Talk To The Hat 4/1

[Phil]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=31624


For example, we hedged our bets for a long time on "Alpha Flighthttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=31624#)" until we felt we had a good pitch that tied into something decently reliable. For all that the original "Alpha Flight" ran -- I think it was 130 issues, which is a staggering run this days -- we went back to the title several times since then, and none of those revivals really took hold. We hadn't captured that ineffable element that made people interested in Alpha Flight to begin with. Hopefully this time, we'll hit that mark a little better. Part of that comes from having the right creative team, and part of that comes from launching with "Fear Itself" which should get some more eyeballs on it and have people paying more attention to it than just saying, "Hey, here's Alpha Flight again." The guys who are passionate "Alpha Flight" fans will absolutely come out and support those books, but we need more readers than them to make it a successful venture long term.

[Flightpath07]

I don't know if anyone is going to be too confused by the difference between "Fear Itself: Spider-Man" and "Fear Itself: Alpha Flight." One character has a lot of comics coming out every month and the other characters haven't had much of anything of late outside of a "Chaos War" one-shot. There might be a way we position them differently once it gets closer to release time, but I don't know if there's any great advantage to saying, "Hey, we're trying to build something longer term over here!" The readers are either interested or they're not, and they get to choose what they want to spend their time and money on. Certainly, if we get an Alpha Flight book up and running, it's a whole new property we have that can maybe take some pressure off of "Amazing Spider-Man" or needing to do so many Spider-Man books month after month.

But I think it's all intrinsic to whatever project you're doing. Even within "Fear Itself," you have to message each title specifically. What is this Alpha Flight story/launch/thing? What is this Fearsome Foursome thing? What is "Fear Itself: Spider-Man" or "Fear Itself: Wolverine?" What story are you telling? What are you doing here that's exciting to people who are reading the big event's core book or to people who just love Wolverine or Spider-Man or whoever's in the series?

Mr. Brevoort, I noticed that was a lot of time spent talking about Alpha Flight, mentioning Alpha Flight, and I find that to be impressive. Thank you.

[Hankpym]

Mr. Brevoort, I noticed that was a lot of time spent talking about Alpha Flight, mentioning Alpha Flight, and I find that to be impressive. Thank you.

Yeah...but isn't he the guy that signed off on AF being killed in the Avengers and thinks they don't have a "core concept"?

[Le Messor]

Yeah, he mentioned them a lot, but none of those mentions showed confidence --
but nor did they show disrespect.

However, this one:
"We hadn't captured that ineffable element that made people interested in Alpha Flight to begin with."
That would be, you know, Alpha Flight.

- Le Messor
"I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the Wookiee win."

[Flightpath07]

"We hadn't captured that ineffable element that made people interested in Alpha Flight to begin with."
That would be, you know, Alpha Flight.

I respectfully disagree.

Alpha Flight alone is not enough. But, it is a dang good start.

[Le Messor]

I respectfully disagree.
Alpha Flight alone is not enough. But, it is a dang good start.

That would be a disagreement, 'cept that I didn't mean that it was. Style, tone, types of story, depth, detail, etc... etc... All that is also needed.

But when somebody's saying 'We hadn't captured that ineffable element' about a series that didn't have its title characters, I take the bait.

- Le Messor
"I teleported home one night
With Ron and Sid and Meg.
Ron stole Meggie's heart away
And I got Sidney's leg."
~ Douglas Adams

[Flightpath07]

Fair 'nuff.

[Le Messor]

So, in other words, I disagree: I don't disagree...
Now I've gone cross-eyed.