It’s the news that shook the world! No, not retailer Todd McDevitt ending up with a previously-unknown, good condition copy of Detective Comics #27 that was discovered in someone’s attic; I’m talking about the return of Captain America, as designed by Alex Ross.
For those afraid of male chickens, worry not; it’s all part of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting’s grand plan, as the Broob explained to the mothership:
[T]his is no tease. This is a new Captain America, in the Cap comic itself, so you know I wouldn’t just do it for a gimmick. This has been part of the plan all along, and if I ever implied there wouldn’t be a new Cap ever, then I was avoiding the question or dodging it. I tried to dance between the lines but I have said all along there wouldn’t be anyone in a Cap outfit for a while. Nine issues in comics is a while, right?
Of course, the kids still think it’s a temporary fake-out, if the ‘Rama poll is anything to go by.
As if revamping America’s Favorite Fightin’ American from America isn’t enough, Ed was also onhand to talk about “Messiah Complex”, the new big X-Men crossover that he’s writing the first couple of chapters for:
I would always say, and this is no dismissal of fandom by any means, but fan response should always be a secondary concern, at best. Yes, you want the fans to dig what you’re doing, but doing stuff to specifically appease or antagonize fans is not servicing your stories, your characters, or your fans. They all deserve better.
When we sat in a room for days and broke this story down, we thought of how to make the biggest, baddest, most fun and exciting and dramatic X-Men X-Over we could, and that was all we talked about. We knew there would be moments that would make some fans yell and others shit bricks, but that came after we saw them up on the board or bounced them around the room.
“Shit Bricks,” incidentally, is the name of the new mutant baby who launches the crossover.
Over at DC, the crossovers are all about creators crossing between series. As Daniel Acuna leaves The Flash (sadly for me), Freddie Williams II goes to replace him, while he is replaced on Robin by Chris Batista. Williams explained how these things happen:
Around mid-September, [editor] Joan Hilty called me and told me that Flash was about to lose its artist and her and Dan Didio had a meeting in which they brought me up as a good choice to take on the book… It was a pretty flattering phone call, though it totally caught me off guard, as I’d have to start right away. My first concern was that I didn’t want to go back on any of my other commitments, so I called Mike Marts, senior editor on Robin. Mike had been in the meeting with Joan and Dan, so he knew what was up. Although Mike and I had already made plans for the next handful of Robin issues, he said even though he didn’t want to lose me on Robin, it may be a good move for me.
Switching artists is a good way to hit deadline, and arguably something that Top Cow is about to become very acquainted with. As company President Matt Hawkins plans to get the publisher’s line back on schedule or bankrupt himself trying, he stopped in to tell us why he was trying:
We talked a long time about how do we shake the image of having late books. My first answer was just to do it, do it for a year and then turn around and say WOOHOO look at us we did it! Then I saw that Chris Rock comedy bit where he was making fun of people “who brag about taking care of their kids.” In the bit he says “how can you brag about doing something you’re supposed to do?” That sort of struck home and made me think, well shit we’re supposed to ship books on time so if we do it for a year and then brag about it no one would care.
This was just one of a boatload of Image-related interviews this week. There were also chats with Ian Hosfeld, Jim Valentino, Thomas Jane, Scott Reed and Shane White, Thomas Boatwright, The Luna Brothers and the newly happy Mike Allred:
I swear, I never want to take anything for granted. It just feels so good. I’ve never been more excited about the progression our progression. I dig the look and feel of the new series. I love what Laura’s doing with the colors, and the enthusiasm and commitment that Image has with the series, and the response has been very gratifying as well.
Readers will obviously decide for themselves, but I personally feel I’m doing my best work, and it’s being seen. It’s out there and being appreciated at a level that’s beyond what I ever hoped for. It keeps me going. Every day is just a blast.
It’s not all been Image, however; Mike Carey talked about his Virgin Comics work, and Bruce Timm answering your questions… twice. And, of course, in the “And finally” slot, the small story about the news that Newsarama was acquired by Imaginova Corp, as announced at the start of the week. What does this mean for Blog@, you may wonder? The most immediate change is that all of us here at Blog@ have now had someone else’s names written on the soles of our feet, “Toy Story”-style. But in the future? That would be telling…
