CBR: Cup O' Joe - Feb 25, 2011

[CBR News]

Marvel SVP of Publishing Tom Brevoort strikes back on CBR with some plain talk on comic royalties, the characters who will keep getting their own titles, and Avengers news...plus, a special invite for one fan to join the conversation.


Full article here.

[Beast]

Very cool idea to get CBR forumites involved more with the interviews. I really have to tip my hat on this one.

In fact, I might even be interested in tossing my hat into the ring for this one. Since I don't send in questions that often.

I've had a lot of praise and issues with some of Marvel'd decisions as of late. So this would be great fun to get involved on.

And would love to pick some brains about stuff like the future of All-Ages Comics, Guardians Of The Galaxy, and more.

[charlesjbaserap]

Do I get an automatic bid for pointing out that Tuesday is not March 2, but rather March 1, or is that only worthy of a no-prize?

[Matt Spatola]

I'm sure lots of readers here at CBR are going to want in on the interview; myself included. I've asked Tom some questions on formspring before- including asking about Bachalo and JRJR on Avengers a couple of weeks ago. I have quite a few industry and Marvel questions ready to go!

[RichJohnston]

Here's the article that may have kicked some of this off;

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/02/...ike-royalties/

Mote and beam, Tom, mote and beam.

[Kiel Phegley!]

Do I get an automatic bid for pointing out that Tuesday is not March 2, but rather March 1, or is that only worthy of a no-prize?

Woof. Fixed now. It's been a looooooooong week.

I should also mention that if you'd like to be the caller on Tuesday, you should make your case for why you'll have better questions than I normally do :) here in this thread over the weekend. We're looking for someone who really has an interest or issue that they'd like to discuss with Tom, and folks who articulate their point of view best have the best shot of being chosen.

We'll PM the winner about doing the call some time on Monday.

Good luck, guys!

[Toboe]

The Moon Knight preview looks great!

[ian33407]

The Moon Knight preview looks great!

Absolutely. I kinda feel a Sienkiewicz' vibe, and that's okay for me !

I'd love to play the interview game too, though it would be better by chat than by phone, just to avoid translation problems, but it' ll be an honor. Not sure being representative of all the community that said; but the long-time followers, maybe.

[Dog]

And would love to pick some brains about stuff like the future of All-Ages Comics, Guardians Of The Galaxy, and more.

And you'd get the same answers we've seen a thousand times.

[Beast]

And you'd get the same answers we've seen a thousand times.

Well.... my questions sort of fall into a different realm than those. So we'll see.

[theXfactor]

The Moon Knight preview looks great!

Agreed. I'm thinking of giving the book a try.

[Brian from Canada]

Another great interview — and nice that he's finally answered the question about continuity. If Marvel feels it's too much and want to let the reader do it, or refer to some handbook group, that's a much better answer than simply ignoring the question altogether.

But the highlight is definitely the comment about the Rogue issue.

I'd love for Tom to follow up with which characters are waiting for the perfect pitch, or which books from the past have been requested by fans.

Unfortunately, much as I would love to be the guest interviewer this week, I sincerely doubt the school principal would let me spend an hour on the telephone interviewing an editor of Marvel Comics when I need to be in the classroom watching my students.

[Predabot]

I'd like to ask Tom a few questions. =)

I'd ask him about his view on the possible evolution of Copyright, in the next 15-20 years, and things like the reality of growing piracy among younger generations, and if or how he would see potential fan-comics fitting into that.

I'd also ask him what he thinks about Comics possibly one day going free-to-read, in a way similar to how television series are funded by commercials, or the very, very quickly growing amount of free-to-play video-games. Connected to this, I would ask him if Marvel would consider doing a BIG new book, something with a top-flight creative team, and some of their bigger characters, as a free-to-read preliminarily digital exclusive.

Connected to this, I'd ask him about what Marvels view on the international market is, and how, and if, they have any plans to try and capitalize more on its potential? Perhaps language-localized versions of their digital platforms, such as the Comixology app, and Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited ( and translated digital collections to go). Part of this question is of course the problem that currently, there are many countries, and entire territories, where Marvel Comics are not easily available, for an affordable price. Like here in Scandinavia.

Then I would continue to ask him about Marvels thoughts on how to make their Universe more female-friendly. Things like more tasteful costumes, and perhaps an ongoing perpetual vehicle of some kind, to promote female heroes. Similar how DC has Birds of Prey, and Marvel has... nothing. ( this would be the segment where I would shamelessly and irredeemably begin to push the idea of a Lady Liberators ongoing series of mini-series by Marvels TOP talent on him. )

I'd ask him about the reasons why the Epic imprint failed back in the day, instead of becoming Marvel's answer to Vertigo. Why the Epic Illustrated v2 mag in the early 2000's never amounted to anything, and what it would take for an imprint like that to be successful today, but also what it would take for Marvel to be INTERESTED in launching something like Epic. ( replies like: "we have Icon..." would make my face sad)

I'd ask him as well how "hip" C.B Cebulski is, if he soars the web on sites like Deviantart and CgSociety, or perhaps if he's even using the blogosphere and social media to find the next intense Marvel-artist. I'd ask him if CB has ever considered not looking just for illustrators, but sculptors and 3D-artists as well, and if Marvel has ever considered hiring such talent to produce a comic, or a cover. ( I think I kind of already know the answer to this... since I just realized it's been done. Not with sculpting tho, to my knowledge.)

I'd end it all with this simple question: Where'd he purchase that purty' hat...? ;)

[Scavenger]

Before the trolls and thugs wreck any discussion about the topic, I'm calling foul on Tom here.

Tom publiclly calls into question DC's royalties set up for licenenced reprints, and asks for DC people to correct his beliefs if wrong, but then when asked about Marvel's policy, he gives a boiler plate excuse that such matters can't be talked about publicly.

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you were surprised by what you heard about the DC policy because it so differs from Marvel's, rather than you were trying to obfusicate Marvel's position, knowing no one from DC would counter you in public.

In which case, your answer to the entire situation was to apoplogize for speaking out of turn about something you don't have direct knoweldge of and you know is a private matter between DC (and Marvel) and the creators.

Now, I'm fine with playful sniping between companies, because it's fun, but that's just straight out dirty pool, Tom. It's one thing to make fun of give away promotions or hype, but making inuendo about business practices when you won't come clean on your own is just plain dishonest.

[Beast]

There's a difference between pointing out DC not paying people compared to asking Marvel what they do pay people.