Miracleman (Marvel)

[moonmaster]

From Newsarama's Cup 'o Joe live blog:

Announcement time!!

Quesada said it's something he kind of gets "shaken" by.

Here comes...

"Marvelman belongs to Marvel."

"Marvel has purchased the rights to Marvelman," Quesada said. "It is arguably the J.D. Salinger of comic book characters. Arguably one of the most important comic book characters in decaades."

Buckley is saying a lot of people in the room probably don't know the history of the character, and that he won't spend a lot of time talking about it, but to check on the Internet about it. They first started to talking about purchasing it in late 2007, devloping from their relationship with Neil Gaiman.

Buckley: "We are talking to all the people involved in the '80s/'90s material. Alan (Moore), Neil (Gaiman), Mark Buckingham." Buckingham then joined the panel.

Buckley equated the impact of Marvelman to Watchmen.

The first 15 people that become a subscriber to Marvel Digital at their booth today get a Marvelman t-shirt.

Quesada said he's excited to see the "continuing adventures" of Marvelman.

No specific plans were mentioned, though, but it's clear that things are in the works.

Everyone on the panel is now wearing Marvelman shirts.

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: San Diego ComicCon '09

I am very happy.

I prefer the title Miracleman to Marvelman but I don't care as long as the material is still being published.

I want the Alan Moore stuff to be reprinted so I can finally read a good copy of it. I want the Neil Gaiman story to be finished.

Pessimist time: they don't reprint any of the old stuff and instead create a new title written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Rob Liefeld. :shock:

They better not bring him into the 616 universe as well. Or just reprint the old Mick Anglo stuff.

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/07/24/marvel-to-publish-mick-anglos-marvelman-and-they-own-it/

He says they're reprinting the original Mick Anglo stuff and are still trying to sort out the later stuff.

So, as of right now, Marvel have the rights to reprint a bunch of 1950's Captain Marvel rip-off stories and produce new stories based on said 1950's Captain Marvel rip-off but not to reprint or continue the good stuff.

E and I talked about this on Twitter but this is pretty stupid. If they're still trying to get the rights to THE ACTUAL MIRACLEMAN STORIES THAT PEOPLE WANT then they should have waited before announcing that they only have the rights to THE OLD MARVELMAN STORIES PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT. Joe Quesada and Marvel always find a way to make something disappointing, no matter how good it could have been.

 

[Planet-man]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

"The J.D. Salinger of comic book characters."

"The J.D. Salinger of comic book characters."

 

[Doublehex]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

Who is J.D. Salinger?

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

Who is J.D. Salinger?

Author of The Catcher in the Rye.

 

[Void.M]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/07/24/marvel-to-publish-mick-anglos-marvelman-and-they-own-it/

He says they're reprinting the original Mick Anglo stuff and are still trying to sort out the later stuff.



E and I talked about this on Twitter but this is pretty stupid. If they're still trying to get the rights to THE ACTUAL MIRACLEMAN STORIES THAT PEOPLE WANT then they should have waited before announcing that they only have the rights to THE OLD MARVELMAN STORIES PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT. Joe Quesada and Marvel always find a way to make something disappointing, no matter how good it could have been.

How is it their fault? Don't be such a fanboy. Your the one who jumped to conclusions.

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

How is it their fault? Don't be such a fanboy. Your the one who jumped to conclusions.

If I jumped to conclusions, then so did everyone else. It is the Moore/Gaiman Miracleman that people want, not that original Mick Anglo Marvelman stuff. In fact, I don't think I've ever read anyone requesting that. When people talk about Miracleman/Marvelman, they're talking about the Moore and Gaiman stuff.

Marvelman is legendary because of what Moore and Gaiman did. If we don't get that stuff, then it is pointless.

I also find Venom Melendez calling me a fanboy hilarious. :lol:

 

[Gemini]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

Who is J.D. Salinger?

...

...

anywho, I'm convinced Abnett & Lanning could write a killer Marvelman yarn

 

[Taskmaster]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

Cool. They can stick the Miracle family in MI:13 and have them struggle against the evil machinations of Bates, while keeping the original series in its own continuity.

As for people concerned about getting the Moore/Gaiman series, an interview on CBR tv seems to suggest that Quesada is optimistic about getting the rights to that as well. So call me cautiously optimistic.

 

[J. Agamemnon]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

Cool. They can stick the Miracle family in MI:13 and have them struggle against the evil machinations of Bates, while keeping the original series in its own continuity.

As for people concerned about getting the Moore/Gaiman series, an interview on CBR tv seems to suggest that Quesada is optimistic about getting the rights to that as well. So call me cautiously optimistic.

If quesoface can do that and put either gaiman or moore behind the pen again, I'd forgive him for civil war, secret invasion, loeb along with loeb's horrible crap and one more day. Let's see if he can use some of that unexplainable magic to get these rights.

 

[E]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

I also find Venom Melendez calling me a fanboy hilarious. :lol:

:lol:

anywho, I'm convinced Abnett & Lanning could write a killer Marvelman yarn

This is exactly what I DON'T want.

I was super excited when I first heard this. Then Proj and I were chatting and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is non-news and actually kind of sucks.

What people don't seem to be getting (including Marvel) is that nobody - NOBODY - cares about Miracleman. The character itself is a very, very poor ripoff of Superman/Captain Marvel and the original stories were awful. The character only became popular once Alan Moore got ahold of him and completely deconstructed him, then built him up again. Without Alan Moore (and to a lesser extent, Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham), Miracleman is worthless. Miracleman is not what was great, it's what those writers did with him. Marvel does not have a single person in their stable who would be able to duplicate that, and I personally don't believe anyone should try.

Going back to what Gemini said, this is exactly what I don't want happening with Miracleman. Saying nothing of Abnett & Lanning - I'm sure they are good on some level - it completely waters down the character to have a revolving door of writers taking a crack at him. And also, just imagine - Secret Invasion: Marvelman. It gives you douche chills.

The only way this is newsworthy is if Marvel is somehow able to secure rights (at least reprinting rights) to the Moore and Gaiman issues. I don't see this happening any time soon for one reason, and it has nothing to do with Moore (who, while he hates Marvel, has said he would do anything in his power to get Anglo paid properly for creating the character) or Gaiman (who has a great relationship with Marvel, it seems, at least in relation to this situation). The issue is Todd McFarlane. There is no way in hell he takes this sitting down. I bet his lawyers are already drafting a cease & desist and will have it on Marvel's desks bright and early Monday morning. Every indication is that he would be in the wrong, but that means nothing. He'll still fight it.

So the announcement is that Marvel owns the character. Big deal. Nobody gives two ****s about reprints of 1950s Marvelman stories, and even Quesada has said it's too early to talk about new stories (translation: we're waiting for papers from McFarlane's lawyers). It's just a big pissing match. I understand completely why Marvel made the announcement - it's all about hype, baby - but ultimately this is non-news. And it's extremely disappointing.

 

[Gemini]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

hey I said nothing of incorporating the character into the MU proper, I'm saying if they intend on making new Marvel Man stories, wich I'm 100% sure they do. Writer wise, Moore is completley off the table, and while with Gaiman theres's a chance but it's a real slim one. A new writer would be inevitable.

The Marvel brass aren't going to purchase the character just to re-print old stories. Wether you like it or not a new set of Marvelman stories will be coming down the road be it incorparated into the MU proper or not.

I personally wouldn't want new stories, or the character to be incorparated either, BUT should it happen I think Abnett and Lanning are more than capable of the task of continuing (NOT duplicating) the characters story. Sure they aren't you'e OMFG writers like Bendis/Fraction/Brubaker/etc. but that's exactly why I think they're right for it, they are writers thats write for the story and not the arc. Marvel has few writers that do this (Jenkins, Carey, maybe Milligan, JMS too but he's a long-shot).

Chillax

 

[moonmaster]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

How is it their fault? Don't be such a fanboy. Your the one who jumped to conclusions.

The problem was that Quesada and everybody else was hyping the **** out of this and saying that it was going to break the internet in half. You can't blame anyone for jumping to conclusions, but the announcement itself turned out to be a vague and misleading disappointment.

This is exactly what I DON'T want.

I was super excited when I first heard this. Then Proj and I were chatting and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is non-news and actually kind of sucks.

What people don't seem to be getting (including Marvel) is that nobody - NOBODY - cares about Miracleman. The character itself is a very, very poor ripoff of Superman/Captain Marvel and the original stories were awful. The character only became popular once Alan Moore got ahold of him and completely deconstructed him, then built him up again. Without Alan Moore (and to a lesser extent, Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham), Miracleman is worthless. Miracleman is not what was great, it's what those writers did with him. Marvel does not have a single person in their stable who would be able to duplicate that, and I personally don't believe anyone should try.

Going back to what Gemini said, this is exactly what I don't want happening with Miracleman. Saying nothing of Abnett & Lanning - I'm sure they are good on some level - it completely waters down the character to have a revolving door of writers taking a crack at him. And also, just imagine - Secret Invasion: Marvelman. It gives you douche chills.

The only way this is newsworthy is if Marvel is somehow able to secure rights (at least reprinting rights) to the Moore and Gaiman issues. I don't see this happening any time soon for one reason, and it has nothing to do with Moore (who, while he hates Marvel, has said he would do anything in his power to get Anglo paid properly for creating the character) or Gaiman (who has a great relationship with Marvel, it seems, at least in relation to this situation). The issue is Todd McFarlane. There is no way in hell he takes this sitting down. I bet his lawyers are already drafting a cease & desist and will have it on Marvel's desks bright and early Monday morning. Every indication is that he would be in the wrong, but that means nothing. He'll still fight it.

So the announcement is that Marvel owns the character. Big deal. Nobody gives two ****s about reprints of 1950s Marvelman stories, and even Quesada has said it's too early to talk about new stories (translation: we're waiting for papers from McFarlane's lawyers). It's just a big pissing match. I understand completely why Marvel made the announcement - it's all about hype, baby - but ultimately this is non-news. And it's extremely disappointing.

I think they are working on getting the Moore and Gaiman stories and it's only a matter of time, but they certainly jumped the gun. There's going to be a lot of informing of the uninformed in the next few days as to who Marvelman is and what his history is but I think Marvel is hoping that those people will be dumb enough to buy the Anglo reprints thinking they're going to be important or worthwhile. What scares me about that is that people who haven't previously been exposed to Marvelman are going to pick up those books and think that all of this was a big waste of time and might not even bother with the eventual Moore/Gaiman reprints.

I also don't trust Marvel much with the character. DC, maybe, but not so much Marvel. I know people have different tastes and everything, but honestly, while DC has Vertigo, Marvel doesn't have a very good track record with Miracleman-style books and characters. And I think further stories past Gaiman and Moore is a total possibility. I'll try and stay positive,....but I am concerned.

 

[E]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

Marvel doesn't have a very good track record with Miracleman-style books and characters.

All I can think is how they went from Ultimates 2 to Ultimates 3. I promise you they will do the exact same thing. Hell, they did it with Sentry!

 

[E]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

hey I said nothing of incorporating the character into the MU proper,

Yeah, but they will. It is inevitable.

Sure they aren't you'e OMFG writers

It's too big of a character and too big of a story to NOT put OMFG writers on it. The trouble is that most of their OMFG writers suck.

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

Presuming Marvel want to reprint the Moore/Gaiman stuff AND use the character in their universe, my ideal situation is this:

Miracleman - they get the rights to the Moore/Gaiman stuff and reprint it. Gaiman comes and finishes his story. Miracleman ends and is collected in various TPBs/hardcovers and everyone finally gets to read this brilliant story.

Marvelman - Marvel bring the original Mick Anglo version into the Marvel Universe and update him so he fits in with the modern version of 616. Get a top notch creative team on him and tell good stories that don't take away from Moore and Gaiman's Miracleman stories.

Then we'd have Miracleman and Marvelman and everyone would be happy, especially Marvel.

 

[Planet-man]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

I'd say E's probably right about this one, but the bottom line is it won't matter either way. He's "the J.D. Salinger of comic book characters", remember? They'll put him in a cabin and he'll drink his own piss and disown Kid Miracleman and then we won't have to hear from him for fifty years. It's non-issue.

 

[thee great one]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

:lol:

 

[Bass]

Re: Marvel to Publish Marvelman!

How is it their fault? Don't be such a fanboy. Your the one who jumped to conclusions.

To be fair, I thought they meant the Moore run, too. And it's what they want people to think. No one cares about the pre-Moore Marvelman.

This is exactly what I DON'T want.

I was super excited when I first heard this. Then Proj and I were chatting and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is non-news and actually kind of sucks.

What people don't seem to be getting (including Marvel) is that nobody - NOBODY - cares about Miracleman. The character itself is a very, very poor ripoff of Superman/Captain Marvel and the original stories were awful. The character only became popular once Alan Moore got ahold of him and completely deconstructed him, then built him up again. Without Alan Moore (and to a lesser extent, Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham), Miracleman is worthless. Miracleman is not what was great, it's what those writers did with him. Marvel does not have a single person in their stable who would be able to duplicate that, and I personally don't believe anyone should try.

Going back to what Gemini said, this is exactly what I don't want happening with Miracleman. Saying nothing of Abnett & Lanning - I'm sure they are good on some level - it completely waters down the character to have a revolving door of writers taking a crack at him. And also, just imagine - Secret Invasion: Marvelman. It gives you douche chills.

The only way this is newsworthy is if Marvel is somehow able to secure rights (at least reprinting rights) to the Moore and Gaiman issues. I don't see this happening any time soon for one reason, and it has nothing to do with Moore (who, while he hates Marvel, has said he would do anything in his power to get Anglo paid properly for creating the character) or Gaiman (who has a great relationship with Marvel, it seems, at least in relation to this situation). The issue is Todd McFarlane. There is no way in hell he takes this sitting down. I bet his lawyers are already drafting a cease & desist and will have it on Marvel's desks bright and early Monday morning. Every indication is that he would be in the wrong, but that means nothing. He'll still fight it.

So the announcement is that Marvel owns the character. Big deal. Nobody gives two ****s about reprints of 1950s Marvelman stories, and even Quesada has said it's too early to talk about new stories (translation: we're waiting for papers from McFarlane's lawyers). It's just a big pissing match. I understand completely why Marvel made the announcement - it's all about hype, baby - but ultimately this is non-news. And it's extremely disappointing.

Agreed.

The entire appeal of someone - anyone - getting the rights to Marvelman is to reprint Moore's 16 issues. That is it.

This announcement isn't about the reprint of those issues, so I can't even begin to care.