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Marvel Volume 1 is huge! You can take that in any context you want, whether it's referring to size or popularity, it's there. Perhaps the first of its kind, MV1 has reinvented the MARVEL Universe in fanfic's image. But, how did it begin, how did it evolve, and who's responsible for this? We found the guy in charge and asked. Van "The Man" Plexico.
HEROES: How long have you been in fanfic?
Van Plexico: That's a tough one to answer, because if you mean, how long have I been writing my own superhero adventures, I guess "1977" would be the answer. But as far as the way fanfic exists today, on the Internet, I started writing "What If?" -style stories soon after starting the Avengers Assemble! Website, in late 1995.
H: What got you into it?
VP: My first few stories were attempts on my part to clarify vague bits of Marvel's past, and to resolve some things the way I thought they should have been resolved. The best example of this centers around my belief that Count Nefaria-- the "Superman" version from Avengers 164-166-- didn't die, and should still be around. His "death" in the pages of Iron Man never quite seemed to reconcile with what had been said about his powers before. So one of my first stories attempted to deal with this seeming contradiction.
H: How long has Marvel Volume 1 been around and how did it come to be?
VP: It started in the summer of 1997, as we were all anxiously awaiting the beginning of the Busiek-Perez era on Avengers. Six months before their run began, I put together an outline of 12 issues of Avengers (403-414) coming just after "Heroes Reborn." I figured the best way to distinguish them from the coming Busiek-Perez Avengers would be to retain the original numbering (which also gave MV1 a nice gimmick and a name). Soon after, others started asking for series of their own, in parallel (and in continuity) with mine. It just grew from there.
H: When you started this, did you expect it to grow a large as it is now?
VP: Not remotely. But people kept asking for their own titles, and I couldn't see any reason why I should deny them the fun I was having. Once it got up to about 50 ongoing series, though, it became too much for me to manage alone.
H: Do you like this size, or would you prefer it smaller?
VP: Now that we have a group of Branch Editors, I think it's fine. The BEs are dedicated and talented folks who love this stuff, and it's all in good hands. When it was just me as editor and doing all the posting, it was way too much. There's been some debate about whether it should have been kept a small operation from the start, but I simply hate to tell people, "No, you can't do that," when I'm having so much fun doing it.
H: What role do you play in the MV1 biz?
VP: I really have sort of become the "Stan Lee" of MV1. What I mean is, I started it, got it going, and then cut way back on my direct involvement. I'm the Editor in Chief, since it's still my baby, but the BEs and writers do all the work. I've really become more the Editor Emeritus. I wasn't expecting MV1 to become what it has become, and was never prepared to devote that much time to it.
H: Is there anything you'd like to see more or less of at MV1?
VP: I'm very happy that we've been able to successfully revive some great series and concepts and characters from the past; everything from Champions to Ms. Marvel (who we revived and put back in the black costume a good six months before Kurt and George!) I love continuity as much as the next guy, but I've always felt that the most important thing is the story. If you think about it, those great Marvel stories of the past never really devoted much space to explaining how, say, Spidey managed to appear in eight different comics in a given month. It just happened. I don't like to spend too much time worrying about every tiny detail of continuity. It's comics, after all, and a little flexibility with such things has to be allowed.
H: Recently, MarvelX, a group much like MV1, went through an on-list debate on their mailing list that caused alot of problems, including a couple of folks to quit. Has MV1 ever suffered through anything like that?
VP: I'm not familiar with MarvelX, but I'm sure any such project, given a group of creative folks, each with his or her own ideas and opinions, will inevitably encounter problems. MV1 has had its share, but we've worked hard -- the Branch Editors have worked *very hard*-- to try to make things as smooth and as fair as possible. The main problem has usually been the need to give everyone a fair opportunity to write what they want, versus the need to give a writer a decent amount of issues and time on one series. Not always an easy thing to reconcile.
H: If you could do this all over again, would there be anything you would do differently?
VP: Ha! Several things, probably, hindsight being 20/20 and all. But I'm satisfied that the decisions I made were always based on what I felt to be the right thing to do at the time. Going back, I probably would have been much more careful in allowing MV1 to grow unchecked. I might have been more selective and restrictive in allowing too many new writers and new series. But at some point, overseeing such a thing becomes a full time job, and I already have one of those.
H: Are you happy with the way MV1 is and how it is percieved in the fanfic community?
VP: I really don't know how it's perceived, and wasn't even really aware that there *was* a fanfic community. All I ever intended it to be was a place for me to post a few Avengers-related stories, written the way I thought they should be. Anything else it has become-- and it has become, in my opinion, pretty darned impressive-- is a tribute to the many folks who came after me and built it into what it is today.
H: Do you think you will ever give MV1 and fanfic up?
VP: I just about have, actually, on both counts. I've been pursuing more professional writing-oriented projects recently, in a number of areas, and haven't had the time to devote to MV1. I went ahead and wrapped up my run on Ms. Marvel, and regret only starting the Avengers: World in Chains mini before having to abandon it (at least for now). MV1 is a different creature today from what it was just two years ago, and I happily leave it to the fine writers who are now busy creating its future shape.
