from New Joe Fridays Week 31:
NRAMA: Uh – we’ll check in on that and get back to you. To delve in the past a little more - there were a few answers that in retrospect could use a bit of clarification. You mentioned in your last installment that Civil War #7 would ship on time barring any acts of god but you didn't give what that ship date was?
JQ: Yeah, you know what, I caught that after the fact myself, I just thought that information was readily available to people out there. The book is due in comic shops on February 21, 2007.
NRAMA: Over the last week and a half, Brian Bendis has confirmed for Newsarama his New Avengers roster as of next month's issue #27. We asked him some of these same questions just this morning, but as New Avengers is now arguably your flagship franchise in the direct market the questions are appropriate for the Editor-in-Chief...
JQ: Sure, shoot away!
NRAMA: First of all, no Cap? How come? Where is he?
JQ: All will be revealed soon enough. To reveal that would unfortunately reveal our plans for a new book or two…
NRAMA: And on that note, popular theory hold Steve Rogers will be under the new Ronin suit. What are your thoughts on that theory?
JQ You know what they say, clothes make the man, or woman, right? Ultimately I think all these theories are really sound and way off base, all simultaneously [laughs], but you know that I would never confirm one way or another what it is that we're doing with our characters and storylines at the end of Civil War. People are going to speculate no matter what and that's what makes it all fun and cool in the end.
NRAMA: Well then, you may need to address this for us. Over at Amazon, there's a listing for Iron Man: Steve Rogers>o?, a new collection of Iron Man coming in June. For spoiler's sake, we won't go into too much detail about the contents, but it appears that Tony Stark will be taking a role with S.H.I.E.L.D. ... first off - many people are suggesting this is misdirection or a teaser cover...is it real? Anything you can say about the description?
JQ: Sorry, Matt, I went to the link and there's nothing there. Can't help you with this one.
NRAMA: Okay, there was a listing – and it’s been seen all around, with a figure in a red, white and blue “Iron Man” suit. Publishing strategy-wise, how do things like this get out so early?
JQ: In all seriousness, this is the constant battle that we have to fight between promoting our books and keeping storylines as secretive as possible. Also, with so many different and growing avenues by which to solicit our product mistakes are bound to occur, especially as all these different avenues have different solicitation cycles.
It doesn't make me happy, but it's the cost of doing business on a larger scale.
NRAMA: Back to the New Avengers reveals…two things people are reacting to strongly are 1.) Depending on who Ronin may or may not be, there isn¹t a single Avenger that pre-dates the Bendis era; and 2.) with the exception of Dr. Strange, they are more of a Marvel Knights-ish, street-level assemblage of characters, not who you might think of as the “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”
Thought on either fan response?
JQ: On 1.) Yeah, I kind of think, “So what?” Almost none of these characters are newbies by a long shot - Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Spider-Woman - these aren¹t a bunch of also-rans but established pillars of the Marvel Universe, more so than a lot of characters who became Avengers in the past. And most of these guys have been Avengers now for two-and-a-half years, so their status as actual, genuine, card-carrying Avengers really shouldn't be in question.
And for 2.): Four words for you: Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch. Hell, even if you add Goliath and the Wasp into the mix, I’d still bet on our new line-up in a fight, and nobody had any problem with “Cap’s Kooky Quartet” being the Avengers, and being dubbed “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.” This to me is just a case of what fans are comfortable with versus any new status quo. “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” is a tagline and over the glorious history of the team, there have been some mighty heroes and there have been some not so mighty heroes. In the end, what's important is the chemistry of the characters and how the writer and artist handle and convey that chemistry.
And by the way, we'll definitely get to see how Mighty or not the Mighty Avengers actually are.
NRAMA: So, a female Ultron?
JQ: Yup.
NRAMA: Seems to have touched a nerve with Avengers purists.
JQ: Yeah, well all I can say to them is Kara Thrace [laughs].
NRAMA: Finally, on the Avengers front, Brian also revealed to us today that Brian K. Vaughan's The Hood is going to rise up to become a major power in the Marvel supervillain community, a 'Godfather' figure in fact. What was your reaction when Brian presented this idea to you?
JQ: I thought it was great. I was a huge advocate of Vaughan's Hood series. Brian had sent me the pitch and I was blown away by it so when I became E-i-C I sent it over to Tom Brevoort and told him to take a look, I loved the pitch and felt that we needed to publish it. Tom liked it as well and away we went. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I love the idea of the Hood becoming a power player in the Marvel U. What makes him really intriguing is that we've seen him come up from absolutely nothing in the Hood series to where he will ultimately end up.
NRAMA: On the Civil War front, last week you revealed to us a major new series of specials, Fallen Son, that along with The Return and The Confession strike us as pretty essential Civil War reading, arguably adding another seven vital issues onto Civil War proper and Front Line.
First of all, can you give readers sense of how both chronologically and story wise, these specials along with Civil War #7 fit in with, and relate to one another? What's a good reading order and what are their respective unique angles in the big picture?
JQ: Well, the best reading order is “As they come out.” The Return will be in stores this week, so read it then. After that, Civil War #7 will come out, followed by Civil War: The Initiative, The Confession and Fallen Son. Also in there is Front Line #11, which by the way, is a must read for everyone..
And yes, while these are all important and vital components to the landscape of the Marvel Universe post-Civil War (except for The Return, which takes place during Civil War), the actual story of Civil War ends in Civil War #7. Civil War: The Initiative will be about the state of the superheroic landscape, Civil War: The Confession will be about the state of Cap and Iron Man and their friendship and relationship going forward, and Civil War: Fallen Son is about how the immediate fallout impacts on crucial characters all across the line.
NRAMA: Also, as we've mentioned, that's seven more issues, not even mentioning the various specials like War Crimes, Aftermath, The Initiative, etc, etc… Do you think readers can still get all the story in Civil War #7 at this point, and be fully prepared for and up-to-speed on the post-Civil War Marvel Universe as of the end of February?
JQ: What you're asking is really two questions. Yes, the story of Civil War concludes in Civil War #7. But these new projects illuminate and expand upon particular elements of the post-Civil War Marvel Universe. These titles deal more with the new landscape of the Marvel Universe and present some new ideas moving forward and actually elaborate on some threads that are presented in other monthly books. Captain America and Iron Man's titles in particular as well as some Avengers threads. In other words, certain elements of the post-Civil War landscape lent themselves to being explored more in-depth than we'd initially planned for in the monthlies, so we created these additional projects to allow us to truly get to the meat of each story.
NRAMA: On to other topics - last week we reported there'll be a midnight opening for Dark Tower #1, as far as we know, a comic book Direct Market first. First off all, can you say how that came about? Was it in response to the sales level you are seeing, or a proactive means to try to promote the title in a unique way?
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