It’s been a while since I did a straight up Q&A here. Anything you want to know about?
PAD
167 comments on “What’cha Wanna Know?”
You know, I was just in Forbidden Planet today when a totally silly question popped into my head:
“Did Peter David get ever get any flak from the Kleenex people for creating a paranormal of the same name?”
This is the stuff that goes through my head when I’m sleep deprived.
Never heard from them, no. Although I bet I wouldn’t be allowed to do it now. Legal has really tightened up.
PAD
In which work of yours was this, Peter?
Luigi
Not sure why I can’t reply to your reply, but in case PAD doesn’t backtrack to this, this was from his run on the New Universe title “Justice”, when it got revamped from a fantasy title into something more in tune with their “real world” promise for the line. Pretty much where I first started devouring anything he wrote. (figuratively)
Any word on if Star Trek: New Frontier: The Returned is ever going to get a print edition?
No word at all. Probably won’t know until next year.
PAD
So… When do we see some more stories featuring Vince Hammond and crew?
.
And what are the odds of your “werewolf” ever crossing paths with your vampire?
Right now working on Hidden Earth. So after that.
Yes! How do you feel now that they’ve killed off Madrox like he was some throwaway?
As I have already said, I do not believe for a moment that Madrox is dead. There was no way that could’ve been Madrox. Wrong costume, and no tattoo on his face. Figuring out who that was would certainly be my first story if they ever offer me a series about him.
I agree! No Layla, no M tattoo. I was appalled to see the page. Id love for them to bring you in for more Madrox family hijinx.
Seems to be a bug with the comments logic.
* The post says there’s 128 comments on this blog entry.
I just tried it on my phone and touched previous comments, and it went right to the first page of comments. They’re all there. Not sure what to tell you.
PAD
Confirmed — Just reloaded the page and can see all comments now. Thanks for checking!
It’s been doing this for me for MONTHS. I use a traditional PC, not a smartphone, so maybe it’s optimized for phones and not traditional browsers, but yes, the problem is real and persists. Might want to have someone look into that. I still can’t access the previous page.
I’m in the same boat as Jay Field.
.
For years now, (if i’m on the PC) if a thread ever reaches a second page, I only ever get one post after clicking to see the older posts.
[I]QUOTE:
[b]CSO:[/b] “I’m in the same boat as Jay Field.
.
For years now, (if i’m on the PC) if a thread ever reaches a second page, I only ever get one post after clicking to see the older posts.”[/I]
Thirded! I will never, ever own a phone that does anything other than the basics. I don’t even text!!
I have just finished reading Hermes Press’ TPB of the “Phantom” mini-series. My congratulations for making true your dream project of pairing the Ghost Who Walks with…er…another renowned “Jungle hero” (albeit in disguise). One of the best books I’ve read in recent times, made me think of the Phantom comic books I’ve read as a kid (and the ones with the other guy as well; I loved especially the Russ Manning era).
My question is: have you any plans to return to Italy for another Star Trek Convention? (I was present at the last one you attended, 14 years ago).
If I’m invited, sure. I had a great time at that convention. We announced at their closing banquet that Kathleen was pregnant and they went nuts. Great fun.
PAD
I remember it very well. I was among the ones who went nuts.
Okay, then! Well, if they ever want me to come back out, they should contact me. We can bring the baby with us. She’s fourteen, but…
PAD
You get a shot at an Incredible Hulk movie trilogy. What do you do?
Probably start with “Future Imperfect” and then go from there to Planet Hulk.
PAD
Peter, I just sent this letter to the X-office. Any thoughts?
Dear Editors,
A long long time ago… Louise Simonson killed off Doug Ramsey in the pages of New Mutants #60, and I was devastated! I was sad for months. I had never cared about the character until Weezie started writing him. I think the reason I cared so much about him was his blossoming romance with Rahne. She was a sweetie-pie, and I wished I had known a girl like that when I was in high-school. I got over it. I moved on and that was that. Or so I thought.
Then, Doug was resurrected in the pages of X-Force and the New Mutants, and I thought to myself: “Surely, the joyous reunion I’ve been waiting for for twenty years is just around the corner, right?” People, that was back in 2008. It’s now 2016 – almost 2017! But never mind what I want. Think about your characters and the lack of logic! Doug died saving Rahne. The New Mutants all know this. Don’t you think at least one of them, if not all of them, would say to themselves: “Gee, we should probably tell Rahne that Doug is alive even though she is part of X-Factor now. This is something she would really want to know.” It makes no sense for them not to do that. The only way it would make sense is if they were a) stupid or else b) áššhølëš of an incredible order. While we’re on the subject, does Rahne even know that Warlock is alive?
It seems to me that Marvel editorial is more interested in having the X-Men fight the Avengers or each other but believe it or not some of us buy the books because we care about the characters. I can understand how the “A” plots sometimes have to take precedence, but eight years? Come on! I don’t know that Rahne and Doug have to get married and ride off into the sun set. Not everybody marries their high-school crush. But at the very least there is a story to be told here – worthy of a special or a mini-series. I will only offer the following three suggestions. First, Rahne has suffered quite a bit in the last few years. Maybe a sweeter, more humane tone would be appropriate for such a story? Second, please try to assign a writer who cares about telling this particular story. Peter David comes to mind. Third, whatever story you choose to tell it has to somehow explain why neither Doug or the New Mutants chose to tell Rahne about his resurrection.
Regards,
Marvelman
I have talked with the organizers of the convention (then called Sticcon and now known as Starcon Italia), and I’m now speaking on their behalf, so…Mr David, are you free from 25 to 28 of May, 2017? We’d be honored to have you again in Italy as our guest.
I guess this conversation should continue in private, so, please, contact me at your leisure.
A day late to the party. I hope you haven’t cleaned out the place and locked the doors.
I loved your Strong Guy from X-Factor (the ’90s version rocked). He was my favorite superhero. Then stuff happened, King of Hëll, and so on, and he’s mostly disappeared from the Marvel universe. Do you have any hopes/plans for the character?
Do I? No, no plans for him at the moment, sorry.
PAD
Will you be at the 2017 Mohegan Sun con?
I dunno. Haven’t heard from them.
PAD
I’m blind and have been desperate for years to read your prose story from “The Ultimate Hulk” short story collection, later adapted into “Hulk: The End”. Do you have it available in an accessible format for screen reader users?
I’m afraid I do not. And I very much doubt it will be coming back into print, sorry.
PAD
Are there are any plans for more Star Trek: New Frontier material soon?
I have plans, but at the moment, Pocket does not. But that could change with a phone call.
PAD
Who have been some of your favorite artists to work with? (I really enjoyed Carmine Di Giandomenico’s pencil work on X-Factor)
Who are some of your current favorite comic book writers?
Is there any truth to the rumor that when Shatterstar and Rictor kissed that Liefield’s response was “Shatterstar isn’t gay, he’s like a Greek Warrior” If so, that would be hilarious which is why I’m so cynical about it being true.
Thanks for doing this Q&A, it is greatly appreciated!
I can answer your last question: It’s not a rumor at all. I believe Liefeld specifically compared him to a Spartan, but I might be wrong about that. But yeah, that happened. PAD did a scene where Shatterstar watches Gladiator in response.
Favorite artists, in no particular order: George Perez. Todd Nauck. Dale Keown. J.K. Woodward. Will Sliney. Leonard Kirk. John Buscema. And that’s just a few off the top of my head.
What Rob said exactly was:
“As the guy that created, designed and wrote his first dozen appearances, Shatterstar is not gay. Sorry. Can’t wait to someday undo this… Shatterstar is akin to Maximus in Gladiator. He’s a warrior, a Spartan, and not a gay one.”
My response at the time was as follows:
“I understand that some parents have the same reaction. They were responsible for their children’s first appearances and, when informed of their sexual persuasion, firmly declare it’s impossible, they can’t be gay. I find particularly distressing Rob’s contention that Shatterstar can’t possibly be gay because he’s a warrior. That might come as a bit of a shock to Alexander the Great. For that matter, among his assortment of gay friends, I suppose Rob has none in the military since of course gays aren’t allowed to serve unless they keep their mouths shut. Perhaps Rob would like to see “don’t ask, don’t tell” implemented in the Marvel universe.”
What’s amazing is how quickly the world has changed. It was THAT recently that gays couldn’t openly serve in the military, and now “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is gone. I wonder if Rob’s opinion on Shatterstar has changed.
Always wondered this. Around Hulk 375??? Doc Samson figures that it’s more than Gamma radiation causing this with Bruce, it’s Multiple personality Disorder.I was all of 13, and I’ve always battled Bi-polar though the doctors hadn’t quite nailed it as that then. Seeing a character I loved in the comics battle mental health issues made me love him more, and made me feel less alone in my battle. What inspired this idea some personal connection or just dámņ good creative writing? Always wondered.
The idea occurred to me when I was reading Bill Mantlo’s story discussing Bruce’s youth. In my readings I discovered that MPD is typically caused by childhood abuse, and when I read that story, the concept of Bruce being MPD immediately fell into place. I realized that’s why none of his attempts to cure himself had never worked: because the problem wasn’t the gamma radiation, it was Bruce himself. We had never seen him as a fully integrated human being, and the whole storyline evolved from there.
I’m pleased that my work helped you.
PAD
I just noticed you will be here in Argentina this weekend, but I can’t find if there will be a Panel with you in the Argentina ComicCon. Will it be or where could we found you if not?
Thanks for coming again and I hope here you can find a new Agua sin Gaaz here.
See you there!!
I’m going to have a table there, so I shouldn’t be that hard to find.
PAD
Well, I’ve seen the hulk post from July and I just don’t want to get messy here, but I’ll go at it again from a different angle. Now it’s Jamie who is supposedly dead. He’ll be back, fine. But don’t you just feel a bit mad when another writer takes a character you’ve been ten years bringing to peaceful conclusion and just kill him for no good reason? His death had no impact in the story, and even less sense, and just makes me think that Marvel has no respect for its own content anymore. Obviously the writer didn’t do his research, but what about the editors? Isn’t that supposed to be their job?
Thanks for reading
Did I get upset? No. It was so absurdly executed on so many levels, all I could do was shake my head and laugh. It basically ignored everything that I had done with the character. So I am perfectly happy to do it a similar service and ignore it as well.
PAD
This question goes way back. John Tenson (Justice) had a daughter. Before it was revealed that she could raise the dead, she was kidnapped (or something), she was trying to get out of the car, but they wouldn’t let her. Then she said something REALLY LOUD, and all the guys in the car stopped, and did what she wanted.
Was this supposed to be a tease that her power was (going to be) the ability to persuade other people to do what she wants (ala the purple man)?
And did you get this idea from a thirteen year old kid who sent in to the New Universe letters his own badly drawn comic called “the persuader”?
Always wanted to ask. Thanks.
I’ve also been having problems with older comments for months. Like others, when I click on the “older comments” link to go to the second page, I get one comment. Clicking refresh doesn’t change anything.
As for my question, have some of your past posts “gone missing”? Over the course of the year, I’ve been watching superhero movies on the weekends, then coming to this site to re-read what we were all saying about that particular movie when it came out. But in some cases, I can’t find any such post. The Dark Knight is one example. There are posts about Heath Ledger, but none involving a discussion of the actual film. Was there not such a discussion at the time or was it removed for some reason?
On the subject of superhero movies, last weekend I watched X-Men Apocalypse. Having seen it again, I can answer a question someone had in the thread concerning that movie about how the changed timeline brought about Apocalypse’s return. His argument was that Apocalypse should have been part of the original timeline. It’s because the public revelation in 1973 that mutants existed led to the formation of cults who scoured the world looking for evidence of this legendary first mutant. In the history of the first three X movies, mutants were only just becoming public knowledge in the early 21st century, so the search for the first mutant would only just have been beginning somewhere during the chronology of those films.
Rick.
In almost every Marvel or DC comic, the stories told are in a “sliding timescale,” so that the companies are not backed into a corner about their characters aging. This seems to have been taken further in the 2099 setting, in which presumably so far every story told takes place in that specific year. Even if the earliest story told took place on January 1, that gives fewer than 365 days for every subsequent story to have taken place.
Do you have any thoughts, or has there been any discussion, to show at least a small passage of time by progressing Spider-Man 2099 to Spider-Man 2100 or something similar?
• 
You know, I was just in Forbidden Planet today when a totally silly question popped into my head:
“Did Peter David get ever get any flak from the Kleenex people for creating a paranormal of the same name?”
This is the stuff that goes through my head when I’m sleep deprived.
Never heard from them, no. Although I bet I wouldn’t be allowed to do it now. Legal has really tightened up.
PAD
In which work of yours was this, Peter?
Luigi
Not sure why I can’t reply to your reply, but in case PAD doesn’t backtrack to this, this was from his run on the New Universe title “Justice”, when it got revamped from a fantasy title into something more in tune with their “real world” promise for the line. Pretty much where I first started devouring anything he wrote. (figuratively)
Any word on if Star Trek: New Frontier: The Returned is ever going to get a print edition?
No word at all. Probably won’t know until next year.
PAD
So… When do we see some more stories featuring Vince Hammond and crew?
.
And what are the odds of your “werewolf” ever crossing paths with your vampire?
Right now working on Hidden Earth. So after that.
Yes! How do you feel now that they’ve killed off Madrox like he was some throwaway?
As I have already said, I do not believe for a moment that Madrox is dead. There was no way that could’ve been Madrox. Wrong costume, and no tattoo on his face. Figuring out who that was would certainly be my first story if they ever offer me a series about him.
I agree! No Layla, no M tattoo. I was appalled to see the page. Id love for them to bring you in for more Madrox family hijinx.
Seems to be a bug with the comments logic.
* The post says there’s 128 comments on this blog entry.
* The page I’m currently at is http://www.peterdavid.net/2016/11/27/whatcha-wanna-know-5/#comments and it shows 9 comments.
* The “Older Comments” link sends me to http://www.peterdavid.net/2016/11/27/whatcha-wanna-know-5/comment-page-1/#comments and this shows 1 comment.
* How can I read the remaining 118 comments?
We ask Glenn. Glenn?
I just tried it on my phone and touched previous comments, and it went right to the first page of comments. They’re all there. Not sure what to tell you.
PAD
Confirmed — Just reloaded the page and can see all comments now. Thanks for checking!
It’s been doing this for me for MONTHS. I use a traditional PC, not a smartphone, so maybe it’s optimized for phones and not traditional browsers, but yes, the problem is real and persists. Might want to have someone look into that. I still can’t access the previous page.
I’m in the same boat as Jay Field.
.
For years now, (if i’m on the PC) if a thread ever reaches a second page, I only ever get one post after clicking to see the older posts.
[I]QUOTE:
[b]CSO:[/b] “I’m in the same boat as Jay Field.
.
For years now, (if i’m on the PC) if a thread ever reaches a second page, I only ever get one post after clicking to see the older posts.”[/I]
Thirded! I will never, ever own a phone that does anything other than the basics. I don’t even text!!
I have just finished reading Hermes Press’ TPB of the “Phantom” mini-series. My congratulations for making true your dream project of pairing the Ghost Who Walks with…er…another renowned “Jungle hero” (albeit in disguise). One of the best books I’ve read in recent times, made me think of the Phantom comic books I’ve read as a kid (and the ones with the other guy as well; I loved especially the Russ Manning era).
My question is: have you any plans to return to Italy for another Star Trek Convention? (I was present at the last one you attended, 14 years ago).
If I’m invited, sure. I had a great time at that convention. We announced at their closing banquet that Kathleen was pregnant and they went nuts. Great fun.
PAD
I remember it very well. I was among the ones who went nuts.
Okay, then! Well, if they ever want me to come back out, they should contact me. We can bring the baby with us. She’s fourteen, but…
PAD
You get a shot at an Incredible Hulk movie trilogy. What do you do?
Probably start with “Future Imperfect” and then go from there to Planet Hulk.
PAD
Peter, I just sent this letter to the X-office. Any thoughts?
Dear Editors,
A long long time ago… Louise Simonson killed off Doug Ramsey in the pages of New Mutants #60, and I was devastated! I was sad for months. I had never cared about the character until Weezie started writing him. I think the reason I cared so much about him was his blossoming romance with Rahne. She was a sweetie-pie, and I wished I had known a girl like that when I was in high-school. I got over it. I moved on and that was that. Or so I thought.
Then, Doug was resurrected in the pages of X-Force and the New Mutants, and I thought to myself: “Surely, the joyous reunion I’ve been waiting for for twenty years is just around the corner, right?” People, that was back in 2008. It’s now 2016 – almost 2017! But never mind what I want. Think about your characters and the lack of logic! Doug died saving Rahne. The New Mutants all know this. Don’t you think at least one of them, if not all of them, would say to themselves: “Gee, we should probably tell Rahne that Doug is alive even though she is part of X-Factor now. This is something she would really want to know.” It makes no sense for them not to do that. The only way it would make sense is if they were a) stupid or else b) áššhølëš of an incredible order. While we’re on the subject, does Rahne even know that Warlock is alive?
It seems to me that Marvel editorial is more interested in having the X-Men fight the Avengers or each other but believe it or not some of us buy the books because we care about the characters. I can understand how the “A” plots sometimes have to take precedence, but eight years? Come on! I don’t know that Rahne and Doug have to get married and ride off into the sun set. Not everybody marries their high-school crush. But at the very least there is a story to be told here – worthy of a special or a mini-series. I will only offer the following three suggestions. First, Rahne has suffered quite a bit in the last few years. Maybe a sweeter, more humane tone would be appropriate for such a story? Second, please try to assign a writer who cares about telling this particular story. Peter David comes to mind. Third, whatever story you choose to tell it has to somehow explain why neither Doug or the New Mutants chose to tell Rahne about his resurrection.
Regards,
Marvelman
I have talked with the organizers of the convention (then called Sticcon and now known as Starcon Italia), and I’m now speaking on their behalf, so…Mr David, are you free from 25 to 28 of May, 2017? We’d be honored to have you again in Italy as our guest.
I guess this conversation should continue in private, so, please, contact me at your leisure.
A day late to the party. I hope you haven’t cleaned out the place and locked the doors.
I loved your Strong Guy from X-Factor (the ’90s version rocked). He was my favorite superhero. Then stuff happened, King of Hëll, and so on, and he’s mostly disappeared from the Marvel universe. Do you have any hopes/plans for the character?
Do I? No, no plans for him at the moment, sorry.
PAD
Will you be at the 2017 Mohegan Sun con?
I dunno. Haven’t heard from them.
PAD
I’m blind and have been desperate for years to read your prose story from “The Ultimate Hulk” short story collection, later adapted into “Hulk: The End”. Do you have it available in an accessible format for screen reader users?
I’m afraid I do not. And I very much doubt it will be coming back into print, sorry.
PAD
Are there are any plans for more Star Trek: New Frontier material soon?
I have plans, but at the moment, Pocket does not. But that could change with a phone call.
PAD
Who have been some of your favorite artists to work with? (I really enjoyed Carmine Di Giandomenico’s pencil work on X-Factor)
Who are some of your current favorite comic book writers?
Is there any truth to the rumor that when Shatterstar and Rictor kissed that Liefield’s response was “Shatterstar isn’t gay, he’s like a Greek Warrior” If so, that would be hilarious which is why I’m so cynical about it being true.
Thanks for doing this Q&A, it is greatly appreciated!
I can answer your last question: It’s not a rumor at all. I believe Liefeld specifically compared him to a Spartan, but I might be wrong about that. But yeah, that happened. PAD did a scene where Shatterstar watches Gladiator in response.
Favorite artists, in no particular order: George Perez. Todd Nauck. Dale Keown. J.K. Woodward. Will Sliney. Leonard Kirk. John Buscema. And that’s just a few off the top of my head.
What Rob said exactly was:
“As the guy that created, designed and wrote his first dozen appearances, Shatterstar is not gay. Sorry. Can’t wait to someday undo this… Shatterstar is akin to Maximus in Gladiator. He’s a warrior, a Spartan, and not a gay one.”
My response at the time was as follows:
“I understand that some parents have the same reaction. They were responsible for their children’s first appearances and, when informed of their sexual persuasion, firmly declare it’s impossible, they can’t be gay. I find particularly distressing Rob’s contention that Shatterstar can’t possibly be gay because he’s a warrior. That might come as a bit of a shock to Alexander the Great. For that matter, among his assortment of gay friends, I suppose Rob has none in the military since of course gays aren’t allowed to serve unless they keep their mouths shut. Perhaps Rob would like to see “don’t ask, don’t tell” implemented in the Marvel universe.”
What’s amazing is how quickly the world has changed. It was THAT recently that gays couldn’t openly serve in the military, and now “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is gone. I wonder if Rob’s opinion on Shatterstar has changed.
PAD
Read More: Rob Liefeld Says Gay Shatterstar ‘Sucks,’ Plans to ‘Undo’ His Sexuality | http://comicsalliance.com/rob-liefeld-says-gay-shatterstar-sucks-calls-him-a-not-gay/?trackback=tsmclip
Always wondered this. Around Hulk 375??? Doc Samson figures that it’s more than Gamma radiation causing this with Bruce, it’s Multiple personality Disorder.I was all of 13, and I’ve always battled Bi-polar though the doctors hadn’t quite nailed it as that then. Seeing a character I loved in the comics battle mental health issues made me love him more, and made me feel less alone in my battle. What inspired this idea some personal connection or just dámņ good creative writing? Always wondered.
The idea occurred to me when I was reading Bill Mantlo’s story discussing Bruce’s youth. In my readings I discovered that MPD is typically caused by childhood abuse, and when I read that story, the concept of Bruce being MPD immediately fell into place. I realized that’s why none of his attempts to cure himself had never worked: because the problem wasn’t the gamma radiation, it was Bruce himself. We had never seen him as a fully integrated human being, and the whole storyline evolved from there.
I’m pleased that my work helped you.
PAD
I just noticed you will be here in Argentina this weekend, but I can’t find if there will be a Panel with you in the Argentina ComicCon. Will it be or where could we found you if not?
Thanks for coming again and I hope here you can find a new Agua sin Gaaz here.
See you there!!
I’m going to have a table there, so I shouldn’t be that hard to find.
PAD
Well, I’ve seen the hulk post from July and I just don’t want to get messy here, but I’ll go at it again from a different angle. Now it’s Jamie who is supposedly dead. He’ll be back, fine. But don’t you just feel a bit mad when another writer takes a character you’ve been ten years bringing to peaceful conclusion and just kill him for no good reason? His death had no impact in the story, and even less sense, and just makes me think that Marvel has no respect for its own content anymore. Obviously the writer didn’t do his research, but what about the editors? Isn’t that supposed to be their job?
Thanks for reading
Did I get upset? No. It was so absurdly executed on so many levels, all I could do was shake my head and laugh. It basically ignored everything that I had done with the character. So I am perfectly happy to do it a similar service and ignore it as well.
PAD
This question goes way back. John Tenson (Justice) had a daughter. Before it was revealed that she could raise the dead, she was kidnapped (or something), she was trying to get out of the car, but they wouldn’t let her. Then she said something REALLY LOUD, and all the guys in the car stopped, and did what she wanted.
Was this supposed to be a tease that her power was (going to be) the ability to persuade other people to do what she wants (ala the purple man)?
And did you get this idea from a thirteen year old kid who sent in to the New Universe letters his own badly drawn comic called “the persuader”?
Always wanted to ask. Thanks.
I’ve also been having problems with older comments for months. Like others, when I click on the “older comments” link to go to the second page, I get one comment. Clicking refresh doesn’t change anything.
As for my question, have some of your past posts “gone missing”? Over the course of the year, I’ve been watching superhero movies on the weekends, then coming to this site to re-read what we were all saying about that particular movie when it came out. But in some cases, I can’t find any such post. The Dark Knight is one example. There are posts about Heath Ledger, but none involving a discussion of the actual film. Was there not such a discussion at the time or was it removed for some reason?
On the subject of superhero movies, last weekend I watched X-Men Apocalypse. Having seen it again, I can answer a question someone had in the thread concerning that movie about how the changed timeline brought about Apocalypse’s return. His argument was that Apocalypse should have been part of the original timeline. It’s because the public revelation in 1973 that mutants existed led to the formation of cults who scoured the world looking for evidence of this legendary first mutant. In the history of the first three X movies, mutants were only just becoming public knowledge in the early 21st century, so the search for the first mutant would only just have been beginning somewhere during the chronology of those films.
Rick.
In almost every Marvel or DC comic, the stories told are in a “sliding timescale,” so that the companies are not backed into a corner about their characters aging. This seems to have been taken further in the 2099 setting, in which presumably so far every story told takes place in that specific year. Even if the earliest story told took place on January 1, that gives fewer than 365 days for every subsequent story to have taken place.
Do you have any thoughts, or has there been any discussion, to show at least a small passage of time by progressing Spider-Man 2099 to Spider-Man 2100 or something similar?