1.: I think I know where all this "dictating the plot" stems from. We went at it the wrong way. When we came up with directions for the book, we should have stayed mum about the actual stories. Then, after we got our writers approved, we could have knocked ourselves out writing the fictional solicitations. Of course it looks as if we're dictating the plots! The plots were around before the writers were!
2.: About Balance of Power. I was at my LCS yesterday. I mentioned this simulation to the clerk and told him a few of our plans. When I came to Balance of Power, he suggested that we tie in the Eternals somehow. I think that's a nice idea. With John Romita jr. on Amazing Spider-Man, maybe Patrick should ask Matt Fraction if he likes to write the Eternals into an upcoming issue of ASM.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Advice from the EIC
An hour ago, I started a post that was going to address the LitG thing on a point-by-point basis... what we should take away from each of the notes and whether it would be worth acting on them and whatever. But since I had to take the dog for a walk anyway, I set the post aside and was able to really put some thought into things without any real distractions.
And I think I have a semblance of a game-plan for next week. I'll start work on it tonight, but probably won't finish it until tomorrow morning.
Until then, I'll just hit this overview of the LitG. He only has one "green" (i.e. reasonably confirmed) story: BigMoney. And we already knew about that from Tom. Everything else is amber (i.e. "the likelihood isn't set") or red (i.e. "I can't quite bring myself to believe it"). I'll also repost part of his introduction from every LitG to help put things in perspective: "Lying In The Gutters is for your entertainment. Neither Fair Nor Balanced."
So, a call to Weinberg may be in order, but don't grovel about it. Say you're sorry, and you're happy to let him write the stories. Everything else is essentially just a distraction.
This evening's been great for me because I've been able to step back for the first time to see where we're at. I'll admit that I was concerned this morning when I saw the numbers Tom posted (in part because I looked at the total and forgot that Amazing didn't ship). But looking at things from a 20,000 foot view, it looks to me like we're on the right path. Not that it's going to be easy, mind you, but I think there's a decent chance that we can just about nail that 504,000 mark. We just need to concentrate and keep our focus.
Okay, that's my pep talk for the week. Check back tomorrow for our master plan.
And I think I have a semblance of a game-plan for next week. I'll start work on it tonight, but probably won't finish it until tomorrow morning.
Until then, I'll just hit this overview of the LitG. He only has one "green" (i.e. reasonably confirmed) story: BigMoney. And we already knew about that from Tom. Everything else is amber (i.e. "the likelihood isn't set") or red (i.e. "I can't quite bring myself to believe it"). I'll also repost part of his introduction from every LitG to help put things in perspective: "Lying In The Gutters is for your entertainment. Neither Fair Nor Balanced."
So, a call to Weinberg may be in order, but don't grovel about it. Say you're sorry, and you're happy to let him write the stories. Everything else is essentially just a distraction.
This evening's been great for me because I've been able to step back for the first time to see where we're at. I'll admit that I was concerned this morning when I saw the numbers Tom posted (in part because I looked at the total and forgot that Amazing didn't ship). But looking at things from a 20,000 foot view, it looks to me like we're on the right path. Not that it's going to be easy, mind you, but I think there's a decent chance that we can just about nail that 504,000 mark. We just need to concentrate and keep our focus.
Okay, that's my pep talk for the week. Check back tomorrow for our master plan.
A few thoughts
1.: Robert Weinberg deserves an apology.
I never meant to dictate my plots to him. So my first step this weekend is calling him, or even better, meeting him over dinner (I pay out of my own pocket, of course).
I apologize for the misunderstanding. And I try to figure out what I can do to amend things. The creative team of Robert and Adrian (and Marko) is really important to me. They were my first choice, because I think that they are the best creators for this book right now.
I guess at this time it's too late to cancel the "Rise of the Defenders" tie-ins. But I want to make sure that he's free to come up with what he wants (within reasonable terms. Flattening Wolverine with a whale is out of the question) after those two issues. Since Adrian will probably need one other fill-in issue this year, I will listen to Robert when picking that artist.
While Arthur Suydam's variant cover for #500 has already been approved by marketing, I haven't told Arthur what I want (I was thinking about Nightcrawler burning in hell, but I haven't told him yet). I'd appreciate Robert's input on this.
If he's really uncomfortable with me editing the book, I will offer to hand it to another editor. If he wants to step down from the book, I could understand. But if he gives me one more chance, I'll try to do my job better.
2.: Sort out the Wizard scheduling mess.
I got the impression that the relationship between the X-Men office and Wizard (especially Ben Morse) worked perfectly. But now, issue 489 of UNCANNY X-MEN has already shipped, Ed Brubaker's first issue of WOLVERINE will probably ship on Monday, and yet Wizard hasn't run the First Look articles yet. I'll take full responsibility for this. And I'll obviously have to do something. The only thing I can offer at this point is exclusive material about BALANCE OF POWER. But I want to make sure that the timing is better than last time.
3.: The reemergence of the Marvel/DC crossovers.
Provided that UNCANNY X-MEN stays in my office (see point 1), I'd love to do an UNCANNY X-MEN/Justice League of America crossover. Sean, could you contact the appropriate editors down the street and negotiate the terms? Who will publish this thing? Who will appoint the creative team?
Another thing that we owe the fans is the DAREDEVIL/Batman crossover by Bendis and Maleev. Daredevil is in Warren Simons' office, so the three of us probably won't have anything to do with this. But still, this should be done.
4.: CLOAK & DAGGER: DETOX
I don't want to fall into the same trap I did with UNCANNY X-MEN, so I'll scrap the whole plot. Still, I'd love to put something like this on the stands. Sean, could you ask the current MAX editor (Stuart Moore? Nick Lowe? It's been a while since I last bought a MAX comic) what it would take to get this running?
5.: BALANCE OF POWER
Again, we have come up with most of the plot for tis thing. If we get Joe Straczynski for this, how can we know that he won't complain about us dictating the book for him? Should we start from scratch and take vague description and vacant solicitations for granted? But if we do, how can we make sure that this sells?
Darn, I should have interned at Marvel before volunteering for this thing...
I never meant to dictate my plots to him. So my first step this weekend is calling him, or even better, meeting him over dinner (I pay out of my own pocket, of course).
I apologize for the misunderstanding. And I try to figure out what I can do to amend things. The creative team of Robert and Adrian (and Marko) is really important to me. They were my first choice, because I think that they are the best creators for this book right now.
I guess at this time it's too late to cancel the "Rise of the Defenders" tie-ins. But I want to make sure that he's free to come up with what he wants (within reasonable terms. Flattening Wolverine with a whale is out of the question) after those two issues. Since Adrian will probably need one other fill-in issue this year, I will listen to Robert when picking that artist.
While Arthur Suydam's variant cover for #500 has already been approved by marketing, I haven't told Arthur what I want (I was thinking about Nightcrawler burning in hell, but I haven't told him yet). I'd appreciate Robert's input on this.
If he's really uncomfortable with me editing the book, I will offer to hand it to another editor. If he wants to step down from the book, I could understand. But if he gives me one more chance, I'll try to do my job better.
2.: Sort out the Wizard scheduling mess.
I got the impression that the relationship between the X-Men office and Wizard (especially Ben Morse) worked perfectly. But now, issue 489 of UNCANNY X-MEN has already shipped, Ed Brubaker's first issue of WOLVERINE will probably ship on Monday, and yet Wizard hasn't run the First Look articles yet. I'll take full responsibility for this. And I'll obviously have to do something. The only thing I can offer at this point is exclusive material about BALANCE OF POWER. But I want to make sure that the timing is better than last time.
3.: The reemergence of the Marvel/DC crossovers.
Provided that UNCANNY X-MEN stays in my office (see point 1), I'd love to do an UNCANNY X-MEN/Justice League of America crossover. Sean, could you contact the appropriate editors down the street and negotiate the terms? Who will publish this thing? Who will appoint the creative team?
Another thing that we owe the fans is the DAREDEVIL/Batman crossover by Bendis and Maleev. Daredevil is in Warren Simons' office, so the three of us probably won't have anything to do with this. But still, this should be done.
4.: CLOAK & DAGGER: DETOX
I don't want to fall into the same trap I did with UNCANNY X-MEN, so I'll scrap the whole plot. Still, I'd love to put something like this on the stands. Sean, could you ask the current MAX editor (Stuart Moore? Nick Lowe? It's been a while since I last bought a MAX comic) what it would take to get this running?
5.: BALANCE OF POWER
Again, we have come up with most of the plot for tis thing. If we get Joe Straczynski for this, how can we know that he won't complain about us dictating the book for him? Should we start from scratch and take vague description and vacant solicitations for granted? But if we do, how can we make sure that this sells?
Darn, I should have interned at Marvel before volunteering for this thing...
OK, Folks, Breathe...
How the heck did we get half-way through this already? Where did the past week go? Seriously, I barely remember getting started!
I'm going to take at least a few more hours to absorb the past day or two particularly. I don't think we're doing TOO badly -- despite some disappointing numbers so far -- so I'm not thinking we need to do any major course-corrections, just try to laser-focus our individual efforts. If we want to actually hit that 504,000, we should try to plan next week a little more carefully.
Saying that, though, would imply we planned this past week! :)
More later...
I'm going to take at least a few more hours to absorb the past day or two particularly. I don't think we're doing TOO badly -- despite some disappointing numbers so far -- so I'm not thinking we need to do any major course-corrections, just try to laser-focus our individual efforts. If we want to actually hit that 504,000, we should try to plan next week a little more carefully.
Saying that, though, would imply we planned this past week! :)
More later...
X-Men Group Editor, Day 4 - Revised edition
Sorry, having computer problems here. I'll get back to this around 7. Since we have time until Sunday, I hope that's okay.
SIMULATED LYING IN THE GUTTERS
That's very cool of Rich to write up a rumor-mill for the simulation.
The question is: how much of what he says is influenced by hints Tom's given him about where things are actually going?
Example, if we lose Dan Slott, I'm not going to be too broken up about it. There have already been problems with his transition to FF. I really wish I could've kept him on She-Hulk.
But the Green-Light Wackerjack section indicates that we (and by that Rich probably means me) have been way too hands-on storywise of late and that a mass writer's exodus, at least of the guys working on my books, may be looming. That would be something of a problem, though I'll point out that last simulation Tom had to coax his guys into providing story information, so you're always either doing too much or not enough.
However, the possibility of a DC Marvel crossover is kind of intriguing...
The question is: how much of what he says is influenced by hints Tom's given him about where things are actually going?
Example, if we lose Dan Slott, I'm not going to be too broken up about it. There have already been problems with his transition to FF. I really wish I could've kept him on She-Hulk.
But the Green-Light Wackerjack section indicates that we (and by that Rich probably means me) have been way too hands-on storywise of late and that a mass writer's exodus, at least of the guys working on my books, may be looming. That would be something of a problem, though I'll point out that last simulation Tom had to coax his guys into providing story information, so you're always either doing too much or not enough.
However, the possibility of a DC Marvel crossover is kind of intriguing...
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