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| Characters copyright MARVEL COMICS |
A few years ago, I was asked by someone acting on behalf of the then-current copyright owner of MICK ANGLO's MARVELMAN as to whether I'd be interested in lettering some pages for submission to MARVEL, as part of a proposal to interest them in buying the character. Well, of course I would. It was all very hush-hush, and I had to sign a confidentiality clause which would be in effect during negotiations, and until they had been concluded one way or the other.
Well, we all know what the result was. Out of courtesy to both Marvel and the previous copyright owner (and I know there's still a lot of controversy over who actually owns what and whether anyone had the rights to sell in the first place), I've held off from featuring any pages here, waiting for Marvel to do something with the character first - apart, that is, from publishing reprints of '50s stories that I don't imagine a lot of Americans will be much interested in.
However, as certain promises made to me by a certain person have not materialised, and as that person seems to be 'unavailable' and has not responded to requests made to their representative that they contact me, I no longer feel inclined to extend any further courtesy or consideration than I have up 'til now.
So what you're now looking at, Crivs, is an exclusive! It's one of several pages of a proposal submitted to Marvel, written and drawn by someone who prefers to remain anonymous, and lettered by me. One of the Marvel head honchos described the pages as "model comic art" (and had a few nice things to say about my lettering as well) during a 'phone conversation with me a couple of years back.
I should make it clear that the above page (and the other ones yet unseen) do not necessarily represent any plans Marvel may have for the character or intended storylines - the writer/artist merely gave his imagination free rein, unhampered by any corporate restrictions on his creativity (because there were none). Should Marvel ever get around to doing anything with their CAPTAIN MARVEL imitation (the DC COMICS one, formerly FAWCETT), it's highly unlikely that any ideas or plotlines suggested in the sample pages will be used. So, with that in mind, enjoy the above page.
And it's just come to my attention that Marvel intends to make an announcement about the character soon.
6 comments:
If Marvel ever DO make this announcment, then this will be the ONE new comic that I will have to check out. Incidentally, I never seemed to come across what MM said when he wanted to revert back to Mick Moran again! Was it "Atomik"?
It's a character with which they don't have much investment in terms of iconography. I'm thinking he may be seen as suitable for some tinkering, along the lines of DC's Alan Scott.
I assumed that he simply repeated 'Kimota', but I'm not 100% certain, JP.
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Doubt it, DSE - I think they really wanted the name above all else, and they'd want that to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, not just a minority one.
Actually, this page isn't even the best of the lot - I only published it because it included all three 'Marvelman-family' characters and it doesn't really reveal anything of the samples' plot.
The post-Warrior life of Marvelman / Miracleman was such a torturous tale of copyrights and lawsuits that it seemed impossible the character would ever re-emerge. It would be nice to see the Alan Moore stories reprinted, perhaps in a deluxe edition, with better printing than the ( mostly ) awful Eclipse issues.
( Although I could live without seeing Neil Gaiman's take on the character again. ) But I really don't hold out much hope of Marvel ever producing a decent new version of the character.
To be honest, Cerebus, I'm not particularly a fan of anyone's version of the character. It'll be interesting to see what Marvel do with it, however.
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