Reddit AMAs with Jim Zub, Gerry Duggan and Ed Brisson!

[Freud]

So, there are three writer AMAs (Ask Me Anything) being held on Reddit at r/comicbooks. I'm creating this thread to discuss the answers we've gotten.

The dates are as follows:

Jim Zub: Monday, January 29 2018, 1:30 PM EST

Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson: Friday, February 23, time TBA

Gerry Duggan: Monday, March 5 2018, 1:00 PM EST

Ed Brisson: Tuesday, March 13 2018, time TBA

Tini Howard: Thursday, April 12, time TBA

If you haven't checked it out, here's the Jim Zub AMA.
https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/..._surrender_dd/

Edit: more added!

[cc008]

That's so far away, Gerry!

[Digifiend]

That's good. We'll probably know what he's doing after Deadpool by then.

[ChronoRogue]

Gonna compile all the questions and answers that Jim Zub gave that seem relevant to No Surrender or his future marvel stuff.

No Surrender

She's going to get run through the wringer a bit, it's true. She doesn't want to be part of anyone's game, especially one that [REDACTED SPOILER FOR NEXT TWO ISSUES OF NO SURRENDER].

The Johnny and Rogue stuff definitely gets followed up on as you'll see in the next few issues.
Yes, Johnny has invested in superhero-centric disaster insurance.

Carol Danvers does not get to do much in the story, unfortunately. We'd hoped to have her do more, but didn't end up having the space for it with everything else jam-packed in there. Something had to give and that was one of the spots that got left on the cutting room floor, as it were.

Quicksilver. we planned out some great stuff from my short run on Uncanny Avengers and I'm really proud of how those play out in No Surrender.
Voyager as well. She stated off as more of a big idea, but as development continued I was happy how much more we were able to bring to her character.

Al Ewing suggested we bring Living Lightning into the story. he had a really compelling pitch for his role in the story and how it would pay off. That said, as we all had a chance to write scenes with him we all started to realize his potential and became fans of the character.

No Surrender is made to be ready to read with part 1 (Avengers #675). You can read the last 4-6 issues of Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, and USAvengers for a bit more context, but it's not required. Each issue also has an editorial page called 'The Assembly' that helps get readers up to speed and shows behind the scenes stuff on how we created No Surrender.

Mark Waid was one of the people who wrote Triumph, a DC character very much in the same mold who pre-dates Sentry - a 'forgotten' character brought back and retroactively made part of continuity. Mark, Al, and I all agreed that we wouldn't do this unless we could bring something a bit different to the mix. We're only 3 issues in (out of 16), so I know it looks very similar right now, but by the end I hope readers will agree that we did something a bit different.

No Surrender has no crossover issues. The entire story, start to finish, is contained in sixteen parts: Avengers #675-690. That's it.
The after effects of the story will ripple out into specific titles (I can't tell you which just yet as that would spoil things) but while it's running it's only in Avengers, one issue per week.

Champions

2) I'm trying to put the Champions up against unexpected Marvel threats and channel classic teen superhero adventure without losing the activist spirit that makes the series unique. Jump on board with Champions #19 and let me know if our team hits the mark.

Not right now, no. I have seven characters already on the front line cast and need to make sure they're compelling and worth reading about before I add even more into the mix. If I tried to include every cult classic/fan favorite teen character into the mix we'd have a cast of 20+.

I put together a 'character matrix' with key traits for each character, how they see each other, and how they might evolve over the course of my run on the series if things go the way I have planned... But I can't share any of that here or it'll spoil stuff! I'm sorry. I have thought about this a lot. Trust me.

She won't be on the front lines right now, but she's only a text message away if they need her for back-up later on.

Both

The end of No Surrender is a celebration of what it means to be an Avengers, in both a physical and metaphysical sense.
Champions is me trying to encompass everything I love about teen superheroes into a monthly series.
I have another Marvel project to be announced in less than a month and it's pretty sweet indeed.

There was more but most of it was seemed like writing advice instead of more direct hints at stories.

[Freud]

A little disappointed at the fact that Zub's keeping the cast so small after Waid made such a big deal about expanding the team.

[King_Thor13]

A little disappointed at the fact that Zub's keeping the cast so small after Waid made such a big deal about expanding the team.

Well, I suppose he plans on taking the Champions in a different direction. Besides, the roster has still grown with the additions of Nadia + Riri.

And generally, the larger the team, the less time is spent developing each character as an individual.

[Digifiend]

Anyway, the answer to the Red Locust question shows that the other potential recruits (Patriot, Falcon, etc) are basically reserves. If they get in over their heads, all Viv has to do is send out a "Champions Assemble!" message.

Of course, if one of the solo books has a status quo change that causes a member to leave the team (this is probably why he didn't keep Cyclops around) then someone else could be brought in as a replacement.

[King_Thor13]

Anyway, the answer to the Red Locust question shows that the other potential recruits (Patriot, Falcon, etc) are basically reserves. If they get in over their heads, all Viv has to do is send out a "Champions Assemble!" message.

Of course, if one of the solo books has a status quo change that causes a member to leave the team (this is probably why he didn't keep Cyclops around) then someone else could be brought in as a replacement.

I kinda like the idea of honorary/reserve members. The Avengers have a similar dynamic.

[Digifiend]

So do the X-Men, and the New Warriors did as well.

[Frontier]

I kinda like the idea of honorary/reserve members. The Avengers have a similar dynamic.

I don't know if that's even really a thing anymore, if only because practically everyone is a reserve/honorary Avenger these days .

[Digifiend]

No Surrender confirmed it very much is a thing. Most of them (which would include the Champions - four of them are ex-Avengers - Captain America, Black Panther and a lot of off panel heroes) got wiped out, but Lightning did heed the call. He'd been a reserve since the West Coast Avengers broke up, and had in the meantime joined a 50 States Initiative team, the Rangers. Being unaffiliated to any of the three Marvel NOW! teams, Voyager is technically a reserve as well.

[Freud]

Well, I suppose he plans on taking the Champions in a different direction. Besides, the roster has still grown with the additions of Nadia + Riri.

And generally, the larger the team, the less time is spent developing each character as an individual.

I mean, I generally prefer having smaller eams so the writer can focus on separate characters, but for some reason the idea of a larger Champions team appealed to me.

[King_Thor13]

So do the X-Men, and the New Warriors did as well.

True, but to a slightly lesser extent I think.

I don't know if that's even really a thing anymore, if only because practically everyone is a reserve/honorary Avenger these days .

This is true. But I think it's a concept worth bringing back. Moon Girl, Red Locust, Patriot + Kid Falcon as reserve members that can be called in when necessary.

I mean, I generally prefer having smaller teams so the writer can focus on separate characters, but for some reason, the idea of a larger Champions team appealed to me.

I suppose it's convenient to have all these characters in one place, and interactions between all the legacies. It kinda mirrors the Avengers.

[Digifiend]

Rogue may be an Avenger now, but she's also an X-Men reserve. During Phoenix Resurrection, she took the missing teen Jean's roster spot on Blue team (Jean was missing, due to events in her solo). And Gold team will be incarcerated in an upcoming arc, so Rogue, along with Iceman, Magik, Armor and Ink, are a substitute team. Armor and Ink were also involved in the Negative Zone War arc recently, because Kitty and Nightcrawler had been captured and Rachel injured.

Turbo and Alex Power were both reserves in the original New Warriors. Towards the end of the run, Nova's depowering prompted them to join full time, and that was the end of the reserves system for that team.

[Freud]

r/comicbooks now has two more AMAs added to the list!

Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson (the new writers for CABLE): Friday, February 23, time TBA

Tini Howard (currently writing Hack/Slash: Resurrection for Image): Thursday, April 12, time TBA

All of these writers are unfamiliar to me. Haven't been reading up on Cable at all though, so it might be about time so I can get a bit of context for the AMA. I don't really read much outside Marvel, so the latter doesn't really interest me all that much. Will check out the AMA, though. Maybe I'll find something interesting.