Crossgen

[negation]

Hello Mr Marz,

I know by now you might hate hearing people bring up the C word, but I did purchase every issue CG published and just cant find anything going now that compares. I have started purchasing comics again and gravitated back to Marvel where I grew up, but when I re read my CG collection it is just much better, deeper and more enjoyable. The synergy between writers, artists and the over arching backstory just cant be touched by anything going right now ( IMO )

Looking back at your stuff,
1) Scion-You & Jim nailed this baby, 38 issues of a very well crafted story with gorgious art. You really developed some amazing charecters, and brought the 2 families out front. Bron was one of the best villans not just in CG but anywhere, Mai Shen was cool to.

2) Mystic-your 17 issue ( I think ) run ,ixed humur and became my favorite book based on magic this side of the good Doctor ( strange that is ), I loved Darrow ( esp in the first year ), Animora was very cool ( I wished her not to be a first )

3) Sojourn-Just pure movie magic, I could see spielberg directing this. Such a cool cast, great creatures in all the 5 lands, CGs biggest publishing mistake was taking you off theire number one book.
couple of questions
1) when were you planning to have your Ayden reveal ( if disaster had not struck )
2) how were you planning on having the series end.

4) The Path -A very Thematic feel ( esp in the first year, ), The best of the last wave ( stating with Way of the Rat )

5) Chimera-I think you assisted Brandon Peterson on this, always wondered where this was to have fit in the CG backstory. Was the race they spoke of in this book the same as the race that captured the Atlanteans in the Crux ( and were they to have experimented on them )

Finally-were you not supposed to be the original writer for WAR along with Perez on Art ( sorry if I am wrong ), how would your story have differed from where Tony was going
1) He made the book very Negation centric ( hence the name Negation war ), how would your story have been different ( do you remember the conclusion )
2) do you have the print that Perez made for WAR, I purchased 9 of those but never got that one.

I am sorry for this rambling email but very few Comics, Companies or Creators have touched me the way CrossGen did and continues to do. I just wanted to thank you and all your co workers on these books
It was time well spent...............................

PS--I am ordering 2 TPBs from Checkerboard, Sojourn and Negation. I hope they are up to the quality of the originals./

[Ron Marz]

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the CrossGen stuff. It was fun while it lasted, and ultimately a good experience (even if the end wasn't so hot).

Your questions:

1) when were you planning to have your Ayden reveal ( if disaster had not struck )

Ayden would have been killed in the Negation War (I think that was where it would happen), so the quest would have turned out to be a false hope, putting Arwyn in the position of having to destroy Mordath herself. However, the troll, Bohr, would have ultimately been Mordath's slayer.


2) how were you planning on having the series end.

The series would have continued with the rebuilding of the Five Lands, and the introduction of a completely new cast of characters, with Gareth continuing with those characters.


3) Chimera-I think you assisted Brandon Peterson on this, always wondered where this was to have fit in the CG backstory. Was the race they spoke of in this book the same as the race that captured the Atlanteans in the Crux ( and were they to have experimented on them )

I don't think so, but I don't remember that 100%.


4) Finally-were you not supposed to be the original writer for WAR along with Perez on Art (sorry if I am wrong ), how would your story have differed from where Tony was going?

I wrote a double-sized first issue, and I believe George actually started drawing it. It was never completed, obviously. Same basics in the story for both Tony and myself, I assume.


4) He made the book very Negation centric ( hence the name Negation war ), how would your story have been different ( do you remember the conclusion )

My ending, would have gotten rid of a LOT of The First characters, and made the individual titles more stand-alone. Tony's would have accomplished much the same.


5) Do you have the print that Perez made for WAR, I purchased 9 of those but never got that one.

Hmm ... maybe I have one tucked away somewhere, but I can't be certain.

[Captain Jim]

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the CrossGen stuff. It was fun while it lasted, and ultimately a good experience (even if the end wasn't so hot).

Your questions:

1) when were you planning to have your Ayden reveal ( if disaster had not struck )

Ayden would have been killed in the Negation War (I think that was where it would happen), so the quest would have turned out to be a false hope, putting Arwyn in the position of having to destroy Mordath herself. However, the troll, Bohr, would have ultimately been Mordath's slayer.


2) how were you planning on having the series end.

The series would have continued with the rebuilding of the Five Lands, and the introduction of a completely new cast of characters, with Gareth continuing with those characters.

Darn, that sounds good. I loved this book. This makes me regret its passing even more.

[negation]

Thank you for the great answers, I wish all the books had been allowed to continue at least until the original uber story ended.

I think everyone involved should be extremley proud of what CG acomplished. History may record this as a failure, but I see it as an incredible success.

The Creative people
you guys are penetrating all companies, Marvel, DC and the independents

Contracts
I don't recall exclusives being a regular option before CG

Trade Program
CG was the first to have a really strong trade program

Competition
I think the level of CG quality helped lift the big 2 ( of course the infusion of talent helped )

COW
first to try this

DVDs
first to try this

Internet presence
great internet

Some of these might have hastened the collapse of CG ( not a ggod think ) but def. led to an industry improvement overall
great job

[negation]

One more question,
I know you did not wright the title ( Solus ) but you were part of the creative begiining ( along with Barbara & Brandon )

How much did the uber story change from the beginning when we saw the 2 talking heads before bestowing the sigils.

In Solus 8 they gave a somewhat confusing story of the connection between her & Danik

Tell me if I have it right

1) The atlanteans transitioned 10,000 years in our past to a state of godhood
2) Solus decends back to the human level and creates Altwall and maybe elyssia
for this act of creation the other transended atlanteans weaken her, dull her mind and trap her within the Milky way
3) she than proceeds to create the rest of the First & alters worlds theoughout the next 100,000 years ( before granting the sigils )
4) Danik tricks her into granting the sigils to stir the universal energies ( when really he wanted to raise an army to go against the other transended atlanteans because he now agrres with Solusandra's belief on how imprtant humanity is )
5) The atlanteans attak her again trying to destoy her, somehow opening a rift in reality to the negation universe destroying the atlanteans ( except her and Danik )
6) We are now in Solus 1 ( and Charon is aware of our reality ( now in Negation 1)
7) Danik changes his plan, now his army will be used to destroy the Negation forces

How close am I to what happened, and where did the whole thing change

Thank you

[torippu]

Reading Ron's answers and seeing the Checker SOJOURN TPB in my LCS yesterday has made me want to re-read the series again. Guess it is time to make a trip to my storage locker.

[Lester C.]

If you don't mind answering a Sojourn question Ron, was Gareth immortal? The guy being tortured in the prequel looked exactly like him, and he survived a fall that people with wings could not. I always wondered, and this thread has finally given me an appropriate time to ask.

Now a question about your current work so I don't have a total guilt trip for asking you questions to a book you worked on years ago. Are we going to get trades of your work Dark Horse and Top Cow? It's getting to the point where I'm going to have to go on ebay which is always a risky proposition.

[Captain Jim]

Contracts
I don't recall exclusives being a regular option before CG

I'm pretty sure they were.

[karlton]

Man, this makes me want to go and re-read all my CrossGen books :)

[Ron Marz]

If you don't mind answering a Sojourn question Ron, was Gareth immortal? The guy being tortured in the prequel looked exactly like him, and he survived a fall that people with wings could not. I always wondered, and this thread has finally given me an appropriate time to ask.

Now a question about your current work so I don't have a total guilt trip for asking you questions to a book you worked on years ago. Are we going to get trades of your work Dark Horse and Top Cow? It's getting to the point where I'm going to have to go on ebay which is always a risky proposition.

Gareth wasn't immortal. He was, however, pretty lucky.

Most of my Dark Horse work is in trades, especially Samurai: Heaven and Earth (two volumes), my favorite of the bunch.

And I think everything of mine from Top Cow is in trades. They just relaunched their rebranded Witchblade TPB series, starting with the beginning of my run as volume 1, which is offered at a special price of $5 for the trade (which contains 6 issues). Volume 2 just came out, and volume 3 is due this month. Hope you give 'em a try.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I'm pretty sure they were.

If they were, it wasn't as big a presence.
You used to hear of someone switching companies, but it's only in the last few years that you hear the companies putting people on exclusive contracts.

[Ron Marz]

If they were, it wasn't as big a presence.
You used to hear of someone switching companies, but it's only in the last few years that you hear the companies putting people on exclusive contracts.

There were certainly exclusives prior to CrossGen. I was exclusive to DC for a number of years. The difference is that back then, the publishers didn't make a big deal out of announcing it.

When CG started signing people to contracts, Marvel and DC scrambled to keep writers and artists via exclusives, and it spiraled into the "exclusive wars" that continue to the present. I should add, though, that Marvel and DC are not making as much of a public fuss when they sign (or re-sign) talent these days.