EPIC SERIES SCALED BACK INTO AN ANTHOLOGY

[MattBrady]

First was the announcement that Marvel’s Epic imprint titles would debut in February, then was the announcement that imprint was closing the doors for submissions. Now, Newsarama has learned that all of the Epic titles (four, total) will be collected into a single anthology issue that will be quarterly.

In a memo, obtained by Newsarama, which was sent to Epic contributors, Epic editor Stephanie Moore informed the creators of the change, indicating that the first issues of Phantom Jack, Young Ancient One, Strange Magic and Sleepwalker will all be combined into one anthology issue to be released in February. The second issues of the respective series would be included in the second issue of the anthology, which would follow #1 on a quarterly basis – if sales warrant.

The move by Marvel appears to lend more credence to the idea that the company is distancing itself from policies and initiatives started by former President of Publishing Bill Jemas, who was moved out of publishing and editorial completely to a non-executive position in October. Epic was created with the intent to allow new creators to land their own Marvel books, but had suffered from mixed signals from virtually the first day it was announced in regards to rights held by the creators, and the possibility of publishing creator-owned work through it.

As originally conceived, third parties would completely package books for the imprint, which would itself be based on a financial model that would allow survival on lower sales. Given its model, sales would constantly be weighed against the survival of the series.

To date, three projects have shipped under the Epic imprint – the debut title, Mark Millar and Terry Dodson’s Trouble; and Crimson Dynamo, written by John Miller, who parlayed the gig into landing the writer’s spot on Iron Man, his current Marvel assignment; and Danile Way and John Proctor's Gun Theory.

In the memo, Moore also asked creators to stop work on their respective second issues, until it is known that the anthology will continue. If the anthology does not continue past issue #1, creative teams will be paid for work performed on issue #2, but not for any further work.

The memo did not mention Crimson Dynamo, however, the creative team had already announced that the series would be going on hiatus following issue #6. Also notmentioned was The Northwood Saga or the Spider-Man What-If style story - neither of which were solicited.

update 11/10 6:28 am

Young Ancient One writer Rob Worley sent this statement to Newsarama:

As reported by Newsarama, myself and the rest of the Young Ancient One creative team received an e-mail on Friday informing us of Marvel's intention to combine the four unpublished Epic comics into one anthology title.

The news came as a shock and disappointment. A shock, because I had been assured just weeks earlier that the three-issue series would be published as promised. A disappointment, because the chances of the anthology succeeding seem miniscule.

It's a real shame. My team has been doing fantastic work on the book and we're all proud of how things are working out. Everyone who has seen Andy and Bill's artwork so far agrees that it is of extremely high quality. Andy's rendering of 15th century Asian architecture and weaponry, his cool character designs, his Ditko riffs have got everybody drooling.

There's still hope, I suppose, that the entire three issues of Young Ancient One will be published, as promised. If not, I'll certainly be disappointed. At the same time, I have to look at the positives:

I've made a good friend in Andy Kuhn, who I can't wait to work with on whatever's next.

The strength of the three completed scripts has opened doors for me both inside and outside the comic industry. I'm presently attached to write a screenplay (a comic adaptation, naturally), which was a direct result of the YAO scripts serving as writing samples.

And, I can say with certainty that the Epic struggle has been a learning experience.

While I certainly wish the four Epic books would be published in their intended form, there's little to do about it now but hope for the best.

Sincerely,
Rob Worley

And this from Northwood Saga's Marc Campbell:

I'm confirming that Northwood Saga will not be published by Marvel Epic. The reason I received from Marvel is that, in light of recent changes, this is not the type of story that Marvel wants to do under the Epic imprint.

Northwood Saga is an epic fantasy, featuring a rotating cast of elves, dwarfs, trolls, wizards, and tragic heroes and heroines. The villains of the story are the humans, who wage neverending war against what they call "monsters," and the book explores some of the consequences of this. It's a creator-owned project with all-original characters, and it was not set to take place in the Marvel Universe.

Northwood Saga was originally announced by Marvel at this year's Wizard World Chicago. The book was never officially scheduled, but there was talk of it coming out in 2004.

With regard to Marvel's decision, I'm disappointed, obviously, but this sort of thing has been known to happen in the publishing world. It has happened to me before in computer books, and I'm sure it will happen again. It just comes with the territory. On the whole, I think Epic was a good experience, and I'm grateful for the time and energy that Marvel invested in my work.

As for the future of Northwood Saga, I don't have anything to announce at present, but I'm not out of tricks just yet.

Phantom Jack creator Mike Sangiacomo's thoughts on the reduction can be found here.

[Justice]

Well. Better this than not seeing the books at all. And hopefully people will be exposed to stuff they wouldn't have read anyway. And maybe the combining of all four titles into one will help sales.

But that said--this blows.

Some of these books had real potential, and the higher price point and quarterly schedule will definitely scare people away. I know there'll be Marvel bashers on this one...and I get that. I also realize this probably makes some sense for Marvel. Nonetheless, this is just a really unfortunate move by Marvel.

I'll still buy it and I'm sure much of the work will be good. I hope marvel reconsiders and at least makes the book monthly.

[Charles RB]

The move by Marvel appears to lend more credence to the idea that the company is distancing itself from policies and initiatives started by former President of Publishing Bill Jemas

Indeed it does. The bastards.

You know, if they don't want to publish the Epic titles, why not just not publish them instead of dicking around like this?

[ReaperFett]

The move by Marvel appears to lend more credence to the idea that the company is distancing itself from policies and initiatives started by former President of Publishing Bill Jemas, who was moved out of publishing and editorial completely to a non-executive position in October.

Pathetic.

[punk_love]

Can't wait for Mike Sangiacomo's next column now!

Don't know what else to say about this...

[bluedevil2002]

I really wanted to read Phantom Jack, especially after all the hype here.

Now, it almost looks as if they're trying to kill it.

There's obviously a lot of details that we don't know here, because I don't see why they need to make it quarterly, especially since PJ was already planned monthly, and they were working with that deadline.

At least this will expose me to the other series that I was thinking about getting, but not really interested enough to buy separately.

Hopefully, sales will be strong enough for TPBs of each series.

Gah! This is just stupid.

[BLACKBRIAR]

Since you did that long padded series of "columns" about making "Phantom Jack" into a comic book series, how about a capper to that "column" with Sangi's reaction to this editorial shuffle?

And to all of the creators: these projects were often a lifelong dream and laden with the aspirations of hopefully becoming industry "professionals" --that really sucks that all of that time and effort is now apparently not even going to see the light of day.

[MattBrady]

Originally posted by BLACKBRIAR
Since you did that long padded series of "columns" about making "Phantom Jack" into a comic book series, how about a capper to that "column" with Sangi's reaction to this editorial shuffle?

Mike's column will appear on Monday.

MattB

[mpg]

this is a bullshit move.

i would have dug a series from both sleepwalker and strange magic. oh well. anthologies never work. sorry. they dont

[Prozac Man]

This obviously had noting to do with the quality of the books. If the PTB at Marvel had seen every thing we have seen in the production of Phantom Jack, this would not be happening.

[IanZL]

Originally posted by Charles RB
Indeed it does. The bastards.

You know, if they don't want to publish the Epic titles, why not just not publish them instead of dicking around like this?

Because they've already paid for the first issue of each.

I don't buy it though, that this is to distance themselves from Jemas, that seems kind of silly. Its a confidence thing, the new folks don't have the confidence in EPIC that Jemas did. All they see is a loss and books that aren't all that profitable.

[jasonhenderson]

Since you did that long padded series of "columns" about making "Phantom Jack" into a comic book series, how about a capper to that "column" with Sangi's reaction to this editorial shuffle?

I like the Phantom Jack columns; they're like our own little Project Greenlight, an absolute nitty-gritty level report on comic book production. That might not be some people's bag, but it was nice reporting if you're interested in such details.

I'm sort of disheartened myself about this anthology thing because you guys would not believe the *cover* Tony Harris did for SM#1.

[Charles RB]

Originally posted by IanZL
Because they've already paid for the first issue of each.

Oh yeah, forgot about that.

[Mr. Special ED]

Well considering that the "sure money" book trouble started out at number 20 or so, and then took a DIVE from there, it shouldnt be any suprise that titles from fairly non-name-recognizable talent wouldnt do so hot. Dynamo didnt debut at the bottom of the heap, but it didnt break banks either.

[JK Parkin]

This is a shame, really, not only because some of the prospective series looked interesting, but also because the idea behind Epic had merit.

Was Phantom Jack completely creator owned?

[JonHook]

Is it just me... or was EPIC just a glitch in the Matrix? It looks like Marvel is resetting the Matrix to exclude EPIC.

Oh well. And I was just warming up to get into SLEEPWALKER.

[G Dog]

Yay!

Now, instead of just buying the one book I was really interested in, Sleepwalker, I get to pay for four books, three of which I have little to no interest in. YES!

How ridiculous is this?

[Scooby2099]

Unfortunately I was never that thrilled with the relunched Epic in the first place so big loss (but it has to suck for the creators that put so much energy into their books for things to end this way).

[El Argentino]

This SUCK!

[MikeHuffman]

I don't necessarily think an anthology is so terrible if the price is right — I'd pay $3.95 for a quadruple-sized book on newsprint. But I like thick comics, that's just me.

Actually, I wonder if a book in the vein of the old "Marvel Premiere" or "Marvel Spotlight" series might not work for some of these concepts. Those books told either stand-alone stories or longer arcs, depending on what was appropriate. If the idea was successful, then the character graduated to his or her own comic.

— Mike

[MicroZone]

Originally posted by Justice
Well. Better this than not seeing the books at all. And hopefully people will be exposed to stuff they wouldn't have read anyway. And maybe the combining of all four titles into one will help sales.

But that said--this blows.

Some of these books had real potential, and the higher price point and quarterly schedule will definitely scare people away

That's short sighted horsecrap.

Epic originally started as Epic Illustrated. A then quarterly anthology to test market comics that frankly might not appeal to 90% of Marvel's core readers but were good enough to warrent publication. It was not a throw away comic. It was a prestige title.

It can be again.

Titles like Runaways and Sentinel would probably have had a far better shot at a building an audiance base in a similar format in one-shot stories like what Mark Millar is planning for his MK Spidey comic. At least they might stand a better shot at finding an audiance over the "flooding the market with 15 new monthlies within 6 six months to see what sells" approach.

[Eduardo]

Too bad for the creators involved. Good luck to them in future projects.

[farwell3d]

Anyone got a clue what the price point on this will be?

The reason it goes quarterly is simple: Gives shops time to figure out how it sells, Marvel time to look at those numbers, and decide whether or not to publish the second one (which, I hate to say, is more than likely going to be a not)

Anyway, Anthology style books work well in Magna in Japan, but have a really bad track record in America over the last 25 or 30 years.

[Ace]

Originally posted by MicroZone
That's short sighted horsecrap.

Epic originally started as Epic Illustrated. A then quarterly anthology to test market comics that frankly might not appeal to 90% of Marvel's core readers but were good enough to warrent publication. It was not a throw away comic. It was a prestige title.

It can be again.

Titles like Runaways and Sentinel would probably have had a far better shot at a building an audiance base in a similar format in one-shot stories like what Mark Millar is planning for his MK Spidey comic. At least they might stand a better shot at finding an audiance over the "flooding the market with 15 new monthlies within 6 six months to see what sells" approach.

The market was a lot different when Epic Illustrated was out as a prestige title. Moreover, prestige titles go for at least six bucks these days: look at the DC Secret Files. The idea of shooting out a number of low cost monthlies, not only to see what sells, but also to get as many new brands out there as possible to be picked up by film companies had it's own degree of merit, both from a business sense and from a creative point of view. It makes more sense for marvel to get these ideas as well as their old characters out there in any way that they can, so long as it turns over some form of a profit.

Matt

[Justice]

Originally posted by MicroZone
That's short sighted horsecrap.

Epic originally started as Epic Illustrated. A then quarterly anthology to test market comics that frankly might not appeal to 90% of Marvel's core readers but were good enough to warrent publication. It was not a throw away comic. It was a prestige title.

It can be again.

Titles like Runaways and Sentinel would probably have had a far better shot at a building an audiance base in a similar format in one-shot stories like what Mark Millar is planning for his MK Spidey comic. At least they might stand a better shot at finding an audiance over the "flooding the market with 15 new monthlies within 6 six months to see what sells" approach.

Well, I absolutely hope you're right. Though I never once said the new Epic quarterly was a "throw away" book. I've defended anthologies in other posts on other topics. I love a good anthology book. I think people should support this series.

However, there are VERY few examples of books that were more successful as quarterlies or even bi-monthlies in the mainstream market. I realize these are very non-mainstream Marvel books, but a big portion of the audience that might support these books and that these books need support from is the mainstream audience. And we've seen time and again readers tell us they're not going to pick up a 2.99 comic or that they're dropping a book because of a price hike.

Do I think the book is doomed? No. Do I want it to be? No. But realisitically, I think at least one or two of these concepts would have been successful on their own, and might well suffer if the anthology bites the dust early.