Tom Brevoort - Executive Editor and SVP of Marvel Comics!

Today we are joined by Tom Brevoort, the Executive Editor and Senior Vice President of Marvel comics! We talk about everything from his time at Marvel, to Mile Morales, to event comics, to variant covers! We also spend a good amount of time talking about Star Blazers!

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Tom Brevoort Interview
Kenric: [00:00:00] join the call to this point. The verse a welcome back to our country. I'm kinda creaking. That is mr Horsley and today on the show.
Well, Johnny, this one is. Well, this one's going to be really interesting
John: I agree.
Kenric: because we have somebody from one of the big two that is a serious decision maker within the company at Marvel comics.
John: And been there for awhile.
Kenric: 30 years.
John: It's a long time. It was Comic
Kenric: 30 years. Yup. Executive editor, SVP, senior vice president. That's what that stands for. Marvel comics. Tom report.
John: Yeah, this was, uh, This is another one where I was on it with you. I said a couple things towards the end of it, but most of the time I was just listening because you'd ask a question, then he would just give this long with an answer that just took you to. I mean, you asked about Starbucks. Isn't that changed the whole [00:01:00] thing.
Kenric: well, it wasn't. I wouldn't say long winded, it's just that we asked specific questions that, that needed more explanation. And he did a wonderful job of interweaving things. If you guys are curious about, um, Brian Michael Bendis leaving and going to D C he answers that if you want to know about Heather's and ptosis, um.
2017 issues with the commerce gate folks. He answers that. Uh, if you are want to know about Spiderman and miles Morales and fantastic for we go through it all, baby. It was awesome.
John: And if want to all about star blazers, we talked about that too.
Kenric: Yeah, we did. I love, I'm a huge star blazers nerd from a long time ago. Um, and he is as well. And we connected on star blazers because we both just love it. I mean, he loved it so much. He went and saw opening day for the live action film in Japan. So
[00:02:00] John: That is nuts. I mean, could you imagine finding Japan to see a movie opening? Dave is so cool.
Kenric: Yeah. Right. I think it's cool that he's like,
John: fun.
Kenric: yeah, right. I think it's cool that he went there to see it and that he loves the movie. You know that that's, he's great with that movie, which I liked the movie and a lot of people that I know that are star blazers, Fran, don't like that movie.
John: You gotta, you gotta take her for it. I actually remember when that movie was coming out, we were at one of my old houses. Like I was renting it years and years ago you came over and he like showed me the trailer for it on your phone. And I
Kenric: Yeah. Oh, really?
John: like, what is this thing? Like it's star It's the, almost at the ship yard. I mean, you were so excited. I'm like, I have no idea what the hell this is mainly. do you not know started blade? This is I'm like, I just don't. I'm sorry.
Kenric: yeah. Well, you were weed. I was watching it in 1979 and you weren't even born, so,
Oh yeah.
John: looked it up, I didn't know what it was. I just didn't know it by name,
Kenric: Yeah. You can't grow up in Japan or in America [00:03:00] and not at least see pictures of the spaceship Yamamoto or in America it would be the Argo or,
John: if you're in the nerd, the nerd world and I, and I am, I was.
Kenric: yeah, yeah. So it was a lot of fun. But once you guys sit back, get a drink, and maybe, um. Listen to the styling sounds of Tom Braveheart.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: All right guys. Welcome back. Today on the show, we're super excited because, well, if you're like I am, and you grew up reading Marvel and maybe, you were a fantastic four fan or an X-Men fan, or you just grew up the Marvel way is what I like to say, then you're going to really love talking with, with Tom here, because Tom Bridgeport, the Marvel senior VP and executive editor.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Sure. My pleasure. Happy to be here. [00:04:00]
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Happy to have you here cause uh, this is exciting how long you've been working at Marvel now.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I have been at Marvel for in excess of 30 years,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Wow.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: decades.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: So you were at Marvel, I was 15 when you started.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Okay.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: was I reading?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: about your age there. I could do that math.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Not too hard. Not too hard. What was I reading at the age of 15? A lot of X-Men. Uh, I believe the, we just
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: were reading, you're reading Todd Spiderman.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yup. Let us, yep. McFarland. Spiderman was, was, uh, well, he was just getting done with the amazing Spiderman and doing Spiderman.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. He had just, he would still have been on amazing Spiderman when I started
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah, yeah. That was the first,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: the adjective was Spiderman book did not exist yet.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah. That was the first big [00:05:00] book that I bought that my, actually, my dad and my mom bought it for me without me telling me. They went to Cliff's comic world in an East Bremerton, and they bought Spiderman number 300 and it was. Probably six months to a year after it came out and they bought it for like $30 which I remember when, I remember when they bought it, I was like, Oh my God, I can't believe you guys spent money on a comic book for me.
You know what I mean?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I kept, I can't believe it was that expensive that soon thereafter
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. It was re, but it stayed
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: forgotten that.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah, cause we'll fit him was big. You know, it was, it was a big deal when he, when he showed up plus. You know, the older I've gotten, I, I still try to collect comic books, you know what I mean? But it's hard to keep up with all the titles,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: sure, sure.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: many. And like I was reading Batman for a while, I gave up.
There's so many Batman titles. It's, it's impossible. You know, I want a nice clean [00:06:00] story arc. And a. But for the longest, when I, when I got into my teenage years, and then that whole speculative market really took off there for a while, especially in the late eighties early nineties
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: sure, yep.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: and I was like, Oh, I'm going to buy this and, and it's going to be worth all this money.
And then as you get older, you realize, well, that was just a, that's a pipe dream, you know what I mean? Unless you're getting Spiderman, you know, amazing Spiderman, number one, or if you know action comics, number one, you're not really getting anything that's going to pay for anything else.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well. Yeah, you're, you're, you're, you're definitely not, you know, you're not buying it. You're not, you're not picking up like house buying money
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: right. But you know, in my youth, I had
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: that, that, uh, you know, that amazing 300, uh, if you probably could still get the 30 bucks for it.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Right. Well, any delusions of grandeur as a
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: depreciated any in the 30 years since then.
And you might even be able to score a couple more depending on how many copies might happen to be floating [00:07:00] around the market. Right this second.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: that book is expensive now. Have you seen it?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Uh, what it's, what it's going forward. No, I don't keep any track of any of that
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: for you. I stopped.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I paid, I paid cover price, so I've got one, it's in a box somewhere. Uh, you know, I'm, I'm good.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: That's good. Oh, well, I. W like when I was a teenager, early twenties, then it was all about, Oh, I want to, I want to try to speculate, speculate what, you know, it's just so dumb now. I just want to get the books that I've always wanted in my life. Like I really wanted a first appearance, a Punisher, you know, I really wanted a first appearance of black cat, you know, so I went out and I get those books, and then I still read, uh, every month, uh, like I'm reading Savage of injures.
I love that. I love that arc. I w I wish. Yeah, that's a great book. So executive editor, I'm feeling like I'm just telling you about myself and what I love, but executive
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: right. I like, I like [00:08:00] hearing those
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh, good, good.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I particularly like the part where you're buying books that we're putting out, so I could listen to that all day.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: What does the executive editor at Marvel comics do.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well, uh, you know, directly in a given month, and I'm talking about an ordinary month. I'm not talking about like the past two months, but for an ordinary, we have a functioning society month in any given month, um, you know, hands on putting out probably around a dozen. Comic books along with my, you know, underlying editors, my associate editor and my assistant editor and I am overseeing the activities of a big chunk of other editors who are doing the same thing in their various areas.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: That's interesting. I always wonder because you see executive editor and I'm like, what? Because then you have all these other editors, so you're basically, you have [00:09:00] your books that you edit, but then you are overseeing all the other editors going on what they're doing.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah, a bunch of other editors and, you know, I'm involved in whatever conversations about planning and, and so forth. It's a, it's, it's a broad, uh, you know, it's a broad set of responsibilities.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. It sounds like it'd be a lot of fun though, because I know from reading up on you, your first comic love was fantastic for one 77 and
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: my first real Marvel
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah. What does that book mean to you now?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Um, well, uh, you know, obviously I've got my original copy. I've got another copy on this spinner rack over here. Um, you know, the, the individual issue. I mean, I bought, I got three of them at once, one 77, one 78, one 79. Um, you know, I, in that particular day. Um, and, and, you know, those are good comics.
I got, I've got good memories of those and whatnot, but, uh, you know, so fantastic [00:10:00] for as a title, as a series means a lot to me. More so even than just those individual books.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: did it. I would assume that you knew when they canceled. Fantastic for a few years ago that it was coming back and it's not going to take 20 years for it to come back. It took what, three years?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: It was about, yeah, something like
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah, but did it break your heart a little bit to have it be shelved for that even for those three years.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: um, uh, a little bit, but if I'm honest about it and I feel the same thing like I was, I was the outgoing editor. I was the last editor. On Thor, uh, when Thor ended and then did not come back at the time of, of, uh, new Avengers and the captain America relaunch and the iron man relaunch and didn't come back for a couple of years until eventually Joe's Krasinski and Olivia pellet brought it back.
Um, and that time of way, that time of not having a Thor [00:11:00] book, Thor kind of went from being a character in a thing that. People were only maybe so, so interested in even when it was done really well to suddenly something that felt like special and new and cool again, I think fantastic. Four was the same kind of thing, like, you know, when the book was around, um.
You know, it was a difficult book to get people to jump onto because it had been there forever. People felt like they knew what it was about. It wasn't their, their, their bag. It was, you know, a book with a lot of history behind whatever the, whatever the case may be. It wasn't a title that it was really easy to electrify the audience on on a regular basis.
Don't matter. Who was doing it, no matter how good it was, you'd have ups and downs, but even even creative teams that you would think, man, that's gonna be a slam dunk home run. No question over the top sales Bonanza, you'd only get kind of middling results [00:12:00] on. And as soon as it went away, everybody on earth went, I want it now.
I want it back. Where is it? So, so the same sort of thing with Thor. Um. You know, the, the, the fact that it's not there actually makes people appreciate it and, and, and kind of want it. So when you do eventually bring it back, you know, it's got a, it's, it's, it's got a reception waiting for it with open arms.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah, it was. Cause I always wondered how that, because when it came back, everybody got real excited for the fantastic four coming back. And I remember going into my LCS and I missed the cutoff to order that first book. You know? And I was like, okay, well, he's like, he's like, man, I can order your reprint if they reprint and I can get you and I can put you on the list for number two.
And I was like, Oh, you gotta be kidding. I really miss that. And he's like, Oh yeah, he's like it. As soon as it was announced, people came in and [00:13:00] then I ordered all the ones that I thought and he goes, but I did order more for the shelf. And then I came in to get for the shelf and I, you know, I have to work.
So I CA I came in after work and it was already gone. It was already got first day gone.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm again, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: That's okay. Luckily I can, I can, you guys have a lot of stuff online so I can go there and do a Marvel Marvel unlimited.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah. Marvel unlimited.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yup. So I'm already subscribed to that so I can read it, so I'm okay. But, you know, it's always nice to have that tactile feel in your hand. I, I, I love the digital stuff for the, for the, uh.
You know, for the convenience of it, you know, bring up my, my, I bring up my iPad or my, you know, my tablet and open up my app and go. But man, that feeling of it, there's nothing like getting an old comic from the seventies and breaking it open and it just smells like the seventies.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yup. [00:14:00] Yup. It's that, uh, it's that decaying paper.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Who, um, who was the writer behind. The Thor series with Jane as Thor, that was, um, Jason, Jason, Aaron, and when he brought that idea over to you guys, what was your thought process? Were you like, this is great, and just went with it? Or was there some, some discussion on it? Because I know online there was a lot of people that were up in arms about it.
I thought it was a brilliant. Take on Thor and how to represent Thor in different ways. Uh, I, I loved it. I kind of wish they'd do more of it.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well. Well, uh, well, thank you. I mean, uh, I think, uh, you know, Jason did as much of it as he wanted to do. Um, you know, and, and so, you know, there's discussion about just about anything when it comes down to a story that we're doing, but, you know, it was very much, we, we do two or three times a year, and again, this is in a normal year, not in a.
[00:15:00] Strange pandemic year, which is throwing all the rules out, but you know, in a normal year, two or three times a year, we have editorial summits where we bring in a bunch of our key creators and all the editors, and we sit down for two or three days. And we talk about what everybody's cooking up in their books, so as to be able to both know what's going on and all the other titles, and to be able to bounce ideas back and forth and synergize, or, you know, take a look at our publishing plan and see what else we might need, or if we have too much of something.
All of these kinds of things. Um, and so, so, you know, whatever year that happened to be, you know, Jason was already writing for, he'd been writing Thor for. I think at that point, at least a year and a half, two years. Um, and he came in and said, okay, I want to do this story where, and some of it was an outgrowth of, he was going to be writing, uh, original sin, the, the, the, the [00:16:00] event series.
And in the course of original sin. Uh, you know, all the various characters, uh, found things, uh, that, that, uh, you know, sent them all, all, uh, uh, in different directions and, and, and all, uh, you know, a, a skew. Uh, and the thing that was going to happen to the Thor that Jason. Came up with is he was gonna like not be able to pick his hammer up anymore.
And so from that, Jason came in and kind of pitched this idea, I'm going to have a, a, a new Thor, and you know, she's going to come and she's going to pick up the hammer. And for a while we're going to just. Play with our identity where nobody's going to know who it is, and there'll be a bunch of different characters in the book.
It could be, and maybe it'll be raw. It's Roz Solomon, or maybe it's Jane Foster, or maybe it's a for, maybe it's, he had a whole list of people. He always knew who it was going to be. Um, but, you know, he, he laid this idea out and basically, you know, while we talked about it, and, you [00:17:00] know, in that conversation for however long it was, you know, 10 minutes or, or whatnot, that was pretty much it.
Uh, and then, you know, he went and did it and, and executed it. Uh, and, uh, you know, people liked it. Some people liked it. It certainly sold well for all the people that got ripped out of shape about it or whatever. Um. And, and, uh, you know, it, it did well, and you know, now by all accounts, they're going to be using elements of it in the next floor movie.
So it worked out all right.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah, I thought it was, I don't know. I thought Jason did a great job on it. It made, it was a lot of fun to read. And that's what comic books are for, right? To have fun and to read. And it's sometimes some will make you think, but most of them just make you feel this was, this was a lot of fun. I mean, that's the best ones do anyways.
So are you, are you a star blazers fan?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yes. Yes, [00:18:00] I am. You're the first person I wanted to use to ask me about that in a long
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh, good. I
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: you go. That's my, that's my history right there.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: it. I love it. I
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: you're getting to the main line now.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I love star blazers. I grew up, uh, when I was in, so this would have been, what, 1979 I think it is when it first came out on American television.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Debuted in 79 yes. September of 79
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yup. I was in school. I would be, it was on channel 11 KSBW at 7:00 AM my bus would show up at seven 35. But I would have to watch all of that. Siri, all of the episode, I would not, and then I would run to the bus stop. Now the bus stop luckily was only not even a quarter mile away. You know what I mean? It was close, but I would run to the bus stop, but I missed the bus so many times.
My mom would have to drive me to school. [00:19:00] School, and she'd get so mad at me because he's watching that stupid cartoon, but it's like you don't understand, mom. This cartoon is amazing. Have you heard the theme song? I'd be on the back of the bus, just belting out that theme song as loud as I could, and it has stuck with me my whole.
Life that when I go back, it got me into Japanese animation. It got me into cartoons. It's probably my first love as a kid. That's probably my first actual weird, geeky love that I had over. Everything else was star blazers and you know, it was for me, it wasn't Yamamoto because I watched it on American television first.
It was the Argo, you know.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Right,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: And it was the wave motion gun, and to see that wave motion gun go, and then the sound and everything. Oh my gosh, I loved it.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yep. Yep. Well, I, I, uh, yeah, I was a little older and I didn't really start to watch it until like 1982. [00:20:00] Uh, my, my family, I lived, I grew up in New York. Uh, and in New York, uh, you know, it played, you know, much less as it did in, in your area. It played in the morning, but like at six 30 in the morning. So I never, I never really saw it.
And at that time, like the year before, battle of the planets had come out. And I was a big battle of the planets fan and, and that show aired at like four 30 in the afternoon. So all that stuff was better. Uh, for a while. My younger brother was, was watching it at like six 30 in the morning, and I'd see like two seconds over it or whatnot as I went out the door.
And. Art style wise compared to the, the work in, in the battle of the planets, the catcher amount of work, it looked, it just looked crude or to be, it looked, it was more stylized. It looked weirder. It didn't appeal to me. Um, so my family in at the end of 1981, uh, my [00:21:00] dad, uh, my family relocated to Delaware.
My dad was transferred in his job and we moved to Delaware. And in Delaware. Star blazers had been like a perennial show, uh, on, on TV 29, uh, you know, for forever. Uh, and it was just on in the afternoons, roundabout, typically around about three 30. Uh, give or take. Uh, and so eventually, you know, I would see bits and pieces every once in a while and go, this is a weird thing.
I don't, I don't like this. I don't want to watch this. Uh, and so there would just be, there was just one day eventually where as I was sitting there after, after, uh, you know, school or whatnot, uh, flip it around because I was, you know, I would have been a, like a young high school kid, I would have been in like.
Ninth grade. Uh, so I w I, yeah, but so I wasn't driving yet. I was stuck at my house and my house was in like a new development that was, that had just been built up. So there was [00:22:00] like nothing around. You couldn't go anywhere. So until I became. You know, mobile, until I could drive a couple of years later, pretty much, you know, in a, in a, an afterschool capacity until like my parents were around to take me somewhere.
If there was something to do, I was there at the house, and so I would end up watching the most ridiculous stuff. Um, and, and so, you know, there were, there was one day where I ended up watching. Most of an episode. And by that I mean I, you know, I, I would flip around and I would catch a bit of the episode and either we would get to a commercial and I would flip away or, or we'd get to some point that would lose my attention and I would flip away.
But I ended up watching most of this episode and I came back the next day. The next day. Uh, and I started watching it regularly, and then it, and then it just like became a thing. And I, you know, [00:23:00] not only did I, I watched it all, I badgered my, my, my family to, to get, you know, in those days, it was a much bigger deal.
Uh, a video recorder, a big, big old Betamax.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yup. We had
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: and I, and I got a Betamax. Yep. And I, I, you know, I taped them all. Uh, and I, I got connected to, you know, what was in those days, uh, you know, the very early days of what became anime fandom. Uh, cause I found out that, you know, I, I would digging about like, what's, what, what's the deal with this show?
What is this? And I discovered that there was more of it that I hadn't seen that hadn't been brought over. And so.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: season.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: The third season and the films and whatnot.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Farewell. The spaceship Yamamoto. What I found out about that, I flip a lid man, because I worked in a video store in 95 and I could order whatever I wanted because I was the manager of the store, so I went into the [00:24:00] catalog and there it was all three seasons of star blazers in its original form, subtitled, and then a farewell to spaceship Yamamoto.
And then I watched that. I watched it straight through and you know, in Japanese and wow, what a different story.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yup, yup. Um, well, I've, again, I've, I've, I've, I've watched it all. I, I, I saw it all. Um, you know, I, I've got copies of it all at this point. Um, and over at my, my, uh, my blog page, the Tom brief work.com page for a while. I'm done now, but I, I see realized, I, I did sort of a retrospective on every episode of that show,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I'm gonna have to go back and read it because, yeah.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: over there and, and, and, and go through that stuff. But I also, like, I'm a, I'm a big enough fan. Like I met my wife through, uh, you know, star blazers and anime fandom.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh, that's cool.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Um, [00:25:00] and, and my first, I've been to Japan like twice, uh, and the first time I went to Japan in 2010, I went to see the live action Yamada movie.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh w I was going to ask you about it. What'd you think?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Aye. Aye. Aye. I loved it. I know that there are people that have their cripples with it and all of those triples are fine and correct, but they're all out of their mind because it's great.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: it's a live action star places movie. Get out of here. I love it. I was so excited when I saw the preview.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yep. Yep. I saw that opening day in Japan in 2010.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: so jealous right now. You have no idea.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: and literally, like, and you know, this is, this is very reflective of how, uh, you know, I, and my family do stupid things. Uh, you know, we pretty much, you know, we flew to Japan on a Monday, which meant we landed [00:26:00] on Tuesday.
Uh, the film opened on a Wednesday, saw the film on Wednesday, you know, went around, looked at stuff, uh, did a second day on Thursday where we went around and looked at stuff, saw the film a second time, flew back on Friday. So the, the sum, the sum total of time I was in Japan was maybe two days. I flew. Uh, you know, uh, it's a, it's a long ass flight.
Um, I flew it basically to watch a movie twice.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: That's awesome, but your kids probably love that.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. It was, it was not as exciting for them because. They had no, you know, it didn't have the same connection to the source material or anything, but you know, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a trip. It's a thing they remember.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Did you watch the the 2199 the basic remake?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh yeah,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: How [00:27:00] was that? I haven't had a chance to watch it. I didn't even know what came out cause
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: it. Uh,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: just
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: they just, yeah, they just, I don't know if they still have it, but they just, they just ran it in English on a, I think it was crunchy roll. Uh, if I'm not, I'm not mistaken. Like they've got it and they had it as dubbed and it's, it's all right. Um, I actually had, I've been back to Japan one more time since then, a couple of years ago for a Marvel event.
And one of the things we ended up doing, and when I was out there, is I ended up having dinner with a bunch of people, some of whom were connected to the animation industry, and I had a conversation with them about. The new show and the old show. And, you know, one of the things I kind of posited there, uh, and they, they, they sort of, you know, at least the people in this party sort of, you know, confirm this to some degree is like the new show.
Is, I mean, it's a much, it's a much [00:28:00] more lavish production. Um, you know, it, it does not look as crude obviously. Um, you don't see, you don't, you can't see the, the, the, the, the cigarette droppings on the cells, uh, anymore in the new show. But for me, it's also a little bit bloodless. Uh, and by which I mean, um, you know, the, the premise of that show is absurd.
It's bananas. You know, you're, you're buying going in is we're going to take a world war II era battleship and literally
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Outfit. If
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: it into a spaceship and fly across space and, and do this stuff. And
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: days, they're going to, is Ken Darren back?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yes, yes, yes. And, and, and, you know. It's world war II and outer space. And that's the metaphor. And, and, uh, you know, for, for a modern audience with these modern, uh, creators, they kept trying to [00:29:00] do stuff to make that more plausible.
And. I think that that wasn't necessarily a bad choice, but the thing that it did for me is, you know, any episode of star blazers from the original show, they would blow the heck out of that ship on an episode to episode basis. You know, it would be on fire in space. And that doesn't make a bit of sense.
But it looked great
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Visually. It's stunning.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yes. And in the, in the new show, you know, they realized that like. That doesn't work. So they're, they're a lot more precious with it. They don't ding it up that much, and now it's got, you know, star Trek style shields, so it can, and, and like, that all makes sense.
It's much more plausible, but it's also kind of like you're, you're, you're at the point where you're at worrying about stuff like that. You gotta start to stare at it and go. It's a, [00:30:00] it's a battleship in space, dude. Like, like, you know, there's, there's, there's no amount of verisimilitude you can, you can build up to really make that.
Go,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: know, it's, it's, it's fantasy and that's, there's nothing wrong with that.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: to suspend that
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: but that, that I even said, I thought the, the, the, the, the, the team that dubbed it and brought it over did a very nice job. Uh, and, and in, in remaking it, like there is some episodes that are, that are virtually shot to shot remakes and put them, they also.
You know, they did diverged and they do their own thing and go their own path and do different, different things. And yeah, a lot of that stuff I like, some of it I'm not as crazy about, I still prefer the original show, but it's also like, that was the original show. That was the show I watched. So it's hard to, you're gonna have a hard time convincing me that the remake is going to be better.
Um, yeah. I may just [00:31:00] not be,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well, it's not going to have that feeling. Well, and there's, there's gotta be a difference too, because the people. Who created that first show, they went through world war II. There was a pressure on top of them too, too. It's kind of like the people who created Godzilla the first time, you know?
It's a
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yes. That's exactly right. And that is exactly the conversation that I had.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Oh, really?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: you know, yeah. That, that, that, that the, the difference to me, cause one of the, one of the tonal problems for me is in the new show, nobody feels particularly worried. About the situation, like they're all on the mission and everybody's committed to it and so forth, but they seem much more lighthearted about it.
And I, you know, the original show, like these people are. They're under complete stress, like everything is at stake at every moment, and there's not, you know, it is life or death. You know, I, in the simplest of situations, and it's [00:32:00] the difference between the generation that lived through world war II at the aftermath of world war II in the aftermath of the atomic bombings and, and the rebuilding of Japan and the generation after that who lived in.
A repaired and very nice, you know, put together more technologically advanced Japan of today. Um, you know, so, so, so, you know, just the sensibility of it is, is different. Uh, and that specifically was the thing that I ended up chatting with, uh, with, with the animators over there like that, that to me was the w was the real difference between the, the, the approach to the two shows.
I could appreciate, you know, the greater. Certainly the, the, the, the, you know, the, the, the more modern, uh, and, and prettier, uh, animation style and, and so forth. But, you know, I, I, I, I, I missed the, the, the guts of the original [00:33:00] show.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. You know, I look back, I think Derek Wildstar is, is. One of the great is for that era and everything that was going on. When you, when you go to, to, uh, quote unquote heroes, I, the way they wrote him, the way they portrayed him, you such a broken hero, you know what I mean?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Sure. Yeah, for
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I can't think of any other cartoon or, you know, doing that, that type of work during that timeframe.
And really it wouldn't be until the nineties that you would have anything that would even come close to the drama and doing that serialized storytelling like that. I mean, I, they like broke the mold on it.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Well, I mean, you could, you would get other, other Japanese shows that would come over like a lot of people, a whole other generation. Uh, yeah, the generation of the after star blazers is the Robotech generation. Uh, and, you know, I, I, I liked Robotech well [00:34:00] enough. I watched, I watched the original Macross in, you know, when it was airing in Japan, you know, now they would send, I had by that point, linked up with enough
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Is that the public I'm crisis.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Fandom that, you know, you would trade tapes and get episodes as, as they went. And so that was another like, you know, dramatic serialized show. I don't like, I don't like the Robotech, uh, translation as well. I don't like as much what they, what they did with those shows, but the next generation, you know, it completely worked for them.
But yeah, you really kind of have to get to the, to the nineties before. Uh, you know, American shows started to do the same kinds of things.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: was just weird because I'm like, at that time, I'm six years old, you know? And I'm watching this show and it's literally affecting me, and it really came down to the, sorry, excuse me, the, uh, character writing. [00:35:00] Like Derrick's relationship with the captain was stupendous. You know, it was broken, it was stressful, but then you could feel the bond the whole time.
It was, I don't know, greatly
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: It's a, it's a, it's a great show. It's kind of a shame that it's not easily available today.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Well, I knew Disney in the nineties had the rights to do a live action. I don't know if they still do, but they did. And then I read that they did. Anyways, I should say that I read that they at one time had the rights to do it, and I really wish.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: There was a, there was a know there was a point. I mean, it still gets talked about that there'll be a movie. Um, there was a script done in the nineties. I've read that script. That script was not good.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Right? Wasn't ready for prime time.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: It was, yeah, it was, it was not, it was not, it had one or two good things about it, but it was not good.
And it was not really the show. It was, [00:36:00] you know, they took a couple of elements from the show
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: wave motion
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: it up differently and kind of, I mean, one of the, one of the, one of the problems was legally because of all the different copyright holders in different, uh, countries, they, they couldn't. No, you couldn't do the ship looking like that. So they have a wave motion gun in that movie, but it's not in the front of the ship. It's kind of up on the deck.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I kind of snapped. Nope, don't want it. Don't want it next.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: When you
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: But that's all right.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: when, when you think about a live action movie, Hollywood style coming out, who do you see playing? Do you? Do I, cause I, like at one point I cast did the whole movie, you know, and the only one that I can can remember that I feel like would still be amazing is Jeremy irons as desk deadlock.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: sure. I can see
[00:37:00] Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: You know what I mean? I mean, he looks like him. His mannerisms are the same based on, you know, what you're from, from what you see on in the movies. I always think of him in a diehard is that diary three that he's in. And, uh, I always think of that and I'm like, Oh my God. He'd be a perfect desk clock.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah, I've never, I've never thought about casting it, and honestly, I kind of don't worry about it, you know? I. I saw the Japanese live action movie. That's my live action movie. If they do one and it's good, I'll be happy. If they do one and it stinks, I'll still have that. If they'd never do one, I'll still have that.
So I might like, I'm, I'm covered. Um, at this point I'm, I'm, I'm good. I feel like I got my, I got my money's worth. I got the thing I wanted. Uh, you know, I, I'm, I'm, I'm satisfied. Um, you know, again, if they, if they do one, I'll go see it. You know, I
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well, yeah, me too. [00:38:00] I'll be
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: and I will hope that it's, yeah, I'll hope that it's, I'll hope that it's great.
Um, but, uh, you know, my, my, my need for it to be that just, it's just not there anymore.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah. No, I get that. I get that. Had, did you read the comic book?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I, I, I did, I read the first. Of the two comico series. Um, you know, that was, it was not, it was not the greatest adaptation in the world. Um, but I did read it back in the day and I was aware of the second one. Um, and then later in the nineties, they did the, the, the, the nineties comic. Uh, and that was, that was a lot better.
And, and some good people worked on that. Notably Tim L dread, who still runs the, the, the main star blazers, uh, Yamato fan page.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. How, when you guys talk about doing crossovers and doing the huge events like the [00:39:00] fall, the mutans and all those types of events. What goes? How does that process start? Is it like a single idea that maybe you or, or, or somebody else has and says, okay, how do we tie this in? Or, because I've always been curious on this
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well, I think, I mean, there's no one size fits all answer typically at any given any given year in that sort of spring, summer area, we're going to want to do a big story, and typically those big stories grow out of things. That are going on in the individual titles. So, you know, typically, you know, we're not just working on whatever the, the big story is now.
We kind of have a sense of what the next one, maybe even the next two are likely going to be. And that can change and shift as we, as we go. And as, as stories develop. Um, but so it really comes down to come at, you know, somebody having an idea. For that kind of story [00:40:00] because you know, we know there's going to be a desire for it and indeed for it that you know people in the, as we talk about it, respond to and get excited about.
Um, you know, and that's, that's, that's really the, the, the crux of it. Um, you know, typically, you know, not universally, but as universally as we can make it, um, you know, those, those events stories are, are, are opt in by choice. You know, we try not to force people to do tie-ins or things. Um, because you don't really get great comics if you're making people.
Uh, connect, people tie in because they, they want to tie in either because they're excited about something in the story or what the story can do for them, or they're excited about the idea of being able to put more eyeballs onto the project that they're working on and maybe, you know, capturing some of that audience or, or, or what have you.
Um, but it tends to be as, as much as we can make it a volunteer operation, so, so we're not having to [00:41:00] really. Twist people's arms. It doesn't mean that sometimes that doesn't happen at certainly doesn't mean that sometimes there are disagreements between the editor on a given book and the and the, the the creative team on a book as to whether or not they should be tying in.
Because what may make more waste may make sense. Commercially. It may make sense creatively, may not always line up perfectly. So I don't want to make the sound completely utopian, but generally speaking. You know, we try to do this on a volunteer basis. Um, and, and then again, it's really about like, you know, who's got the, who's got a story that we think could, could, uh, you know, could do this.
And again, what, what area, what each happened we scratch, what kind of thing have we not done? What's in the site, guys that had given a moment? What kind of things should we be talking about through the metaphor of our characters? And, and, uh, you know, how does that all. How, how does that all then, you know, map out and play out.
I think typically somebody is the person [00:42:00] that's putting that story together and writing it and they do an outline and they work with their editor to refine that outline and then you know, some kind of a basic beat sheeter or presses is sent around to the other editors and the other creative teams going, here's the event, here's how the story works, here's how your tie ins can work.
You use a couple of different ways. You might be able to do tie in stories or stuff we haven't thought of yet. And then all the editors talk about it with their creative teams and they come back with ideas and say, Hey, we want to do this Daredevil story as a, as a part of this, and we think it's this, and could we do this?
And, you know, you try to figure out whether or not what they want to do can connect your dovetail into what's going on in the, in the main, main thing. And, uh, you know, so there's a lot of, there's a lot of block and tackle involved. Um. But it's, it's, it's all relatively harmonious.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: do you ever have somebody like a Donnie Cates come up and just have such a great idea and such a cool thing to do [00:43:00] that even though it kind of messes with what's going on and what the idea of what's going to happen to get to this end game? Um, do you guys have to go back in and say, we really want to incorporate this because if we don't do it now, it might not make as much sense or be as cool later on.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Um, Oh, sure. We've had things, you know, we've changed, not necessarily in mid story, like what's a story is started. We're, we're pretty much on the tracks, but in terms of our planning, you know, most famously, uh, the best example of this that goes back before Donny, um, a little bit was that, you know, years ago.
Uh, we did house of them on the year after house of them, uh, was going to be what ended up being world war halt.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Um, and we, we had, uh, we had a retreat. We went to this retreat and, and for like a day or two, all the people involved were talking about this whole idea. And it wasn't just where we're Hawk, it was also the planet Hulk [00:44:00] story.
That that set it up. The Hulk would, yeah. The Avengers were going to shoot the Hulk into space. He was going to end up with this planet and go from like slave to gladiator to, to, to rebel, to King. And then he was going to come back with all of this guys and fight all the heroes on earth. And we just, we, we spent two days and we could not make it work.
And everybody was really getting frustrated and also a little bit. Packed because you know, Oh, this is a thing we're going to do. And so the night of the second day, Mark Miller and Brian Bendis went out. You know, they were, they were in the same hotel, uh, and they, they started talking over dinner or drinks or whatnot.
And, you know, Mark started talking about, well, you know, the kind of story thing I want to do is, you know, this thing, we're in New York and there's these arms, uh, you know, guys everywhere, you know, and all the train stations and all the major three ways because it's after nine 11 and there's all this heightened security.
And if you had superheroes, you'd be dealing with [00:45:00] all this stuff. And they bounced stuff around for that night and came in the next day and had the basic idea for what in the room grew into civil war. And so we ended up pushing back the world war Hulk story, you know, by like, you know, 10 months a year.
Uh, but that was good because that gave the Hulk part of the story, the planet hall part of the story, the time it needed to do the Hulk is going to be shot off into space, and he's going to end up on this planet and he's going to go from slave to gladiator to, to rebel, leader to King, and make that journey.
Uh, you know, feel earned. So that when he came back, that felt earned. Um, and so, so that whole civil war story, you know, just evolved in the course of that, uh, that retreat. Uh, and, and in some ways, out of the desperation of something's not working right with, with this world war [00:46:00] Hulk story. Um, so yeah, sometimes things will, will shift around or change because it's not just not the right time or we don't have things lined up properly or, or, or whatnot.
Um, you know, it's not, it's, it's not even all that rare, you know, things will, things will jock, jock back and forth. Um, uh, you know, again, depending on where people are on their stories and how much they've got, Donnie usually plans things out super far in advance, so he doesn't just know what his next story is going to be in venom or whatever.
He knows what the next one's going to be and the one after that and the one after that. And here's my plan for the sixth one that I'm building to all the way down here. And so sometimes he has to adapt to things that are going on. Elsewhere. If there's something happening in Spiderman that suddenly is going to impact on something he wants to do in his fifth story, um, you know, or, or, or in, you know, whatever book in, in fantastic four or the Hulk or, or whatever.
Uh, and that's true. If that's true of everybody, [00:47:00] um, you know, but that, that's, that's the, that's the fun and the responsibility of working in the shared sandbox that is the Marvel universe.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: awesome though. How do you keep track of that stuff, man? Do you have like a giant flow chart sitting in your office or is it all in you guys' minds? Because that sounds incredible amount of gears to keep on track.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: It, it, it, it is in every case. And I, you know, I typically do have, you know, a big, uh, you know, like, okay, you know, power pro, a spreadsheet. You know that, that, that's charting, you know, a bunch of the books and what's going on and all the books every, every month out for however long as do all the other key editors, you know, in the, in the, in the place I, we talk back and forth like a lot of this, it sounds complicated, but it doesn't necessarily impact in a big way on the next issue of Avengers per se, but it does impact on [00:48:00] when.
These storylines of these events are going to spread out across the whole of the Marvel universe and need to be reflected in places. So things like if iron man's going to get a new. Uh, a new armor redesign in the Ironman book. I need to figure out when that's going to also be incorporated into Avengers and where the natural break point is and that story to go, okay, this adventure is over in between this adventure and the next adventure.
Iron man would off had that other story and iron man, God, his new armor, and now he's back looking like
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: right, right.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: You know? So there's, there's stuff like that and there's stuff the other way too. If Ironman goes through some big thing and Avengers, you want to be able to reflect that in issues of iron man. So, so, you know, we also, I also send out every week to, I got a little mailing list of, of my key Avengers contributors and it's now kind of grown beyond that to a bunch of different people working at Marvel.
You know, I send them, I send [00:49:00] them copies of all the books that go to print that week. All the Marvel universe books. Um, I don't know that anybody reads them all, but I do know that most everybody reads, at least some of them. Um, and that's a way that, you know, they can keep up with what's going on and in each other's books and even be ahead because they'll be getting them three or four weeks before they're on sale.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. When do you guys still do inventory stories? Is that what, that's what it's called right. When you had the filler
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: used to be? Yes. Yes. We really not, not in that way. Not really. Um, because the way the market exists now and, and, and, and the wind stories are built, um, you know, what, what the audience wants. We really, we really don't and can't, uh, run just a random inventory story in the middle of a run.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Do you miss
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: just doesn't work.
Um, I really don't in that, while occasionally you would get a cool inventory. [00:50:00] Um, most of them were, were kind of lame. Most of them were. They, I mean, know without, without meaning any slight to anybody who worked. A lot of people started out doing inventory stories and such, you know, so they tended to be done not by the 18.
In any given place, they got, you know, they tended to be done by guys that were trying to make their bones, or guys that were, you know, long established, dirty men who needed some work. Um, and who could, you know, put together an entertaining issue of captain America in 20 pages that, you know, would, would keep the presses running that month.
Um, and so, you know, most of them tend to not be terribly memorable. Uh, and so not, you know, I didn't get into doing this to produce a lot of work that's not memorable. Um, sometimes it's unavoidable and sometimes we certainly make. Crummy comics because this is not science. It's alchemy and art. And so, you know, you, [00:51:00] you know, you take your best swing every time, and sometimes you hit a home run and sometimes you strike out.
Sometimes you fall out, sometimes you thrown out at second. Um, you know, like, like, yeah, you can't control that. Um, but, but you know, that I think is, I like that better than I like just. Dropping a random, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's an adventure. It's got 20 pages, you know, Spiderman fights somebody.
There's a, there's a story, but it doesn't really impact or affect anything. And I don't think the audience these days. Uh, yeah. With the cost of the books, I was, how everything is so connected and plugged in. I don't think the audience really wants that either. I mean, they complain about the, about, you know, the issues or stories in air quotes, not counting or not mattering even when they're by the regular teeth. So. You know, the idea that an issue would just show up and it'd be a Daredevil story by whoever is not the regular guys on that thing. You know, chip [00:52:00] Starsky takes the month off and somebody else is writing 20 pages of Daredevil. I can't imagine people, you know, being happy with that reading experience and it making them want to come back to say nothing of the fact that nowadays pretty much everything we do virtually is collected as, as as books.
You know, so, so, you know,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: They get into that trade paperback and you know.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah, it's, it's, it's disruptive and it's, you know, it sticks out like a sore thumb. You know, back in the day when these were just kind of disposable periodicals, you know, after your month was over. No, it was, it was, it was done and gone. You sold
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: That makes a lot of
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: of comics you needed to sell that month.
Then you brought the money in that needed to be brought in and you were, you were over in, you know, back to regular programming. Uh, it's just a different, it's just a different world.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Now with the, with the advent of the internet, and it seems like, uh, when I was, you know, when I started reading [00:53:00] and collecting comic books and I get my bags and it took me about six years where I realized that, Oh, I should put boards in the back of these, and I knew the names based on what I read.
But you didn't know anything more than the name of the person. Right. I didn't know what they look like. I didn't know. Uh, I wouldn't have correlated the fact that Jim shooter was an overarching editor across all these titles. You know, in the seventies and eighties. It just wouldn't click with me. But now at the eighties, you see somebody like Brian Michael Bendis leave Marvel and then show up at DC.
Uh, how do you guys go about feeling about that type of stuff being out there? Cause it, it, you guys have a plethora of talent. So I felt like, um, you know. Michael leaves and to me, or Brian leaves. And to me, Donnie Kate steps up and it seems like you guys have a really good knack of picking the right people, but on top of that, you know, what does it, what goes through the process when somebody does leave?
Is there a lot of shoring up of [00:54:00] stories? Is there any type of scramble? And, and just so you know, Tom, if, if, if I ask you any questions and you're not, you don't want to talk about it, just tell us and we'll just edit it out. I don't want you to feel
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh, Oh, Oh. Don't worry. I will be, yeah. If there's something that I, I don't want to really can't talk about, I'll say it, but this is, this is. This is fine. You know, first off, um, you know, you're right that the internet has made this tougher, but it was, you know, depending on how old you were and how plugged in you were.
Again, I'm obviously a bunch of years older than you were, and in the eighties when stuff like that was happening, I knew everything that was going on because I was following.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: The trade
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: heroes. And I was following the comics journal and I was following the comics buyer's guide. And so while I might not have been able to recognize Chris Claremont in a, in a lineup, I knew when he and
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: such a good writer.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: working on X-Men anymore, and that John was going to be taking over fantastic four.
And now this new guy, Paul Smith, was going to be coming in to [00:55:00] Drax man. And you know, all of those shenanigans. There was an audience for, it just was a smaller audience because it was harder information to get out. You only really had what was in the books. Um, and, and, uh, you know, so that's, you know, the, the, the fact that there's greater transparency means just that more people are aware of it and the, the people that really care about it, like I did in the eighties, you know, can more readily.
Uh, uh, you know, plug into that and get that stuff. Um, you know, you work at Marvel and, and I say this and people are gonna laugh and they're good. They're going to laugh because as, as the biggest company, you know, and, and as a, you know, a piece of Disney, it isn't natural to think about Marvel as being the evil empire.
Um, but at, at, at Marvel, we work very hard, and we have worked very hard for a very long time. Uh, to try to foster an environment that is friendly, [00:56:00] accommodating, open, and welcoming to creators. We want the best creators working for us. We want them doing their best work. We want them being part of the team with us, and we want everybody working hand in hand to create great stories.
And we try to create and foster that environment. Um, you know, Brian was with Marvel for. 14 years. 15 he did. He was, he, he did a lot of times I may have been longer than that. When I stop and think about it, it may even be closer to like
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Brian Michael minister there a long time.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Brian, not only, not only had he been there for that long, but as sort of like a top dog ascended talent.
She did just about everything it was possible to do. Like you can't, you can't really easily think of like books or characters that Brian didn't write and didn't write for significant chunks of time. So it. Yeah. So in, in, in some [00:57:00] ways the, I, you know, it was not, you know, it wasn't like it was a welcome thing that he was going to go over and do stuff with, with DC, but, um, you know, it was not surprising either because you know, it, it becomes more difficult after a while for him not to be repeating himself at Marvel and DC, there's a whole wide open field of, of characters and ideas and things that he read when he was.
You know, and I'll put it coming, uh, you know, reader and, and, and would be a creator, uh, just like, uh, we did. Uh, and that he's got affection for an ideas for, uh, and it's, you know, it's, it's, it's a Virgin landscape to play with. You know, hopefully at some point, you know, your hope would be that eventually he'll come back and do more stuff for Marvel.
Either way. You know, wish I wish him the best on everything that he's doing. Um, you know, I'm following, I'm keeping up not so much these last two months because there haven't been any, but, you know, I've been keeping up, uh, you know, with, with, with the books he's [00:58:00] been been writing over there.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: God, there's so many of them.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah.
And like you say, you know, hopefully, you know, we try to be good at, at fostering and, and bringing in and building up, uh, you know, new talent and new voices, you know, so that as people rotate out and because they, they do, everybody's, everybody's got a certain, for lack of better term, shelf life. And that sounds, that sounds kind of awful.
But it's the only term that really, like you're, you know, you're, you're, you're there for a, it's your prime, your moment in the sod, and then it's time for the generation after you to take your place.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Especially in that creative
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: and, and, yeah, and, and so, you know, we're constantly looking and working to build up who are the, who are the new voices, who, where's the new people and how do we develop them and build them up.
So they go from. Whatever, go from writing FENOs to writing guardians of the galaxy to writing, venom, to writing, you know, Thor, you know, [00:59:00] and, and, and, and to become, uh, you know, the people who can step into those positions when the time comes, when those, when those positions are gone, nobody particularly wanted Brian to, to leave.
Um, maybe Donnie did, it was an opening, but, Yeah. No, but I, I really, you know, nobody, nobody did. But, but, you know, the, th the, the truism of Marvel is, you know, for the most part, when these things have happened, uh, you know, we've, we've survived, you know, the, the thing that I, that I tell people is Jack Kirby left Marvel in 1970 and Marvel still here.
If Jack, if Jack can leave and Marvel is okay, then pretty much any of us are replaceable
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: That's a healthy attitude to have about it actually.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: and that's it, you know? So.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: So in 2017 Heather tweeted out a picture, get having milkshakes with her, [01:00:00] with her girlfriends there in the office. She had a, she got a bunch of Slack. It was ridiculous. And Marvel as a company really stepped up and condemn the actions of the people that, that went, that, you know, targeted her.
Um. What did that do for you guys as an environment? Did it really put some things into perspective of, wow, there is some really, for lack of a better term, crappy people out there that are forcing things that aren't what Marvel? Because Marvel to me has always been very much on the forefront of being progressive when it came to race, when it came to sexuality, when, you know, I learned my ethics and moral value from reading Stanley's, uh.
Forwards.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yup. Yup. Um, I think certainly, you know, that was, uh, you know, to some degree, a wake up call, um, and, and you know, the, the, the fact that there is some small subset of. [01:01:00] Uh, the audience that, that, that feels that way. Uh, and not just that they feel that way. Anybody's entitled to feel however they want or to respond to the work.
However they want. The, the, the fact that they, they, they feel the need to act out in that way. Um, you know, it wasn't just, it wasn't just the people. We're, we're, uh, you know, were upset that there was a photograph of, of, uh, a bunch of lady comic book out of his great, good milkshakes. It was the way they went about harassing and abusing and, and belittling and talking about those people, colleagues of mine and colleagues of the rest of our staff.
That was distressing.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Did it feel like an attack on you guys as Marvel as a whole, more than just Heather and the, and the people that were shown
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: It is, although obviously it affected those people more because they were on the front lines. And, you know, the, the reality too is there's, there's only so much you can do about it. People are gonna make whatever YouTube videos they're gonna [01:02:00] make, and, you know, I could choose to watch them or not watch them.
You can guess which one I tend to, I tend to follow. Um. You know, anybody's entitled to their, their opinion, uh, when it, when it starts to turn into like, you know, harassment and so forth. I have no, I got no truck with it personally. I just, I just blocked that stuff. Um, and, and I just, I, you know, and I don't, I try not to think twice about it, uh, at this point.
And certainly there were those who run around with that as a badge of honor, or who will feel terribly slighted. How dare he blocked me. I was just trying to give my, uh, you know, to show my opinion and Marvel doesn't care about its fans and, um, no, no, no, no. I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll listen to any. Any sort of criticism, and I'll respect your, your point of view.
Um, when it comes to the work, when it comes to talking shit about my colleagues and the people on our staff. Um, you know, if you were in my [01:03:00] house, I. I'd ask you to leave, and if you didn't leave, I would make you leave. I will say this and this, and this is no different. You know, if you want to do that, that's fine.
There's plenty of places out in the world where you can go and bitch about this stuff for whatever reason it is. You know, there's a million reasons why people are drawn to these stories and these characters, and none of it is, is, is per se wrong. Everyone likes the stuff that they like, and theoretically.
There's room for everybody to have their areas and have their stuff. Uh, and, and the problem comes when people feel such ownership over this stuff that they just get. And, and it's a fanish thing. Like we've all, we've all had it. I remember when I was a reader and I didn't like, you know, they, they changed, uh, you know, they think they, they, they changed Spiderman costume to the black costume.
And I did not like that. And so, you know, I stopped, I stopped reading Spiderman, which would seem to be. The, the sensible way of dealing with that. Uh, and certainly if I always [01:04:00] have a
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Don't give him your money.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I would, you know, I would bitch about that. They put Spiderman and that crummy black costume and how stupid can they be?
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: the opposite. I loved the black costume.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: well, yeah, it's, it's, it's a generational thing and now it's been around for so long that it's not even a thing. But at the time,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: It's
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: that was a huge, but, you know, I, I didn't feel a need to stock Tom to Falco. I didn't feel a need to like, you know, uh, belittle, uh, Ron friends, uh, or a tear down, uh, you know, Roger stir and
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: right,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: they were doing this, this, this store, I didn't take it that personally.
I took it personally enough to go, I'm upset. I'm not gonna read this Spiderman book anymore because it's not doing things that I like. Um, but I didn't feel a need to like. Storm, the storm, the Gates and fixed Spiderman costume, and demanded apology for the fact that it was a black them all. They just, or, or, or whatever the, or whatever the heck it is, you know?
Um, [01:05:00] I think, I think, you know, and, and like, you know, that was, that was my opinion. Uh, that was how I felt at that, at that moment. You know, that's not necessarily the way I feel now, whatever, 40, 40 years later. But. It's, you know, that was, that was it. And that was genuine. And that's, that's fine. That's fine.
Pardon? Being a reader and a fan and enthusiastic, but it, yeah. The line gets drawn when you start treating people, real human beings, people like crap.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah. That's what I felt when I read those tweets and stuff. I was like, this is a joke. This is ridiculous. You know? Hey, I was, you know, I was done. That whole community part, I don't even like. I don't know. You can't even say names of people that are in, I'll just say that community, because I don't know who they are.
You know? It's
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Honestly, you're better off just like not knowing, you know, like there's nothing, there's nothing to be gained. Your, your, your, your, your, your life, your experience, you know, [01:06:00] in this world will not be made better by exposing yourself to that. Uh, it will not aluminate you in some way will not make you a better person.
It will not make you a more rounded individual. It's just a lot of odd you to, that you just don't need. And so, you know, for me, anybody shows up. That I feel like is expressing themselves in that kind of way. I just, I just get rid of them in my, in my feet and, and that's, that's it. And you know, if they want to decide that, Oh, he can't take criticism, that's fine.
Go bitch about it. Wherever it is that you bitch about this stuff, feel free to do that. It's a, it's a free world. There's a whole lot of internet out there. Pick your corner steak, you know, put your soap box up, stake your claim. That's fine. I don't, I don't need it in my world.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah. I'm right there with you. I like it. You know? It's funny you brought up the black costume. And, uh, I had the same feelings. Uh, I was a huge magic fan, right? Eliana Rasputin, I, that was one of the first books that I read was her mini series, [01:07:00] but from back in the early eighties, and I
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: getting along, so we were getting along so well here.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I snuck into my brother's room and he had this, the miniseries, and I read it and I was like, Oh my Lord, I love this. And then I started reading GI Joe and, and I read transformers, and then I got into Spiderman. But when Inferno happens, right? And the, and, and Louis Simon's son did a brilliant job of building her up more and more and more throughout Inferno.
And then they take everything away and they make her a little girl and they take all her powers away. I was crest fallen out. I did not pick up a book that had to do with X-Men or anything that was going to have possibility of where Iliana would have been in. I couldn't read it. I was like, nah, I just can't do it cause they've, they took my girl away.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yup. Yup. No, no, look, I, and I, I, I totally get [01:08:00] that. Um, I don't necessarily think that that was, yeah, it was wrong of them to do, but that's, you know, the, the, I tell our younger editors.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: you know the magic trick that is our stock in trade. Um, that we try to do every single month. Every single issue is to take lines on paper and turn them into real people that the audience cares about.
And that's what you're talking about. You cared about that character. You were invested in that character. And then this thing happened
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I felt like I read her journey from the
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: child and so forth, and like that was it for you. And that's, that's completely fair. But the fact that that, that, that there is that connection, that's, that's the key to everything we do.
And honestly being too, being too precious with. It's the characters, and, and, and, and with the mythology with the world and being afraid to change things up or afraid to, to, to, to, to, [01:09:00] to put characters through the ringer and so forth. That's the kiss of death more than anything because that just dull fast.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Right. You can't, you don't have anything to change at that point.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Yeah. So, so again, I feel, I feel for your experience, I certainly. You know, I've had characters that I've, that I, that I liked, that have gone through periods or stories or things that I haven't liked, you know, at Marvel and elsewhere. Um, and, and, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's what it is. I kind of feel like having, you know, read the books for as long as I have at this point.
Um, I've got enough of a, uh, a macro sense now to kind of go, well, you know, every, everything this too shall pass.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: right,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Um, you know, and, and so if you just wait long enough or you know, if it's not for you right now, move on to something else, you know, read or pay attention, follow
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yup. That's exactly
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: of content in the world.
And eventually the wheel will turn again and something else will, [01:10:00] will happen. And, and, and it'll, it'll, it'll pop back up.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: doing this. I'm lucky that I get to talk to people like you and talk to Walt and Louise Simonton, who I then asked, why did you do this to her? Who said, well, I actually had a whole story arc to bring her back, but things didn't work out at that time and I had to move on to other things, and so I didn't get it back.
But she goes, but this is what I was thinking. And I was like, Oh. You just cured everything
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well there you go.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: so you get lucky. Hey, what's it like walking that? I know you. I don't, I don't know.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Right now. I don't know what it's like walking
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I know, right? Either do
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: out of this. I haven't been out of this house in 10
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: how weird is that? How weird is that?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah, it's, it's a, it's, it's a bit of a sea change. Yes.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: but I was going to ask, how is it following people like Stanley and Jack Kirby and wanting to at least get the stories and the and everything with their going [01:11:00] to, they would be happy with as well. I mean, you can't satisfy everybody, and I'm sure there's tons of stories that have been produced that Stanley and Jack Kirby would have been like, Oh my God, what are you guys doing?
But at the same time. The, the feeling of everything. Cause the one thing I feel like Tom, when I read Marvel today, I still feel like you guys are. Producing content that would have been happy in the eighties happy in the nineties happy. You know, obviously today that you're not just throwing out all that history that you guys are trying to keep everything.
Uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Respectful of everything that's come before, you know, and moving forward and having that change.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: yeah. Well, yeah. Well, thank you. Right. You know, again, we, we, we work at trying to strike that balance between. Uh, you know, honoring the stuff that's come before and, you know, pushing all the characters and all of the stories and things into new areas and new directions that they haven't been yet.
Because the [01:12:00] dullest thing in the world is to read the same story over and over and over again. You know, so you're constantly looking for what new angle, what new twists, what do new take, what new thing can you put Spiderman through? What new villain can he fight that he hasn't fought before? What new conflict, what new problem can he grapple with?
That is in some way, a Peter Parker problem that we haven't seen before. But that feels like it's of a piece with all the stuff that's come before. Uh, and, and how do we do that again and again, and again, every month, sometimes a couple of times a month in different books. Uh, and that's, you know, that's what all of our creators, uh, you know, work out and wrestle with every, every month.
Um, you know, so, uh, you know, I appreciate that, that, that you feel like, you know, we've been, we've been, uh, you know, maintaining the. The overall consistency of, of the Marvel universe, uh, and, and, and the stories of the characters and, and, you know, trying to live up to that legacy. Uh, you know, we certainly try it with [01:13:00] every book every month.
Uh, and as I say, sometimes. You know, sometimes we strike out. It's, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's rules of the game. If you're at bat enough, you're not going to hit the ball every single time. Um, but, but we, every time you get into the batter's box, you swing like, you mean it. Uh, and that's, that's, you know, that's all we can do.
I was like, the best we can do, uh, you know, and, and. Typically it's, you know, it's the audience that tells us what's, what's working and what doesn't, and it's very democratic. If, if people respond to something or like something, chances are we're going to try to do more stuff like that. And if people don't respond to something, it's going to go away and we're going to try to do stuff that's different from that because that's, that's what the audience is, is, is telling us as a whole that, that they're responding to.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. W did you have a chance to meet Stanley? I would assume you would have.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh, yeah, yeah. I met Stan. I worked with him a bunch of
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: What did he give you? Any lasting [01:14:00] advice that just stuck with you?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Um, no, not, not advice per se, although I'm sure, you know, there are nuggets of, of truth or wisdom, you know, scattered throughout whatever interactions there were, um, you know, over the years. Um, you know, but, but yeah, the, the, the same stuff that Stan would have would have said to me, it's the same stuff that he said to everybody and said publicly and said in a million interviews and things, you know, over the years, you know, that the, that the real.
The real trick of this stuff is it's not about the costumes and the, and the, the, the powers and the gadgets and, and that stuff. It's about the people inside the costumes and the human problems that they have. And that's. That's, you know, the,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I think that's so true. Yeah,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: um, you know, you know, uh, uh, what makes Spiderman, Spiderman isn't the written blue costume or the black costume.
If you happen to go that way, um, you know, and, and, and the web shooters and the stick in the [01:15:00] walls, it's. Peter Parker's life versus spider man's life. It's balancing, you know, the needs and responsibilities and calling of being a young guy, uh, you know, in the world with, you know, the, the, the duties and the responsibilities of trying to make the world a better place as, and use your powers responsibly.
And that's, that's it. And as long as you could find. Stories that, that touch on that they'll be good. Spiderman stories. That's, that's really the, the key. Tell me who that, that, that character is inside the costume. Tell me what is what he loves. Tell me what he wants to tell me. What he dreams of tells me.
Tell me what he's afraid of. Tell, tell me what the worst thing that could happen to them is. Tell me what the best thing that could happen to him is, tell me what his hopes are and then I'm going to care. When he's in a life or death situation and has to make choices and has to live with the consequences of those choices.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: The, the story that hits me with [01:16:00] Spiderman will always be craving his last hunt. I think that is was such a powerful story, and it. And in such a shocking way, and I sometimes I wish it would resonate more within Peter's, uh, identity to still today. And I don't know if it does as much as it did for those first few years after it came out.
I mean, you're talking what, 35 years ago now, right. Um, but at the same time, it was so good. Uh, yeah, we had.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: a, it's a great story. It, you know, it's, it's, it's lasted the test of
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. I wish they would do that. I wish they would do that as a movie. I would be so excited. I told JMD Mateus we were talking that was like, man, they need to have Toby McGuire come back and Sam Raimi come back and do that story. Cause I'm just, I wanna I want an adult Spiderman. Cause when I, cause when I started reading Spiderman, you know, we're in the eighties so the big events where we're the black costume and him getting married and Cravens last hunt, those were the [01:17:00] big events all in his late twenties early thirties you know, not the high school stuff, which was great.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: late, late, late, late twenties at the oldest.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. But it was just good
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: on. Is that the oldest he might've, he might've, he might've seemed to you like he was in his thirties, late twenties at his oldest,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: definitely.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: but, but, uh, um, you know, honestly, yeah, there's, you know, there's a whole, there's a whole generation of spidey readers who feel that way.
Um, and, and, uh, you know, I certainly think you could do. Cravens last time, you know, use that as the basis for a film. Um, I don't know that, you know, uh, other than, you know, in a sort of, uh, you know, for lack of better term, off-brand way, like the, the, the, into the spider verse movie, I don't know that you're really going to see an adult married Spiderman, because when you're talking about what.
[01:18:00] What makes that character iconic and quintessential. That's not really it, but those, those are really the years where it was the most off-brand. And I, I completely understand for the generation of readers, and it was a long generation because it was a long time that that Pete and M J were married, like that was their version of Spiderman.
And that's completely valid. But. When you look at that, at that character, that series, that property, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's fundamentally the best kid, teenage property ever conceived. So doing it. You know, as a, as a, as a, an adult property or as a, you know, a married guy, property is not really getting the best or the most universal out of your, out of your Spiderman.
You know, possibly, and I don't know this for any fact, but possibly if Sam Raimi had done Spiderman four and Spiderman five and Spiderman six at some [01:19:00] point. You naturally would have gone there because at that point you'd have done a bunch of stuff. And we don't watch Toby McBryer, you know, grow older and there's only so long he can, he can play that he's in college or living with mr and his building or whatever, whatever it is.
Um. But that's not necessarily the best, most universal version of Spiderman. And that's, that's kind of why every time there's a, there's a cartoon, and every time the movies reset, every time you go back to ground, you start with a young Spiderman because that, that, that's what that character. Uh, really has going, it's baked into him that that's what that character is about.
And it's even, it's even true in, into the spider verse, except they're the young character miles, you know? And so miles gets to fulfill, be the lead character in that movie and fill that role. And your [01:20:00] older Peter B. Parker, the married and sort of depressed Spiderman, you know, can it be in point to him?
Um. So, so it's not like it's impossible that you'd ever see that if the, if the situation, the circumstances were right and such, but it's really not the, I don't think it's likely that there, there's a lot of people really pushing for that to be the
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Right, right, right.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Um, that again, that having been said, you know, Craven's last hunt.
Uh, yes. I, you know, I, I, you know, I don't know if you asked Mark about this when you talked to him, but I know this because I've talked to him about it in the past or I've read things. People have talked to him. That story was, was originally conceived and I believe even written or partially written before the decision was made to marry Peter and Mary Jane.
So they really, while they are married and that story, they don't need to be,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: right. They don't need to be Mary Jane doesn't really need to have to be in it.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. You could, you could make, you could use that as the, as the, the, the, the raw material, the basis for, for a film. Um, you [01:21:00] know, without that being a thing. And that might be a perfectly great story to, to, to make the basis of the Spiderman
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: it's kind of a Craven story with Spiderman just being in it.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yeah. Again, the only, the only downside, like, again, if you were going to do it as a, as a film, is you have to introduce Craven. You know, it's, it's not just cravings last time. It also ends up being crave. It's first time, which is not quite the same thing. Um, you know, so you, you immediately, you have to start retail ordering and changing stuff and,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: That's a good
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: make it all work.
Um, yeah, but that's, I'll leave that to, to, you know, greater minds than, than myself. Um, so those guys don't need my help figuring out how to make, uh, Spiderman movies.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: W you guys shocked or ready for how popular miles Morales became.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I'm a little shocked, uh, you know, uh, a little prepared. Like, we, [01:22:00] we're, we're, we're always confidently unconfident, you know, which, which is to say. You know, we tend to be the first audience for our ideas. Um, you know, as we talk about them in the, in, in the room together and bounce them back and forth. And sometimes, you know, their ideas that go ahead that, you know, those among us, sometimes I'm one of them are, are walking around going, that is the stupidest thing.
That is, that is so good to crash and burn. Why are they, and then the energy on that, and sometimes those work and sometimes they don't. Um, you know, so, you know, so we always, but you know, the, the whole reason this stuff gets done is that there's, there's something in the idea that excites a bunch of people.
It doesn't have to be everybody that's there because no ideas. They excite absolutely everybody, but that people get excited about and see the potential of it and go, yeah, okay, let's do that. Um, you know, and, and so, uh, you know, uh, Brian and [01:23:00] Sarah, uh, you know, introducing miles, so killing, killing ultimate Peter Parker and introducing miles.
Part of the reason you could do that was that it was the ultimate universe, and you still would have, you know, the regular Marvel universe. Uh, Peter Parker, Spiderman in the amazing Spiderman book, you know, one door over. But that gave you a chance to do something, you know, sort of wild and revolutionary and take the character into a new direction and so forth in a way that was, for lack of better term, it was, it was, it was safe.
Um, you know, and, and, and, uh, you know, in the same way that Brian was great in, in, you know, capturing. Uh, you know, the young, uh, you know, modern day teenage Peter Parker and his world and his problems, uh, you know, he was equally adapted at, at creating this new world and this new character around miles, uh, and around all of that stuff while still kind of keeping the touch points that made it feel like.
Like Spiderman. [01:24:00] Um, and so it worked out. Uh, yeah. But it worked out because we all thought it was a, it was, uh, that idea worth doing and, and, and that there was something to it, but it was also kind of like a no lose proposition because even if it had crashed and burned, you'd still have.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Peter
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: universe, Spiderman, right over there.
And it's not like you couldn't have, if you had to, it's not like you couldn't have resurrected ultimate Peter Parker, and it would have been okay. You know, like, you know it, but it was an idea that
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: people were.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I gotta tell you, man, when, when I first heard about it, I was so against. Spiderman is Peter Parker. Peter Parker is Spiderman. It can't be anybody else. And, and I was, I was just so dead against it. And then my cohost John, who's actually on with us right now, but he's, uh, since you and I started talking, he's been keeping quiet.
Um, he tried to explain to me. The whole concept of what miles Morales was, what it meant. And it wasn't about race [01:25:00] or culture change or anything like that, cause I don't care about that stuff. But it was a fact that it wasn't Peter Parker. And that was so, and then I read the story and I read, you know, and I saw the movie and I was like, crap, this is really, really good.
And it was like, nah, now I'm just like, okay, well there you go. Miles Morales, one of the best characters that come out in a long time.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh, well, that's, that's again, that's just a Testament to. So, uh, know Brian and Sarah Kelly and, and the, you know, all the people that, uh, that have, have worked on that character since including, uh, you know, uh, uh, you know, Lord and Miller on the, on the, the film. Um, you know, the, the, the thing that makes the characters graders is the, the, the people behind them that come up with these stories and, and bring those, those characters to life.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: That's awesome. Well, Tom, we've been on for like an hour and 15 can you believe it?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: I can,
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Oh, you
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: later here than it is by you.
[01:26:00] Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Is it getting late there?
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: It's a little, it's a little on the, uh, on the latest side yet it's at least dark. Um, I'm, I'm a hearing in a dark room, so, so there's that, that there's telling me that the sun has gone down.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well, I so much appreciate you coming on and spending some yarn with us. It's been a wonderful conversation. It really has. Um, I'm hoping
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: very nice. Maybe John, maybe we'll be able to talk sometime in the future.
John Interview: Right next time. Yeah. Let's talk.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Well, hopefully we can get you to come on again because, uh, with as much history, 30 years at Marvel and all the history that Marvel has, uh, I feel like we could probably do another three hours without blinking. And I, and so to get you to come back on and talk some more would be, um, well, I'd feel like it'd be a win win for me.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: All right, well, we'll just have to see if we could schedule it up and then I'd be happy to do it again at some point.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Cool. Thanks Tom for [01:27:00] coming on. Really appreciate you.
John Interview: Thank you.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Sure thing. Um, you know, uh, happy to have been here. Thanks for the excellent conversation and for, uh, you know, reading all the stuff that you've been reading and, and, uh, you know, keeping marvels, uh, foremost in your hearts.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: no problem. Thanks Tom. You have a good night,
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Yep. You too. Thanks a lot.
Kenric - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: huh? Bye.
Tom - - Tom Brevoort Interview.output: Alright. Alright.
Kenric: And we're back.
John: are black.
Kenric: So what'd you think? You were there? So you listened to it
John: A lot of fun listening to it. I, uh, I feel I actually, this is one of the, I mean, I said this before, but I put, this is the one on one, trying to learn something, listening to it, you know?
Kenric: Oh really?
John: Yeah. Just because he had such an insight, like we ask about certain things and he'd give, he could give it from that editorial insight from behind the scenes. It's not just a, you know, the critter inside, but, uh, the company insight, you know, and he wasn't afraid to say his mind or what he thought about things, which was really cool.
Kenric: I thought it was interesting to listen how they do crossover events, you know, and, and how [01:28:00] I, he goes, it's not that big a deal with the keeping everything in. Well, he doesn't quite say it's not that big a deal, but yeah. He, it's, it's not too difficult for them to keep everything in check, you know, writing everything.
But to me it's like, there's so many gears there has, you know, how do you not to me, I'd want a big wall that had every event and everything, kind of how it mixes in together that would help me, you know.
John: What got me was like, he was saying like, you know, all the titles aren't required to be a part of it. It kind of feels like, I mean, I always thought they were required. Oh, This event, you have to be a part of this, but they can choose to be in if they want to, which is kind of cool.
Kenric: Yeah. The, the main writing staff of that book can choose to be, or the, the, the team, the, the, the project team for that book can choose to be a part of the, of the, uh, of the event or not. But I'm wondering though is, I'm sure that's definitely true 99% of the time, but there's gotta be some time. Well, he did say it.
Sometimes it's, you know, we do, sometimes [01:29:00] you do have to force because it's just, you know, you can't do a mute mutant event and not have the X-Men in it.
John: Right, right. If you're doing this across spot a minute event, you can have all the Spiderman books involved, you know, somehow.
Kenric: Yeah. So
John: thing that did kind of get me is, uh, and I kinda knew what the answer was, but when he asked about inventory issues and he's like, no, we don't really do those anymore. And I get why he didn't do it. I get why the current market doesn't, doesn't let itself to inventory issues, but. I kind of loved some of the fill in issues from the, from the
Kenric: yeah. You'd get more of the week. Yeah. Cause you'd get more of those weird issues. That you, you know, weird storylines and things could change based on what an inventory issue did that they just don't get any more. And he did say it's, it's, you know, it was a way for people to break into the business. Oh, that was the last thing I wanted to ask them and I didn't.
And you know, next time we get them on, we're going to ask them what up and coming writers and artists can do to get on the radar of Marvel.
John: That's a good question. Yeah, that'd be next time.
Kenric: Yeah. Next time. Ah, I feel bad for anybody listening that is an aspiring writer and artist that wants to know [01:30:00] that information. Uh, we will do our best to get it to you because, um, that's one of the things that's always a mystery, you know, how do you get a job at, at Marvel as a writer or as an artist without knowing somebody, you know, I think, uh.
Who gave us was it Eric Larson, I think gave us the best advice that you want to have. I think it was Eric Larson that you want to have. Don't show me a splash page. Don't show me a single pose. Show me a full book.
John: Yeah. One of the things I read a long time ago when I was first trying to do comics, I was reading the thing. I think it was joke with Sada. I should. I'm pretty sure it was joke was that I was reading a thing about how to break into their common bits. It's wouldn't say this for mobile, but for in general. And he was like, he looks at, he looks at portfolios all day long and people who can draw splash pages or draw these dynamic poses that people always like, that's not what you look for when he looks for, when he's looking at over pages for people to hire, he's looking for people who can draw backgrounds, people who can draw emotions in faces. Like, if you can draw, if you couldn't draw a city scapes and cars and backgrounds and make things, look, you know, have [01:31:00] feeling to them, that's what makes way more sense than being able to drop, you know, A double page, spread of Spiderman and jump into the city. You know, it's, it's all about what'd. You can tell the story.
Kenric: yup, yup, yup. So we'll try to get that from an editor's point of view at Marvel, which would be great.
John: It will be.
Kenric: There you guys go. So if you love that and you want more content like that, you want to learn more about comic books, or maybe you just love a good interview with some interesting people beyond just comic books and directors and movie stars and TV stars, which is so weird to say this, but it's all true.
And you. You can go back into our back catalog, no paywall. That means you don't have to pay a damn dime to listen and gather all that stuff and check it all out because it's all right [email protected] for you to peruse.
John: Yep. No paywall, but you can, you can, if you do want to pay somebody, you can go to the store link right in the middle of the page, go up, click on that store. They can go get [01:32:00] a tee shirt or a hoodie or a sticker or something
Kenric: help us out on some shackles.
John: And as of today, we just put up a new design with the open, your mind to read more saying on it, to where you can get that on a shirt. And I just I've already ordered one. It looks pretty cool.
Kenric: well, there you go, Johnny. What else is available on spoiler verse.com? What are the shows? What are they articles? Can they check out?
John: Oh man, so much stuff. You can get our show. You can get haphazard ventures, you can get bridged in the geek terms or talk lips. Coming soon, phonemic forensics and, uh, uh, nurturing the crimper to the new horror show, not new, new to us. And we've, I mean, we've got, I mean, so many shows. I can't even name them all off that for getting at least one or two. Ah, articles from Sarah Kay, doing the forensics, doing her, you know, forensic looking into the supernatural and paranormal. We've got Jay Roach writing about everything from his workout routine test launch to a Sarah I've seen before and the Aerobahn CEO wants to see. So, I mean, there's so much stuff up there that if you go to spillovers.com, you're bound to find something you enjoy.
Kenric: well, there you guys go. All [01:33:00] right. I think that's a show, John.
John: Yeah, that's a show, man.
Kenric: All right, guys, don't forget. And our oceans are podcasts
John: are
Kenric: and it compels you to do open the mind.
John: And read more and go buy a tee shirt that says that too.
Kenric: I love it.

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