Welcome back to CUP O' JOE, the internet home of Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, exclusively on CBR. This is where Joe answers your questions in our weekly CUP O' Q&A segment and publishes a number of sketches and artwork in our ongoing CUP O' DOODES feature (check back later today for a new edition).In addition to these regular features, CBR staffers routinely speak with Quesada about the latest Marvel Comics news and announcements, and today's update is just one of those occasions.In today's all-new CUP O' JOE, Quesada discusses some internal promotions at Marvel as well as his own new duties in the company's animation division. Joe also updates you on the much anticipated "Black Panther" animated series for BET, and discusses the new Spidey monthly, "Web of Spider-Man."CUP O' JOE is Executive Produced by Jonah Weiland and Produced by Kiel Phegley.Kiel Phegley: Joe, this week I got a chance to chat with Marvel editor John Barber about the upcoming "Strange Tales MAX" series, and I learned the news that John's decided to explore some opportunities outside of Marvel. We understand there are a few other changes in Editorial these days. Care to tell us what's been going on?Joe Quesada: I can't tell you how bummed out we all were that John decided that he wanted to go back to being a creator. What's wrong with him? What's so great about being a creator anyway? In all seriousness, we're really happy for John. He's a tremendous guy and one of the funniest and most talented people I've had the opportunity to work with, we wish him nothing but great success.
In other happy news, Associate Editor Jeanine Schaefer was promoted to Editor, and Assistant Editors Daniel Ketchum and Lauren Sankovitch were both promoted to Associates. Along with that, Alexander Starbuck has been hired as an Assistant Editor in the Trades and Special Projects Group.
Our Publisher Dan Buckley got some additional hardware on his title, he's now Chief Executive Officer and Publisher -- Print, Animation & Digital Media.Kiel Phegley: And?Joe Quesada: And... I'm now Chief Creative Officer of Animation on top of my Editor in Chief, Chief Creative Officer of Publishing duties.
a few weeks back here in CUP O' JOE, but what can you tell us about the specifics of your new duties?Joe Quesada: What it boils down to is that both Dan and I will be more involved with Marvel's animation slate. There's a lot of catch up to do, and I'm sure our roles will become better defined with time. I suspect it will be very much the same as Dan and I work in Publishing. He handles all the business and strategy stuff and I do creative. Of course there's some overlap as I love getting my hands dirty in marketing and other aspects of our business that involve creativity, but from my end, I'll be involved in every aspect of the creative of our future animation slate. Up until this point, I've only really been involved in "Super Hero Squad" and 'Avengers," so I'm looking forward to working on other upcoming projects. Several projects have been started long before this announcement and my responsibilities changed. So like I said, there's going to be a lot of catch up on my horizon.At the end of the day, I suspect that my involvement will be on creating new concepts, reviewing proposals, scripts, art and so on. It's a lot of work but we have a tremendous team at Marvel West that makes my working in both publishing and animation a lot easier.Kiel Phegley: This news comes with perfect timing for the folks on the CBR message boards, as we've gotten a few animation questions coming across the bow of late, starting with beta-ray, who asks, "You mentioned in one of your columns that you are more involved with the movies and animation now. Are you also involved with the anime being produced by Madhouse? If so, can you tease us anything about those?"Joe Quesada: beta-ray, that's a great question, and currently I haven't been involved with the Madhouse project at all. To be honest, I only just saw some stuff last week. I do however look forward to seeing what it's all about, but there's always a possibility that it may be a bit too far down the road for any of my input.Kiel Phegley: On top of that, Spidey616 chimes in with a series on a lot of fans' minds since the initial previews hit the Web earlier this year: "Since you've been involved in various Marvel animation projects, by chance have you heard any new developments about BET's Black Panther animated series? There were some casting announcements a few months ago, but nothing since then not even a release date. Can we still expect it by the end of 2009?"
Kiel Phegley: Obviously, this goes along with the increased hand you'll have in Marvel's animation ventures that you mentionedKiel Phegley: Obviously, everything pertaining to "foil" and "hologram" covers raises some bad memories for certain folks in the industry and in fandom. And probably some good memories for others, to be fair, but what do you say to the people getting worried about these kinds of trends?Joe Quesada: I'll be honest, I'm one of the former, I hated that whole era. But it was the gold rush and a lot of people got rich. I'll admit, much like some fans, I had a Pavlovian reaction to hearing the word "foil," but when I saw how it was being handled and what it was being used for, I personally knew that this was something completely different and perfectly fine.Kiel Phegley: Is this a one-off promotion? If these covers prove successful, could Marvel be trying more special covers in the future?
Joe Quesada: This is actually something that our marketing guys would decide. I haven't heard of any future plans, but if it's handled as we are handling it then I honestly don't see a problem with it any more than I see a problem with any variant. Have some questions for Joe Quesada? Please visit the CUP O' Q&A thread in CBR's Marvel Universe forum. It is from this dedicated thread that CBR's staff will pull questions for our weekly fan-generated question-and-answer session with Joe, which will be this Friday.Discussion about today's feature may take place at the link immediately below.