I just had some comic reading question for JB that I've been curious about.

Do you read any comics these days simply for pleasure?

What comics did you continue to follow for pleasure after you became a pro, if any?

How much research do you do to prepare for a new project? For instance when you started your run on Fantastic Four did you go back and re-read Lee & Kirby's run or did you operate mostly from memory?

Speaking of which, do comic companies have "research staffs" that assist writers when referencing old stories and continuity? Were you expected to have read and know EVERY issue of Fantastic Four?

Thanks in advance.

<Edited to change a question that I wrote in the form of a statement.>

Do you read any comics these days simply for pleasure?

******No, sorry to say. There are occasional issues or books that I look at, but I found after I turned Pro that there was a distinct diminishing of the enjoyment of reading. I would find myself thinking either "Oh, Man, why did they do that?" or "Oh, Man, why didn't I do that?"



What comics did you continue to follow for pleasure after you became a pro, if any?

******I read pretty much everything until there simply became too much. Then I started cutting back so that I read only the books that directly affected my work. (When I was writing THE AVENGERS, for instance, I read all the members' home titles). Increasingly, the books I work on are not much affected by the rest of the "universe", with the result that I read very little.



How much research do you do to prepare for a new project? For instance when you started your run on Fantastic Four did you go back and re-read Lee & Kirby's run or did you operate mostly from memory?

*****Depends on the books. Mostly I take on titles with which I am already intimately familiar, like FF, Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men, or projects that allow me to play with what I know without knowing everything, such as GENERATIONS. Otherwise, if it is something new to me, I ask the editor to pretend I have never even heard of the character(s), and send me all appropriate reference.



Speaking of which, do comic companies have "research staffs" that assist writers when referencing old stories and continuity? Were you expected to have read and know EVERY issue of Fantastic Four?

*****No "staffs" per se, but there are lots of hangers on and fellow travelers who know all the bits and pieces.

Thanks JB!