/NewJoeFridays/JoeFridays100.html

Newsarama's Joe Fridays' wrote:

NRAMA: How about the Heroes for Hire #13? This has caused some controversy of its own, with some people likening it to a very unsavory recurring element in some more adult-themed manga?

JQ: This one I can answer to. First, I think people are reading way too much into that cover than was ever intended. I heard terms such as “tentacle rape” being thrown around when that in no way is what’s happening, nor does it happen in the book. Those tentacles are the arms of the Brood who appears in the issue and is a major story point, the Brood have tentacles, sorry about that.

Secondly, the concept for that cover, soup to nuts came from a female artist. Thirdly, not being a deep follower of manga, I have no idea what recurring theme people are referring to or concerned with. While I appreciate the sentiment and the feelings that some may have about this, I honestly feel that there is way too much being read into this cover.

Also, HFH is a book that features two strong, lead female protagonist who kick major ass; somehow folks have forgotten to focus on that.

Q: mithrandir23 05-08-2007 03:50 PM

In Incredible Hulk #106 it is said that Amadeus Cho is the 7th smartest person in the world. I would like to know if there is a list somewhere that I can read to see how all the Marvel characters stack up.

I am assuming that Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Bruce Banner, and possibly Peter Parker are among the top 10, but am curious as to rankings and a list of like the top 10 or so. Do you have a list or know them off the top of your head?

JQ: mithrandir23, there’s no one definitive list—and those rankings may even change over time, either as situations change or new characters like Amadeus pop up. But I would think that most of the folks you listed might qualify (with the exception of Peter Parker) along with maybe the Beast, Doctor Doom, and a few others.

Someone once asked Greg Pak this and his response was that he thought part of the fun for fans was speculating who else is on that list.

Q: rochvail 05-13-2007 12:57 AM

Not sure if this has been asked... now that the Zemo mini-series is over, is there anything new involving Tom Grummett coming soon? I just love his style; it has a very classic feel. I loved all the Zemo covers he did on the mini. I'm hoping for more Grummett goodness soon!

JQ: Hey, rochvail, Tom will be on Exiles later this year.

Q: Spideymark 05-15-2007 11:59 AM

Before and during Civil War you repeatedly promised us a clear winning and losing side at the end, which (I think no one can dispute) you and Mark Millar and everyone else involved delivered on. My question is - can you promise the same for World War Hulk?

JQ: Yes, I can Spideymark, I don’t think you’re going to see a draw at the end of this one. Did I mention that since Spidey 616 asked his WWH question I’ve been thinking about canceling the Hulk? Hey, don’t get mad at me, go talk to Spidey616!

Q: motteditor 05-15-2007 05:38 PM

Joe, now that Capt. Marvel and Gravity both appear to be back, can you tell us what the original plans for the two were? From the various hints (and I forget now if you've actually straight out said this), it seems obvious that Gravity was intended to be the new Capt. Marvel before plans changed.

JQ: the plan was simple, motteditor, Gravity was to die in Beyond or at least appear to die. He would later be resurrected as the new Captain Marvel. We would discover that he had this secret destiny, but in the end, we decided against doing it.

Crimsondude

Man, I wish...

The Muffin Man

Wait.
With the EXCEPTION of Peter Parker?
Didn't Reed say he was up there as one of the smartest people? Is he only counting the first 7, or does Pete just drop down to number 11 because of Cho being around?

DJ Eebs

I wish they had gone that direction with Gravity, because his return in Fantastic Four was pretty terrible, actually.

Crimsondude

The Muffin Man wrote: »

Wait.
With the EXCEPTION of Peter Parker?
Didn't Reed say he was up there as one of the smartest people? Is he only counting the first 7, or does Pete just drop down to number 11 because of Cho being around?

I figure he just hates Peter.

Calamity Jane

Wowie. I hate to toss in the obligatory "fire this asshole" line but dear God I think he may've taken this "fuck up Peter's life" thing a tad overboard.

On a side note, it would be sweet that if in the event they take that route, he go out west.

Algertman

I'm amazed that since manga blows standard american comics out of the water in terms of sales in big box bookstores that Joe Q. doesn't pay attention to them. That's pretty much ignoring most of the younger market and good portion of the female audience.

Fencingsax

Algertman wrote: »

I'm amazed that since manga blows standard american comics out of the water in terms of sales in big box bookstores that Joe Q. doesn't pay attention to them. That's pretty much ignoring most of the younger market and good portion of the female audience.

Well, SM<3MJ is a good start

deadonthestreet

Algertman wrote: »

I'm amazed that since manga blows standard american comics out of the water in terms of sales in big box bookstores that Joe Q. doesn't pay attention to them. That's pretty much ignoring most of the younger market and good portion of the female audience.

Runaways?

Munch

Watching that Marvel TV video has filled me with feelings of dread. It looks like they're all just a few Egg McMuffins away from massive heart attacks. Except Ed Brubaker, who just looks ridiculous in his little fedora.

hughtron

NRAMA: How about the Heroes for Hire #13? This has caused some controversy of its own, with some people likening it to a very unsavory recurring element in some more adult-themed manga?

JQ: This one I can answer to. First, I think people are reading way too much into that cover than was ever intended. I heard terms such as “tentacle rape” being thrown around when that in no way is what’s happening, nor does it happen in the book. Those tentacles are the arms of the Brood who appears in the issue and is a major story point, the Brood have tentacles, sorry about that.

Secondly, the concept for that cover, soup to nuts came from a female artist. Thirdly, not being a deep follower of manga, I have no idea what recurring theme people are referring to or concerned with. While I appreciate the sentiment and the feelings that some may have about this, I honestly feel that there is way too much being read into this cover.

Also, HFH is a book that features two strong, lead female protagonist who kick major ass; somehow folks have forgotten to focus on that.

Duurrr...subtext? What's a subtext?

What a cop-out answer.

Servo

hughtron wrote: »

NRAMA: How about the Heroes for Hire #13? This has caused some controversy of its own, with some people likening it to a very unsavory recurring element in some more adult-themed manga?

JQ: This one I can answer to. First, I think people are reading way too much into that cover than was ever intended. I heard terms such as “tentacle rape” being thrown around when that in no way is what’s happening, nor does it happen in the book. Those tentacles are the arms of the Brood who appears in the issue and is a major story point, the Brood have tentacles, sorry about that.

Secondly, the concept for that cover, soup to nuts came from a female artist. Thirdly, not being a deep follower of manga, I have no idea what recurring theme people are referring to or concerned with. While I appreciate the sentiment and the feelings that some may have about this, I honestly feel that there is way too much being read into this cover.

Also, HFH is a book that features two strong, lead female protagonist who kick major ass; somehow folks have forgotten to focus on that.

Duurrr...subtext? What's a subtext?

What a cop-out answer.

man, no kidding

'no see these are strong, empowered women we have tied up and being molested, so that makes it totally ok to fuck them on the cover of their own comic! ladies, the purchase line starts around the door, and every comic bought comes with a free kissie-poo from ol' joe!'