Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!

The Tom Brevoort Mini-Interview

UNCA CHEEKS: Marvel Comics, Inc. has -- in recent years -- reprinted more classic Silver (and Bronze) Age material than they have since the heady, bygone days of MARVEL TALES; MARVEL COLLECTOR'S ITEM CLASSICS; and FANTASY MASTERPIECES; all (or very nearly all, it seems) on your own editorial "watch."

Is this chiefly due to a perceived marketing "need" or unfulfilled sales "niche," on Marvel's behalf; simple preference, on your own part, for classic material of this sort; some combination of the two; or some other reason, altogether...?

TOM BREVOORT: I think it's as much a change in your perception as anything. Every since the Trade Paperback market exploded back in the 80s, Marvel's been doing reprints of one sort or another. It may well be that we're doing more collections that appeal to you, but I can't say that we've really stepped up our reprint program all that much in the last five years or so.

On the other hand, reprints are economical (at least, when we have existing film), and I like those older stories, so it makes sense that we'd continue to do them if they're successful. I don't think the market for reprints has changed all that much -- it's still older fans who remember the material, and newer fans who have an interest in the history of the characters. The ratio may be a little different by now, given that we're not attracting as many new readers at this point.

UNCA: One of the most fiscally successful of these (or so I've heard, at any rate; please feel free to correct me if I'm in error, here ) has been the black-and-white "phonebook"-style ESSENTIALS collections; two dozen or so (give or take) inexpensively priced sequential reproductions each, between two covers.

It seems to me that this is an altogether admirable (and perspicacious) marketing stratagem; affording younger, "tyro" readers the opportunity to read and appreciate material which would (otherwise) be wholly outside of their comparative reach, price-wise.

Are there any more of these invaluable volumes planned for release in 2000, after the forthcoming ESSENTIAL IRON MAN tome? (Say, an ESSENTIAL DAREDEVIL; or an ESSENTIAL HUMAN TORCH; or an ESSENTIAL SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS? Not that I'm hinting, mind.)

TOM: The ESSENTIAL volumes continue to be both popular and successful, so we're going to continue to do additional volumes. Traditionally, we've done about 6 of these a year, and I'd expect that to continue. As for what future volumes will feature, it's impossible to say at this point -- I couldn't even swear that there'll be any more releases in 2000 after ESSENTIAL IRON MAN, though I've heard both a THOR and a SPIDER-MAN Vol. 4 postulated.

UNCA: The recent (and ill-starred) MARVEL SELECTS reprint line, on the other hand, failed to make significant sales headway, in today's (seemingly) more ahistorical comics marketplace; which strikes me as somewhat odd, given that the single most common complaint I keep hearing, re: the aforementioned ESSENTIALS volumes, has been to the effect that "I only buy reprints when they're in color, dagnabbit!"

Would you say the failure (in the non-pejorative sense of the word, I mean) of the SELECTS comics was due, chiefly, to the choice of material being presented, in and of itself; to the correspondingly higher price tag commanded by full color reprinting of older works; to fans simply talking a better "game" than they're willing to play, when it comes to supporting reprinted material; some combination of these; or some other reason, altogether...?

TOM: I'd say that it's a combination of all of these factors, to one degree or another. People who say they want affordable color reprints are really saying that they want affordable color reprints of the material that interests them. That doesn't mean that they'll necessarily support any reprint project that comes along in sufficient numbers to make it successful.

Since the MARVEL SELECTS program was specifically targeted at the gift subscription market -- the idea being that a parent or relative could order a gift subscription for a youngster of the sort of material that would have been available when they were young (and material that was guaranteed to be "Stan-safe") -- I'd have to postulate that it was in this arena that the line didn't perform as well as necessary.

Selling the books in the direct market was an afterthought, undertaken because, if we hadn't offered the titles to them, store owners would have raised holy hell. And the fans never see these distinctions of market and audience, so of course a numebr of them complained about the cover price or the reproduction quality or the choice of material. But the program was never about that audience in the first place -- and if enough business could have been generated through subscriptions, the line would have continued, regardless. (Conversely, of course, if the books had sold well enough in the direct market, they also would have continued, regardless of the subscription business.)

UNCA: The recent announcement of the Marvel Comics BACKPACK reprint line -- smaller, 160+ page black-and-white "digest"-style reprinting of classic '70s works, retailing for somewhere in the $6 range -- sounds both welcome and sensible, in all honesty.

I'm curious, however, as to precisely how and why the decision was reached to focus (chiefly) on reprintings of Bronze Age material, insofar as this particular line is concerned. Is it chiefly a matter of "cleanly" reproducing existing artwork, at that diminished size; a desire not to "overlap" the ongoing ESSENTIALS and MASTERWORKS volumes; a perceived preference on the part of younger readers for that sort of material (Thomas/Buscema-era AVENGERS, say, over Lee/Kirby vintage works); some combination of these; or some other reason, altogether...?

TOM: Mostly it's a desire to avoid repetition, since an ESSENTIAL, a MASTERWORKS and a BACKPACK BOOK that reprint FF #1 are all going to be fighting for the same audience and the same dollars, cannibalizing each other's sales. Also, there's been a decent amount of demand for reprints of more recent classic runs -- [John] Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR, [Frank] Miller's DAREDEVIL and [Walt] Simonson's THOR are the three which immediately come to mind. So we figured that maybe this would be the format in which to cover some of these requests.

But I don't think one era absolutely lends itself to reproduction in this format -- individual stories or runs may, but that's a different question entirely. The selection of material then comes down to what we think will strike a chord with the audience, given the format, cover price, and how many units need to be moved in order to make the program viable.

UNCA: There have been several thematically intriguing "concept" reprint packages, of late, in the more traditional "newstand" format: one collecting the various "Hulk Vs. Thing" battles; another of older, "western" material (a tie-in to the recent BLAZE OF GLORY mini-series, perhaps?); etcetera.

Do you feel that such "linked" reprint collections have any particular advantage over the more traditional, sequential reprintings, overall; either in reader "desirability," marketability, or what-have- you? (And -- if so -- then will be seeing more of these, in the forseeable future...?

TOM: What the themed collections do is allow us to cross-promote on the back of another (theoretically) more popular or high-profile project. So BLAZE OF GLORY begets GUNSLINGERS, and AVENGERS #19-22 begets ULTRON UNLEASHED, and so forth.

We tried more sequential reprintings in a similar format -- the Spider- Man and Marvel Super-Heroes MEGAZINES--and they failed spectacularly. Retailers are more likely, it seems, to order a one-shot connected to a contemporary project better than the same material published in its correct sequential context. So that's the way we've moved. We recently did a PUNISHER VS. DAREDEVIL collection, and the DEATH OF CAPTAIN STACY Spider-Man book comes out in a week or two, so we're still pursuing the format. I imagine we'll continue to do these for as long as they continue to sell well enough.

UNCA: The current MONSTER format comics -- 100 pages; 20 or so of these brand new material, and the remainder pages given over to older, classic material; for only $1 more -- is also an exciting one, in my opinion. (Hell, Tom; just reprint stuff, all right? I'm notoriously easy to please. I'll even take a HUMAN FLY trade paperback, f'chrissakes.)

I've heard comparatively little, however, as to how well (or poorly) this particular venture has fared, sales-wise, thus far. Without meaning to step on any toes, company policy-wise: is there anything you can tell us, re: whether or not said issues have sold appreciably better OR worse than have/do "regular" issues of the same titles; or whether or not, in fact, there has been any perceptible sales "blip" on these at all...?

TOM: With only two MONSTER books on the stands, it's too early from my point of view to determine what doing a MONSTER does to the ongoing sales curve -- I need at least one more issue's worth of evidence to have a representative sample. And I'm reluctant to make any guesses here, because somebody somewhere will quote the information out of context when they're arguing with me over why we don't do a GODZILLA'S GREATEST BATTLES MONSTER-format book.

That said, however: the numbers on both AVENGERS #27 and THUNDERBOLTS #39 went up. Of course, AVENGERS featured a line-up change, which usually leads to increased sales; and THUNDERBOLTS #38 had gone up the month before, so the T-BOLTS results could simply be a sales trend. We'll know more soon.

UNCA: Do you feel the market for older or reprinted material would be a significantly stronger one, overall, in a system not so overwhelmingly given over to the direct market and "destination shops," insofar as the comics industry is concerned?

What I mean to say, I s'pose, is: do you feel that the more "hardcore" fannish element, within this industry, is MORE supportive of (or willing to suppport) older material, without caring overmuch where (if anywhere) it "fits," continuity-wise, so long as they're decently entertained; or LESS so, overall...?

UNCA: Well, sure. The biggest drawback to doing reprint material in the direct market is that you're really selling to retailers, rather than to readers. Retailers only have so much capital to work with in a given month, and they're much more likely to take a chance on a new book than they are on a reprint -- the reprint market is a fickle audience that's difficult to predict, since the sales of one project doesn't necessarily translate into sales on the next.

On the other hand, the people most likely to be interested in such reprints -- the hardcore fans -- all regularly frequent comic shops, so it's also the most targeted audience, assuming that they shops order copies. In the mainstream, the books would simply be competing with everything on the racks next to them, as the reprint titles of the 70s did. And in that arena, much as this may gall us, the average young reader may find that material too dated-looking to prove enticing. I know among my crowd, reprints were generally looked down upon, both because they were old, but also because "they'd never be worth anything."

UNCA: Final Question:

Marvel Comics has just green-lighted your lifelong "dream project." (... other than that multi-issue "Prestige Format" CRYSTAR/U.S. 1 limited series with the painted Barry Windsor-Smith covers, I mean.)

Deluxe hardback. Full color. Heavy stock paper. 260 pages (give or take).

"Tom Brevoort Presents: THE GREATEST MARVEL COMICS AND STORIES OF ALL FREAKIN' TIME!

... and your choices would be...?

TOM: 260 pages is about a dozen stories, so I don't think my choices would be all that different from your BEST STORIES OF ALL TIME in spread -- I might be more inclined to select a greater amount of more recent material than you would, and some of the specific stories would be different. It's pretty well impossible to encapsulate the totality of Marvel in a dozen stories.

But you'd get a Stan [Lee] & Jack [Kirby] FANTASTIC FOUR (#51?); probably a [John] Romita SPIDER-MAN (Ditko's run was more exotic, but Romita's era really defined the character over the long haul -- let's say #50, for the sake of argument); A [Steve] Ditko DR. STRANGE story (any of the ones he inked as well as penciled -- STRANGE TALES #126-127, maybe), A [Jom] Steranko CAPTAIN AMERICA (since we're limited by page count, Nick Fury gets short shift --#111); a [Chris] Claremont/[John] Byrne X-MEN (probably #137); a [Frank] Miller DAREDEVIL (#181 is the obvious choice, but I think I might go for something like #191, simply to save pages); a [Walt] Simonson THOR (difficult to find one that's self-contained, offhand); a [Roy] Thomas/[John] Buscema AVENGERS (maybe #71, though it's not by Big John...); a Barry Smith CONAN ("Red Nails" or "Song of Red Sonja"); a Peter David HULK (maybe #340, just to get both Wolverine and Todd McFarlane into the book); something by Neal Adams (X-MEN #65? AVENGERS #93?); and the last cold go any number of ways -- TOMB OF DRACULA? MASTER OF KUNG FU? WARLOCK? MARVELS #2? Depends on the day of the week.

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