Following our look at the X-Men and Avengers Initiatives I want to shift our gaze away to a different grouping of books that are a little more unique and are always available for submissions: the Anthology books. Their very nature allows each book to shift gears and focus after every single issue or two to offer a very unique point of view and perspective about a general theme and still maintain the spirit in which these books were created. The other point that makes these anthology books great is each story doesn't need to be anything more than what the story needs to be or deal with a certain point of continuity or history because each issue or story arc is allowed to be completely self-contained and is allowed to explore various points in a characters history.


· Tales to Astonish is a book that isn't bound to a specific theme or genre that's not already represented. The stories told here can range the supernatural, to street, horror and out to space. They can be about any character who relates to the genre's especially if they haven't already been introduced on site to expand and dig deeper than what's already been explored. This book has already seen stories about Captain America stopping a subway car from being destroyed, to Hannibal King solving a mystery in a small town in New York State. In essence Tales to Astonish is a catch all book for stories about the MAU and characters that you don't have more ideas for that span more than a single issue or two. From personal stories to just seeing two characters pair up there's very little that's off limits for Tales to Astonish.

There have been a few event ideas tossed around for Tales to Astonish that promise to be very cool. One such idea will bring this book back to its roots and that's to split a single issue to have a double focus. The theme for this? Well, the first half of the issue introduces a character that was created after our October 2001 cut-off and therefore not already a part of our continuity. This character will be allowed to be re-imagined and re-tooled to give this face a unique twist. The last half of this issue will tell the story of a character that already exists but has not yet been introduced into our continuity. Maybe this characters hasn't been seen or used in nearly ten years and could use an update. For example there's Jackpot who hasn't been used yet and Gauntlet from Avengers Initiative who's brand new.



· Tangled Web of Spider-Man will be the first of our themed Anthology books we'll explore. Spider-Man is a unique character in the Marvel universe. He's got a list of supporting characters as long as most X-Men rosters and a stable of rogues that put most X-Men stables to shame in their diversity and uniqueness with how Spider-Man develops new rogues for every decade he's in print. Spider-Man is also a character who editorial isn't afraid to throw some changes at and shake up. It's with that in mind where Tangled Web of Spider-Man was born. This is a book about the extended Spider-Man universe and the only catch to this book is Spider-Man himself: he cannot star or appear in Tangled Web in costume and mask. Tangled Web is a book about characters like Black Cat, the Slingers, Venom, J. Jonah Jameson and the wide variety of allies and villains to the webslinger. And these stories can be about any Spider-Man character at any point in that character's history. Let's see the day J. Jonah Jameson hired Joe Robertson. What about Jameson's first scoop? Or the very first heist the Looter pulled off before he ran into Spider-Man?

Spider-Man's rogues are among the most interesting villains in the Marvel Universe as the majority of them are relatively down-to-earth guys with simple motivations who likely enjoy the same every day things we all do. So not every story needs to be about them pulling off crimes like the Looter idea above. What about a story about the Rhino who just wants to go watch a movie in a theater and some misunderstanding puts him in the middle of a bad situation? Maybe we see Big Wheel enjoying a live NASCAR race. Or Electro enjoying a WWE show at Madison Square Garden. Is Otto Octavius even allowed to attend technology conventions anymore? A day in the life approach for any character fits perfect with the spirit of this book while at the same time serving to give focus to characters who get very little page time and may not have the draw to star in their own book. Just remember, this isn't a book about Spider-Man but the people who exist around him.



· This book is making its debut outside of the staff list here. Wolverine Unleashed is a book about Wolverine specifically and here's the pitch: Logan's old. He's been around for a very long time before he joined the X-Men in the early '80s and he's been in a lot of places before that. There's going to be a lot of years and decades unexplored in his life and the things he was doing in those years. What we're proposing is an anthology that tells those stories from the late 1800's right until the start of the '80s - because after that his time is well documents with the X-Men. Besides, with the years open before why do we need to get into his time with the X-Men? Keeping in mind when Logan received the adamantium, memory implants and his time around Team X - which could provide great Cold War action - there's little reason to touch on anything continuity. An example to this: Logan is already dibbed for the early '70s to put the Canuklehead in '70s New York City. He's also dibbed for the mid '20s around the time of the Monkey Trials. These stories are just glimpses into Wolverine's long life and aren't meant to develop something more or explain anything great.

We'd like to see one story for each decade but we're willing to accept 3 stories per decade with each taking place in the early, mid or late parts of a decade. Also the original Wolverine Origins mini-series is only a guide for this project. Truth be told the ONLY person I feel who should know the entirety of his life is Logan. There's little reason to destroy the mystery that helped define the man for the majority of his existence for the sake of explaining something that doesn't need to be told. Logan's been alive and doing things for many years so the longer he goes the less important that part of his past should be in the impact is has to his present day self.



· X-Men Unltimited is the last of our featured anthology books. The title of this book should make it very clear what the focus of this book is: the X-Men and in a broader focus: mutants. X-Men Unltimited was designed to help back up the X-Men line by telling stories that share another point of view or develop and dig deeper into a plot point that was glossed over in one of the main books. We've seen stories about Weapon X and the rise of the X-Men's newest villain, Apocalypse's bride, Sekhmet. Not every story needs to develop another facet to the X-Men line, however. They're allowed to be self-contained and more personal but the range of this book is wide open for any mutant related story that can be thought up. Inspiration for this book can come from anywhere. Maybe in reading Uncanny X-Men there's something mentioned that really captures your imagination and you'd wish to sink your teeth into it then this book is perfect for you.

Next: the INTERNATIONAL books.