Joss Whedon

JOE FRIDAYS: WEEK 33

UPDATED with new April 2006 cover art...

In this abbreviated edition of Joe Fridays, we take you inside Marvel’s current creative summit, explain why this Q&A is leading off with an image of Ares, look at the future of Iron Man; and yes... we talk about - and maybe even look at - the costume...

Newsarama: All right Joe, you know what we’re going to ask you about this week, but hey, let’s build some anticipation...

Last week you mentioned you’d be busy very this week with creative summits. We’ve got a unique opportunity to take readers inside and give them some insight as to these things go? How about it?

Joe Quesada: Well, you can’t get much more inside than us doing this while I’m in the middle of the summit. We’re on a lunch break so let me see how much we can get done.

Please excuse me if I’m a bit briefer with these answers than I usually am.

NRAMA Can you tell us who’s there in New York with your editors? Maybe describe one particular session as an example ... how it begins and the agenda is determined? Who’s there and what happens during?

JQ: It’s a three-day event.

Day 1, we had all of our editorial offices present their next year and a half plans for each of their titles. Present are Joe Straczynski, Jeph Loeb, Mark Millar, Ed Brubaker, and Brian Bendis. This day is just an overview of the next 18 months.

Day 2 was an entire day of hammering out more details about Civil War and its aftermath.

Today we’re currently working on Spider-Man and Ultimates and a few other secret initiatives

NRAMA: Spider-Man, huh..? No, let’s stay with this for the moment. What time period are you concentrating on? Are you working six months ahead? Twelve? More?

JQ: We’re working 18 to 24 months ahead. Whoa, hold on, Mark Millar just whispered two words into my ear and I have no idea what he means by it. He said, “Ultimate Asgard.”

NRAMA: All rightly then...Any early lines of new ideas that have popped so far, or been solidified during the course of the week?

JQ: We had about four different endings for Civil War and it got pretty vocal yesterday as each idea was being debated. We spent four hours going back and forth, then the clouds parted and a ray of sunshine came though.

Literally as if out of a movie script, Joss Whedon appeared. Within 30 seconds Joss identified the elephant in the room and we had our ending. We managed to put together a bunch of the best solutions and it’s something truly sensational.

All yesterday we also came up with some interesting ideas for some of our newer characters as well as places to send them. How about this - Ares, whose series is currently on stands now, will be joining a major Marvel team book.

We also came up with some amazing stuff for Captain America as well as Iron Man and T... whoops, almost let that leak.

By the way, Jeph Loeb just whispered in my ear that the he cannot confirm or deny rumors of Ghost Rider joining The Ultimates.

NRAMA: You’re clearly enjoying this...

Okay, we’ve talked about Planet Hulk, Wolverine: Origins, and Civil War a lot the last month or so, so let’s go around the horn and talk about some other titles with changes going on.

Warren Ellis and Adi Granov’s Iron Man #5 recently went on sale and it appears to mark would could/might be a significant change of status quo for the character. First off all, assuming readers would rather read your thoughts than ours, can you describe what happens to Ton Stark and the Iron Man armor in that issue?

JQ: Well, I don’t want to spill the issue if you haven’t read it but there are some major biological changes that happen to Tony that are truly making him an Iron Man. Fans should stay tuned because in current continuity we’ve danced around these changes because we knew they were coming, but we didn’t want to give away Warren’s story.

April’s New Avengers #18 coverThese Iron Man revelations will be seen across the board and are part of current continuity going forward and no one is happier than Tom Brevoort because he’s been dancing between the continuity raindrops for over a year.

NRAMA: Now you guys have been pretty good of late of drawing attention to titles where significant changes or events occur, and this development appears to be a major one for one of your iconic characters. But this was released without much in the way of fanfare or marketing.

Was this a product of the book’s scheduling issues, and just taking a more low-key approach because of it?

JQ: It strictly had to do with the scheduling. If readers remember, we did a huge campaign around this book when we relaunched it along with Captain America.

Speaking of Captain America, Ed Brubaker is walking around murmuring “If you were one of the Master Men, who would you work for?”

NRAMA: Oh boy...So then these Iron Man changes eventually be reflected in New Avengers, Civil War, and Dan Knauf’s upcoming run?

JQ: Yes, absolutely!

NRAMA: And any updates on that last one now that the Ellis/Granov arc is nearing completion?

JQ: We’re looking at March-April for #6 with Knauf and artist Patrick Zircher following right afterwards and monthly.

NRAMA: Speaking of status quo changes, you’ve confirmed that Wolverine’s appearances will be fairly limited to Astonishing, New Avengers and his solo titles soon, and we’re hearing rumblings that while Astonishing’s roster will remain the same when the series returns, the “Adjectiveless” and Uncanny teams will be getting new team rosters.

JQ: Yup.

NRAMA: There has also been rumors of creator changes to the titles...

JQ: Yup, I’ve heard rumors too.

NRAMA: Can you talk about the future of both of those “core” X-Men titles, what creators may be leading them into the future and which mutants will be featured in their pages?

JQ: We can next week.

NRAMA: We’re going to hold you to that...

Speaking of X-Men, you guys seem to be gearing up for the return of Apocalypse, with related stories in Cable/Deadpool, X-Men and the “Versus Dracula” limited series.

Why Apocalypse and why now? And is the X-Men arc the main event, or is this all prep for something bigger?

JQ: Not wanting to say too much it but we’re adding some layers to Apocalypse.

NRAMA: Marvel Zombies is a project that seems to really be gaining momentum, almost seemingly out of nowhere. Not in the sense that readers don’t love their Robert Kirkman zombies, but it is not an “event” by the standard definition, it doesn’t have any continuity/status quo-altering ramifications, nothing in it is going to compromise the structural integrity of the world wide web...

First of all, to what do you attribute the reaction it’s getting and are you surprised by the reaction? Is the key as simple as the word “fun”.

JQ: I knew in my gut this book would do what it’s doing. The bottom line is its success is based on two factors - fun and unpredictability.

NRAMA: Has its success of it sparked any new ideas for projects maybe outside the hemisphere of continuity, and has the inevitable sequel gotten officially greenlit yet?

JQ: We haven’t begun yet, but the sales trends are remarkable. Sales for issue #3 have come in higher than issue #, which is amazing and doesn’t usually happen.

NRAMA: Any word yet on what Frank Cho will be working on next, with his New Avengers work wrapping this month?

JQ: We’ve been talking to Frank about a book that comes out of Civil War that will blow people away.

NRAMA: By our calculations, your April, 2006 solicitations should be released to the masses the middle of next week. Joe, assuming there is a copy somewhere around you, can you page through and maybe mention a few new or key projects that maybe will be new to readers?

JQ: How about a new storyline? Starting in Iron Man #7 there’s an assassin running around in a very familiar costume. He also has a list of future victims with intimate ties to Tony.

NRAMA: All right, we know you’re very busy (and because of it we know you’re going to have to reluctantly skip Reader Questions this week), so we’re going to get to the subject of the week - that new Spider-Man costume thing...

JQ: We’re going to send you a design for a t-shirt I just did for the upcoming New York Comic Con with the new Spidey costume. Notice that there are some additions to it?

That Tony Stark is something else.

[editors note: we received the image and present it just bleow, do the clicky thing to see it in all its full-color, Joe Quesada-drawn glory.]

NRAMA: Okay, first off, you first announced it with the liberal use of question marks. Is this an indication that it might not be the actual next Spidey costume? Can you say definitively for the record that this the red and gold “Iron Spidey” costume his new costume for some sort of extended period?

JQ: It is indeed a new Spidey costume! By the way, Brian Bendis just came by and whispered in my ear, “What can be better than one Avenger’s book?” I just asked him what that meant and he walked away cackling...

NRAMA: Oh brother... Focus, Joe, focus...

Can you give us some insight as to how long this costume will be part of the Spider-Man mythos. Some fans and retailers have astutely pointed out that with a movie coming out in mid-2007, it’s more than likely Peter will be back in familiar duds by then? Thoughts?

JQ: Now that the Spider movies at are #3 it’s less and less important and there are plenty of trades with the blue and red. That said. JMS has a definitive plan as to when the costume appears and leaves. It’s his decision.

NRAMA: In that same vein, you’ve talked to us a couple of times about how you expect Civil War to garner significant mainstream attention, any concerns having Spider-Man appear in this new costume in Civil War will leave more mainstream observers and new readers wondering who that guy is and where the Spider-Man they know and love is at?

JQ: Don’t worry, we have a plan [laughs]...

Whoa, hold the presses. JMS just passed me a note. Joe simply says:

“Between the physical changes to Peter that follow the aftermath of The Other, he gets a second power upgrade courtesy of the ‘Iron Spider’ suit from Stark. What he will discover is that with great power comes not just responsibility but one heck of a price tag. Peter will have to decide if he can pay that price in loyalty to Tony, when the loyalty may cost him things he holds dearest. He will find himself caught in the middle of the Civil War, seeing all sides of the argument, but will be eventually forced to make a decision that will change both his life and the whole Marvel Universes.”

NRAMA: So with that said, any more insight into the creation of the costume and how it came about, creatively mean we mean? How was Chris Bachalo’s involved for example?

JQ: Well the current extra tech arms is a new development, isn’t it? The idea behind the design was to keep it simple like the black costume while keeping it looking like something that Tony Stark would design himself. Chris submitted a bunch of sketches and the extra mechanical arms was his idea, which I thought was brilliant.

NRAMA: In a macro sense, any time you alter an iconic costume like Spider-Man’s, there is more going on that just a story development called for it. Big picture view, why a new costume for your most recognizable corporate icon and why now?

JQ: It really is more story-driven than anything else. Joe had this great story and it involved Tony building new gear for Spidey. Besides, it’s always fun from time to time to give iconic characters new duds just for the fun of it.

By the way, it really seems to have struck a chord. Our sales department has just received reports from retailers of fans adding Spidey to their pull list because of this next story arc. So love or hate the costume it is drumming up interest.

NRAMA: We never make the mistake of assuming Newsarama readers speak for the majority of comics fans, but we know you read the reactions to Marvel stories here too, and this costume has received what could be at best described as a mixed, or lukewarm reaction... perhaps partially due to it debuting via such a raw sketch...

Your thoughts on fans (and retailer) reaction thus far?

JQ: Absolutely expected it. What would have been bad would have been no reaction whatsoever.

Wait, hold on a sec, JMS just came by and said, “......“