Beginning at 2:00 pm, Marvel held its press conference that both officially announced its Epic imprint, and gave the lowdown on the rollout, starting with Mark Millar's Trouble a romance book, shipping in July.

Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Mike Doran were present at the conference.

Jemas stated that his feeling that Marvel could use an Epic brand, one that is more friendly and open to new creators came from his experiences writing Marville - a series which he admitted did not sell in high numbers, but he felt had a place. That said, Epic will be a place where, thanks to its economic model, books will be published that will not be expected to sell in the high tens of tousands, but rather, can be published, and remain economically viable with lower print runs.

Epic, Jemas said, will be a simple deal - a creative teams organize and pull themselves together into units that are responsible for their own writing, illustrating, editing, digital compositing, lettering, and everything else invovled in producing a comic, and will then turn the work over to Marvel whole cloth. Jemas said that in this manner, Marvel would see little overhead increase in launching a new imprint, as the publisher would see an expense only from editing the series.

The full details of how anyone can submit material to Epic will be found in Marville #7.

Jemas added that Epic will allow the publisher to publish new books that would appeal to new readers, and as a result, creators will be paid dollar for dollar what other creators are paid if their books are successful.

Jemas added that Epic's mission is to reach new readers and tell great stories. Creators are allowed to do stories starring mainline Marvel characters, as long as they stand up to what is already being published monthly. Jemas stressed that it can be done, although new creators have better chances of bringing back classic Marvel characters, such as Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, and the like. He said that he expects the books to sell in the 20,000 to 30,000 range.

Another example Jemas gave was something like Alias where a creator-owned character is placed in the Marvel Universe. Jemas added that proposals for fully-creator owned projects will be entertained as well - thanks to the Epic economic model, which allows them to do it whereas the regular Marvel economic model wouldn't.

Jemas declined to name any other of the first round of books as from Trouble, commenting only that they will focus on reviving Marvel characters who currently don't have their own series.

Quesada commented that Epic enables Marvel to produce concepts that in the past they may have seen as interesting concepts, but would not have been supported in a manner that would have been economically feasible for Marvel as a whole. "It's our imprint where we get to throw stuff up against a wall and give it a longer time to stick…since the cost is lower for us, the risk is lower."

Quesada said that the imprint will contain material that is much more experimental than the traditional Marvel line, again, and that type of material can be supported by the Epic economic model.

In further explaining the line, Jemas said that a team would submit a script first, which would have to be green lit, rather than have an entire team produce a comic at their own expense that ultimately not be accepted. Once green lit by the Epic editor, the team would be given the go ahead to produce the comic.

During the conference, Mike Doran announced the new Epic website, which has tentative information about the line. Submissions are not currently being taken, but Marvel will be opening the door and accepting them in 3-6 weeks, according to Doran.

In regards to timeliness, Jemas said that Epic will bank up content before they publish it. Jemas said they will probably not pile up five issues of a six issue project, but will have a good portion of the project in the can before publishing. Jemas also added that the best idea is to write in storyarcs, declining to say specifically whether or not the line would publishing miniseries or ongoing series.

When asked who owns the intellectual property that is submitted, Marvel will own the Marvel characters, obviously, and Marvel and the creator will share ownership on a creator-owned project in a plan Jemas described as being seen as "very fair" by creators who are already working with it.

Quesada denied that Epic would be replacing the Marvel Knights imprint.

In regards to how many titles Epic will see, Jemas said that he would love to see 60 titles under the imprint.

Quesada said that for now, Epic will be a wholly new initiative and program, and will into have any relation to Marvel's old Epic line which was edited by Archie Goodwin.

In speaking about Millar's Trouble, Jemas lauded the writer for stepping up to write the launch book for the imprint. Jemas declined to answer questions regarding Trouble, saying that it was red hot subject matter.

Quesada said that the title will go gung-ho into the romance genre. Saying there is more to the series than meets the eye, Quesada called it a romance book geared to anyone who enjoys comics and great stories.

In regards to the cover, Doran said that it was photographed by Philippe Biaeolos a French fashion photographer, art directed by Quesada, and based on existing teen romance books.

Speaking more about the cover, Quesada said his first impression as to get a classic painted romance cover, but was persuaded to do otherwise by David Bogart who recommended photo covers. As a result, all five issues' cover will be photo covers.

Further clarifying ownership of new projects, Jemas said that he's unsure of copyright ownership, but said he knows that the deal Epic is offering to creators is as good or better than those offered by any other publisher, and stresses "creator freedom" over "creator rights." Clarifying the payment of creators, ff the book is successful Jemas explained, the creative team of the Epic title will catch up to normal Marvel standards. Jemas said that, while he didn't have the numbers with him, there is a bonus structure built in to the program offering financial incentives for higher sales, and a royalty plan in place for trade paperbacks.

The Epic imprint will be open to all levels of material, from general readers to mature readers, and will be rated as such under Marvel's current rating guidelines.

Jemas confirmed that Marville #7 will be the final issue of the series, and that Trouble #1 will be in stores July 2nd. Additoinally, it was clarified that Trouble will be a five-issue limited series, rather than six.

When asked if current, or established creators being favored over new creators, Jemas said that while his knee-jerk reaction was no, but realized that current, active authors bring a fanbase in with them. "If Brian Bendis wants to do one of these, we'd be stupid to turn him down," Jemas said.

However, Jemas added that Epic doesn't have to adhere to an either/or situation in regards to accepting an established writer's work vs. a new creator. "Epic is a much bigger tent with a much bigger opening."

As for cover price of the Epic titles, Quesada said that there will be no set price per se. "The principle is to keep the prices as low as possible.," Jemas said, adding that they would like to keep the price at $2.50, but if they could manage it at $2.25, they would do it.

Jemas said there would be no problem with the books if they sell in the 15-20,000 unit range, but acknowledged that there will be certain genres that will pay off better at bookstores, and could therefore live with monthly numbers lower than 15,000, but those decisions will be made "on the fly" in regards to accepting a submission and publishing a project.

On Marvel's Epic page, it lists the following general guidelines:

EPIC books will be written, drawn, colored, lettered and composited by YOU. No editor will be working with you, calling to bug you for materials, or checking for mistakes. When it comes to your EPIC book, you will be running the show. In order to get to that point, though, you must go through the process of submitting your work for approval.

To submit your work to EPIC, there are a few steps you must follow:

If you are a writer, you must mail EPIC a full script for a 22-page comic book (single issues only, please; no series proposals), enclosed with a set of legal documents that are described below. If your script meets our guidelines and is approved by the submissions editor, you will receive a letter of acceptance as well as check for $500.00, and the green light to form a creative team of approved EPIC artists and designers to create your comic.

If you are an artist or a designer, you must mail EPIC five sample pages of your work, accompanied by a set of legal documents that are described below. If your work meets our guidelines and is approved by the submissions editor, we will send you a letter advising you that these samples will be posted on the EPIC web site so that approved EPIC writers can recruit you for a creative team.

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