DANIELS: My Trip To Marvel Comics (or "The Kid In The Candy Store...")
|
Jan 12 2010, 10:01 AM
My Trip To Marvel Comics! or, The Kid In The Candy Store!!
Greetings and salutations, GeekWeek readers! This is Christopher Daniels, professional wrestler and confessed comic book junkie. I recently had the good fortune to visit what can only be described as a comic lover's Christmas Wish-come-true, and I've decided to share this experience with you, the beloved comic-junkies of GeekWeek! But first, some backstory for you to enjoy...
About five years ago, when I was enjoying my first title reign as X-Division champion and I was much less beat up as I am now, I had the opportunity to attend the Los Angeles Comic Con as a special guest of Spike TV, and after I had signed autographs at the Spike booth, I walked around the floor taking in all the delicious convention goodness. As I made my way around, I came upon the Wizard booth and heard "Hey, Christopher Daniels!!" I turned to see who was calling my name, and that was when I met Ben Morse and Ryan Penagos, two fine Wizard staffers who also followed pro wrestling. They told me about their enjoyment of the TNA brand, and I regaled them with tales of my comic book collecting. After a quick game of Comic Book Trivia, where I proved my comic prowess, we talked a bit about the overlapping fanbases of comics and wrestling, and by the end of the day, I had made two new friends in the industry.
Over the course of the next five years, we kept in touch as much as living on opposite coasts and our wacky schedules would allow. Both Ben and Ryan moved on from Wizard to Marvel Comics, and on occasion we would see each other at conventions, the most recent encounter being at the San Diego Comic Con this past summer, where I had the opportunity to be a guest interviewer for Marvel.com's convention coverage. (By the by, you can see evidence of my sublime interviewing skills on Marvel.com, just look up the Fallen Angel Files!) And over the years, the offer had always been made by both Ben and Ryan, "Hey, you've got to drop by the offices if you're ever in the neighborhood!"
This brings us to Jan. 8. TNA had a live event scheduled for Westbury, NY, and I sent an e-mail to Ben and Ryan to see if they'd like to come and enjoy the show. While Ryan would be out of town, Ben replied that he would mull it over, and "...hey, you should drop by the offices if you can!" Well, as it happened, Westbury was a mere 30 miles from the Marvel HQ on 5th Ave, and after a nanosecond of contemplation, I made the plan to step foot into the actual House of Ideas!! So at about 2:15 pm EST, Christopher Daniels and two of his wrestling compatriots walked into 417 5th Ave and met with Ben Morse and Arune Singh, Marvel's manager of sales communications, avid wrestling fan, and frequent co-conspirator of Motor City Machinegun Alex Shelley. We quickly arranged our official credentials, and the tour was underway!
Now, to get an idea of what we were dealing with, imagine your own comic collection, hundreds and hundreds of comics in boxes and piles around your room and on shelves. Then imagine close to a hundred offices, each one with its own comic collection, and you get the idea. I quickly realized that I could easily sit in any one of these rooms, pick up any one of these comics, and never ever set foot outside again!! And as we walked from office to office, shaking hands with editors and interns, artwork and posters from the past seventy years adorned every square inch of wallspace around us. Jim Lee's X-Men, Alex Ross's rendition of the cover of FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Kent Williams' Wolverine from the Havok/Wolverine miniseries MELTDOWN from long ago, plus Art Adams, Tom Grindberg, Rick Leonardi, Butch Guice, an oldie-but-goodie by Sal Buscema, and many of Marvel's greatest and most prolific artists. Movie posters from Marvel's most recent cinema successes, IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK could be seen in every direction, and action figures of every Marvel character stood posed on desks and shelves throughout the office.
I could scarcely believe that such a place existed, and here it was! I contemplated how many different comic books and trade paperbacks I could successfully hide under my shirt and safely escape without incident, but then decided not to tempt the Fates! Ben and Arune also showed us the current crop of Marvel releases, hanging on the wall in comic book holders, and we could see the variety of Marvel's upcoming offerings, like the new IRON MAN, NEW AVENGERS, all the X-titles, WOLVERINE, and all of the titles related to Marvel's newest crossover event, SIEGE. They then took us into the area where upcoming projects were being put together, sketches, pencil art, unfinished covers all around.
I got a chance to see comics upcoming that haven't even been announced to the general public, and even though I am sworn to secrecy, I can say this... There's going to be a TON of outstanding reading coming out of Marvel in 2010! Suddenly, Bill Rosemann, outstanding editor (WAR MACHINE, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) and longtime Fallen Angel fan, approached our party with samples of the great titles he's worked on for us. Bill and I have known each other through e-mails for years now, and it was great to finally meet him face-to-face. Bill, Ben, and Arune discussed their views on the current TNA product, the recent live 3-hour episode of IMPACT on Spike TV, and what they enjoy and appreciate about professional wrestling as a whole with us. I've always believed that the fans of comics and the fans of wrestling are the same fans, and hearing these professionals talking about their enjoyment of our work was a shining example of it.
Ben then walked us downstairs where we took photos with some iconic Marvel weaponry, and we recorded voice-overs for a hysterical episode of Marvel Super Heroes: What The--?! that will be up soon on Marvel.com.
Soon after, we began to prepare to depart, and as much as I would have liked to set up residence in the offices, I had a #1 Contender’s match waiting for me in nearby Westbury. So hearty handshakes were passed around, free merchandise was traded (trade paperbacks for us, TNA wrestling t-shirts for them), and a promise that this visit wouldn’t be the last, at least for yours truly, was made. I want to say thanks again to everyone at Marvel for their hospitality, especially Arune, Bill, and the Paragon of Virtue himself, Ben Morse. It truly was an exciting moment for me to be in the place where so many of the incredible stories that I’ve enjoyed over the past 3 decades were created, and it definitely reinforced my decision to Make Mine Marvel!!
My Trip To Marvel Comics! or, The Kid In The Candy Store!!
Greetings and salutations, GeekWeek readers! This is Christopher Daniels, professional wrestler and confessed comic book junkie. I recently had the good fortune to visit what can only be described as a comic lover's Christmas Wish-come-true, and I've decided to share this experience with you, the beloved comic-junkies of GeekWeek! But first, some backstory for you to enjoy...
About five years ago, when I was enjoying my first title reign as X-Division champion and I was much less beat up as I am now, I had the opportunity to attend the Los Angeles Comic Con as a special guest of Spike TV, and after I had signed autographs at the Spike booth, I walked around the floor taking in all the delicious convention goodness. As I made my way around, I came upon the Wizard booth and heard "Hey, Christopher Daniels!!" I turned to see who was calling my name, and that was when I met Ben Morse and Ryan Penagos, two fine Wizard staffers who also followed pro wrestling. They told me about their enjoyment of the TNA brand, and I regaled them with tales of my comic book collecting. After a quick game of Comic Book Trivia, where I proved my comic prowess, we talked a bit about the overlapping fanbases of comics and wrestling, and by the end of the day, I had made two new friends in the industry.
Over the course of the next five years, we kept in touch as much as living on opposite coasts and our wacky schedules would allow. Both Ben and Ryan moved on from Wizard to Marvel Comics, and on occasion we would see each other at conventions, the most recent encounter being at the San Diego Comic Con this past summer, where I had the opportunity to be a guest interviewer for Marvel.com's convention coverage. (By the by, you can see evidence of my sublime interviewing skills on Marvel.com, just look up the Fallen Angel Files!) And over the years, the offer had always been made by both Ben and Ryan, "Hey, you've got to drop by the offices if you're ever in the neighborhood!"
This brings us to Jan. 8. TNA had a live event scheduled for Westbury, NY, and I sent an e-mail to Ben and Ryan to see if they'd like to come and enjoy the show. While Ryan would be out of town, Ben replied that he would mull it over, and "...hey, you should drop by the offices if you can!" Well, as it happened, Westbury was a mere 30 miles from the Marvel HQ on 5th Ave, and after a nanosecond of contemplation, I made the plan to step foot into the actual House of Ideas!! So at about 2:15 pm EST, Christopher Daniels and two of his wrestling compatriots walked into 417 5th Ave and met with Ben Morse and Arune Singh, Marvel's manager of sales communications, avid wrestling fan, and frequent co-conspirator of Motor City Machinegun Alex Shelley. We quickly arranged our official credentials, and the tour was underway!
Now, to get an idea of what we were dealing with, imagine your own comic collection, hundreds and hundreds of comics in boxes and piles around your room and on shelves. Then imagine close to a hundred offices, each one with its own comic collection, and you get the idea. I quickly realized that I could easily sit in any one of these rooms, pick up any one of these comics, and never ever set foot outside again!! And as we walked from office to office, shaking hands with editors and interns, artwork and posters from the past seventy years adorned every square inch of wallspace around us. Jim Lee's X-Men, Alex Ross's rendition of the cover of FANTASTIC FOUR #1, Kent Williams' Wolverine from the Havok/Wolverine miniseries MELTDOWN from long ago, plus Art Adams, Tom Grindberg, Rick Leonardi, Butch Guice, an oldie-but-goodie by Sal Buscema, and many of Marvel's greatest and most prolific artists. Movie posters from Marvel's most recent cinema successes, IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK could be seen in every direction, and action figures of every Marvel character stood posed on desks and shelves throughout the office.
I could scarcely believe that such a place existed, and here it was! I contemplated how many different comic books and trade paperbacks I could successfully hide under my shirt and safely escape without incident, but then decided not to tempt the Fates! Ben and Arune also showed us the current crop of Marvel releases, hanging on the wall in comic book holders, and we could see the variety of Marvel's upcoming offerings, like the new IRON MAN, NEW AVENGERS, all the X-titles, WOLVERINE, and all of the titles related to Marvel's newest crossover event, SIEGE. They then took us into the area where upcoming projects were being put together, sketches, pencil art, unfinished covers all around.
I got a chance to see comics upcoming that haven't even been announced to the general public, and even though I am sworn to secrecy, I can say this... There's going to be a TON of outstanding reading coming out of Marvel in 2010! Suddenly, Bill Rosemann, outstanding editor (WAR MACHINE, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) and longtime Fallen Angel fan, approached our party with samples of the great titles he's worked on for us. Bill and I have known each other through e-mails for years now, and it was great to finally meet him face-to-face. Bill, Ben, and Arune discussed their views on the current TNA product, the recent live 3-hour episode of IMPACT on Spike TV, and what they enjoy and appreciate about professional wrestling as a whole with us. I've always believed that the fans of comics and the fans of wrestling are the same fans, and hearing these professionals talking about their enjoyment of our work was a shining example of it.
Ben then walked us downstairs where we took photos with some iconic Marvel weaponry, and we recorded voice-overs for a hysterical episode of Marvel Super Heroes: What The--?! that will be up soon on Marvel.com.
Soon after, we began to prepare to depart, and as much as I would have liked to set up residence in the offices, I had a #1 Contender’s match waiting for me in nearby Westbury. So hearty handshakes were passed around, free merchandise was traded (trade paperbacks for us, TNA wrestling t-shirts for them), and a promise that this visit wouldn’t be the last, at least for yours truly, was made. I want to say thanks again to everyone at Marvel for their hospitality, especially Arune, Bill, and the Paragon of Virtue himself, Ben Morse. It truly was an exciting moment for me to be in the place where so many of the incredible stories that I’ve enjoyed over the past 3 decades were created, and it definitely reinforced my decision to Make Mine Marvel!!
Comments
Sign in to comment with your TypePad, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Yahoo or OpenID.