Interview with Marv Wolfman

by A. Jaye Williams

Marv Wolfman. His name's been synonymous with comic books since the 1970's to the present. He's written some of the best and most important stories and titles for both Marvel and DC Comics, and has served as both Editor-In-Chief at Marvel and Senior Editor at DC. Currently (at the time of this interview) he is writing "The 10th Muse" and the comic book version of "Farscape." But it was with teammate at the time George Perez that he started to give Marvel's "The Uncanny X-Men" a run for their money with the relaunch/release of "The New Teen Titans" in 1980. It was also with George Perez that he totally revamped and started anew the entire DC Universe with the epic 12-issue series "Crisis On Infinite Earths."

This Brooklyn, New York, native with a BFA Degree from Queens University is responsible for many accomplishments in the comic book writing field. He's written many of the mainstream titles for Marvel and DC, but for him, his most significant work are those that stand out the most to him personally. "My most important comics? 'Tomb of Dracula,' 'Titans,' 'Crisis,' and 'Superman,' and lots more."

Within many of these titles and more are found a great number of characters that he's also created or redefined. "For Marvel: Bullseye, Black Cat, Terrax, Nova, etc. At DC, the Titans, all their villains, Deathstroke, Omega Men, the new version of Luthor and the last version of Brainiac." But one can only imagine all the rest that he's created over the decades since he's worked for both companies. Not only creating new heroes and villains, but the vast number of supporting and guest characters as well. However, before all that happened, Marv recalls that "my first sale was for 'Castle of Frankenstein.' After that I sold a 'Blackhawks' script to DC Comics. My first real success came with 'Tomb of Dracula.'" Marv briefly adds about his experiences in working for the two big companies, "Since I don't dwell on the negatives, I'd say most of my Marvel and DC experiences have been excellent." He also expands to say about working at Marvel and DC Comics, "Because for many years I was in a privileged position at both companies, I had no disadvantages. I was allowed to write what I believed in with minimum interference. These days, I do believe, it would be very difficult to get the freedom I was once given. That can of course be both bad and good, depending on the people you're working with."

As a writer, Marv is very clear about what he believes constitutes a good story. No matter what the medium happens to be, the fundamentals are basically the same for him. "The most important parts of writing are the same for comics, novels, movies, etc. You need good characters who can tell the story you have in mind. If the characters are strong and the story concepts are fresh--assuming you can write--the material will be the same no matter what field you write it for." It is in the comic book medium, however, that Marv finds a special attraction. The reason he keeps coming back to comic books is because of the sheer satisfaction he receives at seeing how little his original stories are altered compared to other mediums he's worked in. "In comics, 98 % of everything I write comes out the way I intended it to. In other media, scripts get changed far more. Plus, I enjoy working with graphics and story telling that can only be done in comics." However, comparing how comics have changed over the years that he has been working in the field, Marv says, "Generally, comics are simply not as fun as they used to be. I don't mean they need to be mindless or trivial, but they should, ultimately, be entertaining. If comics are to survive they have to branch out into all kinds of material. Limiting what's published in comics only limits the audience they can attract."

Though Marv Wolfman has been a legendary writer in the field of comic books for decades, he is still just as much a fan of the medium, too. He still enjoys meeting the fans at conventions and to be involved in the whole environment that makes up a comic book convention. He's very honest when he says straightforwardly, "I attend a few conventions these days. I love doing it and meeting the fans, as I was and still am one. I listen to the fans' ideas but I have to be true to what I believe is best for my character."

With an incredible past and present to draw upon, Marv continues to work very hard. Whether it's making movies for Wolfmill Entertainment, writing for Marvel, DC Comics or another company, or doing his own thing, the future still looks bright and open for him. He'd certainly like to do his own things, write and create his own projects, exploring and expressing the ideas that are given genesis from within his own heart and mind. "There are always projects that I'd love to do, especially all new titles. I love generating new ideas rather than only write things I've done before," he says. Still, he can't help but mention a couple projects that he would love have done or would love to do to for both Marvel and DC: "I wanted to write the Superman/Spider-Man crossover. I'd also love to do a Titans/Fantastic Four crossover." For the former, there's already been two--in the first, Marv was credited as one of four consulting editors, and for the second, he was credited for plot suggestions--so why not a third? For the latter, it's never been done before. Unexplored territory which clearly holds plenty of potential and fun. Something Marv Wolfman has contributed to the world of comic books for decades, and continues to do.

Interview with Phil Jimenez

by A. Jaye Williams

Artist/writer extra-ordinaire Phil Jimenez has made an incredible impact in the world of comic books. He's worked for both the major companies of DC and Marvel. He's tackled such titles as "The Titans," "The Invisibles," "Wonder Woman," and "The New X-Men," with Grant Morrison. But perhaps his most noted achievements have been the mini-series': "Tempest," "JLA vs The Titans," and "X-Men: Liberators."

As an artist, Phil Jimenez pretty much fell into the world of art much like many artists do it seems. "I was mostly self taught," he says. "I started drawing at a very young age, inspired by pictures of dinosaurs I found in my pre-school room--and my mother encouraged me to draw. . . . I did take a summer course in my senior year of high school at Otis/Parsons School Of Design in Los Angeles, and then had two years of . . . amazing education at the School of Visual Arts in New York City--my college." When first seeing a Phil Jimenez comic book, one can't help but draw the inevitable comparisons to the great one himself, George Perez. "My biggest and obvious influence is George Perez. . . . More than anyone, I connected with his work, and more than anyone he remains (an) influence on my stuff. Other influences, primarily, include some of John Byrne's work in the '80's, Brian Bolland, Ryoichi Ikegami . . . who does 'Crying Freeman.' . . . While I'm not a big anime/manga fan, I found that his stuff really spoke to me, it's like a perfect blend of Eastern and Western influences."

It was with the DC mini-series "Tempest" in 1996 that Phil Jimenez experienced his first big success, both personally and professionally. With appreciation and gratitude, Phil says, "Everyone seems to like it. I still think it's some of my best work. . . . I think it was successful because I was so passionate about doing it. And also because it was (about) . . . some little liked character that I was asked to make grow up. I was sort of given carte blanche. Because it was some self-contained thing, and no one really cared . . . and so we kind of got to do what we wanted, and it ended up being this really nice project." Regarding the character of Tempest, formerly known as Aqualad, Phil goes on to say that "we updated his character, I think, in a really cool way, I got to make an emotional statement, a great adventure story . . . use all this established mythology. So, I think that's probably my most successful (project). . . . Once that happened, everyone started to sort of know my name."

You can hear the excitement in his voice when Phil talks about the medium of comic books. He has been a long time admirer of the medium for many years and for many reasons. "The medium is a great medium! . . . .You're basically telling stories with pictures and words . . . super hero comics, particular, I find really exciting. You get to tell all these allegorical stories with these archetypal characters that you don't see generally that often. Potentially, you don't have any budget restraints. All you basically have is your imagination, and that's very cool! . . . And I love to draw, and I love to tell stories with pictures. And I just think that it's an enormous opportunity. They're like mini-movies, but they're different. They're not quite books; they're not quite movies; they're sort of something in between."

As both an artist and a writer, Phil knows exactly what he believes are the ingredients for a good comic book. His approach to writing is very clear and basic: "You want strong characters that, even if you don't identify with (them) you can sympathize with (them). . . . I think you need a strong story, with ups and downs, and a sort of heroic journey. I think you need a great villain to sort of counter your hero. A great struggle to put your hero through. And you need great art. . . . It's a visual thing so it can't be . . . hampered by bad art."

Though Phil much more prefers the side of penciling over writing, he does explain that doing both is his way of having some control and taking responsibility for the book he happens to be working on. "I write mostly because a) my schedule--if the book is late, it's my fault. And b) mostly out of the desire to protect the characters I'm working on. . . . There are certain writers I would work with in a heartbeat if I believed they could generate the work on time. I find that's a big deal. There are some characters that I feel I have a grasp on . . . that's why I choose to write them."

Phil goes on to say that characters like Batman and Green Lantern are not characters he'd like to write on a regular basis, feeling that there are already writers out there who have a much better understanding of those characters. At the time of this interview, Phil is still penciling and writing "Wonder Woman" for DC Comics. This run could easily become his biggest claim to fame to date. Critically, it's already a success, and deservedly so. The attention to artistic detail and clarity, expressiveness and rendering are equally balanced by the strong characterization and story development he has brought to the title. Arguably, the quality of the book is rivaled by the best of George Perez's run. The greatest challenge for Phil to deal with, however, is all the history that comes with Wonder Woman. Following the likes of Perez, Bill Loebs, John Byrne, Eric Luke, and others, there was plenty of established and set conventions for Wonder Woman. "Wonder Woman came with a lot of baggage. And I found the most difficult part about writing her, was not actually about writing the character, but working around the baggage that other writers have brought to the character. That's actually what's made this assignment kind of uneven and a little difficult." However, he adds that what he really wants to bring to Wonder Woman that other writers perhaps haven't is "a consistency. More than anything, my goal in this was to take all these (different) views of her and try to unify them. So that we had a more consistent vision of this character as we went literally into the 21st century. I felt, like, there were so many different versions of her that I just thought--and they weren't consistent with each other--I just thought 'let's make an amalgam of all those visions.' That was my biggest goal. . . . I also wanted to amp up her rogues gallery." The latter being something many of the past writers either didn't want to address or simply got away from all together.

As many of the comic book readers out there know, Wonder Woman, much like Batman and Superman, has a long history and line of arch villains herself--Ares, the Cheetah, Circe, the Silver Swan, to name just a few. And Phil loves the idea of re-addressing these characters who have played very important parts in Diana's life. He's also looking forward to some backup stories in Wonder Woman, revolving around Donna Troy. And if he can, further exploring some of the international female super heroes that have appeared lately in Wonder Woman. The appeal of Wonder Woman, for Phil, goes back to his love of classical Greek mythology, a subject that's interested him since he was a kid. The fact that Wonder Woman is a Greek Amazon and rooted in historical mythology which has been around for thousands of years, made her character much more interesting to him. And, for him, a character that was just one step closer to the real world than, for example, Superman, who's exploits, origins, and stories were all created for the sake of the comic book. "My interpretation of her--and this is sort of a Perez base version, I think--I believe that to the pit of my soul that human beings can live together peacefully if just given the proper tools to do so. Like (Wonder Woman's) whole mission in life is to make people . . . to at least respect each other's right to exist. And I find that to be an incredibly loving and thoughtful sentiment. And in a world of comics where . . . comic books are often revenge fantasies, and I understand that . . . I like the idea of a character who wants to appeal to the very best in human nature."

With there being so many excessively violent characters out there these days, Wonder Woman remains uniquely different from the rest--even after being around for sixty years! And the idea of pumping her up into another cliched vendetta seeking vigilante is of no interest whatsoever for Phil Jimenez. Besides "Tempest," Phil says that one of his most important works in recent comic books is "Wonder Woman #170." "I think that's important for her character. I think that was important for me professionally." But he quickly adds that working on the comic book "'The Invisibles' was important to me professionally, because I reached a whole new audience . . . I got to work with someone like Grant Morrison, which is always an incredible, incredible experience"

He can't help but look back fondly on the "JLA vs The Titans" mini-series, even though his editor on the book had a very different recollection of the project. "My editor reminded me that it wasn't as much fun to work on as I remember it. That it was a kind of pain in the ass, actually. But I remember thinking that the end product was really cool. I enjoyed that project. We got to draw all these characters, work out all these ideas, people responded to it very positively. And that's all you really want in a comic book."

The responsibility Phil feels for his work is clearly heard in his voice and seen in the work he produces. Every detail is very important to him. "I'm definitely passionate about it. And, you know, I'm the person who, like, the book is going off to the printer and I'm still trying to white out something, or do a correction here. I just sort of feel like, again, if you guys are paying so much money for this stuff, it should be the best it can be." Even though he admits that every little mistake in a comic book can't be caught, it still frustrates him to no end when preventable mistakes pop up.

Working with such great writers as Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, Devin Grayson is always a joy for Phil. He would also relish the opportunity to work on an Alan Moore project, like an issue of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." "I think that'd just be terrific. That would make me very happy!" Or even tackling Morrison's "The New X-Men." But he also can't help to add that he'd love for George Perez to write him something. And for those wondering, Phil and George have met on a couple of occasions, and connected very well, "and he's been nothing but absolutely kind to me. So, it was a real joy (to meet him). But whatever project I work on, I want to bring something new to (it). That's my whole goal. Make it exciting for me, and make it exciting for the reader. And the other thing I'd like to do is to work on . . . characters that don't have too much baggage. Having done this stint on "Wonder Woman," I'm realizing just how complicated that becomes when characters have so much baggage. Because fans won't let that go. It's hard . . . and that can be very tricky."

Phil Jimenez is full of appreciation for his work, for the fan support, and the characters he's responsible for. It shows in his work, and it is reflected in the warmth of his voice, which is full of excitement and positive feeling. Though his work is hard and very time consuming, his passion for it is still at an all time high.