Zitat: Jake Gallows Ich nehme mal an, dass das NICHT Gerber schreiben wird, oder ? Aber solange es nicht Slott ist ...Nach dem Streit vom letzten Jahr wird Gerber wohl nie wieder was für Marvel machen. Die Seite sieht eher modern aus, als was von Slott.
Re: Spoiler Politik
Zitat: Vao Nach dem Streit vom letzten Jahr wird Gerber wohl nie wieder was für Marvel machen.Erzähl mal bitte, was da war. Auf jeden Fall sehr schade drum, keinen anderen Autor verbinde ich so stark mit Howard wie ihn. Und Foolkiller war auch ziemlich cool.
Zitat: Vao Die Seite sieht eher modern aus, als was von Slott.Dann hoffen wir mal, dass die Serie jemand kriegt, der wirklich witzig ist.
Re: Spoiler Politik
Zitat: Jake Gallows Zitat: Vao Nach dem Streit vom letzten Jahr wird Gerber wohl nie wieder was für Marvel machen.Erzähl mal bitte, was da war. Auf jeden Fall sehr schade drum, keinen anderen Autor verbinde ich so stark mit Howard wie ihn. Und Foolkiller war auch ziemlich cool.
Zitat: Vao Die Seite sieht eher modern aus, als was von Slott.Dann hoffen wir mal, dass die Serie jemand kriegt, der wirklich witzig ist.Als Marvel die Omega Serie brachte ging er ja auf die barrikaden
"I am not happy about Marvel's revival of Omega, and the writer of the book has made an enemy for life by taking the job. According to some people, he actually professes to be a fan of my work. If that's even minimally true, what he's done is even more unforgivable.
"As a rule of thumb, if the creator of a character or series is alive and still active in the industry, another writer or artist's 'revamping' of his work at a publisher's behest constitutes an expression of contempt, not tribute -- and all the more so if the original creator doesn't even share financially in the enterprise. I am not the only writer or artist who feels this way, incidentally.
"Buy the book if you must, but please don't tell me you did, okay? It will make it much more difficult for us to remain friends."
When asked if the new series would benefit Gerber in any way, he replied, "Since sometime in the '80s, Marvel and DC both have granted 10% participation in ancillary income -- i.e., licensing, not income from sales of comic books -- to creators of characters first published after that time. The policy was not retroactive. Omega wasn't covered. Neither, by the way, were Blade, Elektra, or any of the 'new' X-Men."
Gerber and Skrenes were then put in contact with Jonathan Lethem by a third party. Gerber reported, "I was wrong about a few things. According to Jonathan, Marvel did not approach him with the intent of his reviving OMEGA. That was Jonathan's own idea. He claims he was unaware of my history with Marvel, including the lawsuit over Howard the Duck, until the present incident arose; I choose to believe him. Marvel did not, he says, attempt to entice him into the fold with hints or promises of film work in the future. I find that unutterably stupid on Marvel's part, but, again, very believable.
"As best I can tell, Jonathan is a very nice guy who was acting with the best of intentions. His interest in reviving OMEGA comes out of passion for the material, not purely monetary considerations.
"I misjudged him, and I offer my sincerest apologies.
"That doesn't change my mind about the OMEGA revival itself, however. I still believe that writers and artists who claim to respect the work of creators past should demonstrate that respect by leaving the work alone -- particularly if the original creator is still alive, still active in the industry, and, as is typically the case in comics, excluded from any financial participation in the use of the work.
"Over the last decade or so, it's become the trend in the industry for creators just to let these things slide. By lodging even an informal protest, a creator always risks appearing pathetic and whiny to the fans or threatening to a current employer. No one wants to be thought of that way.
"Remaining silent, however, would implicitly condone the comic book industry's business practices up through the early 1980s and the means by which publishers claim to have procured ownership of characters and story material in those days.
"Remaining silent would also perpetuate the fiction promulgated by publishers that 'we all knew' what rights we were supposedly giving up by signing our paychecks. (In those days, the publishers' favored instrument for acquiring rights to material was a one-party 'contract' printed or stamped on the back of a writer or artist's paycheck. This so-called 'agreement' set forth terms of employment that were rarely if ever agreed to by the writer or artist prior to the start of work.) The truth is, we didn't all know. Most of us had no idea, until the Siegel & Shuster case came to light again in the late 1970s. (In fact, there are serious questions regarding the ownership of 'Omega The Unknown' that Marvel has probably never thought to ask.)
"When a writer of Jonathan's stature agrees to participate in a project like this, he also, intentionally or not, tacitly endorses the inequities of the old system. I've tried for a couple of decades now to convince the rest of the industry that those inequities will end only when writers and artists -- whether celebrities from other fields, like Jonathan, or longtime comics professionals, like myself -- say 'no' to projects that make no provision for the original creators. I've failed. I find that endlessly frustrating.
"Mary, on the other hand, is frustrated because she cannot convince me that when 'name' writers from the mainstream -- novelists, screenwriters and directors, television writers -- are presented with the 'chance' to write for comics, they instantly abandon all business sense, all instinct for self-preservation, and all the hard-earned knowledge that allowed them to make names for themselves in their primary fields.
"When courted by the comics publishers, she believes, those writers suddenly revert to the mindset of every fan writer and artist who ever dreamed of becoming a comics pro. They mindwarp back to their own age of innocence, to the time when they first discovered the comics they loved, comics that perhaps inspired them to create stories of their own. Blinded by love and desire, Mary believes, they happily sign the work-for-hire contracts and giddily appropriate the work of other creators with the unquestioning enthusiasm of adolescents engaging in unprotected sex.
"They hear, 'It's a work (made) for hire.' 'The company has to own the rights to survive.' 'It's the way it's always been done.' And in the fog of a temporary reversion to pubescence, it somehow makes sense.
"Mary is more empathetic than I am. For whatever reason, perhaps because she has sources of income other than writing, she's willing to reserve judgment and try to see a bigger picture.
"I'm less forgiving, but I think I have a solution, at least to the OMEGA situation.
"Jonathan, if you're reading this -- rather than ask you to back out of a business commitment, rather than deprive the fans of what will probably be an excellent story, I propose that you simply retitle the story and rename the characters. 'omega The Unknown' has little or no commercial cachet, so call the book something else. Call the kid something other than James-Michael Starling. Make the book your own, and I'll have nothing to complain about."
I asked Steve and Mary to clarify a few issues for the column. I first asked for a little background on the title, how the book was pitched, positioned and about the market it was published into.
"I pitched the series verbally to Stan Lee in 1975, during the same meeting that I proposed doing Howard the Duck in a book of his own.
"This all took place in an era before 'positioning' -- or even 'marketing,' really -- became part of comics industry lingo, so we really didn't discuss where and how it would fit in the marketplace.
"It was an oddity in that it was a few years ahead of its time. The protagonist of the book, James-Michael Starling, was a kid with a strange super-power. I know this will be hard for some of your readers to believe, but in those days, adventure series starring teenage heroes were considered by fans to be 'immature.' Characters like Robin and Bucky were regarded with contempt. It's why Stan named Peter Parker 'Spider-man,' even though the character was about the same age as Superboy.
"I wanted to do a series about a real kid who was nobody's sidekick, facing real problems in what today would be called a 'grim 'n gritty' setting, Hell's Kitchen in New York. 'Omega' predated both the Teen Titans and X-men explosion and the 'grim 'n gritty' movement by a few years. If it had come later, it probably would have been deemed a little quirky but mainstream."
Steve told me he hasn't been in touch with Marvel over the current "Omega" series but that, "I've mentioned it once or twice over the years. The reaction was mostly puzzlement. I don't think most of the people working at Marvel now had ever heard of the book."
As to ownership of "Omega," morally or legally, Gerber told me, "I've been advised not to say anything regarding ownership or other legal issues."
Steve's most recent work for Marvel was the acclaimed "Howard The Duck" MAX series, with Phil Winslade and Glenn Fabry. How did this sit with his current relationship with Marvel?
"I got along very well with Stuart Moore, the editor of the 'Howard The Duck' miniseries, but Stuart is no longer at Marvel. I did have a couple of very friendly conversations with Joe Quesada about doing further work for the company. Bill Jemas invited me to collaborate with him on 'Marville,' but I had to turn that job down; Paul Levitz and I have been friends for more than thirty years.
"On the positive side, my attorney, Harris Miller, deals with Marvel's business and legal affairs people all the time, and they seem very able to work together productively. And I felt they dealt quite fairly with some claims I had in the bankruptcy."
I asked Mary for her perspective on this, which seemed more relaxed, and whether she despaired of Steve's attitude. She told me, "Steve and I have been friends for over thirty years. I 'despair of him' over many things, but this is not one of them. I have some sympathy for the naïve adults who forget their business sense because they always loved and dreamed of writing comics. But I agree with Steve 100%. Creators have been badly screwed by comics publishers in the past. There are rare opportunities to share in the ownership of properties today, but many creators are still mistreated."
Steve Gerber has set up a website on the domain name www.OmegaTheUnknown.com to make his feelings very clear. His blog can be read here. The second volume of the DC series "Hard Time" by Gerber, Skrenes, Brain Hurtt and Steve Bird will start publication in December.
Marvel did not respond to questions made over the weekend, concerning "Omega" or the "Ultraverse."
und mit Brevoort versteht er sich auch nicht so gut
BENDIS: Whats the worst mistake you ever made?
BREVOORT: Worst mistake? I have a whole story for that one. The worst mistake I ever made, and this embittered me to the point to where I wont even work with the guy involved, and it was a stupid sort of rookie mistake, but I made it kind of earnestly. This was, again, around 96-ish and for whatever reason, that week Bob Harras was in a Howard the Duck mood. I dont know what it was, whether someone upstairs had said Howard the Duck, or if he just woke up one morning going, Wow, I really love Howard the Duck. I was editing Spider-Man Team Up, and he came down and said, Why dont you have Howard the Duck in the next issue of Spider-Man Team Up. I kind of went, Yeah, OK, thats fine.
So myself and Glenn Greenberg, who was my assistant at the time, talked about this, and I think that I also talked to Kurt Busiek because I was working with him a lot at that point on Untold Tales. The general consensus was that you dont really have Howard the Duck unless Steve Gerber writes it, and Steve had gone through plenty of years of bad times at Marvel and so forth, but it was like, what the hell. Well call him up and see if he wants to write a Spider-Man/Howard the Duck story for this issue of Spider-Man Team Up.
We called up Steve and he took a couple of days to think about it and he came back afterwards, and he said, Tell you what. For Erik Larsen at Image Im doing this Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck crossover, and what I would like to do, if youre up for it, is that I want to do a noncrossover crossover. I want to do an unofficial crossover where well do these two storiesthe one in that book and the one in your Marvel book and well set them in the same location, but the characters wont really run into one another. Theyll just kind of run back and forth across the same landscape, but if you have the two books together you can kind of see that its this larger tapestry. I kind of thought, Oh, thats cool.
But I said to Steve, The part that worries me about this, Steve, is that I dont know whats going to be on those other pages. I know exactly whats going to be on the Marvel pages, but I have no idea what youre going to do over there. And he said to me, Dont worry. Trust me. I give you my word. Im not going to do anything on those pages thats going to get you into any trouble. I was young and stupid enough that I went, OK. When he said it I genuinely believed that was his intention, but the thing that happened is suddenly all these solicitations for Howard the Duck stories started popping up everywhere. He was guest-starring in Ghost Rider and he was in Generation X and they were going to do a special and whatnotand Im putting words into Steves mouth a little bit here based on what came back, but I think that he felt he had been sold a bill of goods, like suddenly Marvel was going to put this big push on Howard the Duck with this big, coordinated thing, and that hed somehow been wrangled and roped into being a part of it and somehow giving it his stamp of approval.
I remember that he and his lawyer, Harris Miller, called up to our publisher irate and said, Oh, Steve is very upset about this. I called Steve back and I said, Steve, I hear what youre saying. I understand where youre coming from, and if you want to just shake hands right now and walk away, we can. You dont have to do this. I solicited a Howard the Duck story so Im going to have to do something with Howard in that issue, but it doesnt have to be the story that you write, and if youre uncomfortable you can just walk away right now. He paused and he said, No, nope. I said I was going to do this story and Im going to do it. And that was it.
So it went from there and we were producing our story and were doing our thing, and then months go by and its right around the Thanksgiving holidays. This was 94 or 95 so there was an Internet, but it was a nascent Internet. Harris Miller had a reason to talk to me about something else. I forget what it was. It was some other client. I forget what it was about, but he said to me, Oh, did you see that thing that Steve posted at his Web site? Boy, hes really pissed at us and he blames me for getting him involved with you and all of this. I went, What the f--- are you talking about?
I went home, and at the time I only had a little laptop computer and it had no memory whatsoever in it, and I had to go in and strip out all of these programs and reallocate memory and whatnot so that I could finally do my little dial-up to get to Steves Web page. And on Steves Web page was this enormous screed about how hed been taken advantage of and how hed been screwed on this and lied to and everything, but he was going to have the last laugh and he was going to do something in Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck that was going to totally thumb his nose at Marvel and rake us over the coals and that we werent going to see it coming.
Literally, if Steve had lived on the East Coast during those holidays I wouldve gone to his house, because not only was I furious, but I was like, Wow. Theyre going to fire my a-- good. Theyre going to fire my a-- right out the door because of what this guy is going to do. And as it turned out, two things happened. One, the Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck book shipped like four months late and so it didnt actually come out alongside our book, and then the second thing was that it came out and absolutely no one cared. The part that always pissed me off though, and Steve years later would sort of reach out to me every once in a whilewe were on an Avengers mailing list at one point togetherwith what, at least as I took it, a sort of the nonapology apology, which was, Well, Im really sorry that I had to do that to you, but you were in the way of the gunfire.
It was that sort of thing, and the part that still pisses me off to this day is that I felt like he promised me. It wasnt Marvel. Steve Gerber promised me, I wont do anything in those pages that screws you up. Then, I gave him the out. I said, Steve, if you want to walk away we can shake hands and go. But no, because at that point, in his head, he already had the plan and whether he wanted to shoot me or whether he wanted to shoot the guy standing behind me, he decided that me and my life and my family, were perfectly acceptable collateral damage to the larger point that he wanted to make.
BENDIS: Wow.
BREVOORT: This was a real pisser for me too because Steve, for years, was like this big bastion of moral integrity and moral fiber, the little guy fighting the man and whatnot, and to be just completely plowed over by this guy and completely just Im throwing you right under the bus, pal, because I have to stop the bus somehow and youre standing here. You happened to be the guy that flagged me over. That was a huge thing. So its been years and years and its not like I fume on it every day, but its not like I want to work with Steve again.
BENDIS: Wow. Ive never heard that story.
BREVOORT: No. Few people have, and its not like youre going to read about it on the Steve Gerber Web site.
Zu einem gewissen Grad kann ich Gerber ja verstehen, aber damit macht er sich imo ein wenig unglaubwürdig:
Zitat: The truth is, we didn't all know. Most of us had no idea, until the Siegel & Shuster case came to light again in the late 1970s.Kann ich irgendwie nicht glauben, dass einige da Jahre, Jahrzehnte für die großen zwei arbeiten und sich dessen nicht bewusst sind.
Re: Spoiler Politik
Die Breevoort Story ist auch heftig Gerber scheint einer dieser unverbesserlichen Idealisten zu sein, bei dem der Zweck die Mittel heiligt. Das beunruhigt mich immer ein wenig an Leute, die so unbeirrbar für eine Idee einstehen. Mit der Zeit werden Menschen und persönliche Schicksale besagter Idee - möge sie noch so edel sein - untergeordnet.
Reprint Lawine
Marvel Announces a Mighty Helping of Sellouts
The House of Ideas is on fire! Between the fallout of Civil War, the Death of Captain America and sizzling hot titles like Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born and Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, Marvel continues to make must-reads of all its titles!
The response has been so incredible that Marvel is going back to press on a dozen titles to fill the demand for all of these exciting stories.
The death of Captain America has made Captain America #25 the hottest issue to hit shelves in over a decade and Marvel is rushing back to press for a second printing with a new variant cover featuring the instantly-iconic Steve Epting image of Cap shot.
Another comic making waves all over the world is Stephen Kings Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1, which continues to thrill King and comic fans alike, with the first issue receiving a second printing with a new cover by Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.
The best-selling comic event, Civil War, has injected excitement into titles across the Marvel Universe, making the Initiative one of the most talked about stories in comics! Mighty Avengers #1, Civil War: The Confession, Iron Man #15 and Civil War: The Initiative have all sold out and are receiving second printings.
Plus, Civil Wars tragic ending for Spider-Man has the Wall-Crawler in a new frame of mind and him adopting his black costume once again. Spider-Man is Back in Black, which has Spidey back on top with three sellouts of Sensational Spider-Man #35, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #17, and Spider-Man Family #1, which are going back to press with all-new variant second printing covers by Clayton Crain, Adi Granov, and Leonard Kirk respectively.
And as it was announced earlier this week, Marvel Zombies vs. the Army of Darkness #1 will be going back to press with an all-new Arthur Suydam zombie homage cover of Captain America #1.
Also, the hit series New Avengers: Illuminati will have its first two sold out issues collected together in New Avengers: Illuminati Secret History.
Please note, the first printings of these titles may still be available at the retailer level. Marvel encourages retailers to order up on the subsequent issues of these series in order to meet customer demand.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #25 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (JAN078263) Written by ED BRUBAKER Pencils and Cover by STEVE EPTING Rated T+ $3.99 On-Sale 3/28/2007
DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER BORN #1 (of 7) SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (FEB078027) Written by Peter David & Robin furth Art by Jae Lee & Richard isanove Cover by JOE QUESADA Parental Advisory $3.99 FOC - 4/5, On-Sale 4/25/2007
MIGHTY AVENGERS #1 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (FEB078041) Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS Pencils and Cover by FRANK CHO Rated A $2.99 FOC - 3/29, On-Sale 4/18/2007
NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI: SECRET HISTORY (JAN078267) Written by Brian Michael Bendis & BRIAN REED Pencils and Cover by JIM CHEUNG Rated T+ $3.99 FOC 4/5, On-Sale 4/25/2007 Collects New Avengers: Illuminati #1-2
MARVEL ZOMBIES/ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (FEB078043) Written by JOHN LAYMAN Art by FABIANO NEVES & JUNE CHUNG Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM Parental Advisory $2.99 FOC 4/12, On-Sale 5/2/2007
CIVIL WAR: THE INITIATIVE SECOND PRINTING (FEB078016) Written by Brian Michael Bendis & WARREN ELLIS Pencils and Cover by Marc Silvestri Rated T+ $4.99 On-Sale 3/28/2007
CIVIL WAR: THE CONFESSION (FEB078126) Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS Pencils and Cover by ALEX MALEEV Rated T+ $2.99 FOC 3/29, On-Sale 4/18/2007
IRON MAN #15 DE LA TORRE SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (FEB078015) Written by Daniel & CHARLES Knauf Pencils and Cover by ROBERTO DE LA TORRE Rated A $2.99 FOC 3/22, On-Sale - 4/11/2007
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #35 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (JAN078221) Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Pencils by Angel Medina Cover by CLAYTON CRAIN Rated A $2.99¶ On-Sale 4/11/2007 FOC 3/22, On-Sale 4/11/2007
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #17 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (JAN078220) Written by Peter David Penciled by Todd Nauck Cover by ADI GRANOV Rated A $2.99 FOC 3/22, On-Sale 4/11/2007
SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (JAN078222) Written by SEAN MCKEEVER Penciled by TERRELL BOBBETT Cover by LEONARD KIRK Rated A $4.99¶ FOC 3/22, On-Sale 4/11/2007
To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook
Re: Spoiler Politik
Danke für die Bestellnummern!
Top Cow/Marvel Crossover
Diese News, obwohl jetzt auch schon eine Woche alt, hat seltsamerweise noch keiner gepostet Aber wahrscheinlich weil es im Top Cow Panel verkündet wurde und deshalb auf dem Radar der meisten nicht aufgetaucht ist.
Zitat: Marz is also writing the Top Cow/Marvel crossover Unholy Union, a fourty page one shot drawn by newcomer Brussard. The title will feature the Incredible Hulk, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, Witchblade and the Darkness.http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=36;t=006099
Re: Marvel/Top Cow Crossover
Dieser Brussard kann gut zeichnen, Ron Marz ist ein ganz okayer Autor, und The Darkness fand ich als Figur schon immer toll, weswegen auch die neue Serie ins Abo wandern wird, diesen One Shot laße ich mir auch nicht entgehen.