EDITOR AUBREY SITTERSON ON THE MARVEL INDY ANTHOLOGY

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

Last month it was revealed that Marvel Comics was working on an anthology whose talent was not from its normal talent pool but from the so called "indie" ranks. In a posting on comics collective Meathaus' website, cartoonist Dash Shaw revealed of the project's existence and also showed two pages from his Doctor Strange story slated to appear. When Newsarama.com reached out to Marvel for confirmation, it was verified and even discussed in the June 1st, 2007 edition "New Joe Fridays" by Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada as well as the project's editor, Aubrey Sitterson.

"'Indie Anthology is definitely the most accurate term you could use to describe the book," said Sitterson, an Assistant Editor at Marvel. "It's going to be a five-issue limited series (we're still hammering out what its name will be), with an eye towards the imminent trade paperback collection. Each issue will contain a 10-page lead story done by a creator that you'll be familiar with (but not for their Marvel work) followed by three or four shorter stories by folks I'm hoping are new to our readers--but every bit as exciting, trust me. Due to the nature of the project, it's a difficult thing to schedule with any certainty this far out, but we're looking at a late-'07, early '08 release."

When asked about the purpose of this anthology, Quesada cited a solid bookstore business that could support the project, as well as it being "a place for editorial to stretch its legs".



At that time, the only name confirmed for the series was the aforementioned Dash Shaw with a Doctor Strange story. Sitterson has revealed to Newsarama additional names for the project such as Paul Pope, Johnny Ryan, James Kolchalka and Michael Kupperman. "[This project] gives us the opportunity to work with some amazing talents that we generally don’t get a chance to work with because of the types of comics that we produce," said Quesada in "New Joe Fridays".

Although no official title has been decided upon at press time, internally Marvel is referring to it as their "Indie Anthology". But what does “indie” mean?

"As for the definition of indie...it's a term that's so broad it's difficult for me to define," explained Sitterson. "For the purposes of this anthology, we're using it to mean anything that carries the feel of independent books, which is to say not Marvel or DC. That includes OEL style stuff, art-comics, alternative comics, and non-superhero genre stuff. Basically anything you'd be utterly shocked to see in an issue of New Avengers."

When asked why he chose the character of Doctor Strange to illustrate, Dash Shaw's reasoning was easy. "I thought he'd be the most fun for me to draw," the cartoonist said. "I wanted to do something that was cool-looking and entertaining. Those aren't necessarily goals for personal projects."

The idea of "indie" talent working at Marvel isn't a new one, with a recent example being James Kolchalka's "Hulk vs. The Rain" story appearing in Marvel's Incredible Hulk 2001 Annual. But this new, as yet untitled, miniseries marks an increased concentration by the publisher to broaden its base outside the traditional territory encompassed by their classic "superhero style" cartooning. This reaching out to other comic styles is in no doubt a relation to the upswing in graphic novel sales in bookstores, which seem less dominated by American superhero comics than the Direct Market.



According to Sitterson, the origins of this project date back to the summer of 2006. At that time under the auspices of Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, Sitterson was searching for ideas for new projects to work on. "With my personal comic sensibilities skewing more 'indie' than the majority of editorial at Marvel, it struck me. In a conversation with Tom about what I could work on, we agreed that doing an anthology where the selling point was my more indie leaning tastes could turn into something great."

"Another great thing about it is that it’ll be a perennial seller, since it's not in continuity," said Sitterson. "It's either classic versions or riffs on classic versions. You've seen Dash Shaw's Doctor Strange, done with the storytelling conventions he's used before but with a distinct Ditko influence. There's also stuff that goes completely in another direction, such as a She-Hulk story set in Victorian England, with a weird bizarre take that fits with the art style. A dirty secret a lot of alternative and indie artists hold is that they have soft places in their hearts for classic Marvel material. It'll be fun to see continuity-free takes on these characters."

"What makes it exciting for me is that it's so different than what you're used to seeing in a Marvel comic. In that it runs a wide gambit – there are guys who do action comics on their own," said the editor. "We've got at least one manga-ka contributing a story, as well as gag cartoonists and people who do funny strips like Ryan and Kupperman. Things that are a little more bizarre and thought-heavy—all sorts of fun stuff!"

"I was a big Marvel comics fan when I was a kid, so it's kinda cool to revisit these characters again," said cartoonist Johnny Ryan, who previously worked with Marvel on an issue of Stan Lee Presents. "A large portion of my book, The Comic Book Holocaust, was Marvel parodies which was a lot of fun for me to do. I'm sure this collection won't get as sleazy, but I'm sure it'll still be fun."

[NightRiver]

OMG mustache buddy, dam thats hilarious!

[pseudonym?]

I'm in. Looks like fun.

[God-Man]

I can't wait for this book.

[Allen Mark]

Does this mean we'll finally get to read Peter Bagge's "Incorrigible Hulk" from a few years back?

[Varrus]

I'm buying this book just for Ben Grimm's ChiaPet moustache! Brilliant!

[red-maverick]

Man some of this stuff is really wierd but funny including the art style. This is definitely worth checking out. The Hulk one with the random noises reminded me of some comic strip my friend wrote (not published just wrote cause he was bored).

[mikey_danger]

This looks brilliant. Seeing artists get to take recognizable and just go wild with them is always a good time!

[Punchy]

This is going to be awesome

'Oh Snap! It's The Fantastic Four!'

[Grendel Prime]

NERDGASM!
Sign me up.

[Northstar04]

This keeps getting better with every preview.....I hope it's successful.

[Banana_Oil]

Originally Posted by Allen Mark

Does this mean we'll finally get to read Peter Bagge's "Incorrigible Hulk" from a few years back?

I was just gonna say this is the perfect place to finally publish Bagge's Hulk story...

[magik2381]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHHAHAHA give Marvel Moustaches a miniseries NOW!

[GratefulFred]

block the fear!

[whoisparker]

I can't wait for this!! I'll probably buy the individual issues and the trade just to show Marvel my support for this kind of publication.
plus... johnny ryan doing more Marvel is ALWAYS a good thing

[Tom Daylight]

Why not title it "Aubrey Sitterson Presents"

[Gladiator X]

Wow.Crappy stories right outta a Hostess add and even worse art.Here's one Marvel book I won't need to pick up.

[Crump's Brother]

Looks really great. Can't decide if i should just wait for the trade they alluded to, though.

[jkarguth]

I am so picking this up. My only regret is that it won't come out before I get a chance to meet Aubrey at Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy in September.

[JoeGKushner]

Nightmare did not poison the soup.

Whew. What a relief!

[Midas]

This looks really interesting. I loved DC's version of the indie anthology (Solo) but that unfortunately didn't last. I hope that Marvel has more long-term faith in this project than the Distinguished Competition had in theirs.

[ejulp]

Wow, this looks really good...not a really profound statement, but I'll definitely buy this, especially if they can get Jeff Brown on this or Bryan Lee O'Malley...that'd be perfect.

[ejulp]

Originally Posted by Midas

This looks really interesting. I loved DC's version of the indie anthology (Solo) but that unfortunately didn't last. I hope that Marvel has more long-term faith in this project than the Distinguished Competition had in theirs.

Yeah that was really unfortunate...but what was more unfortunate is that I could never find a copy of the Paul Pope issue...hopefully they'll collect all of them somehow (though that seems like it'd be a complicated task for something that didn't sell too well).

[Alexander Knox]

Na ha ha. This looks great.

[Evil Rick Shea]

I'm always excited to see indie creators working on characters from Marvel or DC, so this is something I'm really looking forward to. I'm always excited about seeing new work from the creators mentioned so far and hope to see others like Steven "Ribs" Weissman or Tony Millionaire get involved.

Hats off to Marvel for what looks like a really fun and exciting read. I know it'll do really well in my store.

Evil Rick Shea
Famous Faces & Funnies
Melbourne, FL