Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso developing storylines as envisioned by Skottie Young
Fridays on CBR mean Axel's In Charge.
Welcome to MARVEL A-I-C: AXEL-IN-CHARGE, CBR's regular interview feature with Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso!
An editor with years of experience who's brought out comics to both critical acclaim and best-selling status, Alonso stepped into the chair at the top of Marvel's Editorial department earlier this year and since then has been working to bring his signature stylings to the entire Marvel U. Anchored by regular question and answer rounds with the denizens of the CBR Message Boards, each week Alonso will shake things up with special guest stars, exclusive art reveals and more!
This week, some of the biggest names in the Marvel talent roster have been locked away in a conference room in New York for the latest Marvel Creative Summit. These semi-annual retreats are where a lot of major story beats for the future of the Marvel U are crafted, but they're also kept on semi-secret lockdown. But we were still able to pry Axel away for a round of fan Q&A from the CBR Message Boards, and below, the Editor-in-Chief delivers a few key hints at what's been discussed by the Marvel architects. Plus, he shows off gobs of exclusive new art from John Cassaday, Dustin Weaver and more. Read on!
Kiel Phegley: Axel, with our fan Q&A for the day I thought I'd start us out on some queries that focus on that even mystifying connection between Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios. Chariset starts us off with this: "To what extent do you use movies as a sounding board for what will work with a character? If the Doctor Strange movie comes out and Strange is a teenager with heavy eyeliner and a lot of tattoos, and it makes money, will you think 'oh, THAT'S how we write Strange'?"
Axel Alonso: That is definitely not how we do it, Chariset. If Marvel NOW! proved one thing, it's that we put premium stock in our writers. "Avengers" reflects the vision of Jonathan Hickman, not Marvel Studios. And the same is true down the line.
EXCLUSIVE: Dustin Weaver's pages for "Avengers" #7
On a similar front, Prince Of Orphans had a question coming after Jason Latour's opening issues of "Winter Soldier": "How much did the Avengers movie influence the decision to break up of Black Widow and Bucky?"
Alonso: Absolutely none, Prince. Bringing that relationship to a close was completely Ed Brubaker's decision as he wrapped up his run on the series.
After Brian Bendis stopped by last week, we've got some residual X-Men-related questions like Malt84 who asks: "After reading this column for years I really thought it was time to actually ask a question... So here goes... Is there any plan to bring back Vulcan now that Havok is in charge of the Uncanny Avengers? It seems that Vulcan and Havok's family problems would make a pretty kick ass Avengers story. PS I know he died in War of Kings but Blackbolt is back... "
Alonso: Anything is possible in the world of comics, Malt84! But for the moment, we've got no current plans for Vulcan. Down the line, though...
EXCLUSIVE: (From L to R) Mike Deodato's "Winter Soldier" #16 variant, the standard "Winter Soldier" #16 cover and Nic Klein's interior pages.
Similarly, jameszahra wants to know "is there any chance of daken being brought back to life and finally going down the path of redemption? he has unfinished business with bucky and now sabertooth (which would make awesome revenge stories), i can see a spot for him on cyclops uncanny x men (cyclops needs his own wolverine) but he would need to be resurrected first."
Alonso: Daken's name came up during our most recent Marvel creative retreat, james-but what that means, I'm afraid it's too early to reveal to you at this juncture!
Last on the X-Men front, Dustellar wonders, "Still no plans for Juggernaut? He's my favorite character, I would see him again... maybe in Indestructible Hulk, Uncanny X-Men, All New X-Men or Wolverine and the X-Men."
Alonso: Cain Marko's another name that came up at the Marvel Summit, Dustellar. So the unstoppable Juggernaut may not be far from a comic book page near you!
EXCLUSIVE: "Uncanny Avengers" #4 pages by John Cassaday
Shifting gears to the Avengers, Ka-Zar is back asking, "It was really cool seeing Jim Hammond/the Human Torch on the Secret Avengers roster last year. What's next for him?"
Alonso: He'll turn up where you least expect him, Ka-Zar...kind of like your namesake.
And vin31 wants to know, "Will we see more Vision in Marvel Now except Avengers Assemble Annual and his little role in Age of Ultron? Will we see him in any Avengers team?"
Alonso: Can't say much about the Vision until "Age Of Ultron," vin31. But we've not forgotten about the android Avenger by any means.
EXCLUSIVE: "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" pages by Sara Pichelli
Finally, let's wrap with SpiderX who had an Ultimate and digital related query, "Mr. Alonso any chance we can get some AR goodies for the Ultimate Comics line? How about a Marvel infinite comic starring Miles? I see Marquez has been working on 3D art. *wink* *wink*"
Alonso: Thanks for the suggestion, SpiderX. Something we'll look into. Regarding an Infinite Comic with Miles, we'd need Mr. Bendis to write that, and if you look at our solicitations, you can see he's one busy dude right now.
Have some questions for Marvel's AXEL-IN-CHARGE? Please visit the CUP O' Q&A thread in CBR's Marvel Universe forum. It's now the dedicated thread for all connections between Board Members and the Marvel Executive staff that CBR will pull questions for next week's installment of our weekly fan-generated question-and-answer column! Do it to it!