Joe Quesada Explains the Marvel Knights Mission Statement

Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada, answered my question about the Marvel Knights line of books, and X-MEN: MAGNETO TESTAMENT in his latest CUP OF JOE column, #27:

CUP OF JOE #27

Here's the text:

Rivka writes:

Hi, Joe,

I think there's some confusion about the mission statement of the Marvel Knights line, and which books are Marvel Knights books. It seems that Marvel Knights today is different from yesteryear. Some of the MK books are outside continuity, such as Silver Surfer: Requiem, and some are in-continuity books, such as Angel: Revelations and Magneto: Testament. There is also the Ghost Rider: Trail Of Tears which is not out of continuity so much as pre-continuity.

Could you please clarify that Marvel Knights today publishes some books that are out-of-continuity such as Sub-Mariner: The Depths, and some that are in continuity? That today, the MK category encompasses both kinds of books?"

All the Best,

Rivka

JQ: Rivka, this is a great question and you've kind of nailed the answer. There are some MK books that are out of continuity, while some are definitely in. I would consider Battlin' Jack Murdock and Magneto: Testament as stories that are absolutely in continuity, as was Daredevil: Father.

Here's a little background info on Magneto: Testament. When the project was originally being planned, it was going to be an X-Men solo character mini-series. Then the script started to come in, which was extraordinary, and we started to see the art, which is beautiful beyond belief, and then we started to rethink the marketing and launch of the project.

We thought to ourselves that we really wanted to give this story more of a "boutique" look, and the MK imprint has become our boutique imprint for special stories. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's "spectrum" mini-series were a good road map for this. So, this is why Magneto: Testament has the MK imprint, but imprint aside, it is definitely in continuity and was always planned to be that way.