|
Post by Van Plexico on Jan 8, 2007 22:13:45 GMT -5
Well said, Tone-- but I would add one caveat where Adrian and I may slightly disagree. (I'm not entirely certain of that, since I don't think he and I have ever specifically discussed it.)
I think the "it's just a big side-story" aspect of Heroes Reborn was shoehorned onto it halfway through. If it had been more of a success-- either artistically/with the fans, or had made more money than it did-- then I think it would have continued and never ended.
Note, for example, that Peter David was specifically brought in to write "The Return" when the decision was made to end the thing. And he made the whole "Return" story up at that point. It's not like the whole thing was planned out (the way, say, Civil War has been), in advance.
Some may argue, "But it DID make money! It DID sell way better than the books had sold previously!" Yes, but it needed to be a super-blockbuster to justify basically handing over Marvel's biggest non-X properties to another firm. Sort of like the original Battlestar Galactica-- it was a top-10 show in 1978, and got cancelled anyway, because for what it cost, it needed to be #1 every week!
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jan 7, 2007 16:01:56 GMT -5
I've just posted Adrian Watts's HEROES REBORN retrospective and cover gallery on the AA! Site. It will give you a taste of the kind of thing you'll be finding in the ASSEMBLED! book, when it comes out in a couple of months. www.avengersassemble.net
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Dec 29, 2006 18:40:06 GMT -5
Something I should have done from the beginning, gang-- the former "MV-1 Talk" forum is now open to discussion of any Avengers-related fanfic you'd like to talk about.
If you have some fanfic you'd like to point us to, you can post links for it there, too.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Dec 18, 2006 22:48:34 GMT -5
More info on ASSEMBLED: Only a very few articles and features haven't arrived yet-- I've edited everything I have on-hand. So I took the time to update the WhiteRocket site to give a little more info about the upcoming ASSEMBLED! FIVE DECADES OF EARTH'S MIGHTIEST book. (The cover depicted there is only a rough mock-up / placeholder.) The thing's already right at 200 pages long, comic book sized, with several features still on the way. It should be a good, solid, and very fun read, for new and longtime fans alike. I won't put anything up about it on the AA! page until it's ready to go, but here's the latest: www.whiterocketbooks.com
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Dec 11, 2006 0:59:08 GMT -5
FYI: I have just posted Bob Wolniak's Avengers Chronology, a PDF that lists all the Avengers' appearances in history, based on order of publication. Along with this, I've posted an update of Bob Fronczak's Avengers Chronology that lists Avengers appearances based on the timeline of the Marvel Universe. The two together make a very nice set. www.avengersassemble.netThanks to both these gentlemen for their work.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Dec 10, 2006 21:45:03 GMT -5
The ASSEMBLED! book will be available at least via Amazon, in addition to the publisher's site. Beyond that, I'm not sure yet. I'll definitely post the info here when the book is done and available. A few quick, behind-the-scenes details: I've edited about half of it, to this point. Keith RA DeCandido wrote the introduction and Sean McQuaid is writing the chapter on the Kurt Busiek Era, which I'm particularly looking forward to. Mark Bousquet's chapter on the ULTIMATES and Scott Harris's take on the Roy Thomas Era also bring a lot to the table, though I think all the chapters are very good, so far. The prolific Ian Watson has contributed several pieces, but I haven't gotten a look at them just yet. More to come!
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Dec 5, 2006 13:41:07 GMT -5
So you know about the Rittenhouse Archives AVENGERS cards, for which I wrote the card-back copy: www.scifihobby.com/products/display_category.cfm?CatID=46#141They're out now! I haven't seen them yet, but look forward to checking them out. The second project I mentioned before was a new book, put together by some of the old-time Jarvis-Heads, called ASSEMBLED! It will contain opinionated essays covering the major eras of Avengers history, along with a few other history/humor features, etc. The book is nearly complete, and should be available in the spring. All profits will go to George Perez's chosen charity. More details soon. The third project that has kept me away from message boards and the AA! site in the last couple of months is Volume 2 of the SENTINELS series: A DISTANT STAR. The manuscript is finished, editing has been completed, and "advance review copies" have been sent out. It will be available probably in mid-January at the latest. Here is the cover. More details available soon for this, too. www.plexico.net/wrb/book2_covermockup.jpg
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Sept 16, 2006 1:55:37 GMT -5
I have just put the finishing touches on my part of an upcoming Avengers project I have been involved in for the past few weeks. It's one reason I've been so scarce lately-- the deadline is Monday, and I just finished (at 2 am Saturday).
I will say more about it soon, once it's all official and everything.
And after that, there's yet another upcoming cool Avengers project I'm involved in that many of you here might enjoy. With project #1 done now, I can turn more of my attention to wrapping up project #2...
Oh, the tease I am being tonight. Blame sleep deprivation from working on a deadline! More info soon...
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Sept 1, 2006 19:14:07 GMT -5
Hi, gang, Some may recall that I was moving to a new city (near St. Louis, from Atlanta) at the beginning of August. Indeed I did. And thus began the misadventure I like to call "Van's Month in the Internet Wilderness." Okay, I don't like to call it that; I actually like to call it "OVER." After a SOLID MONTH of having no way to get to this Board, and no way to FTP into the AvengersAssemble site for updates, I have finally, FINALLY gotten DSL hooked up at my new home. So I've just posted a notice on the AA site, briefly stating that things will be updated again asap. And I wanted to let you folks know, too. Not that you haven't been doing fine without me around, of course! (Although I haven't been able to check to make sure! But I have no doubt Shiryu has kept things moving along fine, and I want to thank him for hanging in here during my long, unintentional absence.) And thanks as well to all of you, for continuing to make this board the big success it has been, thus far. AND NOW IT'S TIME TO PACK FOR DRAGON*CON! WOO HOO!! Eight panels in three days, and no time for sleep-- I leave for the airport at 3 am!! AIIEEEEE!!!! Back on Tuesday with a report-- --Van
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jun 22, 2006 18:44:28 GMT -5
It's good to have an assistant moderator in place, because I will not be around as much for the next six weeks or so. In addition to fighting pneumonia, I am hip-deep in my quadrennial celebration of the World Cup, and putting lots of time into my World Cup Diary of Watching, Eating at Sports Bars, and Gaining Weight: www.plexico.net/2006wcdiary.htmSome small amount of humor may be found there, for anyone remotely interested in my antics during this event. As you know, I'm attending three conventions in the next three months, plus I will be moving to the St. Louis area for my new job, at the end of July. (Plus writing a new book, editing a special Avengers-related project, and preparing all my teaching materials for fall semester-- AIIEEEE!) So things will be hectic. But I will try to check in here often and update the AA! site as much as possible.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jun 15, 2006 16:01:49 GMT -5
I have made a couple of changes to the Board today.
One, shiryu has graciously agreed to be "Assistant Moderator" and will help patrol for spam and the like. I have made him co-moderator of all the boards. Thanks for your willingness to serve your fellow fans (and help me out), shiryu!
Those of you who have been here just as long as shiryu-- this is in no way intended as any sort of slight towards you. I'm sure several others of you would have been willing to do the same, and I appreciate that fact. Your presence here is valued and you may well be called upon in the future. For now, thanks for being a part of this community!
The other change: In digging around to figure out how to make the above changes, I discovered that the controls for restricting posts are actually inside each individual category/"Board"'s control panel. The bad news-- I had to make all the changes, one at a time. I had been looking for a "universal" control, but it does not exist.
The good news, though, is that each individual board/category has a control to limit who can POST and CREATE THREADS. I have changed this from "everyone" to "registered users." This should still allow guests to check us out and decide if they like what's going on here-- BUT-- it should mean a dramatic decrease in robo-spam, if spammers must join in order to spam us.
If anyone has any thoughts on all of this, please let us know below. Thanks for all the great input and discussion on how to best handle it all.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jun 14, 2006 21:34:23 GMT -5
Good call, Shiryu. Both the DVD threads are cleaned and locked.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jun 8, 2006 10:13:27 GMT -5
I am considering adding at least one more moderator. More on this later. (Only my experience and lessons learned with MV-1 gives me pause, not anyone here.) In the meantime, here is an example of aboard hosted on this service with the "login" feature enabled (unlike AA). plmii.proboards38.com/index.cgi
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jun 6, 2006 18:37:18 GMT -5
Apparently not. *sigh* I was hoping there was at least a feature that required "real human beings" to type in a few letters, as on some other sites. That screens out the automated spam systems, I think. But I couldn't find such a thing. Hey, if the porn spam isn't bothering anyone else, *shrug*....
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jun 6, 2006 18:10:44 GMT -5
Given the increasing level of spamming we're getting here, I'm going to have to make a change.
Soon, everyone will have to log on to this Board to access it.
I hate that-- I liked people being able to come by and visit in passing, and only join if they liked what they saw-- and I hate putting you folks to the trouble of having to log in. Though I think most of you do so, anyway.
But deleting post after post about porn and whatnot is just tiresome. Especially when I consider I might be busy for several days, here and there, and what I'd see when I came back.
So, I'm making that change in the next couple of days. I'll wait till then, in case anyone would like to make the case for why I shouldn't. I may well be overlooking something. Thoughts?
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jun 5, 2006 20:57:11 GMT -5
I've emailed the questions to all three of the interviewees, so far. I've been in fairly close email contact with all three for a long while, but I have no idea who I might go to next... Hmmm....
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Jun 3, 2006 11:14:29 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on May 30, 2006 17:34:15 GMT -5
I'll have to run that one by Sean, Abe. I liked Bloodhawk, FWIW.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on May 27, 2006 20:31:41 GMT -5
Sean McQuaid sent in a new batch of Avengers bios this week, and so I have created new, individual pages for characters down through the "J"s, plus a couple beyond that. www.avengersassemble.net/characters2006major.htmlAlso went back and gave Iron Lad his own page, along with the new Hulkling page. Will do the same for the remaining Young-'uns as they come in. I have twelve more bios on hand, and will post them in the next few days. The ultimate goal is to have individual pages for all the characters that are listed on the main Roster section-- at that point, the old Roster section will go away.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on May 16, 2006 10:51:27 GMT -5
By all means! Have at it! ;D
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on May 13, 2006 0:24:15 GMT -5
I've spent much of today totally reworking the "Rosters and Profiles" section of the AA! site. www.avengersassemble.us/characters.htmlWhile awaiting updates on all the raw material there, from Sean, I have gone ahead and: 1. Totally cleaned up the main Rosters & Profiles page, to fit the new look of the site (it's subtle, yeah, but I think it looks... I dunno, classier, more professional.) 2. Totally revamped and cleaned up the main page for the "Complete Avengers from A to Z" Alphabetical roster of all (and I do mean ALL) Avengers-affiliated characters (the big main feature there, by Sean). For one thing: no more red dots! Nice horizontal rows now. 3. Set up an entirely new section there-- "Individual Avengers Profiles with Images." This will be one-per-page profiles, with images, for the major Avengers roster members. So far, I've done about seven or eight of them. I'm plugging in Sean's existing text from the Alphabetical roster, at least for now, with the hopes of getting it all updated soon. If anyone would like to volunteer to do a few of the ones not yet completed, just claim them here, then go to the site, copy one of the existing character pages for a template, and go to it.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on May 7, 2006 14:46:54 GMT -5
See the third item under "General" on the main page of this Message Board. Discuss and vote!
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Apr 30, 2006 9:28:08 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Apr 29, 2006 13:49:22 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback, thus far. Keep it coming, folks-- it can only help make things better. Shiryu-- I know what you mean. But now that I only have one job, instead of three, I'm able to update things and be involved a bit more than I was in years past. For a while, there, I was simply unable to find time to do all the research and Web posting stuff I needed to. I'm glad folks are coming back to the AA! site now, though, and sort of re-discovering it.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Apr 28, 2006 14:28:27 GMT -5
Quick, unscientific survey, to help me in the future: What is your favorite thing about AvengersAssemble?What is your least favorite thing about it? (Besides any dead links-- I know, I know! Working, working!) Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Apr 26, 2006 22:01:41 GMT -5
Just updated the main page of www.avengersassemble.net with a couple of links, including to a Newsarama Podcast of an interview with Kurt Busiek, in which he talks about AVENGERS/JLA. In future, I'll try to post a note like this when I update the front page of the site.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Apr 26, 2006 21:53:32 GMT -5
Oh. Oh, jeez. Oh, wow.
I saw that Bendis included mention of "Avengers Forever," but I'd just automatically registered that in my brain as being Jazzie B's "Avengers Forever.ORG" site. (A very nice, well-engineered site, that sort of serves as a nice counter-point to the AA site, I think-- stronger in some ways where we're weaker, and vice-versa.)
But-- you're right-- Bendis says ".NET." And that is a totally separate Italian site.
Wow. Both AvengersAssemble and AvengersForever got left out.
That's... pretty remarkable. Or not. Hrmmm.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Apr 23, 2006 8:32:38 GMT -5
Haven't been to the shop yet, this week, but I hear word that Bendis mentions several Avengers sites in this month's column in NEW AVENGERS-- but not AvengersAssemble!
Was it an innocent omission? Was it an intentional slight?
Really, I should consider it a compliment, I guess. But I will admit I am curious...
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on Apr 23, 2006 8:30:53 GMT -5
Just a mention that I'm (finally) engaging in a renovation of the Web coding for the AvengersAssemble site. Don't know why I haven't done it before now, but... For those interested: I'll be going through and replacing all the navigation with "includes" that allow only one change in a master "include" file, rather than having to change things on every page. Considering the number of pages on the site, this could take a while... but should make things much easier to update afterward. I actually set up an "includes" format on the Web site I used to maintain for a living, back in 2000, but just never got around to doing it on AA. *sigh* And now I'm sure someone (or several) will berate me for not using style sheets, etc, whatever latest bells and whistles thing is out there, etc, etc. Hey, I'm just a Web caveman. Your style sheets frighten and confuse me.
|
|
|
Post by Van Plexico on May 4, 2006 10:44:26 GMT -5
I have no doubt Kurt will be a successful novelist before too many more years have passed. His writing (pacing, characterization, style, etc) is more perfectly suited for it than most comics writers, if not all of them, working today.
Bendis, on the other hand, should be writing screenplays. For nice, loooong movies. I seriously think he'd be quite good at it. And if comics were all 120 pages long, he'd be good at writing comics, too.
|
|