With the days quickly winding down to end of the year and all its varied activities, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada had to take a one week break from our usual Q&A. But Joe didn’t leave you fine readers high and dry – sosireebob.

In his stead he sent his two Lieutenants, Senior Editors Tom Brevoort and Axel Alonso, the Ying and Yang, Stan and Ollie, Heckle and Jeckle, Sam and Diane of the Marvel Editorial hierarchy…

No… that last one isn’t right… But anyways, Tom and Axel filled in admirably and we got to ask them their opinions about some of the comic book issues of the day, as well as working with the usual star of our usual weekly chat.

So please stick with us and enjoy what we like to call for one week only, The Tom & Axel Show!

Newsarama: All right fellas, Joe needs to week off while he Christmas shops for his editorial crew, so he’s asked you guys – his right and left hands – to fill in for him for a week. It’s an interesting dynamic because from our experience you guys seem not only like very different guys, but very different editors.

But this is also a Joe Quesada Q&A regularly, so while we have the opportunity, can each of you tell us what role you think you play for Joe specifically? What perspective to you bring, what function do you serve in the Marvel editorial hierarchy?

Tom Brevoort: Unlike Joe, and unlike Axel since the 70s, I’ve actually read Marvel Comics, so I’ve probably got the best working knowledge of the characters and the history, what’s been done and how. And compared to Axel, I’m probably the conservative voice, trying to keep people from rushing off a cliff in their enthusiasm over an idea that seems exciting and dangerous at first blush, but could do more long-term harm than good.

I also dance for Joe’s amusement, as seen here on Newsarama a few weeks back. I am his little puppet-man.

NRAMA: Tom, you were “inherited” when Joe took over, and your trust and relationship had to develop. Axel, you were “acquired”, and you came to Marvel as Joe’s guy. Did those dynamics factor in on how those early years went?

TB: I don’t know, maybe. It was a more complicated situation than that, in that Bill Jemas was also very hands-on in the mix, so neither of us was dealing with Joe and his reactions exclusively, but with both Joe and Bill. But for myself, I think I had something of a track record when both of those guys came in — I had worked with Bill on trading cards a million years before, and Joe used to stop by my office during the Marvel Knights days whenever he liked a particular issue of Thor or something. But Axel had to feel like he was on firmer ground in those days, in that he was specifically recruited and brought in.

Axel Alonso: Definitely. I came to Marvel because I knew Joe was going to be E-I-C. It was pretty clear I was down with the program. I knew what he wanted to accomplish, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

NRAMA: How about now?

AA: I'd say the relationship has only strengthened over time. We’ve been through a lot and we’ve had to adjust – as a team. The fundamental dynamic remains the same, though: Joe Q is the captain, but he’s not the kind of leader who wants his lieutenants to just nod and agree with him all the time. Hell, if you do that, you’re toast.

>b>TB: Now I am Axel’s master in every way, and he bows down before me. Joe would bow too, but have you seen a picture of him lately? We try not to ask more of a person than they’re capable of.

NRAMA: Tom, not sure we’ve ever had the opportunity, or had the guys to ask any time during the last five years, can you recall for us your reaction being (along with Ralph Macchio) one of the senior Marvel editors, and seeing this Marvel Knights guy sweep on in?

TB: By the time of Marvel Knights, I think it had become de rigueur. It was really Heroes Reborn/Unfinished Business that worried the folks in editorial — worries that were entirely justified, as there was a secret plan at one point during the bankruptcy to shut Marvel Editorial down completely and just outsource all of the books to Wildstorm or whomever. But Joe and Jimmy were both on-site during the Marvel Knights start-up, and tried to be friendly and gregarious, so there wasn’t a lot of tumult about their presence.

About the worst thing that could be said from the main editorial perspective is that they had greater operating budgets for their books (or at least, that’s how it seemed), and so could get better coloring and separations on their books than the main line was capable of at that point.

NRAMA: How about your reaction to him immediately bringing in some “Vertigo guys” (Axel and Stuart Moore)?

TB: Again, not much of a reaction. Axel in particular worked very hard to connect with the existing editorial team, and to become a member of the group. And we didn’t really look at Axel or Stuart as “Vertigo editors” — we looked at them as editors (or, at worst, “DC Editors”)

NRAMA: Axel, flip side, can you recall how you knew Joe prior to him becoming E-i-C and his pitch to you to come to Marvel?

AA: I knew Joe Q as one of the founding editors of the Marvel Knights Line. I was intrigued by what he and Jimmy Palmiotti were doing – and maybe a little competitive. Hell, I remember someone handing me the first issue of [the Marvel Knights Punisher series] “Welcome Back, Frank” -- which had Garth [Ennis] writing, Steve [Dillon] drawing, and Tim Bradstreet doing covers — I was, like, “M%^&^%! Who do these guys [Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti] think they are!?” That’s what I would’ve done.

NRAMA: Okay, so we often get to grill Joe about issues of the day, so it might be fun to get different perspectives on them, not only different from Joe’s, but from one another.

Biggest positive sign in the comic book industry heading into 2007?

TB: The overall increase in sales numbers and excitement. It wasn’t all that long ago when the entire industry was struggling to generate one title that broke the 100,000 copy barrier in terms of total sales. Now, not only are pretty much the entirety of the Top-Ten titles hurtling that benchmark, but books like Civil War #1 are closing in on moving 400,000 units overall.

AA: Excitement is high and competition is fierce.

NRAMA: Most concerning negative sign?

TB: Male pattern baldness. Have you noticed how many comic book professionals are losing or have lost their hair? It’s a dangerous, debilitating trend that needs to be stopped. So give generously, and together, we can overcome this humiliating condition. For the children. Thank you.

AA: I’m not thrilled by the overuse of variants. I understand that “collectibility” is part of the appeal of comics, but I’m concerned about the overuse of this tool.

NRAMA: Future of digital distribution? Will revenue-generating online publication ever be a substantial market? If so, when? If not, why?

TB: It’ll definitely be a part of the market — the only real question is when and how.

AA: I think it’s bound to. Again, part of the appeal of comics will always be its collectibility, but the more “wired” society becomes, the more the distribution will have to change.

Take a look at the music industry, for instance. Jay Z’s new record “Kingdome Come” sold around 600K and everyone’s excited. They’re talking about it as evidence of a possible resurgence in album sales. Now, six-hundred-thousand is great, but it’s a pittance compared to the 3.5 million that N’Sync was selling 5 years ago. There are a lot of factor to explain this, but one of them is definitely the way that the iPod has changed the way that people buy their music. These days, lots of people – me included – download their music. Some people don’t give a damn if they’ve got the CD or album or whatever sitting on their shelf; they just want the music.

NRAMA: Axel, we’re going to do you a favor and not ask how you can quote N’Sync sales figures off the top pf your head like that…so moving on…

Late-shipping/irregular scheduling – overcome-able issue or just unsolvable market reality? Tom, you’re excused if you like as we’ve discussed this with you in context to Civil War.

AA: The problem is simple: Comics ship monthly and very few artists can draw 22 pages in a month, or 12 issues a year. That’s just facts. So late-shipping books are bound to happen, no matter how well a publisher plans for trouble.

That said, publishers need to be able to make the tough calls in these situations. I think Marvel made the right call with Civil War. We ran into a scheduling problem, but we didn’t panic and start tearing up tracks. We kept the book in the hands of the more than capable creators – Mark and Steve – and didn’t dilute the work. The end-product will be better for it.

TB: With the cost of individual comics these days being what they are, the fans are more discerning about what they buy. The day when you could just drop in an off-the-shelf fill-in and not experience a catastrophic sales drop are over. And because of the demands of readers’ tastes, the books require more work, more detail, more polish — and that takes more time.

NRAMA: The success of 52/the future of weekly (or non-monthly) publication – one time fluke or formatting wave of the future?

TB: It all depends on the next one. Like the limited series, like Bookshelf/Prestige Format, like the European Graphic novel format, the 52-style weekly comic book is right now a novelty, and has proven to be a success for DC. But it’s not a success solely because of the format, but really because people are digging the content. So anybody else who might be planning a similar weekly series needs to keep that in mind. The medium isn’t the message — the message is the message. If the next weekly book is a stinker, then the format is going to dry up.

AA: Too soon to tell. But definitely worth exploring – I mean, one month is a long time to get your fix, right? That said, I figure it’ll only take one weekly series tanking for everyone to say that it’s over.

NRAMA: One thing comic publishers can do tomorrow to improve their product?

TB: Fewer variant covers. There are clearly people who like them, and judging by the sales, they work in increasing the numbers, but too much of a reliance on these sorts of gimmicks could put the whole industry on a slippery slope, one we’ve visited in the past.

My heart just about stopped when I read the solicitation for the upcoming issue of Action Comics with the variant 3-D section in it. It’s a cool idea, but it feels like we’re heading back to the days of holographic foil and bullet holes through the comics — and who wants that?

AA: Be open-minded and take risks. Above all, don’t assume that there are winning formulas. Comics – like any creative media -- are voodoo. Two plus 2 doesn’t always equal 4. In Hollywood, you can take the hottest movie star and starlet and hand over the reins of a film to the hottest director, and still produce a piece of crap that bombs at the box office. Likewise, you can take a cast of unknowns and a freshman director and just kill.

The same applies for comics. It all comes down to the authenticity of your product.

NRAMA: One thing that will take a few years?

TB: Civil War ending.

NRAMA: Biggest change in how comics are produced in the last five years?

AA: The production values in comics these days are at such a higher level than they were even a decade ago, and they seem to be improving more and more. There’re growing pains, to be sure, but comics look slicker than ever. Hell, I remember the days when I’d go over hand-colored and color-coded pages and have to check each one against a color wheel. Then again, I remember Pong.

TB: It’s all digital — the computer revolution has changed virtually every aspect of comic book production. When I started, lettering was done directly on the boards, the boards themselves had to physically move from the penciler to the letterer to the inker, and nice little old ladies would paint in rubilith to create the often out-of-register color separations, 64 color maximum. Today, all of that has changed.

NRAMA: Tom, you strike us and probably fans that are familiar with you as a “superhero” guy, and somewhat a traditionalist in that regard.

Axel, being a Marvel editor, you’re certainly are knee-deep in superheroes, but you strike us as less of a traditionalist and someone strives to push the envelope, not only for diversity in genre’s, but the handling of superheroes as well.

So to get to a question, what are both your thoughts on the current state and future of Marvel publishing in regards to diversity of product? Where it should be? Needs to evolve?

TB: I think Marvel right now is doing a reasonable job of publishing a diverse line of products and balancing the need and the desire for diversity with the need and the desire to remain profitable. We can always be doing more, but I’m buoyed by the expansion of the Marvel Adventures line towards the younger audience, the renewed emphasis on the MAX line that Axel is heading up, our deal with the Dabel Brothers, the Stephen King Dark Tower project, the ICON line, and a few other things we’ve still got in the pipeline.

AA: I like where Marvel is at right now. We’ve made significant progress with Buck [Dan Buckley] at the helm. On the mainstream front, we’ve sculpted an event comic that uses the vocabulary of super hero comics to reflect on real world issues – and the outside public has taken notice [Civil War].

Off the beaten path, we’ve managed to levitate some old characters by taking some chances: Black Panther, Moon Knight, Iron Fist. Further off the beaten path, we’ve made strides into other avenues of publishing: Young Adult, creator-owned, the newly expanded “mature readers” line, MAX. Again, I like where we’re headed.

NRAMA: How about thoughts from your positions on how to go about growing and diversifying the audience/market?

AA: Do good books. Don’t be afraid to imagine a new audience.

TB: In a lot of ways, this is like panning for gold. So we need to continue to try the sorts of outreach programs we and the various other companies have been trying — and then, if somebody does find some gold, we need to be careful not to choke it off by climbing all over one another trying to get our piece of the pie. And even among the material we generate for our dyed-in-the-wool Direct Market audience, we need to always keep one eye towards being accessible to a new reader and a novice reader, and not take it for granted that they know who all the characters are and what their relationships and powers and even names are. We need to tell stories that can appeal to the broadest possible audience while maintaining our grip on the imaginations of those readers who have been there through thick and thin.

NRAMA: Favorite non-Marvel comic book or graphic novel of the last year?

TB: Absolute New Frontier. Hey, Hiro wants one…

AA: Absolute Walking Dead.

NRAMA: One writer you would lock up for your office if you had the opportunity?

TB: Brad Meltzer

AA: Well, it’s not so much about locking someone up, as getting the opportunity to work with them. One of them, I can’t mention because I’m actually talking with him right now, and I don’t want to jinx it, but it would be a dream come true. He’s an amazing and respected writer – prose, not comics -- and he used to be able to dunk a basketball.

NRAMA: One artist (same criteria)?

AA: Geof Darrow.

TB: Joe Quesada

NRAMA: If Marvel and DC would ever do a crossover again, what would you want it to be?

AA: Moon Knight versus Batman.

TB: New Avengers/Justice League of America by Brian Bendis and Brad Meltzer. Or Young Avengers/Teen Titans by Allan Heinberg and Geoff Johns

NRAMA: Your fantasy Marvel title to edit (with creative team)?

AA: Charlie Huston and Geof Darrow’s “Deathlok.”

TB: Fantastic Four with Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch.

NRAMA: Favorite Marvel character?

TB: Probably the Thing.

AA: Tie: Black Panther and Moon Knight.

NRAMA: Favorite literary or fictional character?

AA: Speedy Gonzalez. That mouse has got style.

TB: Stan Lee

NRAMA: Marvel Title you’re most looking forward to editing in 2007?

AA: X-Men. We’ve got some great stuff planned, across the board.

TB: Amazing, Amazing, Amazing.

NRAMA: Reading?

TB: Joss Whedon’s Runways.

AA: Jonathan Lethem’s Omega the Unknown.

NRAMA: Okay, finally, since fans love to come here for their news and hints, let’s end by giving throwing them some kind of bone…

Each of you tell readers one or two things they don’t already know..?

TB: Civil War #6 will not make you happy, but it will keep you rooted to your seat.

Captain America #25 will not only rock your world, but also the parallel world in which your Earth-2 counterpart resides.

JMS and Chris Weston’s secret project is going to be the book of the year. How can I be so sure? It has this guy in it.

Axel Alonso is secretly responsible for all of the delays on Civil War. Shh!

AA: Moon Knight is about to throw himself into the thick of the Marvel Universe – whether anyone wants him or not.

Black Panther and Storm are going to find a new home…and their family will grow.

And as always, more Marvel news and artwork can always be found on Marvel.com.

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