MARVEL'S NEW 'UNLIMITED' CREATORS

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

As announced earlier, Marvel will launch two new bi-monthly titles in early 2004, Unlimited Spider-Man in January and Unlimited X-Men in February, as homes to new voices. Newsarama tracked down three creators from the new series for a little more about themselves and their respective gigs.

First off, the titles are edited by Teresa Focarile, with each 22-page issue split into two 11-page stories, allowing for up to four new creators to strut their stuff in each issue. Lined up for the first issues of both anthologies are Brian Lynch and Joseph Goodrich on Unlimited Spider-Man, and JT Krul and Tony Lee on Unlimited X-Men.

First up, a View Askew.com homeboy done good – Brian Lynch, who’s Monkey Man strip appears weekly on Newsarama’s sister site, www.moviepoopshoot.com

“I had just finished writing a really good "stoned guy hits his head on something" joke for Scary Movie 3 when my managers called me to say Marvel Comics wanted to find screenwriters looking to also work in comics,” Lynch explained. “I did, and Marvel asked me to submit a treatment for a character they were looking to relaunch. I wrote this really goofy six-issue arc that I was really proud of, they read it and liked it but decided to go in a grittier direction with the book, but told me they'd be on the look out for anything I might click with. There were a couple more near-misses, and I was starting to worry nothing was clicking, but a few days later, Teresa contacted me and told me about the Unlimited books. I wrote up a list of ideas, Teresa picked her three favorites, I wrote two of them, one of them was the Spider-Man story that will appear in January. They like the other one too, hopefully it'll pop up somewhere.”

Spider-Man has always been a favorite character for Lynch and the writer was first exposed to your friendly neighborhood web crawler in the Saturday morning cartoon series – the old one. Not the really old one, but the one with Ms. Lion.

“When I found the comics, I was really disappointed that Ice Man and Firestar were nowhere to be seen,” Lynch joked. “I figured they must have had a falling out the issue before I jumped on, but if I kept reading they'd be bound to work it out, after all they're Amazing Friends... but they never did.

“Eventually I stopped missing Ice Man and Firestar because I loved the character of Peter Parker. The dude had so many problems in life but could throw on a suit that covers him head to toe and become a completely different person. It should be noted that I was a dorky introvert in junior high, so the idea of becoming someone new and beating up people while you're making fun of them was really, really appealing.”

That said, expect to see Spider-Man back to his wise-cracking antics, though the writer was quick to admit otherwise. In an off-beat sense, of course. “I decided to take Spider-Man in a completely new direction, and have him make jokes while fighting a super villain,” Lynch said of his take on Spidey. “It's a light-hearted story that will hopefully make you laugh. And also cry. That said, if you do laugh and cry over the duration of reading an 11-page story, you should probably put the comic down and seek help.

“The super villain I used has always been a favorite. I remember buying his first appearance at a super market, and thinking how cool he was immediately. So when I had the chance to write a Spider-Man story, he was the villain I wanted to go with. And the chance to re-invent him a bit, well... yeah, pretty awesome.”

His artistic partner in this story is none other than former Iron Man, Elektra and Wolverine artist, Sean Chen. “I've always enjoyed his work but I had no idea he was this adept at comedy,” Lynch said. “There are some really silly moments in the book, and Sean was so careful to make it funny without being obvious. I would love to work with him again, but since I started calling him he's changed his number and blocked my email. He's such a joker.”

Moving on to Unlimited X-Men, Newsarama caught up with writer J.T. Krul.

A native of Michigan but has been living in Los Angeles for seven years now, Krul has worked on one of TV’s most popular comedy series. “When I first arrived out here [in LA], I was fortunate enough to land a job on Seinfeld, and worked there until the end,” the writer said. “All along the way, I've been working on my writing, and am very excited about working with Marvel.

“My comic book days started with a box I found in my uncles bedroom, when I was about ten years old,” Krul recalled. “X-Men #132 was the first one I ever remember reading. It was amazing! Growing up, obviously, I was a huge X-Men fan, and read a lot of other titles including Alpha Flight, Avengers, Daredevil, and of course Amazing Spider-Man. In each case, they were stories about people with extraordinary abilities who also had to deal with real life, Spider-Man more so than others. He was like the everyman, or the everyteen, if that is even a word. And, let's just say, who didn't want to be a mutant when they were young? Talk about turning being so different into a positive trait. Sure, X-Men dealt with prejudices, but it was also about being yourself and being okay with that. I think in today's society that message is more important than ever.

“As far as X-Men go, even though Wolverine had all the mystique and dark qualities, I was always more drawn to Cyclops and Colossus. They both had this reluctant hero quality going for them. Cyclops was the natural leader who always did the right thing because... well, because that's just what he did. And, I loved Colossus being this big strong guy who focused on something as precise as illustrating. Outside the usual suspects, I have always been fascinated by Hercules. He's so brash and egotistical, yet underneath it all he's got so much history, so much experience. I'd love to sit down with him and pick his brain about all the things he's witnessed over the eons.”

Krul landed in the House of Ideas thanks to Josh Ryan, Marvel’s liaison on the West Coast. “In talking with Josh out here, he told me the plans for Marvel's Unlimited titles, and so I just started writing stories and sending them to him. After a month or so, I found out that NY was very happy with one of them, and the next day I found out from Teresa that they were going to publish it.”

In a nutshell, Krul’s story involves “a teenage mutant who is excited about going beyond the mansion's walls on Halloween.

“Well, for a shorter story, I think they work best like vignettes for the character. That was the beginning for me. And, I thought life as a mutant at Xavier's mansion would be safe and all, but rather isolated. So, the idea of getting out would be even more appealing, especially if all the usual gawks and stares would not be there.

Krul’s collaborator on the 11-page story is veteran artist Tom Mandrake.

Sharing the first issue of Unlimited X-Men with Krul is Brit Tony Lee, who’s dabbled in the UK comic scene about 11 years ago. Lee has also worked in other mediums, including TV and radio, as well as PR and advertising.

Unlike Lynch and Krul, Lee’s pitched to the now-suspended Epic initiative. “I met with Teresa at Easter and she suggested I pitch for Epic,” Lee said. “So I sent her three or four ideas, two were pretty much knocked out the ballpark, but two others were looked at, changed, looked at again - and whilst waiting for those, she invited me to pitch for the Unlimited books. I sent in a couple of Spider-Man tales, an X-men tale or four - and I wrote one involving Kitty Pryde's recurring nightmare that caught the eye of Mike Marts, X-Men group editor. He phoned me up, we had a talk about several underused or limbo characters, and I pitched ‘Memories.’ They liked it, I altered a couple of small things and suddenly I'm in issue #1 with art by the Lai brothers. Gotta love this business.”

For the record, Lee informed that he submitted two Epic pitches: one involved Nick Fury, the other a Spider-Man pitch.

Back to Unlimited, as mentioned, Lee’s X-Men story is entitled ‘Memories.’ “It's about Sage, a member of Xtreme X-Men,” the writer said. “Sage has this remarkable back story and is a very, in my opinion, underused player in the scheme of things. She's been portrayed as an oracle, a 'lookout' more than anything else, yet every now and then she'll show something that throws you off balance. This was a girl who grew up as a freedom fighter, a guerilla, she was a spy for countless years for Xavier - she has so much going for her, the onion can just keep on peeling.

“As for the story - I don't want to give too much away. Lets just say it focuses on three skills that aren't used as often as others - her kinetic memory, ability to mimic fighting moves, her total recall and her multitasking brain. This is a girl who, with her cyber glasses on linking her to the net, can kick your ass and play chess while doing it. It'll show her in a great new light, I hope. Beyond that, let’s just say it involves breaking and entering, fighting, chess and Jackie Chan.

“The Lai Brothers [Ben and Ray], are incredibly gifted and obviously sold their souls to get their talents. I've seen their recent Marvel work and it excites me beyond words. Well, apart from those, obviously,” Lee said. The brothers’ most recent Marvel work was on Marvel’s Thor.

Look for Unlimited Spider-Man in January and Unlimited X-Men in February.

[Christian Otte]

Pretty nice of Marvel to "give" these guys some big talents to work with...

[Hdefined]

As opposed to Tangled Web, which lasted almost two years, I give the Spidey one half a year, the X-Men one 10 months, unless there are (and most likely will be, with double the creators) delays

[ReaperFett]

Imagine getting your first shot and getting Chen art. That'd be great

I give the Spidey one half a year, the X-Men one 10 months, unless there are (and most likely will be, with double the creators) delays

So you give Spiderman 3 issues and X-Men 5?

[Xaraan]

I doubt these books will last very long either. I won't be buying them. Is the House of Ideas best "ideas" to put out as many different series on the same characters it can. I would like to see more fresh ideas and less X-treme, Uncanny, New, Amazing, Spectacular, Ultimate, mini's and now Unlimiteds. Just put out one or two good Spider-man and X-men series and when you have good character stories, maybe they should be incorporated into the actual series, same for mini's. I understand the making money concept, but growing and creating other characters could help just as much, if not more in the long run. It is a real shame the best thing to come from Epic was a few spider-man and x-men pitches. Marvel could have really had something there, but then again, they let their editors get too involved with the writing. I have loved many of the ideas they have come up with the last couple of years, but now that they have turned things around a bit, I hope they don't go back to the way they used to run the company during the 90's.

[BrianLynch]

Hey everyone, Brian Lynch, the writer that got to work with Sean on the UNLIMITED SPIDER-MAN story. I was extremely lucky to be paired with him, his stuff is amazing.

Kinda disheartening to read such a good article on something we're all proud of, and then read the talkbacks and see a bunch of people giving reasons why it'll fail before they even see one panel, but if that's how you want to spend your time, okay. Just know there are some really good stories coming your way.

That's it! Thanks for reading and I hope you like the books.

[James K.]

I'll wait to see how the books are, but I must say that I'm a little put off by the way Marvel first announced these titles as a venue for "new talent," and then promptly asked for pitches from established film and television writers. Epic seemed to be a far more egalitarian approach to seeking fresh voices.

[djcoffman]

Being one who has had the pleasure of reading a TON of Brian Lynch scripts, I can tell you all, even the naysayers, that you're all in for a real treat.

Any SpiderMan or X-men fans should pick up these new books, or they can't call themselves fans-- if not for anything else, the variety! I mean, heck, they don't know what they'll be getting but they assume it will stink-- that's a good reason the comics industry is in the toilet and ready to flush. You gotta at least see the project and read it before you can judge it! I smell a bunch of Epic rejected writers and artists.. thats what I smell!

And another bonus-- This wasn't Bill Jemas's idea. So it will probably last a bit longer than Marville or whatever... hahah that was a joke. Bill Jemas was done wrong.

[djcoffman]

Originally posted by James K.
I'll wait to see how the books are, but I must say that I'm a little put off by the way Marvel first announced these titles as a venue for "new talent," and then promptly asked for pitches from established film and television writers. Epic seemed to be a far more egalitarian approach to seeking fresh voices.

Well who knows. I think if you sent in GOOD stories, and kept in touch with the editors, maybe they would give you shot. But I'm guessing they recieve about 95% fanboy crap. And that's alot of crap to wade through. Or should I say "Waid" through.. muahahaha-- that was a joke too. Waid is a nice guy and seems to have made the best FF since the Kirby and Stan

[Xaraan]

Not taking anything away from the writers and artists on these series. I'm not saying I want anyone out of a job, I would just rather see you work either on a new or different title, or if you had good spider-man or x-men stories, have them be incorporated into the actual series. Sometimes it seems like we get substandard stories in the ongoing, and when Marvel gets a good story they want to put it in a mini-series or similar format. Give it to us in the series. I, probably like most at this site, spend more on comics in a month than on most other bills we get. It gets expensive to add a fifth or sixth x-men, spider-man, batman or superman to our pulls when the big two have plenty of opportunity in existing titles to give us good stories and we often looking to add something fresh and new to our list if we are going to spend the money on it. I want to put down Runaways and pick up New X-men and next pick up Fables, not read through five versions of Wolverine, wondering how he gets to so many places at the same time. But that's just my opinion, I may be wrong.

[gon]

Originally posted by Hdefined
As opposed to Tangled Web, which lasted almost two years, I give the Spidey one half a year, the X-Men one 10 months, unless there are (and most likely will be, with double the creators) delays

I'm so glad to see people being so positive and nice...
And that's all I have to say.

[Nakedmanatee]

I think they sound pretty cool. It would be even better if they brought back the whole Marvel Comics Presents format to open up the whole Marvel U to the new guys, but as it is, it's a nice start.

And, as an official Not Ready For Epic Player (I plan to take my rejection letter to the cons and see if I can get Joey Q to autograph it), what are the submission policies for these new titles? I've got a great pregnant Aunt May story running through my head----

DAMN you Mark Millar! Damn you all to hell!!

Okay, but I ALSO have a great Wolverine/ Emma Frost story that is just screaming Eisner award. Think Fight Club meets House of Mirth meets From Justin to Kelly.

Sean Chen, you listening? I hope you have those pencils sharpened!

love and cookies,

Dave

[EvilWig]

I'll buy the Spider-man books for sure. Brian Lynch is a great writer I read all is Monkey Mon stories so as those Patchouli one.

I think everyone should give a shot to theses books and all those naysayers should get laid or something... It might help them to stop being such pain in the ass !!!!!

Newsarama board sucks because all you people do in bitching and crying, that's Fuc***g annoying...

I wish a good luck to Brian Lynch and other scribe on these.

And wish that all those naysayer cry baby burn in hell !!!!!

[human_pawn]

I love Monkey Man (not anything more than a "healthy fanboy love" if such a thing exists.....but then again...umm....) and I cannot wait to read Brian's take on Spidey. I loved that picture of Spider-ham you did, and lets just say if Marvel dont give you that book, then I'll stop reading marvel.....oh wait sorry that was meant for the tsunami thread (is that where the over the top claims go?).

Anyway, yeah these two books sound great. Once every so often X-Men Unlimited was really good (and every so often Austen wrote an Alpha Flight story.....ok well once....oh wait its not a bash Austen thread either?!), so witht he talent on this book I can wait!

I just hope we see more Monkey Man in comic form (though my weekly visit to Poopshoot for MM will still be welcomed!). Thanks to that character I have started developing my own comic/online experiment (well I have the story and drew the characters during a boring law lecture!), though it aint nothing like MM (but I hope it is half as good).

Anyway I am off to sell my soul to afford comics tomorrow and hopefully order a copy of Ape Dude (and that really cool poster) from ANP

[DocBrass]

Originally posted by BrianLynch

Kinda disheartening to read such a good article on something we're all proud of, and then read the talkbacks and see a bunch of people giving reasons why it'll fail before they even see one panel, but if that's how you want to spend your time, okay. Just know there are some really good stories coming your way.

I think the problem is everybody is skeptical on Marvel and how the handle new talent and books. Sales are never that high and Marvel doesn't stick with new books longer than one year if they don't sale.

The "unlimited" line could easily be called Marvel Comics Presents or Marvel Fanfare. use an existing name for a new talent showcase.

[farwell3d]

Man, Lynchsounds like he had a whole hell of a lot of fun on this, which helps make me want to buy it.

Besides, writers named Brian always rule. Brian Michael Bendis, Brian K. Vaughn, myself (Brian Fowler, okay, so maybe I don't rule. But maybe I do... You've never read my stuff!)

[mpg]

anthologies have trouble staying afloat.

[Hdefined]

Originally posted by djcoffman

Any SpiderMan or X-men fans should pick up these new books, or they can't call themselves fans-- if not for anything else, the variety!

I know, and all those Spidey and X-Men fans better be picking up all 25 of the other Spidey or X-related titles out there too . . . for variety! Or else they can't call themselves true fans!

I mean, seriously, Marvel, you guys DO have other characters . . .

[Tony Lee]

Those writers suck. This'll suck. That Tony Lee - he's suck...

Oops. Must remember not to write under my name...

By my book. It will rock.

Any book by a man called Brian or a man with a surname Lee.....

[Dan Feeser]

Never did get my copy of Monkey Man Unleashed #3.


Anyway, I'll probably check these out off the shelf. I love anthologies, although I'm not a Spidey fan.

[Piferelli]

I'm sorry, could someone tell me exactly why we need yet another Spider-man and X-Men title? I mean, don't I shell out enough money for the existing titles?!

I apologize if this sounds like a rant, but I'm already dropping well earned cash on sub-par storylines as is, and I just wanted to know (as a collector) if I should start putting even more money aside for these new (supposedly stellar) titles, or will they disappear after 15 or so issues like (what seems) so many titles have gone through in the recent past.

I'm not saying that these new "unlimited" stories should not be told, or that the writers and artists shouldn't be given the chance to show off what they have for us. I just can't help but wonder if these stories (and others) couldn't be placed somewhere inside the current, existing monthlies that so many of us are already picking up on a regular basis.

[BlakSun]

Originally posted by djcoffman
Well who knows. I think if you sent in GOOD stories, and kept in touch with the editors, maybe they would give you shot. But I'm guessing they recieve about 95% fanboy crap.

Hee Hee.

Methinks that's why Marvel started sending out Epic rejection letters starting with "Dear Marvel Fan,"

[J S Roberts]

I will, without a doubt, be buying these books. Anyone who's serious about becoming a writer within the industry should buy them. I hope I don't have to explain why.

Of all the new talent on these books, I've only read anything by Tony Lee, and I know he kicks ass. That's a bonus, and enough to make me buy the X-Men book anyway.

[perk9600]

More of the same characters is bad. God forbid they have to many good spider-man stories lying around. They would all get used eventually in the 2 main titles. Same goes for X-men. Then we would never have to deal with lulls like amazing 350-400 and beyond.

They still don't understand the quality beats quanity argument.

[Doug Smith]

Well, as one of the Epic hopefuls who is still waiting for his rejection letter (albeit with less than bated breath now...), I hope these books succeed and some new writers do get a chance to break through.

Why Spidey and the X-Men? Because they sell! Even a mid-level book like "Tangled Web" or "X-Men Unlimited" sold well enough to place in the 50-75 ranks on the sales chart, IIRC. This could be a good way to expose some new talent.

Two things that do bother me though:

(1) I do hope that Marvel will open up submissions to fans again. It's fine that they are pursuing writers established in other mediums to launch these books, but it would be nice if they could sprinkle in some fanboys-made-good.

(2) At some point, I would like to see Marvel use Spidey and the X-Men as lead features, with the second feature being from somewhere else in the Marvel universe. Say, a Storm 11-pager followed by a Iron Fist 11-pager, and a Spidey 11-pager followed by a Man-Thing 11-pager. Although at that point, it would also make more sense to just call the book "Marvel Unlimited" and make it one monthly series, with Spider-Man and the X-Men alternating the lead stories...

Good luck guys!