Stern's X-Men vs. Avengers Post
At the time I put this up, I'd recently reread the X-Men vs. Avengers limited series. The first three issues were written by Roger Stern, but in #4 his name was not to be found. Here's why.
From: roglstern@aol.[spamblock].com (RogLStern) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe Subject: Stern says: Rich is Wrong! (was Rich's Rumblings: Late October) Date: 1997/11/08 Message-ID: <19971108174301.MAA11714@ladder02.news.aol.com> References: <6382u7$ovp@drn.zippo.com> Okay, since the previous posting seems to have disappeared into the ozone, I'll try to recreate it. It all began when Rich Johnston (t...@easynet.co.uk) wrote ... > >Stern's Return > >Roger Stern's return to Marvel, after 10 years has an interesting >history, and what better forum than a rumour column to spread >such scurrilous information... > Not so scurrilous, really ... not even information. More of a fantasy actually! >It's been reported that Stren left Marvel in a righftful huff after >the recent editor-in-chief, Tom DeFalco rewrote the end of the >X-Men vs Avengers four parter in 1987. > Totally incorrect. 1) Tom was not yet editor in chief when X-Men vs Avengers was produced. 2) Tom was tapped to script the last issue all by himself (I never touched it), after a previously-agreed- to plot was changed by editorial fiat. 3) And, of course, I didn't leave in a huff. I continued to work at Marvel full-time ... until I was finally fired from the Avengers in May of 1987. > The series, written as a sequel to X-Men 200's Trial Of >Magneto ... (snip) ... was to end with Magneto's death. Again, incorrect! The story was supposed to end with Magneto showing himself for the bastard he really was. > DeFalco's changing instructions led to Stern and artist Marc >Silvestri (now Top Cow, but that's another story) leaving DeFalco >and artist Keuth Pollard to write the concluding chapter. Still incorrect. After the plot was changed on me (-not- by Tom), I decided the miniseries was too much grief to deal with any further. And Marc was yanked away from the miniseries to draw Uncanny X-Men, which was in need of a penciler. >Roger Stern has however, made a number of recent attempts to >get back into Marvel. Actually, I've been connected with a number of projects for Marvel over the past ten years. Scripting Speedball and writing the Doctor Strange/Doctor Doom graphic novel ... and an X-Men story which has yet to see print ... among other things. In each case, Marvel has approached me. (Very flattering, really.) >The Power Corps series became Heroes For Hire by John Ostrander. Hey, how about that! Rich actually got one right! >Artists tipped include Pat Oliff, Ron Frenz and Gil Kane I have no idea what this means. ("Hey, Pat ... Ron ... Gil! Nice job! Here's a tip!") As far as I know, none of these three gentlemen have been approached about contibuting to my new title, Marvel Universe ... though they'd all be good choices for stories! At any rate, I fail to see the point of this particular "Rich's Rumbling" other than to confuse people needlessly. Rich, if you want to post a "history" of anything, you should get your facts straight first. You know, check your sources and ask people questions. We'll give you a straight answer. Really! -- Roger Stern