Monday, May 19, 2008

The Hype of Reilly 10.5

It's been awhile, but I wanted to offer a brief update just so no one forgets about this little project of mine.

There may have been a lack of updates, but that's not because things haven't been happening. Just the opposite. I'm currently working on a dream freelance gig that has kept me pretty busy. It's a great opportunity that's very challenging and a heck of a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I can't talk about any of the details at this time, but it is something that I'm very proud to be a part of and I can't wait to start promoting it near the end of this year. I'm also trying to finalize another very cool freelancing job that I hope will get settled within the next couple of weeks. It's another project that's pretty different from what I've done in the past so I am pretty excited to make it happen. Hopefully I'll have more to say about that one soon.

None of these projects have taken away my concentration from The Life of Reilly, though. I've been working non stop on making changes to the original columns and getting things just right for how I want the book to read. Now that this part of the process is almost finished, it'll make adding the new interviews and commentary that much easier when I get it.

No news on any new additions to the cast. I'm in the stages of finishing up the segments with Eric Fein and Tom DeFalco and in the next few weeks I will probably do the long anticipated Bob Harras, Howard Mackie and Terry Kavanagh interviews. The interviews themselves tend to be the easiest part of writing the book since things tend to work themselves out, which is why I've been working on the old material and creating bridges for the new stuff. I'm not sure if there's anyone else on the wish list of creators that's left for me to talk to, although I would love to try and reach John Romita Jr. He's the definitive Spider-Man artist, for me, and I think his work on the Clone Saga finale was especially good.

After talking it over with a few fans, I have also decided to include a checklist somewhere in the book which will include every issue relating to the Spider-Man Clone Saga, which will include appearances by Ben Reilly and Kaine in books other than the main titles and assorted minis, etc. I just think it will be a great tool for people who want to track down these issues for themselves.

I am also going to be doing some sort of section where readers and retailers discuss their memories of the story. I'm not looking to have anyone review the series or particular moments, just offer their recollections on what they were thinking at the time the stories were coming out. That sort of thing. So if you worked in a comic shop or were reading the Spider-Man books during the Clone Saga and want to send in some of your memories and maybe get into the book you can email them at
grayhaven05@hotmail.com with the subject: Clone Saga memories.

That's pretty much it, right now. Back to Life of Reilly and the mystery project(s).

Monday, April 21, 2008

NYCC 08 Sketches

Anakin Skywalker by Tommy Lee Edwards



Obi Wan Kenobi by Tommy Lee Edwards



Scarlet Spider by Shawn Alleyne




Jeff Hardy by Chris Vince



The Undertaker by Chris Vince

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Hype of Reilly: Part X

I have a shorter update this week as I’m knee deep in putting the finishing touches on Phase One of the Life of Reilly book.

The process to convert and condense the old columns and weave them in with the new content is almost complete. My cutting down of the review pieces of each issue has almost been completed and soon I’ll have Glenn’s re-workings of his commentary. Don’t worry about losing commentary, though. Glenn (and I) thought it’d be good to go back and trim some of the moments that may have come off as inflammatory regarding other creators, but we’re making up for some cuts with a lot of new information from Glenn, too.

Tom Brevoort graciously offered to have his brain picked on his recollection of the story. While Tom wasn’t as knee deep into the story as some of the other people he is a human encyclopedia when it comes to all things Marvel Comics. I’ve said many times before that the editorial point of view on this story seems to be the crown jewel since there are some things that happened that even the writers were unaware of. Usually what ends up happening when I talk to one of the editors is that I get so much new information that I have to go back to an interview with someone else that I thought was wrapped up and follow up some more.

I was able to touch base with former EIC and current Spider-Girl writer, Tom DeFalco, as well. Tom helped out a great deal when Glenn and I were doing the series of columns years ago so it will be nice to have him back to comment on some of the newer material/revelations. A bit of an aside here: if you aren’t reading The Amazing Spider-Girl, you’re missing out on one of the true gems of the comic industry. The Spider-Girl book has the same feel as one of those classic books from the 70s and 80s but deals with a future Peter Parker and more specifically, his offspring May(day), who now wears the webs. For those of you who may be a bit ticked off at the un-marrying of Peter and MJ in the main books, The Amazing Spider-Girl is the book for you. There’s a reason it’s still going strong after more than ten years. It’s a perfect, all ages book that will appeal to both kids and adults who want to read comics the way they used to be written.

We have another artist coming on board for the discussion. Tom Lyle is going to be discussing his time as both an artist and a writer during the Clone Saga. Not only did Tom do a lot of the early design work on some of the major characters (including the Scarlet Spider), but he was one of the first artists to bring Ben Reilly and his alter ego to life on the pages of Spider-Man. I think his work (both on Spider-Man, as well as Robin and a few other series) went highly under-rated.

The biggest news of this week was that former Marvel EIC, Bob Harras has agreed to participate. The responsibility for ending the Clone Saga, tying up the loose ends and moving Spider-Man forward fell on Bob’s shoulders. For awhile it looked like we weren’t going to be able to get him, and I was being a bit vague when people have been asking about his involvement. I guess at this point I should stop being surprised when people agree to work on the book since it’s been happening so much, but it always gives me a smile when I can get one more person to relate their experiences on this story, especially someone who had a role to play like Harras’.

I’m still waiting on the Mackie/Kavanagh interview, which should happen within the next week or two. It’s always difficult to try and organize a get together with a bunch of different people, but we all agreed that it would be more fun and interesting to do this one in person and give off a vibe similar to the old group meetings during the actual storyline.

The delay has been a bit of a blessing because it’s enabled me to fine tune the work in progress and gather enough information so that I could ask them some interesting questions. These were two of the most requested creators from the old columns so I want to give the fans a segment that will live up to the hype. Based on some small chats with Howard, I think you’re all going to be quite pleased with what he and Terry have to say. I’ve said it before, but it will be worth the wait.

I hope to have Harras’ interview done within the week, be well underway with Lyle and Eric Fein and likely finished with Mackie and Kavanagh in the next two weeks or so. From there, I’ll be finishing up things with DeFalco and Dezago and Glenn and I will work on putting the thing together in a more seamless fashion. Then it will be Danny Fingeroth’s turn to take a look, work on the introduction and help bring it all together. At this rate, I’m looking to be finished writing and editing the book by the end of May. Then again, I’m still working on trying to get one or two more participants for the book (someone let John Romita Jr know to email me, please) so that may delay things a bit.

And since people have been asking, yes, I will be at the New York Comic Con, but I won’t have a table. You may see some sort of LoR propaganda floating around, but I don’t have all that much to show off at this point. Maybe I’ll have a LoR t-shirt to make it easier to spot me?

I’ll also be attending Wizard World Philly and it looks like I will have a table, or at least be sharing one. By that point I should have a lot more information about the books progress and scheduling and maybe I’ll be able to show off some new material to anyone who’s interested.

So if you’re going to the New York or Philly cons, find me and say ‘hi’…or give me a smack.

Oh well, that wasn't as short of an update as I thought it'd be.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

The Life of Reilly Archives are Up

Here's something to keep everyone busy until the book comes out.
In looking over the old columns as I posted them one thing stood out even more than the spelling mistakes...the book is going to have a hell of a lot more content.

Time to start trimming my review segments to make room for all the new Q&As and commentary.

Relive the magic here: http://lifeofreillyarchives.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

The Hype of Reilly: Part IX

This installment of ‘Hype’ is a little later than the bi-weekly schedule that I’ve tried to keep, but I’ve been a lot busier with the book lately so…

In the past couple of weeks I was able to get Fabian Nicieza to do a short interview for the book and got it completed, as well. Fabian had a small but pretty crucial role to play in the Clone Saga with The Final Adventure. Glenn Greenberg had previously written about how that mini-series almost didn’t come to pass with all of the revisions involved and I wanted to get Fabian’s take on the situation. His interview is a nice addition to the book.

I also touched base with former Spider-Man Editor, Eric Fein. Eric was working on the books with Danny Fingeroth before the Clone Saga even began and continued on Spider-Man well into the storyline. We’ve just started things rolling, but I really do enjoy getting editors on this storyline involved with the book. They have a perspective that reaches beyond the creation of the stories and are fleshing out these behind the scenes details even more.

Fans of the original columns were really interested in hearing what some of their favorite writers had to say about their time on this story and I think I’ve done a good job of capturing that, but the real behind the scenes stuff seems to come from the editorial side. Bob and Eric have had some interesting information that even surprised me and I anticipate more details when Danny Fingeroth gets his say.

The JM DeMatteis interview was also completed this past week. Currently the JMD segment is around 18 pages and just shy of 9000 words. It’s the longest interview I’ve ever done, but DeMatteis is a wealth of information and it’s fascinating to pick his brains on just about everything. In terms of the Life of Reilly, the DeMatteis segment is second only to Glenn’s in terms of content. We’ll see how things stand once everything’s wrapped up, though.

It looks like the big Howard Mackie/Terry Kavanagh mini-summit will occur in the next week or so. Coordinating schedules between people is difficult, but it’s going to be well worth the wait. Terry and Howard are two of the people that were most requested by fans of the original columns to be interviewed and I’m ecstatic to have them both on board.

New York Comic Convention is nearly here and that’s where the Life of Reilly hype machine will officially start. Due to my frequenting of a lot of Spider-Man related websites, as well as a few other mainstream comic sites, a lot of people are aware of the book, but the NYCC is where I will unleash to information to all. It’s actually part of a long term goal of getting out to a bunch of cons this season to promote the book and by this time next year there should actually be a book to show off/sell. I would like nothing more than to usher in a Clone Saga panel at the ’09 New York Con as a wrap up to the whole thing. We’ll see.

That’s it for now. Gotta go finalize the Budiansky piece.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Reader Poll on Comics Retailing

Alan Doane at Comic Book Galaxy is conducting a reader poll about people's experience in comic shops. The best responses get a comic prize pack valued at about 50 bucks. Entries need to be received by Sunday, though, so get clicking.

It's a pretty neat little exercise, even if you aren't interested in the prize pack.


http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/blog/2008/02/reader-poll-on-comics-retailing-as-you.html

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Hype of Reilly Part VIII

I’ve got some good news for you all. This has probably been the busiest couple weeks of working on The Life of Reilly since I first made up my mind to actually do the book.

I’ve been in a very good rhythm lately and I’m trying to use it to my advantage and just keep working while I have the energy and the time to do so. This has involved a few very late nights and some early mornings, but there has been a great deal of progress, which pleases me to no end.

And based on the feedback that I’ve been getting over the past couple Hypes and the ‘One More Day’ piece, you’re all very anxious to have me getting this thing going. Actually, I was surprised by how many of you were mad that I took some time off of the project to work on the ‘One More Day’ piece. I know you all want this book to come out and I’m doing my best to stay focused. I only had two lazy days in the past few weeks and that’s because Cerebus creator Dave Sim was making the rounds on the net to promote his forthcoming Glamourpuss title. I would kick myself if I didn’t make the attempt to be online while he was taking time out to answer questions about his career, controversial beliefs and his new book.

But I digress.

I’m knee deep in the interview process with both JM DeMatteis and Bob Budiansky, and a lot of information going on with both of them. DeMatteis is one of the creators that fans of the old LoR column were dying to have feedback from and I don’t think that they’re going to be disappointed. My interview with him is actually growing much longer than I thought it would be because even when he answers a question that I thought was open and shut he sheds light on something that makes me want to follow up even more.

JM DeMatteis has long been one of my favorite writers and one of the top 3 Spider-Man writers in my opinion, but conversing with him about this story and how he constructs a scene and gets into a character’s head just gives me an entire other aspect to respect about him. I’m very pleased with this part of the book and how it’s going. Now, I’m not even sure when I’m going to be finished because there’s just so many new questions that I have with every segment of the interview that the thing has taken on a life of its own.

Bob Budiansky was an essential piece of the Clone Saga puzzle for me. Being the one who inherited the storyline in the middle of the run, it puts him in a very unique situation. While most of the people I’m interviewing for the book are being asked questions pertaining to their own work on the Clone Saga, I’ve found that a lot of what I’m discussing with Bob is more of a commentary on the original commentary. That’s not to say that we aren’t tackling new subjects and things from Bob’s individual perspective, but this is the first time (so far) that there are responses to Glenn’s original column commentary.

For those fans that preferred the parts of LoR that focused on the events surrounding the seemingly constant changes in direction to the storyline, Bob’s section is going to be your favorite.

Mind you, I’m not saying that the Budiansky material negates Glenn’s commentary, but there is another perspective involved now and new details that are filled out that explains things in much greater detail. Like the DeMatteis material, the Budiansky stuff has expanded further than I thought it would and there’s even more to go.

I also had a new addition to the book that I hadn’t planned on previously. George Khoury, writer of Image Comics: The Road to Independence from TwoMorrows Publishing, will be answering some questions of mine and helping me get some facts straight when it comes to a very important part of The Life of Reilly. George has done some great research on different facets of the industry and knows a great deal about the speculator bust of the 1990s.

Hopefully, he’ll be able to add to the evidence that the Clone Saga had nothing to do with the crash of Marvel and the industry. It’s been a popular misconception since the Clone Saga ended that everything bad in comics was a result of that storyline and it’s false. A lot of the creators that are contributing to the book will have ways to support that, but George will have a lot of facts on hands, too.

What all this means is that there is a slight danger of the book skyrocketing in page count. My latest estimate was pushing 300 pages. And remember, until we get a definite word back from licensing, this is 300 pages without art. This is also before we get to key commentary and interviews with Danny Fingeroth, Terry Kavanagh and Howard Mackie, which is probably going to be one of the biggest sections of the book.

Final editing of the original columns (particularly my synopsis of the issues) will have to be done once I’ve completed gathering new material. While I don’t think people would mind a thick phone book style trade paperback, I want to try and keep the price of the book as affordable as possible. That’s something that’s still months away from worrying about, so I won’t focus on it right now.

One important fact is that I’ve finally begun the transitioning of the columns to book form with the new material in place. That was the big hurdle that needed to be crossed. These aren’t going to finalized until all of the interviews are completed, but now the first few chapters are complete with ‘placeholders’ designed for ease of execution when it’s all wrapped up.

In the next couple weeks, I hope to finish up the DeMatteis, Dezago and Budiansky segments and start on the grand finale of new material with Mackie and Kavanaugh.

Another update in a couple weeks…give or take.