CUP O' JOE & Axel-In-Charge Q&A: Dedicated Questions Thread

Hey Joe -

I'm a life-long Marvel fan and I have really enjoyed the overwhelming majority of the comics coming out of the House of Ideas under your watch. There's a lot of top talent producing amazing comics under the Marvel banner right now and it's a great time to be a True Believer. The unfortunate side effect of this overall high level of quality is that the misfires are all the more noticeable. The question I'd like to ask concerns how you and Marvel adjust when a high-stakes story falls flat.

Sorry to say it, but Ultimatum was absolutely awful. Screechingly, gratuitously, I-want-my-money-back, objectively awful. Fan reaction seems almost universally negative, confused and viscerally disgusted. David Finch's art was excellent, but Jeph Loeb managed to get almost everything wrong with Ultimatum, from characterization to dialog to internal story logic. Most readers seem to regard the series as a cheap, clumsy shock-fest that accomplished very little, aside from mowing down interesting characters in service of an Ultimate line relaunch. This isn't like OMD, where people where reacting to controversy - this is like the Spider-Clone, where people are reacting to unmitigated terribileness.

How do you, as EiC, and your editorial cohorts plan to respond to and adjust from the creative failure that Ultimatum turned out to be? While I realize that it's possible to invoke the "Michael Bay defense" (good sales = good story, regardless of criticisms) in response to Ultimatum's reception, that really only applies in the short term. Ultimatum may have sold well for now, but it also succeeded in putting many readers (myself included) off of Jeph Loeb's Marvel comics and made them very, very wary about continuing to purchase Ultimate line comics. Ultimatum was meant to lay the groundwork for the next phase of the Ultimate line, and reader opinion of Ultimatum is overwhelmingly negative. What now? How do you move forward with these stories when their bedrock is so reviled? What is your response to the groudswell of disgust and skepticism that Ultimatum has generated?

Howdy Joe, can you tell us anything about the Dr Strange mini? Wasn't there an ongoing announced last year? I seem to remember a female writer but my memory is terrible!

When is the "Cloak & Dagger" Mini Coming? I know it has been pushed back due to Utopia, but is it still coming at all?

Is there a chance that Ricochet will join the X-Men or some other mutant team in the future? He is a mutant, after all.

Hey Joe,
I am a huge fan of Andy Diggle. I think he is one of the top writers in comics right now, and I couldn't be happier that he is doing Daredevil. I am however disheartened to hear that he is leaving T-bolts. Can you give us a clue as to what he has coming from Marvel in the future?

Hi Joe

Since hearing that Agents of Atlas will become a back-up strip, I wondered if there were any plans to do the same for Captain Britain & MI:13?

Hi Joe,

Three questions:

First, I'm a longtime Marvel reader and I have to tell you that between Annihilation, Conquest, Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy, and War of Kings, the cosmic arena hasn't been this exciting since Captain Marvel was riding the galactic wind. With the additon of the two new Realm of Kings books, I'm a little worried DnA--good as they are--have placed too much on their plate writing all four cosmic titles. So, I'm wondering if there are any plans to bring another strong creative team with long term goals into the mix to complement them and help out?

Second, are there any plans to bring Captain Marvel back or further develop a legacy character in those regards, like placing Ms. Marvel or Rick Jones into the cosmic picture or letting Phyla-Vell assume the mantle?

Third, Marvelman is a great character and, I'm sure, an interesting character with challenges to bring into the stable. I hope you will give the character the devoted long-term creative team he deserves. Can you give us any hint whether you guys are favoring incorporating him into the '616' or other Marvel Universe?

Keep up the great work on the cosmic line, Captain America, The Twelve, Mighty Avengers, & Incredible Hercules. I'm also really looking forward to the upcoming Black Widow series. Judging from an interview I read, writer Paul Cornell really seems to understand the character.

G-Man#1

Two things;

Will an Ongoing Alpha Flight be announced soon?

Was HYDRA always supposed to be so far-reaching? I mean, hey controlled SHIELD, CSIS, countries, major industries, how could they not have ruled the world?

Since we are done with Hulk/Spidermancific questions I thought I would re-ask mine

Hey Joe!

With the announcement of Web of Spider-man along with the premature cancellation of Exiles, I got to thinking. Do you think there is any possibility of a Web of Spider-man type book for the X-universe? It could feature in continuity stories about individual members of the team. The recent minis that followed this format (Manifest Destiny, Divided we Stand) have sold well and trying to fit 200 characters into one book doesn't give a lot of space for very many character pieces. This would also be an ideal spot to continue Jeff Parker's Exiles as a backup feature.

Also, the October solicits did not have any solicit for Runaways. Are we going to be hearing news any time soon about its current status? I would prefer my other favorite book to not be canceled as well.

Finally, with the almost surprise success of New Mutants, has there been any discussion on creating a reunion of the wonderful Generation X characters? I know a lot of people miss this team, and they really haven't done much since they disbanded.

Hi, with the cancellation of Captain Britain and MI:13 I was wondering if there was a chance that Dane Whitman The Black Knight would return to the Avengers, he has always been one of my favourite caracters since the Bob Harrras run on the Avengers so I'm hoping he will be back in a book soon.

Thank you and greetings from Belgium and please tell Jeph Loeb that the Eiffel Tower is in Paris France (or Vegas) and not in Belgium as shown in Ultimatum.

Joe, you recently commented on the collection of comics into trades and said that retailers ask you to wait with bringin out trade collection of comics so they can sell more single comics and I understand that decision but I don't live in the USA I live in Belgium and here it's very hard to find single marvel comics but trades are no problem unfortunately that means we always have to wait longer before we can read a story, wouldn't it be possible to release trades sooner in countries outside the USA so Marvel fans around the world would get to read stories sooner. As an example I give you Ultimatum, the story is now finished and the new Ultimate comics start now to read Ultimatum I have to wait for the trade to come out around january 2010 that means I have to wait half a year to read a story that has already been finished and why is it that some stories appear in trade collection almost immediately after publication and some take months before they are sold? I'm not mad I just don't want to wait months to read a story and I'm not a big fan of digital comics, I prefer to get the paper ones.

Hey Joe, the "Endangered Species" storyline that ran in the back of the X-books two years ago established that M-Day not only affected 90% of the living mutant population, but expunged the X-gene from (presumably 90%) of mutants already dead before M-Day (e.g. Genosha) as well. Though naturally all the details of "Necrosha" have yet to be released, interviews and publicity material seem to indicate that Selene (or whoever) will be 'resurrecting'--and is in fact specifically targeting--deceased mutants. Shouldn't almost all the resurrected mutants be powerless? Even with the Transmode Virus, Wanda retroactively altered their DNA.

Can you give us a general idea when and if we will learn the identity of Red Hulk? I vaguely remember being promised that his identity would be revealed in issue 600, but im probably making that up. Oh, and p.s., Where does red hulk go shopping for his trench coats? That would be a great hulk tale in itself!

Since another user asked about a possible omnibus collection, I was reminded of one I had myself.

Do you know of any current plans to collect Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Fantastic Four run, or if it's not considered as ground breaking as The Ultimates, at least an oversized hardcover collecting the entire run?

I'd also like to ask, why the decision to change the Fantastic Four's look and logo back to being close to what it was before Millar and Hitch's run? Was it a choice by the creative team, editorial, or was the new look designed by Hitch just temporary?

Can all the answered questions be deleted from this thread, already?

Hey Joe, me again!

-With Sif having returned and thus Loki to his old male body as well in the last issue of Thor, will we see this change reflected in the other Marvel titles Loki appears in, specifically Mighty Avengers and future Cabal encounters?

-On the subject of Thor, how long until the Thunder God finally faces off against Ragnarok aka the Thor clone better known as CLOR as some fans may be wondering since his return in Avengers: the Initiative?

Hey Joe,

I fear for one of my favourite series, is Runaways cancelled ? And if it unfortunately is, is there any chance of seeing them again somewhere ?

Given that the Marvelman series that ran in Britain during the '50s and '60s was originally printed in black and white, does Marvel have any plans to put out an Essential Marvelman series?

Hi Joe,

Just a quick question: I know there are no plans for new Nextwave material on the books (unless something's changed since the question was last asked), but are there any plans for the one originally conceived character for that book, the Captain? All of the other members (especially Machine Man) have made appearances since the book came to a close, but nothing for the Captain yet. Any hope that'll be changing soon? Maybe a digital comic or something?

Thanks.

Okay.... "Runaways" seems to have been cancelled........ And Im cool with that, but Why could you not have told us sooner rather than let us all get worried, and antsy?

Hey Joe

Will "Dark Wolverine" be returning to just "Wolverine" and feature Logan instead of his son at the end of Dark Reign or is this new change permanent?

Hiya Joe.

-Adi Granov has been drawing some truly great covers recently for such titles like Amazing Spider-Man and Incredible Hercules, but I miss his interior work. No doubt his work on the Iron Man film has kept him busy, but besides covers, what else can we expect from Granov in the next year?

-Greg Horn is another artist whose covers and Secret Invasion promotional images I've loved, but haven't seen any new Marvel projects lately. From his site, it looks like he's been experimenting with a new art style, so I'm curious if we'll be seeing more of Horn's work at Marvel?

[IMG]http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5114/athemightythorbygreghor.jpg[/IMG]

Hello Joe

1. Will we ever see a cosmics/abstracts heirachy released (A 1 shot comic). individual info exists but nothing definitive on their relative power/positions and which are neccesary for cosmic consonance etc. Either way can you confirm Galactus is above the Celestials (collectivly or individually) in station and power?

Hiya Joe,

Just curious as to why Ultimate Hulk tends to flip flop between green and grey. Can you guys not decide what color he should be?

Dear Mr. Quesada,

Will Marvel continue to restore the original numbering to titles like the Invincible Iron Man, the Punisher, and Wolverine like it has most recently with the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, Thor, and Captain America? And will we see this trend pass onto more obscure titles like Deadpool, Nova, and Black Panther?

I am also curious with the "Incredible" adjective restored to the Hulk, will we see the return of the "Mighty" adjective attached to Thor?

Are we going to see Screwball any in Amazing Spider-Man or otherwise in the near future or was she meant as just a one-note character?

G'day Joe,
I'm a big X-fan and really love everyone working on the different series at the moment. I have a couple of questions.
1) I know one of the genies you wanted to put back in the bottle was to reduce the number of mutants (House of M) but I feel that in order to be a proper minority mutants would need to number in the millions. We don't need a massive cast which was the problem to begin with but the threat of extinction story arc I feel can only go so far as if things remain the way they are mutants will become extinct. So any chance our merry mutants will find a way to reverse M-day soon?
2) Also, any chance that some storylines form the 90's might see the light of day in TPB form soon. I'd really like to get my hands on Fatal Attractions, Operation Zero Tolerance and the Hunt for Xavier/Magento War arcs. Any chance?
Regards
Jon!

Hey Joe, since when is Brother Voodoo such a suave young brother? He went from living in swamps and looking quite scraggly to having a tight fade and hooking up with chicks (yes, I read Marvel Divas.) Brother Voodoo as sorcerer supreme is cool, but where did the personality shift come from?

Hey Joe

Do you know why Jean Grey has stayed dead for the past few years? As well as being one of the most important and popular characters of the X-Mythos, many of us X-Men fans really miss her ever since she went away several years back. I have heard rumors that you and the editors hate the character and won't let her come back and I need clarification. By the way, please don't mention Emma Frost as the reason Jean has stayed dead. It's an invalid excuse as the two characters have coexisted before and they can coexist again.

Thanks-

The Thunderbird

Hey Joe,

Now that Upper Deck's Marvel Superstars Trading Card Game has been officially announced:

[url]http://marvelsuperstars.wordpress.com[/url]

How much involvement did you have with its development? Since the game is using movies instead of comics, were you left out of the loop? How distinct are you guys from the dudes at Marvel Studios?

Will Marvel be publishing a House of M:Red Guard mini featuring Wolverine, Rogue and the rest of the Red Guard ?

Hey Joe, it's your favorite Marvelite. ;)

Well, the news Thor fans have finally been waiting for has arrived with Kieron Gillen set to write 6 issues of Thor this November. I'm sure a lot of readers are wondering if a permanent writer for the series has been found once Kieron finishes his run and what other artists besides Billy Tan we can expect in the months to come for Thor?

While on the subject of Thor, is their going to be one last wrap up issue by JMS? Back in June, there was brief mention of a solicitation for a one shot called Thor's Defining Moments, a giant-sized issue for $4.99 with 64 pages by JMS and Marko Djurdjevic.

Article link: [url]http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21780[/url]

Hi Joe,

Thank you for bringing us the new 'Strange' mini, but whatever happened to the ongoing that Muriel Gray was signed up for? I know it was mentioned a long time ago but I never heard it was cancelled.

Hey Joe! In the last few years, I have basically given up weekly comics in favor of trades. (And am reading a ton more, as a result!) I especially dig the Omnibus line. However, I have a question: will we ever see Volume 2 of any of these series? Like Bendis's Daredevil Vol 2, Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2, and- the one I am praying for- Uncanny X-Men Vol 2? Thanks for doing this column- we appreciate it!

Hi Joe. I read the Ms. Marvel solicts for #47 it looks like Karla isn't in the book anymore. I started reading the Ms. Marvel book because of Karla. Any plans for a Karla Sofen solo book down the road?

Say it ain't so Joe! Greg Pak's War Machine can't really be ending with #12 in November, can it? And only a few months before Rhodey makes his big screen debut in the armor courtesy of Don Cheadle. Will we be seeing Rhodey appear in the Iron Man title as a supporting cast member by chance or other titles in the months to come?

Hey Joe, I saw in the November solicits that Utopia will be collected as a hardcover. Will there be a soft cover trade down the road too?

Hi Joe --

X-Factor is missing from November's solicitations. I sense something's up--what's going on with the title after issue 50?

Joe...

Will we be getting bonus content along with the price increases? (UCSM and UCA in particular)