Welcome to Slushfactory.com: A Pop Culture Extravaganza

	New Doc Ock Hits Spider-Man Have you seen the new Doctor Octopus, designed by fan-favorite artist Humberto Ramos? Click to dig the Doc.
	Marvel Hires New Publisher Following such rumors, Marvel today announced that Bill Jemas has been replaced as Publisher. Now read who took his job.
	CrossGen's Solus #7 CrossGen thinks you'll love George Pérez's new issue of Solus. And to prove it, here's a five-page preview.
	Marvel Searches For She-Hulk Writer Geoff Johns and artist Scott Kolins reunite for Marvel's Avengers* as they search for She-Hulk.*
	Virtex Returns For Digital Webbing A comic about a cybernetic cowboy that hunts outlaws riding dinosaurs? Where do we sign up? Read on and find out.
	Marvel's Mutants Gains New Penciler Marvel's New Mutants* has a new artist onboard, and we've got a five-page preview. See if he's got the chops.*
	Image Rocks Out With Shangri-La Are you ready to rock and roll? Image is, with their upcoming graphic novel Shangri-La. Read the details here.
	Marvel Teams Up For A Good Cause Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk team up for charity in a special December one-shot. Read all about it.
	Davis' Marquis Returns In December Guy Davis' sin-slayer is back in The Marquis: Intermezzo, coming from Oni Press. Read all about it.
	Marvel Unveils '04 FF Plans Marvel plans three Fantastic Four* series for 2004, and we've got the details and preview art. Check this out.*
	2F2F DVD Contest The hit street racing film 2 Fast 2 Furious* is driving to DVD players near you. Win a free copy from Slush and Universal.*

Slush Exclusive:
Quesada Talks Waid (Again)
By Alexander Ness

09.29.03

When we last spoke to Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada back in June, he had granted us the first interview discussing his company's decision to relieve fan-favorite writer Mark Waid from Fantastic Four. Well, fast foward to now (and many angry fan e-mails later), and Waid is back on FF. Quesada was kind enough to grant an interview to Slush's Alex Ness to elaborate on the whole situation.

Take it away Alex...

Alex Ness: What changed to have Mark Waid and "Ringo" back on the title?

Joe Quesada: Unless you've been living under a rock it's no surprise how terrible I felt about how the Mark Waid firing was handled. I believe I must have publicly apologized to Mark on at least four occasions. You know what, it's actually fun apologizing to Mark so lets go for five.

"Dammit, Mark, I'm sorry!"

Jeez that felt good, you should try it sometime.

AN: Since I love his work I hope to never need to apologize to Mark, but it is good news that it's fun to do...

JQ: I might just apologize to Mark on a yearly basis even if there's no reason to, sort of like a personal holiday to remind me of how we sometimes screw up.

Anyway, shortly after the whole thing went down I felt we needed to make good so I went out of my way to plead with Mark and Mike [Wieringo] to return to the book. I even met Mark at some swanky restaurant just shortly after it happened, heck I even paid for the meal! Waid of course knowing this ordered steak.

Look, the honest to god's truth is that Mark is a dear friend, we go back a long way and I just had to make things right.

Article continued below advertisement

AN: Did the announced replacement team not work out?

JQ: No, actually a little over a month ago we realized that what Roberto [Aguierre-Sacasa] and Steve [McNiven] were working on was just amazing. We also realized that it was an incredibly grounded, humanistic and "real world" take on the FF. We felt that this book needed different branding and also was warranting a launch with a big fat number one. The real problem became that once we had made that decision we had a hole in our regular FF title. The offer to Mark and Mike to return was on the table but they were weighing their options so we were kind of on hold. You have no idea how thrilled I was (and relieved) when the team supreme decided to stay on. I was also honored that they trusted enough in me to accept my apology and stay on the book.

AN: What effect on your decisions did six guys on the internet using psuedonyms have?

JQ: No more effect other than I agreed with them from the get go and let's be honest here, it's only five.

AN: How long can we expect Waid and Ringo to stay on the title for? This isn't going to be like when Van Halen reunited with David Lee Roth and two weeks later it was over, is it?

JQ: You would have to ask Mark and Mike that but if they answer anything other than a long run I'll fire that schmuck Waid right now.

Kidding.

Check out Slush's "Fantastic Four In 2004" preview featuring details and art from the three FF series hitting store shelves next year! Click here!

E-Mail Author | Archive | Tell A Friend

Sword of Dracula Slush launches our Halloween countdown with the first in a series of spooky reviews. First up? New series, Sword of Dracula.	John Byrne's IMO This week John points out that fans cannot read the minds of creators, although you wouldn't know that by listening to some of them.	The Dead Zone Flesh-eating zombies battle the last remaining police officer in Image's new series, The Walking Dead. We review the first issue.	Steve Niles Interview Slush interviews Steve Niles, the acclaimed writer of 30 Days of Night, who tells us about the relaunch of Fused.
A Spidery Preview Have you seen the new Doctor Octopus, designed by fan-favorite artist Humberto Ramos? Click to dig the Doc.	Kill Bill Review Slush reviews the first installment of Quentin Tarantino's kung fu slasher masterpiece, Kill Bill.	Viper Interview Slush takes a look at new publisher Viper Comics, and interviews the guys behind two of its hottest books.	Peanuts Collected Cartoon fans rejoice. Fantagraphics is reprinting the entire collection of Charles Schulz' Peanuts. Read on for details.