The iFanboy Letter Column – 03.09.2012

Hello, my friend. I am legitimate professional gambler Arnold Rothstein.

Friday means many things to many people. For some, Friday means you catch the 5:15 out of Grand Central up to Saratoga Springs because you own a very exciting thoroughbred named Sporting Blood who is running in the Travers Stakes. For others, it’s time to meet with your business associates Meyer, Charles, and Jack because they’ve been having trouble with Dutch again. For other still, you spend most of your day outside of Lindy’s because not only is the cheesecake to die for but there’s an unfortunate gentleman from the Bowery who owes you $10,000.

For the fine gentlemen who run iFanboy, Friday is letter column time.

You write. They answer. Very simple.

As always, if you want to have your e-mail read on the any of iFanboy’s shows or answered here, in the letter’s column keep them coming to contact@ifanboy.com

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So I love the Pick of the Week Podcast and look forward to listening to it every week. Thanks so much! However, my favorite part of the show is the intro and outro music. Last week it was Voxtrot, whom I discovered from listening to a past show from maybe about a year or so ago. And now, Matthew Sweet! What an embarrassment of riches.

Who is responsible for picking the music that opens and ends each show? Is it the duty of the person who picks the Pick of the Week? Is it a perk of editing and posting the show? I’ve got to say that I’ve become nearly as interested in what music opens each show, as I am in hearing what was chosen as the Pick of the Week.

Dave

Okay, it’s time for a rare glimpse behind the scenes! Here’s how the iFanboy Pick of the Week Podcast comes together.

The person who has the Pick that week is designated the producer of that week’s show. (This week it would be Josh.) That person, after writing and posting the Pick of the Week review, will e-mail the other two guys. In that email will be a general break down of the show, including which books they want to talk about in which segment. (The third segment, immediately following the Pick of the Week discussion, is designated the long discussion segment and the fourth segment, usually following a sponsor break is designated the short discussion segment.) They will also indicate if there is anything special that needs to be included in the show, like the Book of the Month discussion. The two other guys then respond with the books they want to talk about and in which segments. The producer then takes those emails and compiles the show script which includes slotting in the books, compiling the community Pick of the Week numbers, choosing user reviews, emails, and voicemails, and making sure the correct sponsor copy is in place. In the past, the producer would also be in charge of scheduling the record time, but a few months ago we designated an unofficial official recording time and we’ve been pretty good about hitting that time every week.

After the show is recorded comes the game of “Not It.” See, no one really wants to edit the show: it’s the weekend and from start to finish the process can take a few hours. But someone must edit the show and that person, Dave, is who is responsible for selecting the intro and outro music.

Conor Kilpatrick

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I just read in Comic Shop News that several of DC’s artists are going to rotating books. Travel Foreman moving to Birds of Prey, Jesus Saiz moving to Resurrection Man, and Resurrection Man‘s artist Dagnino moving to Suicide Squad. No news on Suicide Squad‘s Dallocchio.

I groaned at this news because I really like Foreman, Saiz and Dallocchio where they are. What do you guys think of this switcheroo? Why do you think DC would shake up teams that seem to be working so well?

Eric from Brooklyn, New York

There are many many decisions being made on an editorial level that seem like head scratchers, and I certainly couldn’t fathom why many are made. In the case of Foreman leaving Animal Man, apparently he didn’t really want to do it much in the first place, and then he found the material a little too dark because of events in his own life. It seems like an odd choice, to leave a critical darling to go to a book like Birds of Prey, but that’s what he’s doing, and it’s his call and DC’s call. Sales will determine if it was the right one, I suppose.

But why do other people move around? Who knows? Scheduling, strained relationships, or even just some juggling to goose a couple more sales. Maybe an artist isn’t working on some end, with the team, or just with the subject.

The real question is probably one of commerce. When you talk about “working so well” that means for you, creatively. But if the book isn’t selling as well as they’ve projected, they might switch to a cheaper art team, or move that higher paid art team on to a better selling book. The margins on mid-list comics are razor thin, and sometimes, that’s what happens to keep a book alive.

I know a story about one exclusive artist for Marvel who was on a beloved fan favorite book, that wasn’t selling well enough to justify the page rate they’d agreed to. There was nothing on that book that wasn’t working, but the artist got moved, and the rest of the team didn’t want to continue with a new artist, so the book ended. It happens. If you don’t want it to happen, stick to indie books, otherwise, this is the world comics exist in. There will be some long runs here and there, but they’re getting more rare.

Josh Flanagan

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New Warriors #1-25 (vol. 1) is one of my favorite comic book runs of all time. Fabian Nicieza continued to write the series after Mark Bagley left with issue #25 but it seemed, to me at least, to lose its spark. With the exception of Nova, these characters that I grew to love have either gotten really fucked up (Speedball), killed (Namorita), or been pushed to the side in other books (Marvel Boy, who I refuse to call Justice, and Firestar in Avengers). I have never heard y’all talk about this series, which is understandable considering what happened after this initial run, so I was wondering if any of y’all read these issues. If you haven’t, I highly recommend them, and the first annual which was also drawn by Mark Bagley and crossed over with an X-Men story.

Shane from Texas

Shane, my brother, I’m right there with you. I LOVED New Warriors. You see, New Warriors came out at a time right when I was getting into comics. I had gotten pulled in by Excalibur and Uncanny X-Men, but after devouring those and going through the other mutant titles at the time (New Mutants, X-Factor, and Wolverine), I wanted more. For some reason, as a young teenager, I dismissed DC Comics completely. I think I had a negative feeling based on the Super Friends and things like that. No, for me it was Marvel or nothing (at least until Image came around).

Lucky enough for me, at this time (approx. 1990), Marvel was launching many new titles. I don’t know if it was a “thing” or an “event” like it would be handled now, but it just seemed that at that moment in time, there was a ton of new books to try. Books like Sleepwalker, Darkhawk (a long time personal favorite) and New Warriors.

New Warriors, (which if we’re honest, is a horrible title/name) captured me on several levels. There was a subtle mutant connection with Firestar and Marvel Boy, there was a link to Guardians of the Galaxy with Marvel Boy, Nova’s presence on the team kicked off my interest in that character, and it was basically a group of young heroes trying to find their way in the world. A mix fo the X-Men and Spider-Man in just that perfect way that only Marvel Comics seemed to be able to do.

Now, I don’t remember at what point I dropped off New Warriors. I did stop collecting comics around 1992, only to return in early 1993 and catch the tail end of the Image launch. I do remember getting New Warriors and seeing new costumes, a different artist, Marvel Boy in jail for killing his Dad or something like that. For whatever reason, it just wasn’t the same. I didn’t keep reading it from that point, and never went back and filled in my back issues. But those early issues of Bagley art? I too have fond memories of them and agree with you, they’re absolutely worth checking out. Solid classic Marvel comics from the early 1990s. To be honest, I kind of miss this team. The attempts to relaunch it over the years never really captured the magic in the same way. When I saw that first issue cover, I don’t know how or why, but it was a book that I wanted to read. I’d love it if they could recreate that somehow. Maybe someday, but I doubt it…

Ron Richards