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Among this past weekend’s bigger New York Comic-Con [2006] announcements by Marvel [at the Cup 'O Joe panel] was a “packaging deal” the publisher has agree to with Top Cow Productions, the first product of which will be artist Tyler Kirkham’s upcoming two issue stint on Amazing Spider-Man #530-531. Newsarama caught up with Top Cow’s President and COO Matt Hawkins, along with Marvel’s Joe Quesada, to get a few more details.
According to Hawkins, the deal encompasses Top Cow packaging 36 issues over 30 months, Kirkham’s Spider-Man issues being two of those 36. As part of the deal, Top Cow will pencil, ink, color, and letter scripts provided by Marvel. In short, they’ll provide a disk with a finished issue for Marvel to send to the printers. Marvel will retain editorial control over the content. On the flipside of the deal, Top Cow will also get the rights to publish eight Top Cow/Marvel crossover titles during the term of the deal, and discussion between the publishers has ranged from one-shots to limited series, with Marvel holding approval over whatever eventual form they make take and characters used. Hawkins said the first of these projects will probably be published in the 3rd quarter of this year, and eventually some familiar creator names will be involved, including writer Ron Marz. Back to the Marvel side, pencilers that will eventually provide art as part of this deal include Kirkham, Eric Basaldua, Mike Choi, and Top Cow founder and CEO Marc Silvestri (more on him in a sec). ”All four of these guys use the same inking and coloring teams and they're teams will most likely stay with them on the Marvel projects,” explained Hawkins. “Some names would include Joe Weems, Steve Firchow, John Starr, Sonia Oback, Jay Leisten, and Sal Regla.” Asked to explain how the deal is different than just allowing their stable of creators to seek out freelance work at Marvel, Hawkins said that deal allows their artists – are all employees of Top Cow with long-term agreements – to retain the benefits that come with that, including health insurance. And there is another benefit to the artists as well, a benefit that Top Cow as a publisher shares in – the attention a high-profile Marvel project can give the artists… “In my mind, it's a win-win for everyone involved,” said Hawkins. ”Given the dominance of Marvel and DC in the marketplace today and the proliferation of their characters throughout all media, the attraction is in the profile of the projects and the attention it ultimately draws to Top Cow and its exclusive creators. We did a lot of soul searching and decided we wanted a long-term partner that we could align ourselves with. “After about 6 months of negotiations we decided that the right company for Top Cow to be with is Marvel Comics. [Publisher Dan] Buckley, [Joe] Quesada, and [Managing Editor David] Bogart were instrumental in closing the deal with us and I think we'll be working with them for many years to come. “I'd like to thank them for putting together a deal over the course of a long negotiation that is both fair and innovative in its structure. These three guys are powerhouses of creative and business decisions and Top Cow is very proud to be in business with them.” We also asked Hawkins whether rumors regarding Top Cow’s financial status were a factor into entering this deal… “Well people like to talk and I'm sure following the disintegration of so many independent comic book companies people just assumed, but Top Cow has been around for 14 years now and is still alive and kicking,” he said. “We've had our good and bad times, to be sure, but we're not going anywhere. And to be blunt, of course this is a good financial deal for Top Cow otherwise we wouldn't do it, heh?” Finally, as to how this Marvel deal will affect their own publishing slate over the 30-month term, Hawkins said the impact will be minimal. “In 2005 we published 84 individual titles, in 2006 we'll publish 70, and in 2007 and 2008 we'll put out around 60,” he said, “This is indeed fewer books, but not a real decline in output. If you add these plus the Marvel books we're actually doing more.” Looking to Marvel’s perspective, one can’t help think of another packaging deal with a smaller publisher that was once successful for the publisher, particularly if you’re talking with E-i-C Joe Quesada. We asked Quesada how the deal is similar and/or different than his and Jimmy Palmiotti’s one-time Event Comics/Marvel Knights arrangement, and whether the success of that deal was a factor into creating this new partnership with Top Cow? “With Event we were contracted to actually package complete books soup to nuts,” Quesada explained. “The Cow deal is more of a studio deal where we get to use the talents exclusive to Top Cow on some of our Marvel books. “I've always been a big believer in great combinations breed success and the Marvel/Event deal only solidified that for me, so I've always been a huge supporter of this deal with Top Cow.” We also asked Quesada what the upside of this deal is for both parties, and his response echoed Hawkins’… “It's great for Marvel because it gives us access to some brilliant talents that we normally wouldn't have access to,” he said. “It's great for Top Cow because it allows them to play with Marvel characters, it's obviously good financially for them (if not why do it?), and it also helps expose their talents and skills to the huge Marvel segmentation of the comics’ buying public.” Finally, before we let Hawkins and Quesada go, we did get them to confirm that Silvestri will draw a six-issue project written by Brian Bendis [along with 18 covers for various Marvel projects], but neither Quesada or Hawkins had comment when asked if that project will be “Ultimate Invasion”, a project announced during last summer’s Wizardworld: Chicago, which was said to be written by Bendis and drawn by a “superstar artist” that had not yet drawn an Ultimate title. “All I can say is that I personally buy everything Marc draws and this won't be an exception,” concluded Quesada. “He is truly one of the great draftsmen of the modern era and we're just very, very lucky to have him back at Marvel.” |
BACK TO SPACE IN MARVEL's ANNIHILATION: CONQUESTWith a name like “Annihilation,” you’d think there would be nothing more to say.And you’d be wrong. As Editor Bill Rosemann gave a brief overview at this past weekend’s Cup ‘O Joe panel at the New York Comic Con, the recently concluded Annihilation will be followed, starting in June, by Annihilation Conquest. Just as Civil War changed the status quo of the Marvel Universe on earth, so did Annihilation change the status quo for a large swath of the Marvel cosmos. Now – it’s time to look into that new cosmos, and see what Annihilation wrought. We spoke with Rosemann for a detailed look inside Annihilation: Conquest. Newsarama: Bill, let’s start at the ground level with this project. For people who haven’t been reading along, when does this happen and where does it fit in relation to the large Annihilation event that just wrapped? Bill Rosemann: Well, first off the cool thing is that even during the initial Annihilation event, the reader response was so positive, which was a great surprise, because Marvel was really rolling the dice on putting out all these space books, and didn’t know, really, of people were going to support the project and buy them. But – the response was really good, and people wanted more stories with these people, so even while Annihilation was still going on, plans were afoot for a second story. 
So, about the time that I came over to Marvel, Andy Schmidt, who had masterminded the first event, was moving over to the X-Men group, and they asked if I would be interested in doing it. I was very happy with the idea – even while I was still over at DC, when the bundles came over from Marvel, if I saw anything with the name “Annihilation” on it, I would grab it. I really liked how that…while the story was set out in the Marvel cosmos; it was essentially a war story. A gritty war story, and, with Nova, a story that was relatable, as here’s this guy who we followed through this one event. NRAMA: Can you take us inside how you approach making a sequel to something like Annihilation without telling the same story again, or suffering from sequelitis? That is, what do you keep, and what do you adapt, tweak, or replace for the sequel? BR: Well, there were many parts of the equation that once I was asked to do this that I felt we should continue on – for one, people really seemed to like the structure of Annihilation. So we’re going to have a Prologue, and then three 4-issue miniseries and four issues of the ongoing Nova series (#4-#7). Together, those four stories will lead to the Annihilation: Conquest mini-series, which is six issues long, and starts this fall. Like the original, the entire event carries the same name as the final miniseries, so the whole event is Annihilation: Conquest. NRAMA: So break down the pieces… BR: We’re starting with a Prologue, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who wrote the Nova mini-series of the first Annihilation, and who are writing the ongoing Nova series. It will be penciled and inked by Brian Denham, who is currently drawing Iron Man: Hypervelocity, and colored by GuruFX. The reason we picked Brian is because when you look at that mini, you see how well he does, both tech and humans, and he makes it look real. That’s one of the things we want to continue here. Even though this is a sci-fi story, we want to keep it grounded. 
When you think of The Lord of the Rings movies, and you think about the battles, sure, there were vast armies and war machines, but you also saw the blood and the sweat of the warriors. That’s the same thing we’re continuing here – this is a gritty, dark war book, and Brian does that great. The cover is by Aleski Briclout – he’s a guy who comes to comics from the gaming world. In fact, for our cover artists, I reached out to gaming artists. NRAMA: Why? Just broadening the talent pool or something specific to this project? BR: A little of the former, more of the latter. Every time I would flip through gaming magazines, I thought, “That’s what I want this to look like.” It needs to be scary, something that will give you the same feel as when you look at Gears of War, World of Warcraft and these other sci-fi fantasy games where everything looks gritty and cool. So I went for gaming artists for the four individual stories. 
So – back to the mini-series: the Annihilation: Conquest Prologue hits in June, and then, in July through October, we have Annihilation: Conquest – Quasar. That stars Phylia who is the daughter of the original Captain Marvel, a sister of Genis, and successor of the now legendary Wendell Vaughn, the original Quasar who’s missed by a lot of people, both in the stories, and among the fans. Phylia is finding it really hard to follow in this guy’s footsteps and also to follow in the Mar-Vell family’s footsteps. So this story is all about her trying to handle this power, and seeing if she can contain it. That’s written by Christos Gage who wrote Union Jack, penciled by Eric Basaldua from Top Cow, who’s worked on Witchblade and Magdelena, so he’s got a really good, dark, almost gothic style, which really works as we’re approaching Phylia as a sci-fi Joan of Arc. She’s on a quest, and the object of the quest has real importance, not only to her, but to the entire, larger storyline. NRAMA: Before we get too far along, let’s touch upon that larger storyline – in Annihilation, there was a central villain. Is there the same here or is this more of the fallout and rebuilding following the events of the first story? BR: Oh, there’s a villain, and we’re not revealing who it is just yet. Just as with the first Annihilation, the villain will be revealed in the prologue.  Okay – moving on to the second miniseries: Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord written by Keith Giffen, who wrote the first Annihilation, and we knew we had to get him back as a part of this one as well. The series stars Peter Quill, who, as you’ll see, gets back into costume. It’s an updated look of his old suit, but he’s back in. Everyone is already wondering why he’s back in it, especially since he was supposedly giving it up, but all will be revealed in the story. That mini-series is drawn by Timothy Green, who I worked with on a series called Rush City when I was at DC. He’s got a very detailed style that’s something like Moebius meets Geof Darrow, and his vision really matches up with Keith’s vision on this. Nic Klein is doing the covers for this miniseries. This will also be the book that will be for fans of the older sci-fi characters. It’s sort of like Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos in space, where Starlord gets sent on a suicide mission, and we wanted to hook him up with a list of characters that we considered cult favorites that we can bring back and make cool again. So – that said, we’ve got Bug from the Micronauts, Rocket Raccoon, Deathcry, a Shi’ar character in the Avengers back in the ‘90s; Mantis, Captain Universe, and Groot, a Kirby monster who’s made out of wood. NRAMA: Interesting collection… BR [laughs] The idea was to basically pull in cosmic characters from all the different decades and put them together in a sort of team – a dirty half dozen in a way. But the best was Rocket Raccoon, when I called Keith up and asked him what he thought about putting Rocket Raccoon in the mix, Keith just said, “Well, you know I helped create him, don’t you?” And I just paused and said, “Of course!” So Keith’s playing him a little more Raccoon-like than he may have been seen in the past, where, if you’ve seen raccoons, you know that they can look almost a little manic in their actions. So Rocket Raccoon has a touch of the OCD, running around and frantically trying to do things, while occasionally stopping to clean his hands and face. So, Starlord is basically saddled with this motley crew of characters. The third mini-series is called Annihilation: Conquest – Wraith, and that’s a new character that we’re introducing. A lot of Marvel’s sci-fi characters are kind of old. The last time we introduced a cosmic character was probably back in the ‘80s, so the decision was made that while we’re bringing back and revamping older sci-fi characters, we should try to add someone new to the mix that would be a good contrast. So when you look at him, you can see instantly that he’s a very dark guy, very much in a “gunslinger” vein. Just like Annihilation goes against the “shiny and bright” space heroes Wraith stands out as something different compared to his contemporaries in space. He’s not shiny and bright at all. Wraith is written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who wrote Super Skrull in the original Annihilation, and drawn by Kyle Hotz who just finished Zombie with Mike Raicht. Kyle has a really great, creepy – and I mean creepy in a good way – style, so this book will be quite dark as well. Clint Langley will be drawing covers for this miniseries. All of these, plus the Nova issues, lead into, as I said, Annihilation: Conquest, which runs from November of this year through to April of 2008. Like the Prologue, the mini-series will be written by Abnett and Lanning, and will be penciled by Tom Raney, inked by Scott Hanna and covers again by Aleski Briclout. NRAMA: Something with these space characters coming back for a second go-round…when the first Annihilation was gearing up, we spoke with Joe [Quesada, Editor-in-Chief] and he said that he took a lukewarm view of Marvel’s space heroes, and was hoping to be proven wrong, but – and you could get this from his comments – while he may have loved the idea, he wasn’t in love with the idea. Obviously, Joe’s unease has been shown to be unnecessary, but still, now that Annihilation, and these characters are in your hands, do you still feel that there’s a challenge out there – that, given the strength seen by say, Civil War, and the Earth-bound heroes, that you’ve got something to prove with these characters and books? BR: Oh, definitely. Sometimes when I’m walking down the hallway here, I’ll take a look at the poster we have with all the Marvel Universe characters, and no matter what the smallest character shown on there is, it’s someone’s favorite character. Everyone says that there are no bad characters, only bad stories, so yes – there is the challenge of a.) showing that these characters can be cool; b.) telling a story that can be equal to or greater than the other events in Marvel’s recent publishing history – and that bar has been set pretty high. And for myself, when it as first announced, you’re right – I was with Joe thinking that it was a risk because the characters hadn’t been seen for a while, and its sci-fi…in space. Was that going to work? On the other hand, if it didn’t work, it’s not on Earth, and we can just do it, it happened, and move on. No one’s continuity is shattered by it, and no one’s storylines are messed up. The characters are out there in their own sandbox. But – it was a surprise success. It didn’t do huge numbers, but it did well, and in a way, it almost served as counter-programming to Civil War – it was its own thing. There was a readership out there who really liked it, and it was filled with great creators who were doing really, really good work NRAMA: Hence what you said about the bar being set high… BR: Right – e have to be as food as, or better than they were with the original Annihilation, otherwise, why bother? So, on the one hand, Andy, Keith and everyone else made things easy for us – they got the first approvals on a space book. Our approvals were much easier, but that first volume – they really had to go into some uncharted territory. So yes, it’s definitely a challenge. NRAMA: With these creators that you have on the mini-series – and these are no creators to sneeze at – what has been their reaction when you sought them out for the various projects? BR: It’s a unique response, as these aren’t what you’d call the A-list varsity heroes, even though I think Annihilation has really elevated Nova, so I think he’s stepped up. First of all, we wanted to go after creators we thought would enjoy it, but more than that, even, we found that there are a lot of people who are closet sci-fi fans. There are people who totally geek out when I tell them that they’re going to get to draw Bug from the Micronauts. What’s funny is with some of these lesser known characters, or characters who haven’t been seen in…forever, it touches on the creators’ own fandom or nostalgia in a different way than say, talking about one of the bigger heroes can. It hits a different set of memories, and hits a different set of nerves for our creators. NRAMA: Wrapping things up, Marvel’s at a point where it has three events winding down with Planet Hulk, the original Annihilation and Civil War. With Planet Hulk transitioning into World War Hulk where the Hulk will encounter and deal with the world after Civil War, there does seem to be this anticipation or expectation that Annihilation will be touching upon of bring the conflict home to Earth…is that an option? A plan? After all, there was a segment of fandom who felt that Civil War’s ending was going to involved the coming of the Annihilation Wave, forcing the heroes to set aside their differences for another day… BR: In that specific instance, I think it would have been unfair to smoosh the two events together. Say, for instance, people were reading Civil War, but not Annihilation, or vice versa, I think it would’ve been unfair to say, “You’ve been reading this one event of 20 issues, and guess what? Now, you have to pull in and read this whole other thing of you really want the full story.” Plus – and this is no small consideration – think about collecting it. That would be weird. That said – it is all one shared universe, and it’s all happening now. Like you said, the Hulk is coming to Earth, so you have Planet Hulk mixing with, in a sense, the post-Civil War world. Likewise, in Nova #2 and #3, Nova comes back to Earth. We saw in Annihilation, Nova had sent out an infopod to Mr. Fantastic, and he was listening too broadcasts from earth about the Civil War, so he knew about, although he had limited information. He doesn’t know, for example, how it started, and how his former teammates were involved. So in Nova #2, he learns about everything, so the two issues of Nova tie in to the Initiative, and the post Civil War stuff. Issue #3, as the cover shows, Nova encounters the T-bolts and Penance. NRAMA: So the message of that is that it’s not unprecedented for the threads of events running parallel to intertwine? BR: Right. We’re going to be showing that there are connection points happening now, so there’s no reason to think that there won’t be more in the future. That said, we want to keep Annihilation Conquest its own thing so it has the chance to tell its own story. Oh – and for readers who are strict fans of earthbound Marvel characters, there will be a few characters that you wouldn’t normally associate with this type of story. But once the Prologue and first issues come out, there may be a whole different group of readers who will be interested in the story and the characters. And then yes, maybe one day we’ll see World War Annihilation Civil Wave Conquest. |