I'm part way through my first novel and working on another for Games Workshop. I have two more arcs of a three arc story to finish for them too.

I'm also finishing up the outlines for the third series of The Red Seas with Steve Yeowell (a fantasy pirate yarn that pre-dates Pirates of the Caribbean) and I'm part way though two new series with ballroom dancing boy genius Matt Brooker a.k.a D'Israeli entitled Gothic and Stickleback.

He and I are also tidying up an old project of ours called Kingdom of the Wicked that's only ever been seen in black and white. We're in talks with a publisher regarding a full colour reprint in the same vein as Scarlet Traces for release later this year.

RICHARD: And that's a wrap I think. Ian Edginton can be contacted here.

But that's not all for this column! Joe Quesada was fed up of answering sniping interviewers who only wanted to ask about why Chuck Austen was allowed to write New X-Men, or what happened to Epic or if Captain America was being turned into Mickey Mouse... and why couldn't these nasty people ask questions about how well Marvel are kicking arse this summer? Well, anything to oblige.

RICHARD JOHNSTON: Marvel are kicking arse! But isn't there room for someone in the Top Twenty apart from your guys? If Jim Lee's Superman is there all on it's own, will you be nice to it? You won't bully it or anything will you?
JOE QUESADA: I love Jim and I'm a fan of his work, but he makes for great competition. I know he wants to kick our ass as much as we want to kick his. Let's face it, thank god Jim dusted off his pencils or every month would be a clean sweep.

 

SPIDER-MAN: DOC OCK YEAR ONE #1 - SIGNED BY KAARE ANDREWS!

RICHARD: Marvel are kicking arse! With Ultimate Fantastic Four clearing 200,000, will you settle for anything less than 300,000 for Astonishing X-Men? Who will hunt down retailers who don't order enough - you, or the fans?
JOE: 300K is a tall order for anyone right now. What I'm hoping for is record breaking sales in the bookstore market. I believe that the legion of Whedon fans, especially those of the female persuasion will want to get their Joss fix at a bookstore.

RICHARD: Marvel are kicking arse! A friend of mine read the script of Spider-Man 2 and claimed Chabon to be a Spider-genius. What's your take on what you've read? Any chance of grabbing him to join the likes of Bryan Singer on the comics?
JOE: You never know, but Chabon is a genius, no doubt! I love the short story he did for DC and I'm looking forward to his Dark Horse stuff.

RICHARD: Marvel are kicking arse! There are three high profile films on their way based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's work. Punisher, Constantine and Preacher. My money's on Punisher - you should have seen how people swarmed around those giveaway T-shirts at Chicago. Can we expect more and more Ennis/Dillon projects from Marvel?
JOE: Certainly more Ennis, he has a couple of things in the hopper. As for Steve, he can work for us anytime he wants but word on the street is that he's knee-deep working on City Lights, his and Garth's barroom opus for Vertigo. Hey, look at that, I gave my competition a plug!

RICHARD: Marvel are kicking arse! Supreme Power broke all expectations in the American market, being a top selling mature readers comic. There are some concerns though that this is seen as an exception. Do you expect other projects of a similar tone from Marvel?
JOE: MAX is a unique imprint because I don't view it as an imprint. I view it more as an outlet for some of our creators to tell certain types of stories. If MAX was intended to be an imprint like Marvel Knights or the Ultimates, we would have set a certain title count strategy and a bottom line. That was never the intention, what we wanted was to have the ability to allow ourselves certain latitudes. That said, MAX may have two titles by years end and then again it may have ten, there's really no telling, we'll just take the stories and concepts as they come.  

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