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Post by Van Plexico on Feb 19, 2008 21:51:41 GMT -5
I think it's time to stir up a little buzz about ASSEMBLED! 2.
I'm doing my best to have it ready by the time of the Iron Man movie. We shall see!
In the meantime, here's a list of the chapters I have edited so far. By edited, that means I have read them at least once or twice, copy-edited them (including changing a lot of verb-tenses; Joe Crowe will take a second copy-editing pass, to backstop my misses, once the whole thing is done), and altered whatever needs altering in terms of sentence/paragraph flow, structure, formatting, interior headers, conformity to the book's style (ie we italicize titles, don't list page numbers, etc.), and so on.
Here, then, is where the book currently stands. I am working through them in a particular order that may be apparent, but that I will not explicitly discuss just yet.
I have a lot more than this in my possession, but these are the ones I'm finished with. I have, without exception, enjoyed them all!
ASSEMBLED 2
And There Came a Day... (Van Plexico)
Captain America: An Overview (Dave Medinnus)
Captain America: The Ultimate Avenger (Dave Medinnus)
Captain America: Fallen Son (Mark Bousquet)
Golden Age Captain America (Dave Medinnus)
Iron Man: An Overview (Rob Clough)
Tony Stark: Villain (Mark Beaulieu)
Iron Man: World Conquest by Editorial Fiat (Van Plexico) (BOX)
Iron Man: Bill Mantlo's Overlooked Era (Van Plexico) (BOX)
Gerry Conway's Thor (Scott Harris)
The Celestials and Thor (Scott Harris) (BOX)
Jim Starlin's Thor (Scott Harris) (BOX)
The Enchantress, the Executioner, and Incompetence (Scott Harris) (BOX)
The Big Three (their friendship) (Shiryu)
Henry Pym/Goliath (Doug W)
The Hulk's Brief Career (Karen W)
Captain Mar-Vell and Ms. Marvel (Van Plexico)
A Brief History of Kang (Rob, Van, etc)
This represents roughly ONE-THIRD of what I expect to be in the book! It should be a good one!
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Post by Tana Nile on Feb 20, 2008 13:21:27 GMT -5
Wow, that is going to be one hefty brick of a book!
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Post by Shiryu on Feb 20, 2008 18:19:10 GMT -5
And it looks like there is a lot of AA! board in this book Btw Van, feel free to use my real name for the article
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Post by Van Plexico on Feb 20, 2008 22:26:17 GMT -5
I do intend to use whatever name the contributors prefer and whatever they include with biographical material.
(If anyone who contributed a chapter has not yet sent me a bio paragraph, please do. It needs to be just 2-3 sentences that say something of who you are and your connection to the Avengers. See the previous book for examples.)
I'm starting to worry that this volume is going to be 500 pages long! Eeeep....
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Post by Shiryu on Feb 21, 2008 7:03:38 GMT -5
Ok, I've just sent you a short bio in PM. One mighty book indeed!
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Post by dlw66 on Feb 21, 2008 8:32:06 GMT -5
This is great! I am really excited to see everyone's final work -- the first book was a joy! Good luck, Van -- press on, soldier!
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Post by woodside on Feb 21, 2008 10:20:59 GMT -5
I can't wait to read the other contributions! This is gonna be great, Van.
Also - biography paragraph? Hmmmmmm. How does one define a man in 2-3 sentences?
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Post by dlw66 on Feb 21, 2008 10:42:19 GMT -5
Van, would there be any merit to splitting the book into an Assembled 2 and Assembled 3 -- with the latter coming out to coincide with the Hulk movie? I certainly want sales to stay strong, but if the book will be in the $30 range, that might cut into it. Two $20 books seems more manageable for folks financially. Just food for thought. BTW, W, I'll bet Balok could have summarized you in 2-3 words!!
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Post by Shiryu on Feb 21, 2008 13:31:08 GMT -5
Hmm, you have a point there. However I'm afraid that the Hulk movie wouldn't be a big push for the book, considering how shortly the character has been in the team. The Avengers' movie would obviously be a much bigger push, but that's years away. Also - biography paragraph? Hmmmmmm. How does one define a man in 2-3 sentences? If it's of any help, this is what I just sent to Van after reading the bios in the first Assembled! volume "[...]is an Italian born chiropractor living in Bournemouth, England. A longtime comics' fan, spacing from Marvel to mangas to Disney, he also functions as the translator for the International Cartoonist's Exhibition in Rapallo. His first encounter with Earths' Mightiest has been through issue #225, shortly before the beginning of the Stern's run, and, despite dropping the book from time to time, he enjoyed it ever since, working hard to get hold of as many back issues as possible. To this day, Stern's and Busiek's remain his two favourite eras."
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Post by dlw66 on Feb 21, 2008 14:07:24 GMT -5
Well, as long as we're out of the closet and sharing... Below is what I sent. I also submitted an essay on the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver that I hope makes the cut!! Here's my "bio":
Doug W, Avengers fan since the Nixon administration, is a high school social studies teacher and an educator with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In his real life he talks about serious stuff, watches his two sons play sports, and spends time with his wife (who, incidentally is very cool because she buys him comics stuff for Christmas!). In his fantasy life he keeps an eye to the sky and rooftops when in the big city – you never know…
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Post by woodside on Feb 21, 2008 16:21:39 GMT -5
How's this sound?
"Kevin Woodside, an X-Men fan since age 9, was sucked into the world of the Avengers during the Onslaught/Heroes Reborn storyline of the mid-90s and has been an avid reader ever since. When he's not praising the antics of Bendis and Millar, Woodside spends most of his time at Stark State College of Technology, working on a degree in Technical Communications -- as well as planning for his married life with his fiancee, Tricia. For more on Woodside's thoughts on comics and attempts at writing, check out his blog (http://woodsidian.blogspot.com/) and the long-running Uncanny X-Periment Blog (http://uncannyxperiment.blogspot.com/)."
This is far from final, but I think it's along the lines of what I want it to say.
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Post by Shiryu on Feb 21, 2008 16:43:25 GMT -5
I'm not certain about inserting the links, but other than that it looks fine to me. PS, congratulations for your engagement!
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Post by Van Plexico on Feb 21, 2008 22:27:57 GMT -5
Today was a snowed-in day, so I worked pretty much all day (10 am until now, at 9:30 pm) on the editing. I hope you folks don't mind me posting your first names. The whole names will be in the book, anyway! Here's what I wrapped up today: And in this Corner: Hawkeye! (Sharon K)Whither the Vision? (Karen W)[These are both very long, very meaty chapters, with tons of info included beyond just basic biographical stuff. Hardcore fans will love these chapers. The downside was it took me several hours to sift through them both! Not because of any conceivable lack of quality, but because of how much stuff they include!] Why Stingray is an Avenger (Joe Crowe)
Why Redwing is an Avenger (Joe Crowe)
Jarvis: Why he is an Avenger (Joe Crowe)
They Shoulda Been Avengers (Joe Crowe) [Yes, Joe has four chapters this time... though you can imagine how long the Redwing one is... and yes, they are funny.] Ten Great Moments in Avengers History (Van Plexico) (BOX)[Hey, I'm the editor, I get to list ten favorite moments!] Avengers Annual #7 / MTIO Annual #2 (Van Plexico)
Avengers Forever (Rob Clough) [Rob's chapter is concise and thoughtful and captures what makes that miniseries so great.] Okay, that's it for a few days, probably. I'm moving to a different town for a couple of months, and will be doing a lot of heavy lifting and such. I have several more chapters in hand, that I haven't gotten to yet. I hope the last few that I'm waiting for will arrive while I'm busy. (And please don't take it personally, if yours isn't on either list-- I hit Joe's today because they were all short, and then got back on the regular list order, with Vizh and Hawkeye. It has nothing to do with the authors!)
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Post by dlw66 on Feb 22, 2008 9:39:19 GMT -5
Speaking as one privileged enough to have read drafts of Sharon's Hawkeye essay and both of Karen's submissions (Hulk and Vision), I can vouch for Van's comments -- they are meaty, thoughtful, and thorough. These ladies have put a lot of heart and a lot of passion into the chronicling of these characters' tenures in and around the Avengers. I trust you'll be pleased when you get the opportunity to see their hard work in final form!
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Post by Tana Nile on Feb 22, 2008 11:31:17 GMT -5
Speaking as one privileged enough to have read drafts of Sharon's Hawkeye essay and both of Karen's submissions (Hulk and Vision), I can vouch for Van's comments -- they are meaty, thoughtful, and thorough. These ladies have put a lot of heart and a lot of passion into the chronicling of these characters' tenures in and around the Avengers. I trust you'll be pleased when you get the opportunity to see their hard work in final form! I'd like to thank both Van and Doug for their kind remarks about my essays. The Vision one in particular was a real labor of love. I enjoyed reading both Doug's and Sharon's essays too. I think we all know Sharon has an amazing knowledge of the Silver Age and her look at Hawkeye is informative and thoughtful. Doug's essay on Goliath interweaves the character's history with his own youthful comics purchasing experiences in a charming way. I think everyone will really enjoy reading this essays. As a matter of fact, I am dying to see all the other essays that will be in the book! This will be a collection no Avengers fan will want to be without.
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Post by Shiryu on Feb 22, 2008 13:25:32 GMT -5
Having not read anyone-else's essay, I shall be looking forward to this book even more than you guys and gals! I actually considered myself sending my essay to someone for a quick read/comment/spell check before sending it to Van, but since it was several pages long I concluded it would have been too much of an hassle for that person -_-' Oh well, hopefully you will like it once the book is out, being an excursus of the developing friendship between the Big 3 and covering 500+ Avengers issues plus several appearances in their own books, it was overwhelming at times. PS. It took me several seconds to understand who Sharon is
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Post by dlw66 on Feb 22, 2008 13:56:31 GMT -5
PS. It took me several seconds to understand who Sharon is That's OK -- pretty soon we won't have secret identities anymore ;D
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Post by Tana Nile on Feb 22, 2008 15:18:38 GMT -5
PS. It took me several seconds to understand who Sharon is That's OK -- pretty soon we won't have secret identities anymore ;D Oh no! I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I can somehow make a deal with some evil supernatural entity and have everyone forget who I am...
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Post by Shiryu on Feb 22, 2008 16:20:00 GMT -5
No! Now my memory will be clouded and I forget everything!
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Post by woodside on Apr 17, 2008 16:46:24 GMT -5
How's it coming Van?
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Post by Van Plexico on Apr 20, 2008 19:37:33 GMT -5
I've edited a big stack of essays by Ian Watson that cover a number of the mid-level Avengers that were not otherwise covered.
I'm sure when it's out, people will complain that character X was left out, or didn't get nearly as much coverage as character Y... but considering how big the roster of the team is, I think I'll be satisfied if we have at least something about most of the first-tier and second-tier members and the major villains. And we will.
I have a few more chapters to edit; I'm awaiting the last few chapters to arrive from contributors; and I'm awaiting the first section of copy-edits from completed parts of the book to come back. The cover is done and is AWESOME.
I'm hoping we'll have it available by the time of HeroesCon in late June. If that deadline passes, we're looking at DragonCon in late August.
These things always take (a lot) longer than you expect. For example, don't try doing something like this and having a baby at the same time! (I had a lot more free time when I put the first book together!!)
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Post by dlw66 on Apr 20, 2008 20:55:08 GMT -5
These things always take (a lot) longer than you expect. For example, don't try doing something like this and having a baby at the same time! (I had a lot more free time when I put the first book together!!) Start that baby swing and get something done at 2 am man! Sheesh!! ;D
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Post by woodside on Apr 20, 2008 22:14:00 GMT -5
These things always take (a lot) longer than you expect. For example, don't try doing something like this and having a baby at the same time! (I had a lot more free time when I put the first book together!!) Start that baby swing and get something done at 2 am man! Sheesh!! ;D Better yet . . . Put that baby to work, man! And if the child labor people come after you, just claim the baby is doing its chores! Works everytime! ~W~ (who has no children)
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Post by Shiryu on Apr 21, 2008 16:46:50 GMT -5
Are you having a baby? That's the way to forge new marvel readers ;D
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Post by dlw66 on May 21, 2008 12:15:28 GMT -5
How's life, Van?
Any ideas on a release date for Assembled 2?
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Post by Van Plexico on May 28, 2008 0:31:12 GMT -5
I'm still hoping it will be out in time for DragonCon, which is Labor Day weekend. For that to happen, it will have to be to the printers by the end of July, and thus to the designer by the end of June.
We shall see...
I'm just waiting on the last few things to roll in . I still need a chapter overview on Thor's career, among a couple of other things already farmed out...
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Post by woodside on Jul 5, 2008 11:23:09 GMT -5
How things going, Van?
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Post by starfoxxx on Sept 6, 2008 20:32:31 GMT -5
Any current updates about Assembled #2 ?
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Post by Van Plexico on Sept 15, 2008 8:49:07 GMT -5
Waiting on the very last few chapters to arrive. Then one last big push of editing, and off it goes to Joe for copy editing and to Danny for interior layouts.
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Post by Nutcase65 on Sept 23, 2008 14:41:11 GMT -5
this one looks strong. Can't wait to see it
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