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interview by Mike Collins
For people who haven't kept up with your run on X-Men so far, can you give a quick synopsis of how we got to the opening of issue #200?
Oh man, where do I start?
Rogue got really sick fighting Pandemic. He infected her with a virus that makes her touch instantly fatal to any living thing. Then she absorbed eight billion alien minds in order to defeat a Shi'ar death machine called the Hecatomb. So now she's not just sick but losing her mind, too. Defeating the Hecatomb also caused the destruction of a large part of Cable's island home, Providence, and Cable has ongoing problems arising out of that, but the main crisis facing the group is Rogue's progressive deterioration.
Going further back, the mutant race, homo superior, is facing extinction because Wanda Maximoff altered reality so that most living mutants lost their powers and no new mutants could be born. Exodus, the ex-leader of the Acolytes, and Mister Sinister, both seem to have taken it into their heads to do something about that.
Oh, and Mystique has been coming on to Iceman something fierce. They even shared a kiss. I mean, a kiss that wasn't primarily about cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
We open with a prologue in the French Quarter where a new character makes his debut wreaking havoc in an elevator. Who is this mystery man and why does he hate clowns?
You should recognise that guy. He's a Marauder, and not new at all. The long, white hair might be a clue...
Rogue is certainly a little worse for wear when this issue starts. How much damage has she undertaken between her run ins with Pandemic and Hecatomb?
I think she's in a worse state than we've ever seen her in, although you could draw parallels with the Claremont storyline in which the personalities she'd absorbed started to wake up inside her. This is like that, only on such a titanic scale that her own mind is being washed away in the flood. And she can't reach out for help: she has to be rigidly on her guard against even the most fleeting skin contact with a fellow X-Man. It's as close to Hell as you can get, in many ways.
Some fans are going to go wild with the developments in the relationship between Bobby Drake and Raven Darkholm. You've been planting the seeds for a while. Are you happy with how their relationship has played out?
It's... not played out yet. There are some major beats still to come, in #201 and then in #203. But yeah, I'm happy. I know that there have been some dark mutterings from certain quarters about the whole thing lacking credibility. Looking back, I think every last beat makes perfect sense.
What makes *less* sense, on the surface, is how Mystique behaves towards Rogue in this issue. There is, or there seems to be, a huge and insane contradiction. Again, I'd just say wait and see and all will eventually unfold.
Another very interesting interlude features the return of two Marauders, Vertigo and Scalphunter. Is it safe to infer that someone is in some trouble?
A whole bunch of someones. And part of the point of this story arc is figuring out who and why. This isn't about revenge. It's something subtler, more insidious, and ultimately much, much bigger.
Another moment sure to please many fans is the long awaited return of Gambit, and in his previous form no less. What can you say about Gambit's current allegiances and what it is he is seeking?
I'd prefer to let readers draw their own conclusions here. As we know, Gambit has a long and complex and largely tragic history with Mister Sinister. But yeah, here he is. We know Apocalypse's machines changed Remy a lot. We also know that Sunfire came up with a rationale for them both seeking out Mister Sinister, and that Remy accepted it.
Beyond that... read the story. And don't stop until you get to X-Men #207. THEN we'll talk.
Cable is another character from your squad being put through the wringer. Between Hecatomb's rampage through Providence and what Gambit and Sunfire do to him, Nathan is looking to be in pretty bad shape. How much of a role will Nathan play in this arc as well as Messiah Complex?
Well, I think #200 provides a pretty resonant answer to that question, so I'll just say this: Fabian Nicieza has forgiven me. Kind of.
We took Cable back to an earlier stage in his life, in a way - took him from his statesman role back to the gun-toting mercenary. And we played out the cost of that decision both in the X-Men and (much more) in Cable and Deadpool. There was really only one way that was going to end.
Moving back to Mississippi, all hell breaks loose. You have not one, not two, but three of your current roster be revealed as Marauders. Did you know all along who were going to turn out to be working for the other side?
We knew two of the three all along. The third we argued back and forth, but in the end we decided that she made the most sense as the new host for Malice. It's funny, because everyone was waiting for her to become a threat to the X-Men for a completely different reason, and now... BLAM!
This part of the planning was a lot of fun, in a dark way. With one of the three, in particular, we get a retrospective explanation for a lot of stuff that people read - - and were meant to read - - differently. I can remember really enjoying the moments in Chris Claremont's first X-Men run when he did that kind of stuff - set things up ages in advance and then did the killer reveal just when you'd forgotten all the build-up. Like when the X-Men's fight with Magneto on Muir Island freed Proteus from his cell...
The last scene in the issue is a doozy. Mystique revealed as a traitor after shooting Rogue point blank in the chest. How much fun was that one to write?
Oh. [laughs] I thought we were being coy about the actual details. Is there going to be a spoiler warning on this?
No, it wasn't fun. It actually kind of hurt. It's weird. You get protective about certain characters, even while you're heaping all kinds of inconceivable misery on their heads. I know how the story ends, and I know both the causes and the outcomes of everything that happens, but still... you know...
I remember once reading a review of a Macbeth production. The reviewer said it was the best Macbeth he'd ever seen, and when the actor playing Macbeth said "We will proceed no further in this matter" he actually BELIEVED it - even though, obviously, the play is written a certain way and we know that he does proceed. He does kill Duncan.
In the same way, there are certain dramatic moments that still hurt you when you read them, even if you know that things won't stay that bleak, that dark. Phoenix's first death, say - the real one. Rogue leaving Gambit in the snow. That kind of thing.
But the rest of the issue... oh, that was fun.
Mike Carey discusses the start of his X-Men run.
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 11:00 AM
by Mike Collins
Your new novel has different titles for the UK and American markets. "Black Man" in the UK and "TH1RTE3N" in the US. Why is that?
The obvious – Del Rey were unhappy with the title Black Man for reasons of racial sensitivity. Race is a far more spiky issue in the US than it is in Europe (which is not to say there isn’t plenty of racism in Europe, because there is) and everyone treads that much more carefully. I’m not too upset about the change, because Thirteen is a pretty solid thematic summary of the book in its own way, and Black Man wasn’t in any case the original title I had in mind – though I do think it’s very powerful in a way that Thirteen maybe isn’t. I think it’s a shame Del Rey have to worry that the title alone will spark an instant negative response, rather than trust that people will read the book and then judge – but then again, they’re at the sharp end, culturally, and I’m not, so it seems reasonable to be guided by their sense of things.
Carl Marsalis is quite the lead character. Tell us a little bit about him and where he came from.
Carl Marsalis, the black man and the thirteen of the title, is one of a series of engineered humans, in his case engineered for combat, who have been genetically modified not so much in any physical aspect as in the way they think and feel. It’s a specialism based on designed aptitude, and the book aims to show, among other things, that the aptitudes required or desired by our society are often very frightening things. Marsalis exemplifies all the fatally attractive aspects of empowered old school male behaviour – he’s confident and competent with violence, physically very tough and totally self-reliant. He’s also frighteningly likeable and very sexually attractive. These men, the thirteens, were designed to solve the problem of an increasingly soft and civilized western world having to fight enemies who were neither. Unfortunately, the experiment wasn’t a huge success because the same tendencies that gave the thirteens their combat survivability also made them very difficult to order around or place in co-operative groups. Eventually, there was a reckoning in which stock was taken of the genetic mess the human race had got itself into (the thirteens are far from the only engineered variants around) and anyone with thirteen tendency was either imprisoned or exiled. Marsalis found a loophole in the system and now makes a living of sorts hunting down his fellow thirteens when they jump the reservation, but he still exists on sufferance from standard human society, and that’s a very precarious existence indeed.
"TH1RTE3N" is a very different novel from what you've written previously. It's much more emotional for starters. Was that a conscious choice?
Possibly. I mean, I didn’t sit down and think “I must make this a more emotional book”, but I was concerned very early on to fully address a number of issues relating to what you might call heroic violence and its fallout, and there was no way to do that without taking a different approach. The Kovacs books and Market Forces all touch on the problematic nature of violent heroes, but they’re too fast and furious to really linger on that theme in particular, because there’s too much else to get done. So yes, I think I was aware right from the start that this was going to be a broader, more considered type of narrative than I’d tried before.
In Carl's world America is a very different place. Can you talk a bit about how and why you've separated the US into how it appears in the book?
I owe the initial inspiration to the “Jesusland” map that appeared on the internet just after the 2004 Presidential elections. That’s when I first started to give the idea any serious thought. But I think it’s become increasingly clear to everyone over the last couple of decades that there are – at least – two very different Americas out there, and in contrast to the European Union, which seems to be subsuming its cultural and political differences in a general (and somewhat smug, if I’m honest) general sense of modernity, these different aspects of America don’t seem to be reconciling at all. If anything, they’re more savagely at each other’s throats than ever. So I found myself wondering how it would play out if that savagery was ever genuinely set loose, and what the geo-political consequences would be.
Do you think America is likely headed towards a "Jesusland"?
Well, I think substantial areas of America, demographically, are already there. And that’s really emblematic of the problem. Just how is it possible to have numerous and influential members of the citizenry in the most advanced nation on Earth still arguing that a hundred and fifty years of Darwinian evolutionary theory is some kind of hoax? What kind of failure in rational thinking and education must that indicate? Of course, I don’t believe the splits I’ve imagined in Thirteen are likely to occur in political fact, but in cultural terms, I think the process is already moving smartly along. The west coast of America is undoubtedly becoming increasingly attuned to the economic and ethnic rhythms of the Pacific rim. Attitudes to the environment really are diverging as California’s supposedly Republican governor and various politicians in the north eastern states all begin to address the issue of global warming, while the heartland continues to kick against it. Secessionism is alive and well as a political idea across the Deep South. So-called red states receive more in federal aid than they contribute in tax dollars, and still go on cutting their own throats by supporting anti-government politics. New Orleans dies in the mud like any third world disaster area, New York bounces back from 9/11 as a rallying point for the modern western world. And last year I watched a frightening documentary about a college in the US founded by born again Christians for the expressed purpose of sending young fundamentalist men and women to Washington in a bid to capture the organs of government, and ultimately the Presidency, for their religion. So yes – there is Clear and Present Danger.
Carl is a Variant 13, a genetically modified super soldier that the world now shunts off to prisons or worse yet ships off to Mars. At the start of the book he is in the employ of the UNGLA where he hunts renegade 13's. Obviously this doesn't make him very popular with his "brothers"…
No. You can see their point.
One of the themes in the book is prejudice. We see it in how it's directed towards the variants as well as how the different sides of the fenceline in the former US react to each other. Why was this something you wanted to write about?
It seems to me that the biggest and most basic problems we face as a species now come from within us rather than without. Chief among these – along with short sighted greed – is a dynamic that can best be summarized as ignorance => xenophobic fear and hate => violence. Now there are very sound evolutionary reasons why that dynamic is so enduring. Fear and hate are powerful unifying tools, they weld members of an identified group together in response to a perceived threat from outside, from the Other. To that extent, like Gordon Gekko’s greed, xenophobia works. Unfortunately, as a global species, we can’t afford that dynamic any longer, and we need to recognize the fact. The Jesusland tendency stands squarely in the way of any progress we can make here because it actively promotes willful ignorance and, not surprisingly, acts as a breeding ground for exactly the kind of divisive fear and hate that go hand in hand with that ignorance. And what’s worse is that a culture with those attitudes in place is inevitably going to engender similar behaviour in those it’s faced off against as well. If someone hates you, it’s not long before you start hating them back. So it was important to me to show not just how fucked up Jesusland has become, but how its bigotry inevitably infects those opposing it as well.
Aside from Carl, you also have a pretty formidable lead in Sevgi Ertekin. She's a former NYPD cop and now a COLIN agent. Did you know in the beginning how big a part she would be in the story?
Absolutely It was very important that this novel should have both an inside and an outside view of Marsalis and the thirteens, and that both views should be taken seriously by the reader. So we get to see inside Marsalis’s head through his narrative, but we see him consistently from the outside through Sevgi as well. And the crucial point is that both Marsalis and Sevgi make mistakes in what they believe, you can’t rely on either of them to get it exactly right. So, if I’ve done my job properly, these two views will balance against each other, forcing the reader to build their own third perspective on what the truth might really be.
This is the first time I recall you using multiple pov's in one of your books, or at least in how frequently you shift perspectives. Is this something you plan to do more often?
Well, Market Forces had third person narrative and an occasional shift to other characters’ viewpoints, but you’re right that the shifting about was nowhere near as extensive as it is in Thirteen. It’s been an interesting experience working this way, but I can’t say I’ve fallen in love with it as a technique – it’s very hard work, for one thing, and requires an enormous amount of discipline to get right. And I do still have a soft spot for the immediacy of first person narrative – I think there’s an authenticity of tone to it that’s hard to beat. But the thing is, there just was no way to tell the story of Thirteen without multiple povs. First of all there was the issue of the inside/outside perspective on the thirteens that I mentioned earlier, and then there was the complexity of the plot and the broad terrain it covered, both of which meant I needed to be able to skip about all over the place. So the logistics of what I wanted to do really dictated the form. I’ll doubtless use the same techniques again at some point, but equally certainly I’ll also go back to first person when it suits the material.
"TH1RTE3N" is at heart a mystery unfolding in a near future setting. It's a story that could work set in our own present time for the most part. What is it about the reasonably near future settings that work for you?
Well, I’m not sure I could get away with genetically engineered human variants in a contemporary setting – not without it coming across like an episode of the X-files, anyway. Or maybe one of those rather irritating novels that masquerade as mainstream fiction by grafting their speculative concept onto an otherwise unaltered vision of now. Yes, you, Mr Ishiguro – please step forward and make yourself known. If you really want to write about the impact of future technology, I think you owe it to your readers to make some attempt at building a credible future in which to set it. Anything else starts to look suspiciously like laziness.
For me, the double benefit of near future settings is that they offer a helpful frame of reference and that alarming sense of coming-real-soon-so-fasten-your-fucking-seatbelt, while at the same time liberating you from any need to do long and tedious research into the exact details of, for example, contemporary organised crime in Peru or the NYPD’s current approach to data-theft. You can just borrow what you need and set it up as best suits your narrative and thematic purposes. And while I suppose it’s true that the narrative skeleton of Thirteen is pretty much the same as a contemporary mystery thriller, the themes I wanted to deal with couldn’t really have been laid out effectively in the here-and-now – not least because the book deals with the aftermath of the genetic technology rather than its advent.
A large portion of the book takes place on the altiplano and touches on some of their legends. Do you have a special interest in that part of the world?
I have an enduring interest in what for want of a better word you could call the Hispanic world. That’s largely because I’m married to a Spanish woman, I speak Spanish fluently and I have spent a lot of time in Spanish and Hispanic cultural contexts. The altiplano connection comes indirectly from that, in that my wife and I spent about a month and a half traveling around Peru and Bolivia, and much of the inspiration for the book came from those travels. I’d recommend a visit to anybody - it really is a remarkable part of the world.
In my opinion this is far and away the best thing you've written. Was this one hard to write?
Thank you very much. Yes, it was. Unlike my other books, Thirteen has not been primarily narrative-driven. It came together, painfully slowly, out of a large number of disparate bits and pieces – the trip to the Andes, the recreational reading I’d been doing on genetics, my visits to North America and the changes in the political landscape there, memories of my time spent living and working in Turkey, gender politics, Islam and its current impact on modern life (and vice versa, of course), conversations about quantum maths, articles on nanotechnology….. I remember once reading an interview with William Gibson in which he commented that in the past SF books were very often written about one single technological or scientific development – a matter transmitter! intelligent machines! telepathic policing! - as if that development would take place in some sort of vacuum, as if the new thing, whatever it was, would be the sole important factor in this future society; whereas of course, our world is in fact stuffed full of new science and technology, any single aspect of which might once have served as the motor of an SF story, but none of which can be surgically removed from the wider context. His point, as I recall, was that writing science fiction now is far harder than it used to be because in order to create a credible future, you have to imagine not just a single development, but an entire pastiche of human and technological change. Well, I’ll certainly attest to the hard work element of that argument – bringing together all the stuff I’d been thinking about and wrapping it around the narrative has been very hard work indeed. So I’m very glad you like it.
One of the things that always pop up in your work is innovative technology that people use to main each other. Carl starts off with weblar body armor and uses a gun that fires viral ammunition. Later in the book we meet a character who has bio alloy in her hands for close combat. Do you just let your imagination run wild or do you try to have some basis in reality?
Well, a bit of both. Weapons like the sharkpunch and the Haag gun occurred to me on the fly, without having to do any actual research – though in the latter case I had used the idea of bioactive ammunition before, in Market Forces. In part, the whole thing was imagistic rather than technological – I wanted Marsalis to be a very frightening figure, and just as you give your epic fantasy heroes a magical sword to define their killing potential, it seemed appropriate to equip the Black Man with some really scary weaponry. The weblar, though, comes from a handful of articles I’ve read recently on the possible uses of spider silk in bullet proof fabric – it makes a lot of sense if you consider how incredibly resilient a spiderweb is for its size. Anyway, seems the main problem for the manufacturers right now is how to get enough non-unionised spiders working shifts to…….
Without spoiling the ending, do you think you might return to Carl's world or any of the characters featured in "TH1RTE3N"?
Definitely – I very deliberately left myself space for that. I think the issue of variant thirteen has probably been explored in about as much depth as I’m interested in, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use thirteens as characters in other stories. And the other variants that I came up with each suggested their own narrative trails as I was writing them, so there are elements there that I’m certainly not done with. Plus the world itself, the dynamics of Jesusland and the Rim, the colony on Mars and the nanotech are all freighted with potential. Expect at least one more novel in this setting, possibly several.
You've written two well received comic series for Marvel featuring the Black Widow. Is there any more comic book writing coming up? Any other characters you'd be interested in exploring?
The comic-book thing is certainly on hold at the moment, but that’s logistics rather than personal preference. I’ve got some nice ideas, and some sympathetic ears at Marvel and Vertigo/DC, and in fact my own US publishers, Del Rey, have talked about me doing a graphic novel for them – but right now I want to focus on getting my next novel up and running. My own personal genetic wiring is pretty classically male, in that I have a hard time concentrating on more than one thing at any given moment, so sidelines like the Black Widow tend to slow me down badly elsewhere.
As to other characters, I think the Black Widow experience has made me realise I’m probably not cut out for mainstream Marvel/DC properties – Black Widow: Homecoming was very well reviewed, and I certainly enjoyed doing it, but as far as mass appeal goes, well – there wasn’t any! The series didn’t sell very well, and it seems the overt politics and ambivalent attitudes to heroism, sex and violence weren’t that happily received by the core comic-book readership. And those elements are integral to the way I write. Let’s put it this way – Spiderman 2 and Sin City count among my worst ever movies, and both were box office smash hits. Now that’s a serious mis-match of target market and writer. And companies like Marvel and DC are in business to sell product to that market, not stroke the egos of difficult and unpopular auteurs. So while I’d love to write a third Black Widow – have the sketched plotlines in fact – there’s no reason on Earth why Marvel would pay me to do it. I think any future comic-book work I do is likely to be strictly marginal, own-character stuff.
You've mentioned working on a noir-ish fantasy series called "Land Fit for Heroes". Any updates on that?
Yeah, it’s rolling. We’re still at the early stages, a few chapters in with my characters wandering around not having much clear idea of what’s going on – which to some extent echoes my own situation as well! I’ve been talking a good fight about shipping Kovacs-style noir tendency into the fantasy arena for some time now, and now I finally get to do it, I feel like I’m standing on the rim of a vast unexplored land with this gang of grubby conquistadors and their siege engines at my back. What to grab and sully first? I mean, there’s nothing we can’t do to this place, right guys? So, uhm, yeah - there is an overarching narrative in there somewhere – just have to shake it out. Watch this space.
Richard Morgan will be touring along the west coast in the near future.
Here is a list of upcoming appearances:
ON TOUR WITH RICHARD K. MORGAN
SEATTLE, WA Monday, July 23
University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE.─7:00pm
Talk, Q&A, Signing
PORTLAND, OR Tuesday, July 24
Powell’s Books, 1005 W. Burnside─7:30pm
Talk, Q&A, Signing
SAN FRANCISCO, CA Thursday, July 26
Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street ─7:00pm
Talk, Q&A, Signing
SAN DIEGO, CA Saturday, July 28
Comic Con International, San Diego Convention Center
Signing
Read 2005's Richard Morgan Week at YMB
Discus this interview in our forum
Posted by YourMomsBasement at 10:30 AM
by The Comics Outsider
Rumor-monger is such a disparaging term... I prefer rumor-whorebeast.
LIES HURT NO ONE EXCEPT THE PERSON TELLING THEM
Absolutely true, take it to the bank. 
Maybe true, take it to your credit union. 
Possibly not true, hide it under your mattress. 
MORE FF SPINOFFS?!
Face front, true believers! The movie franchise is about to split off yet another pseudopod of profitability! Creator Stan Lee has joined forces with Marvel Entertainment for yet another spin-off (to match the rumored Silver Surfer spinoff) for the big picture! Details are slim, but Lee alluded to "trying to synergize the FF with the most recent winners of the Stanley Cup, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks." What could this mean? The Outsider has the scoop:
Hockey and comic books? How can they lose?!
WHAT'S NEXT FOR DYNAMITE?
Aside from their recent score with picking up Ennis/Robertson's The Boys and their already lucrative licensed properties, what else can we expect to see from hot new-ish publisher Dynamite? Details are scarce, but believe it or not, they'll be walking on air. They never thought they could be so free-hee-hee-hee.
Amazingly, original series star Robert Culp has been tapped to paint one of the variant covers.
TAKE THE INITIATIVE...PLEASE!
We've turned up another failed Avengers: the Initiative pitch, and for the life of us we can't imagine why they passed on it:
The Initiative: Incorporate in Nevada
The white collar Initiative title looks at the dirty dealings of the corporations of the Marvel Universe, going after computer crime, making sure that pensioners get their money, and seeing that the corrupt CEOs of Roxxon never take advantage of the little people of the MU.
The series will star a newly revived Douglock. The series focuses on the corporate espionage that Douglock must partake in on a daily basis, which includes looking at internet porn, thumbing through automotive magazines, and talking about last night's Adult Swim.
Bendis set to helm the project and art by Travel Foreman.
ARTISTSWIPING I
Flash
and
Horny All-Star Sluts #17
BEYOND THE BEYONDER
Just as Marvel decided there were too many mutants, they've also decided that there are too many cosmically powered characters in their lexicon.
"Depowering the Beyonder was just the beginning", a source in Marvel reports. "Next up is Galactus. Turns out he's just a member of AIM that underwent genetic modification. And Eternity? He's just a moloid that ate some bad fruit."
IT MUST BE SAID AND IF I DON'T SAY IT, WHO WILL THEN SAY WHAT I'M SAYING?
Just as my colleagues have taken exception at recent Marvel covers crossing a line of decency, so to must The Outsider take a stand when he sees something this blatant and wrong...
Scroll down for the image after my letter to Joe Quesada, because this is NOT SAFE FOR WORK.
Dear Joe Quesada,
Obviously you don't give a micron about men buying your comics, but are you trying to spoil them for everyone? Marvel's raised the bar on gross so high small planes will be flying under it. The MJ statue, the Heroes for Hire cover, and now Marvel gives us MarveRotskudoji, or even "Mighty Marvel Hentai Doujinshi," but you call it "Amazing Spider-Man #544."
As my girlfriend, who's annoyingly immune to a lot of this (we had a fight over the crotch shots in Hulk), said, "Next time, they're going to need tie Peter Parker up in a sexually provocative pose." She also said, "Are you trying to follow a demographic into hell?"
Seriously, Joe, Marvel got a lot of "ha-ha fanboys are stoopid the Heroes for Hire issue is already sold out" coverage from the mainstream and tabloid press. But this week, Joe? Not to put too fine a point on it, you went too far.
Thanks for reminding me again of one of the reasons why I'm happy not to work in the "mainstream" (or is it "WOMANstream?") of comics.
Sincerely,
The Comics Outsider
P.S. Thanks for using an American artist on the cover, because American comics really had gone too long without someone putting Peter Parker in a naughty S&M pose. It's been at least since Byrne was last on the title.
And don't even get me started on this one:
MOOVING ALONG...
So the question on nobody's lips is, who are the Skrulls? Ever since New Avengers #31, no one has been asking the burning question of who, from the existing Marvel Universe, are Skrulls?
Well, the Outsider has the scoop as usual and this one really will make me seem like the cat who has the cream.
Its so obvious as well, and its plain to see that Marvel have been working on this for a long time, laying the clues and prepping for the big reveal.
But how did the Skrulls infiltrate some of the MU's favorite superpeople? Well, it wasn't a case of replacing them ... more of impregnating them, something it is all too obvious given the last page of New Avengers #31.
So, what is it then? How do we know that some of Marvel's great and good are Skrulls?
Well, remember how the Skrulls were all turned into cows?
Oh noes!
Oops.
We're screwed!
RIDIN' WILDFIRE
The next big Wildstorm Event: WILDFIRE. Written by Grant Morrison with art by Travis Charest, Joe Madueira and J Scott Campbell, next winter a WILDFIRE is coming!
Get ready for the Wildstorm Universe's first big weekly event!
Can you stand the...WILDFIRE?!
ARTISTSWIPING II
OMAC
and
The Tick
Discuss this article in our forum.
Posted by YourMomsBasement at 10:00 AM
by Mike Collins
For people who might not have followed Planet Hulk can you bring us up to speed on what's happened recently and how we've gotten to World War Hulk?
Last year a group of so-called Marvel "heroes," including Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Black Bolt, and Dr. Strange, decided the Hulk was too dangerous for planet Earth, tricked him into a shuttle, and shot him into space. The Hulk ended up on the savage planet of Sakaar, where he bonded with a group of monsters and rejects and went from slave to gladiator to rebel to conquering emperor. The Hulk united the tribes of Sakaar, married the woman warrior Caiera the Oldstrong, and became the Green King. And then... disaster. The shuttle that brought the Hulk to Sakaar exploded -- destroying a million people in Crown City, including the Hulk's queen and unborn child. Now the Hulk and his Warbound gladiator allies are on their way to Earth, determined to wreak terrible vengeance upon those they blame for the destruction of their world.
(Incidentally, the hardcover of the "Planet Hulk" saga hits stores on June 13, the same day that the first issue of "World War Hulk" comes out.)
World War Hulk weaves its way through three main books, Incredible Hulk, World War Hulk and WWH: Frontline. Can you talk about what's going to be going on in each of those books?
The epic story of the Hulk's quest for revenge against Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Black Bolt, and Dr. Strange is told in the five issue "World War Hulk" miniseries, written by yours truly with art by the legendary John Romita, Jr. This is the blockbuster movie take on the story, packed with every essential, giant moment of action and emotion. The "Incredible Hulk" #106 to #110, written by me with art by Gary Frank, Leonard Kirk, and Carlo Pagulayan, tell the story of those Marvel heroes crazy enough to side with the Hulk when he returns. The story includes key figures from the Hulk's supporting cast, including She-Hulk, Doc Samson, Namor, and Rick Jones as well as an unexpected group of new allies that includes Hercules, Angel, Namora, and self-appointed Hulk champion Amadeus Cho. "Incredible Hulk" #110 should be of particular interest to Hulk fans -- Amadeus's mission reaches its terrifying climax with a shocking revelation of the essential nature of the Hulk. Finally, "World War Hulk: Frontline," written by Paul Jenkins, is the street-level view of reporters and cops struggling to do their jobs in the midst of the mayhem of "World War Hulk." Fans of Hulk's Warbound companion Korg the Kronan definitely won't want to miss his star turn in this series.
You've got two of the more famous Hulk artists in recent years coming back for this event. Can you talk a little bit about working with both Gary Frank and John Romita Jr.?
Both of these gentlemen are legends and an absolute pleasure to work with. Nobody draws mighty Marvel smashfests like John Romita, Jr. -- his images have such incredible weight and power they practically burst from the page. And I marveled with every page that Gary Frank sent in -- I tend to ask artists to cram way too much into the foreground, midground, and background of every panel. And Gary always got every detail in there and more while keeping the images clean and gorgeous and powerful. While I'm at it, let me plug Carlo Pagulayan, who penciled much of the "Planet Hulk" saga and returns for "Incredible Hulk" #109 and #110 and Leonard Kirk, who just turned in his last amazing pencils for the Rick Jones/Miek confrontation story in "Incredible Hulk" #108. All of these pencillers are eating this story alive and I can't be happier.
WWH is another "event" comic. Do you worry that fans might be a little burned out after Civil War?
One great thing about "World War Hulk" is it's an entirely accessible epic that won't require you to trace a story through twelve different titles or pick up a million books in which you have no interest. You can get the whole big story just by reading the "World War Hulk" miniseries. And then if you want to go a bit deeper (and I know you do!) you can grab "Incredible Hulk" #106 to #110. And then when you're hooked, you can go nuts with "Frontline" and all of the other awesome tie-ins.
The other great thing is that "World War Hulk" is the culmination of a story that's been building for over two years. The pot's been simmering for a long, long time, and I think we're all ready for it to blow its lid.
Everyone's obviously excited about the big moments coming up in World War Hulk, as Hulk faces off with the members of the Illuminati. But what smaller moments should fans be looking forward to as the series progresses?
Look for unexpected moments with Hiroim the Oldstrong, Iron Fist, and, yes, a skinny dude named Bruce Banner in the pages of "World War Hulk." In the "Incredible Hulk" books, keep an eye out for Namor's appearance and the moment when Herc meets Hulk in #107, the Rick Jones/Miek showdown in #108, and the shocking reveal in #110.
What role if any will Amadeus Cho play in World War Hulk?
Genius-kid-on-the-run Amadeus Cho is the seventh smartest person on the planet and a self-appointed Hulk champion who's taken it upon himself to round up the heroes crazy enough to take the Hulk's side when the Green Goliath returns to Earth. His story began in "Incredible Hulk" #106 and continues in #107 (hitting stands on June 20), #109, and #110 -- wherein he precipitates the climactic revelation I've been ballyhooing. Amadeus is a cocky and confident as they come -- and he's utterly convinced that the Hulk's a hero, not a monster. The big question whether the hero in his head matches the vengeful Green King whom he's about to meet face to face.
Whose idea was it to put Hulk in a tiara?
It's a diadem, my friend, not a tiara. And yeah, those are action figures, not dolls, see?
And yes, it was my very awesome idea. You can even seen a little prototype drawing I made of the diadem in the extras in the back of the "Planet Hulk" hardcover (and did I mention that hits stores on June 13?).
The Hulk is a character with a lot of history and many different incarnations. You have the dumb Hulk, the smart Hulk, Joe Fixit...which version of the Hulk is your favorite?
The smart but savage Hulk that appeared in those very first Stan Lee Hulk stories. That's the version that Peter David left us with and the version that's hacked and slashed his way through "Planet Hulk" and into "World War Hulk." The great thing about that version is that he's smart enough to learn and grow and develop emotionally but savage enough that you're never quite sure which way he might fall on that hero/monster divide.
Looking back on Planet Hulk, are you happy with how it turned out? Anything you wish you had done differently?
I just re-read the whole run, and at the risk of sounding too full of myself, I gotta say I love it. I think everyone involved with the book went above and beyond, working hard to make every panel and every page sing. The one thing that has occurred to me is that we might have been able to tempt a few more readers into picking up the book during the "Civil War" if we'd had a backup feature set on Earth -- like the Amadeus Cho/Reed Richards tale in "Incredible Hulk" #100 -- running throughout the series. At the same time, we needed all the pages to tell the epic tale we told, and that one Amadeus Cho appearance in #100 set up "Incredible Hulk" #106 pretty nicely, so I can't complain.
Aside from your work in comics you've mentioned doing some work in film. Can you talk a little bit about that?
I went to NYU Grad Film and am probably best known in the film world for my feature "Robot Stories," which played in 75 festivals, won 35 awards, and is now available on DVD from Kino.com. For more about my current film projects, please check out my website www.pakbuzz.com for the latest screenings and updates.
You're largely identified with the Hulk. Are there any other characters out there you'd like to take a shot at?
You bet. Magneto, Storm, and Dr. Strange are all characters I've really enjoyed writing in the past as supporting characters -- I'd love the chance to work with any of those characters as leads.
Why should readers want to pick up World War Hulk?
'Cause it's your and my favorite kind of story -- an epic of action and emotion in which every mind-blowing set piece has enormous emotional repercussions.
And 'cause my big green buddy here says buy it.
Watch our video interview with Greg Pak at the last NYCC.
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 08:00 AM
There are many things that contribute to making someone a douchebag. An overinflated sense of self-worth. A worthlessness despite pedigree. And an inneffectiveness that, when all is said and done, borders on the pathetic.
But douchebags aren't jerks. Jerks are generally more effective and/or aggressive than douches. Johnny Lawrence was a jerk. Biff Tannen was a jerk. Anakin Skywalker was a jerk. These guys below? Douches.
Fred O'Bannion, potrayed by Ben Affleck in Dazed and Confused
Ah, young Ben Affleck before we knew who he was. And even then did we hate him. But not for the usual "overexposed famous guy of middling talent" reasons, but because the character he plays in this film is a tremendous douchebag. A super-senior, O'Bannion takes way too much delight in the paddling that was the apparent birthright of any senior in high school in 1970's Texas. If you've not seen the film, let us put it this way: he might be the poster child for anti-hazing laws. Just shy of homoerotic, and pretty far from being playful, the guy is just nasty.
There are some other reasons to hate him- he's a bad winner at pool, his muscle car is painted an ugly gray, he has 70's hair- but all of the paddling he gets into is plenty. The sheer joy he expresses as he's spanking the freshmen... well, we wonder what freaky things O'Bannion might have gotten into later in life. The icing on the douchebag cake is that when he gets his comeuppance (they dump paint on him) he has a total hissy fit, storms off and is never seen from again. And that's it. Not much of a villain, there eh? More of a douchebag.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, potrayed by Ewan McGregor and Sir Alec Guinness in the Star Wars films
"Luke, I know that the only family you've ever known has just been killed by stormtroopers, but this girl asking for my help? She's your sister. You're not alone in the universe. Come with me and we can help her."
But Obi-Wan never said that, did he? Instead he just lies to Luke. Like, a lot. Then equivocates like a douche when called on it. "Certain point of view", my ass. In fact, when you get down to it... it's really his fault Luke and Leia kiss in Empire.
But, even before that, he was pretty lame. He has to go to the alien equivalent of Vic Tayback for clues because he can't figure something out. He can't handle one bounty hunter on his own. He can't tell his Padawan is secretly married, in violation of the Jedi code. And, after lopping the limbs off The Chosen One, he leaves Anakin alive and smoldering to become the most evil bastard in the universe (next to the Emperor). He really was a pretty lousy Jedi.
And, let's be honest here, magically disappearing is a douche-y way to die.
A controversial choice, to be sure. But, a douchebag, he is.
Ed Rooney, portrayed by Jefferey Jones in Ferris Bueller's Day Off
HE WAS ON THE TV SCREEN WHEN YOU WERE IN THE BAR! RIGHT ON THE TV SCREEN! LOOK UP, DOUCHEBAG!
Man, there's a lot of competition for high school principal douchebag, and, honestly, this almost went to Principal Vernon from The Breakfast Club. But he was really more a jerk than a douche. He did, after all, get Bender into detention for weeks upon weeks.
Rooney, however, has an ineffectiveness about him that lands him squarely in the douche camp. He can't tell a 17 year old in a trenchcoat from an adult. Can't tell a boy from a girl. Misses endless opportunities to catch Ferris. And ultimately breaks into the Bueller's home (by knocking a dog unconcious with a potted plant), gets beaten up by a girl, has to ride the school bus home, and ends up eating a handful of warm gummi bears.
Bill Lumbergh, portrayed by Gary Cole in Office Space
Part of what made Office Space such a great movie, is that there's no clear antagonist in the film. The enemy is the 9 to 5, not any one master villain behind it all. The movie rails again the button down, day in day out lifestyle that so many of us have to endure to put food on the table, and that's a special thing. It's interesting to see a movie that can get you rooting for the hero without giving you a villain to hiss.
It did give us a supreme douchebag, tho. Bill Lumbergh.
Oh, Lumbergh. You're just so terrible. What would you be without passive aggression? What could you be? You ooze it from your every pore. Your suspenders and pink shirt radiate it. You're the worst boss one could ever imagine, and somehow we've all worked for you; or some aspect that is you. And yet you're not someone to really be hated, at least from the outside. We don't have to work for you, we just look at you and grimly smile at the memory of the last boss we had that made us work extra and smiled about it. To us, you're just a harmless douchebag. But if we worked for you, I am certain that we'd pee in your coffee.
Walter Peck, portrayed by William Atherton in Ghostbusters
When else than in the 1980s could one of the villains of a movie be a bureaucrat from the Environmental protection Agency? The EPA! The good guys. The guys who keep our waters clean. And our air fresh!
But no, in Reagan's America, the EPA was evil. The EPA's endless rules and regulations hampered small business owners. Including small business owners who kept dangerous amounts of ectoplasmic entities in the basement of a rundown firehouse.
Enter Walter Peck. The man who gets a court order, shuts down the containment grid, and has the Ghostbusters arrested. Like many small-minded bureaucrats, he can't see the big picture, but luckily those above him can, and he gets kicked out once the mayor realizes that New York needs the Ghostbusters.
And you could tell he didn't really care about the safety of New Yorkers. He just didn't like Peter Venkman. Well, you know what kind of people don't like Peter Venkman? Douches.
Starscream, voiced by Chris Latta in Transformers: the Movie
You can hear it in your head: "Of course, mighty Megatron." That voice. That oddly shrill, whiny, cocky prick tone that can only mean Starscream. You know the dirty bastard, from the comics to the cartoon to the movie. Starscream's a big ol' douchebag. He talks shit, but when it's time to back it up? "Decepticons RETREEEEEEAT!"
And then the movie. Was there anything more satisfying than seeing him finally get capped for all of his treacherous bullshit? But then the show went and screwed it all up and brough him back as a ghost. An indestructible ghost. A shrill, indestructible ghost. Lord, what a douchebag.
Merovingian, portrayed by Lambert Wilson in The Matrix Reloaded
Merovingian: I love French wine, like I love the French language. I have sampled every language, French is my favourite - fantastic language, especially to curse with. Nom de Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperies de connards d'enculis de ta mire. You see, it's like wiping your ass with silk, I love it.
...it's been about ten years since I last looked at a French textbook, so I have no real idea what he's going on about there. But I am reasonably certain that those are the words of a douchebag. The biggest, most douchey thing he is responsible for? Count the minutes he took up onscreen during Reloaded/Revolutions as valuable movie time entirely wasted.
Prince Humperdinck, portrayed by Chris Sarandon in The Princess Bride
He lost a fight to an invalid because he was too worried about his pretty face.
He was going to kill Buttercup. He did kill Westley. He employed the evil Six-Fingered Man. And he was mean to Miracle Max.
Humperdinck was well on his way to evil jerk-dom.
Except... his plan sucked. Rather than just go to war like a man, he had to come up with a convoluted plan that involves having to murder his own wife and blaming the country he wanted to go to war with. But, hey, guess what Humperdinck?... You're the prince. You're going to be king. If you decide to go to war... everyone has to pretty much go along with it.
And his grand plan? Beaten by "true love". Lame. Douchebag lame.
Caledon Hockley, portrayed by Billy Zane in Titanic
There's not a lot we have to say about this guy. I assume we've all seen Titanic by now, right? So we are all aware of why this prissy douchebag makes the list. Is it framing hunky young Leonardo DiCaprio? Trying to buy the love of young Kate Winslet? Shooting wildly at the pair of them as the boat starts to sink? Trying to pussy out off of the boat by pretending to be a child's father? His general arrogance and self-importance? His 'rich white guy' act?
We don't know, either. Pick a couple. We like to focus our hatred on him in his entirety, as a sort of focal point of our hatred for Titanic in general. But for all of his time on screen, there is not one moment where you can look at him and not seem him acting like a total douchebag.
Carter Burke, portrayed by Paul Reiser in Aliens
There's a reason none of us ever bought Paul Reiser as a romantic lead on Mad About You. And it's because we knew that he'd let a facehugger suck on Helen Hunt if The Company told him to. When you get down to it, Burke is the smarmy, douchebaggy Lumbergh-esque business guy taken to sci fi extremes. So concerned with profit and his future employment, he would, literally, endanger the entire human race to cover his own ass.
So, when things turn to shit and securing an alien to take back becomes unlikely, what does he do? He tries to get a facehugger to implant an alien into either Ripley or an EIGHT YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL.
Preferably both.
Douche.
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 12:00 PM
