Like Jean Grey coming back to life. Like Captain America thawing out in the Avengers sub. Like Peter Parker putting the suit back on. Like Professor Xavier finding a new team of X-Men. Like Jean Grey coming back to life. Like the Winter Soldier being revealed to be Bucky. Like Aunt May snapping back from a life-threatening illness. Like Jean Grey coming back to life. Like Hawkeye dying for our sins, and the Avengers re-forming. And finally, like Jean Grey coming back to life...it is time.

For New Joe Fridays.

Oh, like you thought it was gone forever?

Following comic book tradition, the popular Joe Fridays weekly question & answer with Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada returns this week, bearing the amazingly creative new title: New Joe Fridays!

And if this doesn’t work, next week, it’s Uncanny Joe Fridays...

Regardless, thanks for the kind words while Joe Fridays was away and prep work was being done for this startup. Without further ado, we now turn you over to your weekly fix of Joe Quesada.

Newsarama: So Joe, now that we’ve had our fun, you up for at least another year of grilling from us and our readers?

Joe Quesada: Absolutely, I’d feel like I’d be letting folks down if I stopped doing these. By the way, let me add, that this whole, “Hey - let’s call it the last Joe Fridays” thing was your idea, Mr. Brady. I like the way you think, you want a job with Marvel? Oh, wait, don’t we own this site? Never mind.

NRAMA: Yeah, yeah, pull the other one. To be totally honest though, you did have that problem with us making a fuss over it being Joe Fridays: 52, so we decided it was time to put a bullet in the head of Joe Fridays, and since you’re the E-i-C of Marvel, the return to life with the particular prefix seemed to fit.

Of course, this means that everyone will be second guessing what might come next...”Dark Joe Fridays,” “Joe Fridays: The Other,” “Joe Fridays: Sins Past...”

JQ: Let’s not go down the “Sins Past” road with Joe Fridays...

NRAMA: But don’t we all have a secret past with Norman Osborn? Don’t we?

JQ: No comment. You?

NRAMA: I was young. He was so powerful and charismatic. And that hair...it’s quite hypnotizing...and we were in France. France, Joe - France.

JQ: ...

NRAMA: France.

JQ: ...can we get started?

NRAMA: Fair enough. But before we get to this week’s questions, why don’t you tell folks about the special collection of New Joe Fridays “Variant Covers” and they’ll be helping a worthy cause?

JQ: Well, like the launch of anything with the word “New” in it, I figured we needed to have some ultra collectable digital alternate covers or I like to call the iCovers. I was lucky enough to get some of the greats in the biz to take a little time out of their day to do up a piece for the return of the weekly Q&A. There are nine covers in total, here’s a list of the incredible artists who contributed: Salvador Larroca, Chris Bachalo, Mark Bagley, Frank Cho, Brandon Peterson, Greg Horn, Leinil Yu, Johnny Romita Jr., and Alex Maleev.

Newsarama Note: They’re all in there - to see them, hit "refresh" in your browser menu.

As for the original pieces, we’ll be donating those to A.C.T.O.R. and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund to be auctioned off.

NRAMA: So, you had a week off, do anything fun, read any good comics?

JQ: Well, I was at WizardWorld: Philadelphia and had a great time as always meeting the fans and doing the Marvel panels. That show never disappoints. As for good comics, I just got done reading Superman/Batman #26, what a great read. If you haven’t purchased a copy or ten of this issue, make sure to pick it up. Great story, great talents and Sam Loeb!

NRAMA: Moving on to some topical issues, you’ve been seeding the idea that there’s a major revelation/change in status quo in regards to Spider-Man at the end of Civil War #2. Comments? Any of this have to do with the particular Spider-Man drum you’ve been beating so loudly lately?

JQ: Well, you know me; I usually don’t bring stuff up for no reason. Yes, the end of Marvel Civil War #2 is something I’ve been building to in the previous version of the Q&A’s. I don’t want to say much more, but knowing what I know, let’s just say that I hope there are enough copies out there. We can discuss it in a future New Joe Fridays.

NRAMA: You like to speak of genies and bottles, will this be letting one out or putting one back in?

JQ: I¹ll let the fans decide what it is. Lets just say that over the last year we’ve been bombarded with, “You can’t do that!” only to find those selfsame things to be the biggest hits of the year with fans. This is definitely a, “You can¹t do that!” moment.

NRAMA: Quickly touching on another Civil War topic - as shown in Front Line #1...Speedball he’s alive. I believe the phrase here is: you saved Speedball...you bastard!

JQ: [laughs] I guess so...

NRAMA: So - after months of proclaiming he was virtually an irredeemable character, and essentially chambering the bullet and pulling the hammer back on him for readers to see...he was saved. What and who saved him? What redeemable qualities does he have after he was nearly blown up?

JQ: Yeah, remember when Speedball was the hot button topic here? Talk of Speedball was eerily similar to the discussions that have been going on about Spider-Man¹s marriage, imagine that! While I often joke and poke fun at Speedball, I really love the character, there were never any intentions to kill him, only elevate him, but it sure made stuff fun around here didn’t it? Sometimes you got to break a few eggs in order to make an omelet, and believe me, Speedball fans were not happy with me, but in the end it’s okay, because together we were able to get fans who didn’t know who Speedball was, to at least think about the character and we got fans in the know to care about him and the New Warriors again.

"I mean, he was right at the crux of what has kicked off Civil War, we needed fans to care about these characters if not they’re just meaningless deaths, Star Trek red shirts. There are some very important plans for Robbie Baldwin, but don’t be shocked if we actually do kill him.

Oh, and speaking of Front Line, keep an eye out for issue #2 when a hero quits, another is arrested for violation of the SHRA, and someone very deadly enters the war. Oh yeah, and it deals with the end of Civil War #2, too.

NRAMA: While we’re still talking Front Line, also in issue #1, Iron Man revealed his identity, and said he was an alcoholic. First off, and for clarity’s sake, didn’t he already reveal his identity a few years back, so shouldn’t have the press yelled back, “We know! Get on with it!” when he made his reveal?

JQ: Yes, but in the Iron Man issues of Avengers Disassembled, he announced to the world that he was stepping down both as Secretary of Defense and as Iron Man because he needed to straighten out his life. So clearly he was lying to the world—and as we saw in books such as Iron Man: The Inevitable, not everybody believed him in the first place.

NRAMA: You’ve also said that Tony is one of the most interesting characters at Marvel right now there’re theories out there of how he’s going to come out of all of this, perhaps even pre-dating Arno Stark as a bad Iron Man somewhat with his Machivellian nature. That said, though, should readers be believing everything that Tony says and does? Is his heart in his words, or are we seeing Tony Stark, the businessman, backing what he sees as the wining horse, and riding out the rough times in relative safety and favor in the eyes of the government? Both options sound equally plausible...

JQ: Yeah, he really is quickly becoming the most interesting character in the Marvel Universe. We discussed this with fans quite extensively at our Civil War panel in Philly. Tony is a hero, through and through, we can question that as much as we want, but his motives, I believe are always coming from a good place.

A fan brought up that recently in Amazing Spider-Man, Tony lied right to Peter’s face, and isn’t that the kind of stuff that bad guys do? Yes, they do, but they always do that with malicious intent. The fact that Tony lies to Peter shows the huge differences between the two characters while they¹re still both heroes. Tony feels that the lie will serve the greater good, no good can come out of Peter knowing. He is a futurist, in his mind, if he knows what’s coming, then he’ll do whatever he can to set it right.

But this is what makes Marvel characters so compelling. While there are characters like Peter Parker that are very obviously morally black & white, there are characters like Tony that deal in shades of gray. But this isn’t unusual for Tony’s character, he¹s always had a history of doing stuff that perhaps on the surface seems odd or contrary to what heroes do. The real question would be, is what he’s doing actually going to get the results he wants, and more importantly, what are those results?

Oh, and while we’re still talking about kind of "Civil War"-type things ... there’s a storm brewing on the horizon. I’m talking about something quite possibly bloodier, more Earth-shattering, something with more lasting consequences than anything seen in comics in some time, quite possibly ever. Marvel and DC will be squaring off for a huge softball game to benefit the A.C.T.O.R. charity in San Diego! Details are still being ironed out so stay tuned, you’ll be able to read more about it in DC Nation, Cup ’O Joe and right here on New Joe Fridays and you never know, there may even be an opportunity for some lucky fans to play with us.

Now, where the hell did I put my bat, man?

NRAMA: Very good, then. Okay - moving over to some of the announcements from last week’s WizardWorld: Philadelphia ... Blade gets an ongoing series with Marc Guggenhiem writing. Obviously, you know this is a tricky property to handle in a way that doesn¹t get it cancelled - Marc talked to us about how he¹s handling the stories and character, but from your view what¹s this take on Blade got that others haven’t? Why is putting him in the Marvel Universe essential?

JQ: Blade has one very important thing going for him at the moment. Thanks to three movies and an upcoming TV show, he’s gone from an obscure character, only really known among comic aficionados, to a very recognizable media figure. So, right from the start, we’re on much more solid ground. We also have Marc, as you said, who’s doing an incredible job currently on the Wolverine: Civil War tie in. Marc¹s a real up and comer in the Marvel world and he has a Jones for Blade. The other huge trump card we hold is that we have an amazing artist lined up for Blade who also has an incredible appetite - pardon the pun - for the character.

That said, this is a superhero book, rather than a horror book. Up till this point, every time we’ve tried to do a Blade series, the focus has been on horror and the supernatural, which is understandable given what the character is about and the fact that he comes from Tomb of Dracula. But if you look at the Blade films, they’re superhero action movies - they don’t get hung up on the trappings of the horror genre. This new Blade series should appeal to the same sorts of readers who go for Wolverine or the Punisher or any other stoic-hardass character.

Planting him squarely in the Marvel Universe sends an immediate signal to the readership as a whole that this series "counts". And within it, we can still do any horror-related stories we choose to do - but we’re not locked in to any one style or tone. Plus, we get all of the Marvel toys to play with, so the first issue has Blade battling a vampire infestation aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and a future issue will take him to Latveria to deal with a similar problem there. So we’re not going to be telling the same old Blade stories.

Once we reveal who the artist is, that’ll add another flavor which you’ll get right away, as this is an artist who has a long history of depicting a certain kind of character with a certain kind of style, and his interpretation of Blade will fit the mold really well - you’ll be able to visualize it in your head instantly.

NRAMA: Also announced at Philly - you’ve got two new MAX titles coming up with Zombies and Hellstorm. The line’s been pretty quiet for the past few months, aside from Punisher. What brought about this push? Is this the start of something larger?

JQ: I wouldn’t say that it’s necessarily the start of something larger, but you certainly will see more MAX books on the stands going forward. We seem to have had a deluge of great pitches come in and many with obscure characters that haven¹t been seen in quite some time. There are so many of these wonderful old dormant characters sitting around that we would be foolish not to dig into the toy box.

NRAMA: What else is coming up under the imprint?

JQ: As for genres, you’ll see cci-fi, crime noir, horror and maybe even a touch of humor. The way the schedule is looking, I suspect that you’ll see about four new MAX mini series running concurrently. We’ve already announced Hellstorm and Zombies, and the other two projects are being selected and solidified as we speak.

NRAMA: Oh - so are you or aren’t you working on a mini-series with JMS?

JQ: As you may or may not know, Joe is really spreading his wings within the Marvel Universe and he has a bunch of projects in the hopper with many diverse characters. Yes, one of the projects I¹m working on is with Joe and I¹m having a blast with it.

And yes, for those that have been asking, DD: Father #6 has been done for some time now but no actual release date has been scheduled. I¹m sure that will happen soon enough.

NRAMA: Okay, we have a special format planned for the meat of this special relaunched edition, but before we get to that, let’s us a big picture question that has risen over the last few months of our Q&As.

What do you consider your role, and/or the responsibility of an Editor-in-Chief, and as sometimes people forget, Chief Creative Officer?

JQ: I know, what the hell does that mean?

NRAMA: Exactly. First of all, are the two roles pretty much one role called two different things, or do you feel you have two different roles to play?

JQ: Titles are titles, my job is very simple - the creative of the monthly comics is my responsibility. While I’m sometimes involved in business decisions, those for the most part are in the world of Publisher, Dan Buckley. That’s why we work so well together, while Dan is a very creative guy, he picks his spots and he doesn’t want to write [laughs]. And, while I sometimes have business suggestions, it’s really what Dan does best and I have no desire to break down the A+E on a title. I do however like contributing ideas towards the marketing of our books, coming up with some interesting and unusual ways of getting the word out. I guess in a way, because that’s a very creative department at Marvel, I feel I can bring a couple of ideas to those guys from time to time. And I also do a lot of recruiting with respect to talent. But at the end of the day, all things creative with respect to Publishing fall into my domain.

NRAMA: Now, do you consider your role a custodial or caretaker type position, where it’s your job to bring out the strengths of your characters and franchises, and not to too much “damage” until the next guy takes over?

JQ: There is an element of custodial work involved, but you don’t want to find yourself writing Valentines to the past. There are elements of our characters that have to remain true but at the same time you have to employ change. Sometimes change can be a return to a status quo, sometimes it can be a radical departure. The trick is that I believe characters can grow without growing old; characters can gain experience while still retaining innocence. That is the true trick to all of this.

But, at the end of the day, you don’t want to break stuff to the point where it’s unrecognizable and you also don’t want to leave a mess for the next person who takes over. These characters are a trust and I’ve been given the responsibility of keeping them alive and fresh for the period of time that I’m here with an eye towards making sure that they’re on the path to staying fresh and alive way into the future. I find myself quite often planning things for characters so as to make sure that things will be healthy here long after I’m gone.

Personally, I feel that that is what Marvel is paying me for and that it’s the right thing to do not only for today’s fan but for the fan yet to even be born. Marvel had a tremendous impact on my life and I want to make sure that it’s around so that hopefully it can have the same impact on future fans down the road.

NRAMA: How much does trying to keep the fans happy play into it?

JQ: Of course it’s always about the fans, but it’s less about keeping fans happy and more about keeping fans entertained. Sometimes what the fans want isn’t really what the fans will buy. Sure, in the moment, fandom will be upset about one thing or another, but if the story is solid and entertaining that upset will be quickly forgotten. Not only will it have been forgotten, it will have been as if the complaints never happened. Change is a scary thing for fandom, it always has been, but I’ve always said...

If you take a look at every single watershed moment in comics history, they all have one thing in common, change.

That change can be radical or a change to the status quo, but change is always at its heart. And, I would go as far as to say that many of these watershed moments historically where hated or denounced by fandom when they first heard of the ideas. Granted, back in the days before previews and the Internet, it was harder for fans to know stuff ahead of time and to gripe about it instantaneously, but could you imagine how many fans, if they had had advance notice, would have written Marvel saying that they would never, ever read a Marvel comic again if Marvel even thought about killing off Gwen Stacy!

NRAMA: Do you consider your position somewhat as an - for lack of a better term - “auteur”, where it’s your job to put your individual creative stamp on the Universe, to eventually leave Marvel with Joe Quesada’s individual tastes and personality imprinted on the titles?

JQ: Never, and I mean never have I ever had a thought like that. I have never thought about leaving a stamp or imprint on these books. Therein lies madness and a whole other type of management style that I just don’t understand.

Do I have my own personal beliefs and tastes? Absolutely, that’s why I was given this job in the first place, I was given the job because Marvel believes that my personal beliefs, tastes and abilities, whatever those may be, is going to sell a lot of comics and help the company. How can you do any job, run any division of any type of creative company and not have your own personal tastes come into play? That would and will be true of anyone in this position.

I’ve on occasion read on these boards someone bemoaning that I was just pushing my own agenda, my own personal beliefs onto Marvel creative. Let me ask you this, whose beliefs should I be pushing? Should it be the person reading this? Is there a hive mind in fandom that I’m not aware of? Lets be really serious, if I make a decision a fan agrees with, it’s cool. If I make one they don’t agree with, I have a personal agenda. But, that said, I don’t do this to put a stamp on anything and I’m under no delusions that whatever has been created during my tenure wont and should be forgotten the following week. And that’s how it should be. Comics are cyclical; they are a giant Sisyphus stone that gets pushed up the hill only to have it roll down again every month. Whomever takes over this job after me needs to move on, forget everything that has come before (except what makes the characters work) and just do the job of being the best E-i-C they can with their own tastes and beliefs and begin the process of pushing that stone up the hill once again.

NRAMA: Okay, now we’ll get to this week’s main questions. Readers really enjoyed our series on Marvel stars of the past, and your thoughts on what would make them work in the future... but there is no reason to limit that to the past.

Let’s go in-depth and talk about what works, what can work better, and preview what’s coming up for not only your major franchises, characters, and imprints, but other key areas as well.

So without further ado...

Spider-Man

What you’re doing right..?

JQ: I think the bringing of Joe Straczynski to Marvel was one of the bricks that now lays firmly at the foundation of this much improved and financially stable Marvel Publishing group. I don’t think Joe gets a big enough pat on the back for what he’s done here, he’s a very quite and private man but I want to say publicly how important he has been to what has happened here at Marvel over these nearly six years.

Like many things in comics, fans sometimes forget where we were just as little as six years ago. Joe along with Paul Jenkins, I believe, injected much needed juice into Spidey. I also think that one of the most positive things we did with Spidey was that I asked Joe and Paul to embrace the marriage, if it’s here and we have to deal with it, then lets show it in a positive light. Enough writing her out of the books, sending her away, having them bicker all the time. If Pete has to be married, lets show folks a loving supporting marriage. And Paul and Joe did it masterfully.

Also, we can’t speak about Spidey without speaking about Ultimate Spider-Man and the job that Bendis and Bagley have done. I look back on those early days before we launched the Ultimate Universe and how people predicted that it wasn’t going to work, it was going to be one of the greatest busts in comic’s history. And you know what, it might have been if it hadn’t have been for the incredible creators that help us launch the whole thing and the unique perspective they put on it.

Oh, and before I forget, we’re also having tremendous success with Marvel Adventures Spider-Man and all the Adventures books. Marvel Adventures Spider-Man is our number one subscription title at Marvel and that to me is simply amazing!

NRAMA: What would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: We’re going to go right back there again, aren’t we? [laughs] Let’s just say that I’ve discussed a few things with JMS. There are a few Spider elements that we both feel could use some polishing and perhaps some fixing. But I would be tipping my hand way too early here. Just read Marvel Civil War #2 and we’ll get back to this. Also, Peter David and Roberto Sacassa have some pretty cool stuff in store for ol’ Webhead.

NRAMA: What to look forward to over the next 12 months and beyond?

JQ: This one is really tough for me to answer without giving up too much. What I can say is that Civil War #2 marks the beginning of what could be the most tumultuous time in Spidey’s life in quite a long time. It’s going to take us to places that folks thought would be impossible.

NRAMA: Moving on to the Fantastic Four, again, speaking to the entire franchise, what do you feel you’re doing right:

JQ: I think the FF has been a very solid title for quite some time now. Mark Waid gave us some great FF Stories as has Karl Kesel and now JMS. The FF to me has been moving along strongly doing what the FF does.

NRAMA: What would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: I’ll have to admit here that I feel in a way that we haven’t done enough for the hardcore FF fans. Not that the FF stories haven’t been great, I mean, Waid, during his run really took them through their paces as is Joe currently, but rather they haven’t really been at the core, or centrally important to any of the big Marvel events of the last few years. Avengers, X and Spidey have really had the rule of the roost as has Hulk to a certain extent.

To that, JMS does have some fun things planned for the FF after Civil War and Reed’s role in the Illuminati is making him a bit more interesting to me as a reader than he’s been in the past. Stay tuned, some shaking up is a comin’.

NRAMA: What to look forward to over the next 12 months and beyond:

JQ: Well, there’s that darn pesky hammer that has shown up in the world of the FF, that has to be leading to something doesn’t it? There’s also the some family tension that’s going to be felt because of Civil War, actually, tension doesn’t really quite do justice to where Joe is taking the family. You’ll just have to see what happens. Lets just say that there are seeds being planted and you should pay close attention to the wedding of the Black Panther and Storm.

NRAMA: And over to the Avengers family...what are you doing right?

JQ: I think that Avengers and the core Marvel Heroes Family is one of the most interesting growth areas that we’ve had over the last couple of years. I’m very proud of what’s occurred with Avengers and their world. This is another one of the many areas where Internet fandom condemned the ideas and change before it actually happened, and now here we are today. How could Spidey and Wolverine ever be Avengers?

What’s been an added surprise and a tribute to Brian’s take on the Avengers and House of M is the success we’re having relaunching characters like Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman, not to mention all the Hawkeye craziness - I just like to bring Hawkeye up because I know it sends Brian into a tailspin.

NRAMA: What would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: We have so many outrageous ideas planned for the world of Avengers, that I’m worried that we won’t be able to get to all of it fast enough. There’s so much change in the future that it may not leave us enough time to focus on everything that we’d like to. I wish we had more Avengers books!

But, at the end of the day, that’s the blessing and curse of working with a guy like Brian. He’s an idea factory, I know it sounds cliché, but the dude has no "off" switch. Speak to him about Avengers, speak to him about Ultimate Spider-Man and you realize that he could be writing these books for years without let down, there just aren’t enough months in a year or artists in the industry to get to all the ideas and stories he has backed up in that wee bald head of his.

By the way, there are a few pics of Brian with hair that have circulated the ’net over the years. I’m offering a Spider-Man sketch to anyone who can find me some new, unseen “Bendis with head of hair” pics. For no other reason than they bring Mark Millar and myself more joy than you can imagine.

And I already know about this one...

NRAMA: Aside from the fury of Brian Bendis towards you, what should readers be looking forward to over the next 12 months and beyond?

JQ: There are some very cool creative announcements coming with respect to Avengers as well as unusual cast changes and changes to the status quo. Civil War is going to cut a very large swath through the world of every Avenger, they may be unrecognizable by the time we’re done, almost as unrecognizable as Bendis with hair..

NRAMA: To the Marvel Heroes: Cap, Hulk, Daredevil, Iron Man, Thor, etc...what are you doing right?

JQ: Like the Avengers, the core Marvel Heroes, I feel, are having a renaissance of sorts. For as long as I can remember being in comics, the X-Men ruled the Marvel Universe, the core Marvel U is now giving X a run for its money. I’m really happy with the way the core Marvel family of books is reading looking these days. You have Brubaker and Epting on Cap, Bru and Larke on Daredevil, the Knauf’s with Zircher on Iron Man, Pak and Pagulayan on Hulk, Bendis , Deodato and company on Avengers and Ellis on... whoops, almost let that out by mistake. Sorry, what was I saying again? Oh, yeah, I’m thrilled with the way the core Universe is shaping up.

NRAMA: What would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: I think we’re on an incredible track currently, right now I say steady as she goes. We’ve got a lot of fun stuff planned, so as for strengthening and focus, we’re smack dab in the middle of doing just that.

NRAMA: What to look forward to over the next 12 months and beyond?

JQ: It’s going to be an interesting time in the core Marvel Universe. Characters returning who we haven’t seen in quite some time, characters getting developed further like Winter Soldier and Moon Knight. It really is going to be a fun time.

NRAMA: X-Men. What you’re doing right...

JQ: I’ve been very proud of the X books, especially of late. While the Avengers’ Universe has grown in popularity and with the incredible success of the Ultimate Universe, the X-Men are still a monolith property that keeps going and going. I think pairing down the number of mutants is something that will pay off for us moving forward and for many, many years to come. It’s going to allow for a back to basics for a franchise, that if we’re not careful, could topple under the weight of all of its years of success and excess. I believe that the world of X-Men is poise for some great stuff moving forward.

We also can’t forget Astonishing and what Joss and John have done for the franchise. They’ve really brought back that feeling, that intangible thing that reminds you what made X-Men great originally. They’ve created something that I believe will be echoed in the world of X-Men for the next decade.

NRAMA: Focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: I’d like to focus more on Joss’ take on X-Men. Whedon-san has shown us the way. I believe all our writers and editors do as well. The path has been shown, we just need to walk down it now. Oh, and less Wolverine showing up everywhere, which is something we’ve already started to do.

NRAMA: Next 12 months and beyond?

JQ: As everyone knows by now, there are some creative changes to the X books. Bru, Carey, Kyle and Yost have discussed and created some incredible stuff for our world of mutants. It’s going to bring a smile to X Fans when they see some of this stuff unfolding and some of the stuff we bring back. I guess the best word I can find for it is simply “epic!”

NRAMA: Stepping outside the Marvel Universe proper, and looking at the Ultimate Universe as a whole - what are you doing right?

JQ: The Ultimate Universe is really a juggernaut and it’s done exactly what we hoped it would do and even exceeded it. I can’t tell you, especially over the last two years, how many fans have come up to me and said that the Ultimate Universe was what got them into comics. The wonderful thing about the Ultimate U is that ever creator that has stepped into the ring has done so seamlessly and has kept the momentum going. Robert Kirkman, for example, is just writing the heck out of Ultimate X-Men. I was fearful that Brian K. Vaughan was going to be a tough act to follow, his UXM was incredible, but Robert is really knocking it out of the park. There’s just something about this imprint that just keeps getting more and more special.

I’m also thrilled with how Warren’s Ultimate trilogy worked out. The last chapter with Brandon was exceptional and it’s been a thrill having Warren work within the Ultimate Universe. In many ways, I don’t think that we could have done the style of creative that we have in the Ultimate Universe if there hadn’t have been a Warren Ellis out there doing what he’s been doing, breaking the kind of ground he’s broken. Like I said, it’s just been a joy having him at Marvel and especially working in this universe.

NRAMA: What would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: While there have been events in the Ultimate Universe, I feel like it needs something to truly unify it in a way. Something akin to when Valiant within Unity. A story that grounds all the books together once and for all, something with a common point of view.

NRAMA: Okay - that said, what should fans look forward to over the next 12 months and beyond?

JQ: I am so looking for to Ultimate Power. I’m kind of bursting at the seams to tell y’all about it, but I can’t it’s way too early even for teases. What I can say is that it’s unlike any inter-universe event I’ve ever seen.

NRAMA: We touched on it earlier, but let’s hit it again - the MAX line. What are you doing right?

JQ: Overall, I think launching the MAX imprint was one of the right things we did. There was a time when it would have been impossible for Marvel to launch an imprint like this. It was something that DC was doing very well over the last decade plus, but Marvel of the past couldn’t find a working model for nor did they want to tread in the adult arena. So, just the fact that the imprint exists to me is pretty cool.

NRAMA: What would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: I’d like to see more MAX stuff out there and, with Zombies and Hellstorm - and others, that’s currently what we’re working on.

NRAMA: Next 12 months and beyond?

JQ: As I said above, I think fans of the MAX imprint can look forward to some pretty cool stuff within the next six months. I believe that the MAX imprint will begin to grow over the next two to three years and I’m excited to see what that will bring.

NRAMA: Let’s hit your old stomping grounds while we’re talking about imprints - Marvel Knights. What are you doing right?

JQ: The new status quo for Marvel Knights will be a boost in the arm to the imprint.

NRAMA: Okay, so when what would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: I would say that the Marvel Knights imprint was the one great casualty of this new invigorated Marvel publishing world. Back when MK was conceived, it was the land of top-notch creators who would only work for Knights because of the elite nature of the brand or their connection to Jimmy [Palmiotti] and I. Some of these talents had either had bad experiences with Marvel in the past or had no desire to work for the company for many diverse reasons. Marvel Knights offered a buffer and safe haven. As I became Editor-in-Chief, I took a Marvel Knights approach to all of publishing, the attitudes and policies that MK established, were things I tried to implement with my editors and across the line. So, by virtue of that, much of what made MK special was now line wide policy.

Looking ahead, I think Executive Editor, Axel Alonso, has an incredible game plan for MK moving forward. As books like Daredevil move back to the Marvel Universe proper, MK will be the land of prestige mini-series. Not so much in continuity as much as a brand that is creator driven and special project driven.

NRAMA: Moving over to ICON. What’s going right?

JQ: This is the same as MAX to me. There was a time, many moons ago, when Marvel did mature themed books as well as creator owned. I’m thrilled that we’ve been able to get back to doing these types of books. Just that the line exists is a big testimony to what it’s doing right.

NRAMA: What would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: Since ICON is a creator-owned imprint, as long as the creators involved are happy, then we’re cool, really.

NRAMA: The next 12 months and beyond?

JQ: There might be an additional ICON title or two that will be debuting over the next year.

NRAMA: Winding this inaugural New Joe Fridays up...let’s get a little more philosophical here, leeping with out line of questioning - what’s going right at Marvel in terms of new character/new franchise creation and building?

JQ: As the industry gets healthier, it’s becoming easier to reintroduce some older properties as well as introduce new ones, as long as you’re smart about it. As I mentioned earlier, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel and Moon Knight are symptomatic of that. The Eternals I’m sure is going to be a huge hit. Then there are Young Avengers, Runaways, Winter Soldier, The Sentry and a handful of new properties that have done very well for us, and then there’s issue #1 of Civil War Front Line that reintroduces Speedball.

NRAMA: What would you like to focus on or strengthen in the future in this regard?

JQ: I’d just like to see more new characters and unused older characters make their way onto the stands, and to do that, we have to continue to be strategic with our methods.

NRAMA: Anyone in particular in the next 12 months?

JQ: not specifically, but hopefully a bunch of new and old characters getting thrown against the wall and sticking!

NRAMA: Finally - in terms of creative diversity - what’s going right?

JQ: These last six years have had more new writers break in at Marvel than I believe in the history of the company. While not all of them can make it, many people today can say that they’ve written a comic story. Whether it’s through our Talent Liaison Department’s headhunting of published novelists, playwrights, screenwriters, magazine illustrators, video game designers, storyboard artists, and animators or whether its through a try out in one of our past Unlimited titles, a lot of new talent, diverse talent has had a chance to have their work published.

We’ve also had a lot of luck pulling from the indy world. I know, it may seem hard to believe because it was so long ago, but there was a time when Brian Bendis wasn’t writing everything. [laughs]

NRAMA: Anything you want to focus on or strengthen in the future?

JQ: I’d just like to keep the same momentum we’ve had for these past few years and continue to cultivate new talent.

NRAMA: Anyone coming up in the next 12 months and beyond?

JQ: Hopefully, continued new and diverse voices within the Marvel Universe. What’s exciting to me is that you never know where you may find the next Bendis or Gaiman, what I can tell you is that they’re coming; maybe it’s someone reading this very Q&A. Hopefully through our continuing talent search we’ll be able to make Marvel their home.