BREVOORT ON THE HOUSE OF M TIE-INS

[MattBrady]

As announced at WizardWorld LA, the June-debuting House of M will see three spin-off miniseries:

Spider-Man: House of M by Mark Waid, Tom Peyer, and Salvador Larocca )five issues).

Fantastic Four: House of M by John Layman and Scott Eaton (three issues); and

Iron Man: House of M by Greg Pak and Pat Lee (three issues)

“We’ll probably also be doing some kind of Secrets of the House of M, which will be the equivalent of a Marvel Handbook, which will be a one-shot,” editor Tom Brevoort told Newsarama. “I’m not exactly sure when that will be scheduled.”

In addition to the miniseries, House of M will have several tie-ins to ongoing series: a lead-in in Excalibur #13-#14, and then: Captain America #10, Wolverine #33-35, Black Panther #7, Uncanny X-Men #462-465, New X-Men #16-19, Cable & Deadpool #17, New Thunderbolts #11, Hulk #83-86, Exiles #69-71, The Pulse #10.

“These will be the more literal tie-ins,” Brevoort explained. “The spin-off miniseries will be a chance to explore the characters and their respective ‘worlds’ as a result of the changes brought about by House of M proper.”

Of the miniseries, Brevoort acknowledged that the creative teams on the series may seem somewhat different than what people may have been expecting.

“A lot of it had to do with timing, but we were also looking to get writers on the books that had different voices and styles that what people have been used to hearing or seeing,” Brevoort said. “In the case of Spider-Man: House of M, Mark is writing with Tom, but with Salvador on the art, rather than Mike Wieringo.

“The idea behind the art change was that Ringo was coming off of Fantastic Four, and will be doing a new Spider-Man book in October, so we wanted to give him as much lead time with that. Also, we didn’t want to have him leap directly from a monthly series without a break to completely switch characters and direction, when we knew he was going to be starting on that character later this year anyway. Plus, Salvador had been looking to do a Spider-Man project for a while, and Mark had asked for him, and suggested we use him when this was first brought up, so it will be a nice package.

“In the case of Iron Man: House of M, with the schedule we’ve been keeping, Adi [Granov] can’t do anything other than the ongoing Iron Man book, and Warren [Ellis] is all over the place with Ultimate Secret and Iron Man, and other work, so we’re were needing to go somewhere else for an Iron Man team as well. Pat Lee was just finishing up X4 and has a style that was suited to what we wanted to do with the series, and Greg Pak was coming off of both Phoenix: Endsong and all of his various projects that nobody got to see that showed he a nice feel for the kind of story we wanted to see told in the miniseries.

“With the Fantastic Four, Scott Eaton is working on the FF book that’s going to the public schools later this year, and his work on the characters is really nice. As for the writing side, Stephanie Moore, who’d worked with John Layman directly on the Gambit series and felt that he had the right handle for this kind of thing, because the Fantastic Four in The House of M is a very different unit than what we know and love as a result of some things that I really can’t go into now without spoiling some of the events of House of M proper.”

And yes, that was a tease that the world of the FF, not to mention the respective worlds of Iron Man and Spider-Man may not be the ones you know, come House of M. Adding to that speculation, the images Marvel released of both the Hulk and Iron Man from their House of M connected stories – the look different than their current versions.

Brevoort wasn’t too quick to give anything up, but he did have a hint. “Well, the wonderful thing about Iron Man is that he can always change his look to appear slightly or seriously different than we think he ‘normally’ looks, and with the Hulk, the only real difference is that he is missing his hair. But, that said, there are substantial changes and transformations that these characters go through as part of the overall House of M story, and those will be reflected in these individual series, and will be dealt with a little more depth in these series than there is in House of M proper.

“House of M is such a sweeping story – we cover all bases of the Marvel Universe – by issue #2 and #3, we’ve seen dozens, maybe hundreds of characters. Issue #2 is almost a travelogue as we go from place to place to see what is going on with the characters as they find themselves in this new context.

“But House of M is a linear story, so there’s not as much room as we might like to look at the worlds of the particular heroes in as much detail as we wanted, so we’re gong into these side-projects with other writers who are connecting with these characters to tell the stories outside of their individual books.”

And of course, the all-important question – yes, Brevoort said, House of M stands just fine on its own, and if you’re so inclined, you can only read the main series and skip the miniseries, and have a enjoyable experience (or vice versa).

“They all spin fairly directly out of the core books to one degree or another,” Brevoort said. “Iron Man is in House of M, as are the characters in Fantastic Four House of M and Spidey. They’re stand-alone enough that you could pick up Iron Man: House of M #1-#3, and get it, although if you want to know more about the larger world that Iron Man is in, I’d advise you to pick up House of M as well.

“They all help to form a larger tapestry and a richer picture. Conversely, you don’t need to pick up the miniseries or the tie-in issues to enjoy House of M itself. Brian [Bendis] is writing a linear story across the course of those eight issues. There are opportunities over the source of that story to delve into these characters and the world around them in greater depth, and we get to see some of that in these side projects.”

[ManofTheAtom]

Originally posted by MattBrady
In addition to the miniseries, House of M will have several tie-ins to ongoing series: a lead-in in Excalibur #13-#14, and then: Captain America #10, Wolverine #33-35, Black Panther #7, Uncanny X-Men #462-465, New X-Men #16-19, Cable & Deadpool #17, New Thunderbolts #11, Hulk #83-86, Exiles #69-71, The Pulse #10.

Excelent.

Of those I only get New Thunderbolts, which means that when the instant tps are released, I can get the whole story that way and not end up buying comics I already have.

Unless they mix in the minis with the above issues, which would really suck.

[Tom Daylight]

So how's this going to work?

Captain America #10 would be chapter three of the six-part "Winter Soldier" arc... or will there be a one-issue gap in that storyline?

Wolverine #29 is the issue supposed to ship during the first month of HOM, so assuming the book remains monthly, and HOM ends in September, #33 wouldn't ship until the month after it's over, not to mention that #35 would be three months after the end... and what creative team would be working on it?

Meanwhile, Cable & Deadpool #17 would be part three of "Enema of the State"... but with a title like that, a House of M tie-in would probably not be that far out of place...

The Exiles tie-in wouldn't be until well after the event, but considering the nature of that particular series it would probably fit (although it'd be a shame it couldn't run parallel to the series).

How will the three-issue Iron Man and Fantastic Four minis be collected in trades... is the policy here, slap 'em together?

I'm not criticising anything, I'm just a bit confused about how it's all going to fit.

[tridon]

I won't be a naysayer about this one... I'm SO looking forward to House of M. I'd like to get absolutely everything House of M based but I wonder about those monthly titles. I'll get the mini-series spinning out of it but with those ongoings, I wonder if they'll be like the Avengers: Disassembled spin-offs in which had pretty much nothing to do with Avengers: Disassembled. Oh well, I guess time will tell.

[Tom Daylight]

The Spidey costume is different too, y'know.

What about this Mutopia mini-series, spinning out of District X, that's supposed to tie in with HOM? No mention is made of it here?

[HowAreWeToLive]

I'm sorry, I'm already buying into the big Countdown to Infinite Crisis crossover. I can't afford two per year, and Crisis looks way better than House of M.

Batman is going to get really pissed, isn't he?

[MatthewSmith]

I'm already going crazy with all the Crisis books and 7S, so I can't afford to get much more stuff. So with this I'm going to have to limit myself heavily.

Right now I'm just getting the main House of M book and probably the Spider-man book because of Mark Waid. But nothing else.

[palefire]

Originally posted by bpepple
Boy, I've got zero interest in House of M. It really feels like a lame attempt by Marvel to have something on sale against DC's Infinite Crisis.

Given how long Bendis has been hinting about the house of M - I seriously doubt Infinite Crisis had anything to do with it. I think this is no more complex than the 2 big publishers putting out big summer events at the same time. I hope they both are great - that would provide more enjoyment for all us comic fans. I'm going to give both Crisis and M a try (however, these house of M tie in minis don't have me sucked in at this point). It looks like a great summer for comics.

[cyberv]

Bah. I was rather hoping the FF would be left out of this, seeing as I'm already onboard for the seven billion FF titles coming out this year. The last thing this FF fan needs is ANOTHER FF miniseries sucking precious and dwindling funds out of my wallet.

[Ragnarokker]

I'm going to get at least the main book. But the minis and tie ins?... well I'll check out the minis. Because they are supposedly going to "put a lot of genies back into bottles" my interest is piqued. I'd like to see what they fix and what stays the same. And how it all gets there.

[SuperStories]

This sounds like it could be a mess if they do not get the books out on time. The story line for Maxiumum Security was moderate at best, but the huge crossover turned it into a disaster with various books not meeting deadlines. This easily can be turned into a House of Mess

[glecharles]

My God, that made me dizzy!

DC seems to have a cleaner, broader approach to their big event's tie-ins, whereas Marvel seems to be focusing on specific characters which I find more limiting and less appealing. While I'll probably buy the main House of M series, I don't see myself getting any of the other minis as I don't follow any of those characters, much less any of the tie-ins not already on my pull list. The whole thing also doesn't seem to have the same level of buzz around it as DC's managed to pull off.

[BillReed]

Yawn. I'm incredibly indifferent towards this; looks dull.

On the other hand, I have a deep-seating loathing of all things 'Crisis.'

Good thing I've got Seven Soldiers.

[dcrw6]

Originally posted by HowAreWeToLive


Batman is going to get really pissed, isn't he?

Yes. Yes he is.


Looking forward to both series, personally. The one thing I hope for is Marvel becomes more of a cohesive universe again. I miss that.

[StefanDam]

Originally posted by BillReed
Yawn. I'm incredibly indifferent towards this; looks dull.

On the other hand, I have a deep-seating loathing of all things 'Crisis.'

Good thing I've got Seven Soldiers.

I'm right there with ya.

[skaly]

When Identity Crisis came out, it only tied in with two other books at the time--Flash and JSA. Other writers didn't start tying in until afterwards--fallout stories as with Adventures of Superman and Teen Titans. Then, and only then, did we get the insane amount of minis.

Marvel is doing too much too early. Especially since they haven't won the fans over just yet. If the House of M story is a flop, then all the effort they put into the tie-ins will be a waste.

Also, why make minis when they can tie-in with the ongoing books? With three Spidey titles to choose from, at least one of them ought to be the perfect place for the tie-in story. At least the Countdown minis have stories that can't be told in any single pre-existing ongoing book. Here we obviously have a Spider-man, Iron Man, and Fantastic Four story, so why not use the ongoing books?

[candrusiak]

I, like most here will only be buying the main title. The minis just dont seem all that exciting.

[Goldenboy]

People are saying "Ohh, that's too many tie ins". How many Seven Soldier titles are there again?

[Del Gorky]

Look kids not only tie in issues to the big event comic but now spin-off mini-series to the big event comic. You know your collection won't be complete without each and every one of them. What a marketing crock of shit. The House of M's mini-series will all be worthless story wise and won't change anything in 3 months in the regular titles. As far as every having collectible value, well go look at that pricey Losers Crisis Special. It's a pretty good read but not a vaulable book.

Fellow readers and collectors, please don't buy these. I'd much rather buy old issues of The Losers and especially issues of the excellent current series than these polished turds. If Pat Lee is such a valuable commodity, why aren't Transformer and Dreamwave still around. I'd rather read a good old Iron Man storyline by David Michelinie and Bob Layton. Or for that matter I'd just as soon have four random issues of any incarnation of Teen Titans.

Why release good comics when you can just do hype and marketing? Jim Shooter's idea for a company wide event was brilliant. Sadly, it's execution here is only being used for exploitation of the existing fan base.

If I was going to buy a bunch of mini-series that revolve around the same concept, I would at least want them written by the same person and it be a top flight writer. Oh yeah, I'm already buying Seven Soldiers from the writer Marvel jettisoned for making the X-men franchise interesting, fresh, and readable again.

I would keep ranting but even I don't want to read it! Don't buy this crap! Don't read it in the stores! Tell your local comic shop you don't want it either.!

[Robert]

I'm only getting the main title. And I'm a Marvel whore.

[Uchiha_Prodigy]

I just dont understand what House of M is. Is it the fate of Wanda Maximoff? Why not just leave her on Genosha with Magneto? And how exactly does this effect the entire Marvel U and not just the Avengers?

[gon]

Originally posted by bpepple
Boy, I've got zero interest in House of M. It really feels like a lame attempt by Marvel to have something on sale against DC's Infinite Crisis.

And you felt the need to tell us because...

[NotAnIssue]

Originally posted by palefire
Given how long Bendis has been hinting about the house of M - I seriously doubt Infinite Crisis had anything to do with it. I think this is no more complex than the 2 big publishers putting out big summer events at the same time. I hope they both are great - that would provide more enjoyment for all us comic fans. I'm going to give both Crisis and M a try (however, these house of M tie in minis don't have me sucked in at this point). It looks like a great summer for comics.

THANK YOU.

You'd think more people would be psyched that there are two promising epic events at both big publishers this year...

I wish the silent majority of comic fans would drown out the whiny bitch-kids on this forum.

[chap22]

is it just me, or do these spin-off mini-series sound suspiciously like the "warped prism of Wanda" is giving us a month or 3 of Age of Apocalypse done Marvel Universe-style? except they're just individual "tie-ins" and not the main story like AOA was? or in other words, really not integral to the story?

i'm buying the mainline mini, but i think i'm passing on these.

(but damn, Waid & Larocca on Spidey is tempting...)

[ParisCub]

Originally posted by bpepple
Boy, I've got zero interest in House of M. It really feels like a lame attempt by Marvel to have something on sale against DC's Infinite Crisis.

Since Infinite Crisis hasn't been solicited yet, I doubt it