Monday, May 21, 2007

FF Post with Solits

Sean, I mainly seek you to sign off on my plans for a double-sized FF 550, but also...

Can you think of any classic stories that might be appropriate? First encounter with Namor? You're the resident expert, let me know your thoughts:


Tell Dan he's not going anywhere; I was merely giving him an opportunity to get a head start on things if rush-writing the non-softball alternative had left him feeling swamped. Especially with She-Hulk joining the team, Dan is extremely important to the future of FF. I'll then request a conference call between Dwayne and Dan making sure everybody's happy with story direction, etc. And, if it hasn't happened yet, I'd still like to set up the Rise/Balance team meeting/conference call.

Out of my own pocket, send JMS a thank-you gift basket of smoked fish, with a card reading "Serve Namor up however you'd like."

Offer Balance to Finch (alt. Jimenez, Epting, Olivetti, McNiven, McGuinness) and tell him we need a commitment. We’d like for the interior artist to provide covers with variants from Michael Turner. Ask Amanda if she’d needs breathing room by taking off the covers for the Rise of the Defenders She-Hulks; if so, ask Finch (or whoever can do Balance) if they’d like to draw those two covers.

Ask again about extra pages for Fantastic Four 550; if I can have them, I’d like to include a 22 page full length story from Slott and Deodato, perhaps a reprinting of a classic FF tale and a brief comedic summary of Rise of the Defenders by Chris Giarusso.

Solicitations:

She-Hulk 21
McDuffie and Conner
Cover by Finch

RISE OF THE DEFENDERS!

Guest-Starring the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom! Jen just wants some time to relax with her old teammates—too bad Doctor Doom’s about to make his triumphant, and very public, return to the lives of America’s premiere super family!

She-Hulk 22
McDuffie and Conner
Cover by Finch

RISE OF THE DEFENDERS!

Guest-Starring the Human Torch, Dr. Doom and Namor! As Namor and Doom weigh the prospects of joining forces, Jen, Ben and Johnny weigh the prospects of breaking the law to help Reed prove Doom’s still up to his old tricks.

Fantastic Four 549
Slott and Deodato
Cover by McGuinness

RISE OF THE DEFENDERS!

Guest-Starring She-Hulk, Black Panther and Storm! The FF investigate Doom’s most recent scientific breakthrough… and it’s a doozy! An unforgettable conversation between Reed Richards and King T’Challa sets the stage for things to come.

(pending certain approvals)
Fantastic Four 550
Slott and Deodato (and additional contributors, if any)
Cover by McGuinness

RISE OF THE DEFENDERS!

Special over-sized issue! The Fantastic Four are at a crossroads in this landmark issue that leads directly into the upcoming BALANCE OF POWER! Featuring a classic story from FF?, an original Mini-Marvels story and the very first appearance of THE DEFENDERS!

6 comments:

Michael Heide said...

About the reprint: How about the first Namor/Dr. Doom teamup?

Philip Schaeffer said...

Do you happen to know date issue number of that?

Cause that would clearly be so on the money.

Sean Kleefeld said...

Looks good overall. Over-sized is okay with me. I would call/confirm Giarusso before including him in the solicit, though. If you can't get him, I'd follow up with someone else like (not necessarily my order of preference) Fred Hembeck, Karl Kesel and/or Chris Eliopolous.

As for FF reprints, I'd either go with FF #6 (Namor and Doom team up) or FF #104 (Namor and Magneto team up). FF #6 is a bit older/dated but it's a solid done-in-one type of story by Lee/Kirby; #104 is the end of a 3-parter by Lee/Romita Sr. It should make sense on its own, but you would definitely miss the opening act. #104 also has the interesting twist of Namor and Magneto together, which hasn't happened that often. Either are ultimately fine with me -- your call.

Philip Schaeffer said...

As always, your knowledge of all things Fantastic is, well, fantastic.

Michael Heide said...

Eliopolous makes sense. From a completely subjective view, I prefer Franklin Richards, Boy Genius over Mini-Marvels anyway.

Philip Schaeffer said...

Well your subjective view is wrong.

I kid, I kid! Please don't cut me out of your life like Ben did (I doubt you would; I haven't accidentally burned any of your extended family... yet).

And those Franklin Richards shorts are hilarious; I prefer Mini-Marvels in this case because they have a more global, satirical feel to them.