NightBeetle
Turbo Justice!!!!
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2009
- Messages
- 3,848
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 31
From Marjorie Liu and Daniel Acuna
Once these mini-series wrap up, Marvel will have something even bigger in store. Marjorie Liu (Dark Wolverine, NYX: No Way Home) will be penning a new ongoing Black Widow series focusing on her role in the superhuman community. The artist attached to the book is being kept under wraps, but you can see the cover to issue #1 below.Update: Marvel has let us know that Daniel Acuna will be the artist for Black Widow. The first issue should hit stands in April, just in time for Iron Man 2. We chatted with Liu on the phone about her plans for Black Widow, as well as how Dark Wolverine will be affected by Siege and the upcoming crossover with Wolverine: Origins. We even discussed her upcoming X-23 one-shot and the larger "Women of Marvel" marketing push going on this spring.
IGN Comics: What led you to take on Black Widow as your next project?
Marjorie Liu: I was invited to submit a proposal -- which I found impossible to turn down, given the character and all her intriguing possibilities. Ralph and the others liked the ideas I gave them. So we just went from there.
IGN Comics: It strikes me that a Black Widow series could be taken in two different thematic directions working more in the realm of spies and espionage or moving more to the capes and superheroes. How will you approach this series?
Liu: This book will be oriented more towards the superheroes. Everyone knows she's a super-spy, but I'm intrigued by her role within the superhero community. Black Widow has no powers beyond her own natural, human abilities. She's not psychic. She doesn't fly. And yet, she manages to hold her own amongst all these other immensely powerful individuals.
IGN Comics: What led you to take on Black Widow as your next project?
Marjorie Liu: I was invited to submit a proposal -- which I found impossible to turn down, given the character and all her intriguing possibilities. Ralph and the others liked the ideas I gave them. So we just went from there.
IGN Comics: It strikes me that a Black Widow series could be taken in two different thematic directions working more in the realm of spies and espionage or moving more to the capes and superheroes. How will you approach this series?
Liu: This book will be oriented more towards the superheroes. Everyone knows she's a super-spy, but I'm intrigued by her role within the superhero community. Black Widow has no powers beyond her own natural, human abilities. She's not psychic. She doesn't fly. And yet, she manages to hold her own amongst all these other immensely powerful individuals.
IGN Comics: Were you influenced by what Ed Brubaker has been doing with Widow in Captain America?
Liu: I think he's been doing a wonderful job in that book, and I have my own take on Black Widow that I hope fans will enjoy.
IGN Comics: I assume that means there's not a direct connection to the other Black Widow books they're publishing right now, like Deadly Origin or Black Widow and the Marvel Girls?
Liu: This story doesn't spin out of either one of those books, but we're not ignoring them, either.
IGN Comics: Given that the series is starting in April, is the status quo going to be reflecting what's going on with Siege and The Heroic Age?
Liu: It probably will. You can't help but do that, to some degree. But it'll basically be a standalone story. You won't have to read other books to know what's going on in this one.
IGN Comics: Can you give a general idea of what Widow is going up against in the early issues and what the core conflict of the series is?
Liu: I don't know how much I can say, but this certainly is not an origin story. Not a spy story, either. It's very much about Natasha's place in the superhuman community. She basically finds herself in a very bad position. She's attacked and physically injured almost beyond her ability to recover. And she doesn't know who tried to kill her she can't remember this person. So her search to find her attempted murderer leads her to some very unexpected places. That's sort of the setup of the story, and we just shoot from there.
IGN Comics: Do you plan on exploring the relationship between Natasha and Bucky in your stories?
Liu: This series is going to center entirely on Black Widow, independent of the Avengers, so while she's impacted by Bucky and other relationships, those won't be the focus of the first arc. I really want to establish Black Widow as her own character, not as someone's girlfriend or as the member of a team. She's a force in her own right.
IGN Comics: Natasha has spent the last year in The Thunderbolts impersonating the other Black Widow. With Yelena Belova back on the stage, are you planning some sort of conflict between the two?
Liu: I haven't really planned on anything. It depends. I tend to write by the seat of my pants. As I get deeper into the arc I won't rule it out, but as of now I don't have any plans for that.
IGN Comics: When the first Iron man movie came out, Matt Fraction carried over certain elements of the film into Invincible Iron Man. With Black Widow appearing in the sequel, do you plan on doing anything like that? Are you aware of what they're doing with her in the movie?
Liu: I'm not actually aware of what they're doing with her character in the movie. I wouldn't say that down the road, it won't come up, but as of now there are no plans -- beyond making her character accessible to people who are coming in from the movie. In that way, yes, but as far as taking particular elements from the movie and putting them in the book, no.
IGN Comics: But there's definitely the hope that people who see the movie will be attracted to this series?
Liu: I think that's probably quite likely. From a marketing standpoint, at least. [laughs]
IGN Comics: Are they actually promoting this series as one of the "Women of Marvel" books?
Liu: Yes.
IGN Comics: I did want to discuss "Women of Marvel" a little more, but I wanted to go through your other books before closing off with that, starting with Dark Wolverine. Just in a general sense, what do you find appealing about Daken as a character as opposed to his father?
Liu: Oh, gosh. Well, I love Wolverine, but there's just something about Daken, so much potential in him. He's manipulative and ruthless, and just an awful person. But at the same time, there's an element to his character that makes you want to ask, "Can he be good?".
When his father first started out he was not a good person by any means. But then over the years he evolved into this heroic personality. The hope is that Daken has that same potential, but getting there is an interesting journey. Being able to write him and explore the different aspects of his very complicated personality as a writer, it's a lot to work with. Which I love.
IGN Comics: We saw a lot of Daken's manipulative side in the first six months or so of the series. With this most recent issue, were you trying to explore that other side of his character and suggest that there is some inner goodness inside, or at least that he has regret for some of the things he's done?
Liu: No. [laughs] I don't think so. Daken doesn't live with regret.
It was interesting with issue #81, because the whole Moonstone thing was an accident. We didn't intend for that relationship to play out as it did, and I think there were certain expectations that he would seduce her.
We didn't want to go there, partially because we didn't think it was interesting. We knew that Moonstone would be attracted to him. She's not particularly nice anyway, but she would be intrigued by him and try to figure out who he is. We wanted to play around with her expectations and assumptions about Daken and then twist them, in a way, and use that to show how Daken is a bastard. He's a mean son of a b****. He's not nice, and we didn't want him to be nice. He's been using her -- and all the Avengers. But his time with them is almost up, anyway.
She comes and sees him, sits down with him and he could have made nice and seduced her. But she followed him to his favorite tea house which he didn't like. Simple as that.
IGN Comics: Daken's purpose since venturing out into the world has really been to gain some new experience and prepare himself for his destiny of confronting Romulus.
Liu: Yes, to both those points. He's always worked from the shadows, but he had a chance to be with the Avengers and see what it's like to live in the limelight. I think there was also a certain perverse enjoyment he took from wearing his father's costume. Although, in a way, I'm not sure it turned out quite like he thought it would.
When Daken first put on the Wolverine costume, he was disgusted by it -- but also intrigued. He doesn't want to walk in his father's footsteps, but in a way he is, either against his will or without even realizing it.
IGN Comics: So the costume has come to mean more to him than he might have expected?
Liu: I don't think he would consciously wear something like that if it did. And even if the costume did mean something to him I don't think he would acknowledge it. He'd just bury those feelings in his unconscious.
IGN Comics: Getting back to "Women of Marvel", how do you view the whole promotion? Do you see it as being more about celebrating Marvel's female characters, its female creators, or is it a little of both?
Liu: I think it's a little of both. Not all of the writers are tackling female characters. It's cliché to say that it's showcasing talent. But it's what you said it's a little of both. We'll leave it at that.
IGN Comics: Do you think the push is designed to help bring in some female readers, as well?
Liu: It's possible. It's an interesting issue. When I was going to comic book stores in college, you didn't have many girls going in. But at the same time, a couple years later when I was in law school I'd go to a different comic book store and they did have lots of girls coming in and buying books.
It's one of those things where, if there's a girl reading comics, she's going to be getting books anyway regardless of whether the creators and characters are female. And if those girls aren't in comic book stores, obviously they're not going to have access to those books. They're not going to see them and they're not going to be interested unless the sales setting is different, like a regular bookstore or wherever.
Maybe the promotion will work to bring in female readers, but like I said, if you're a girl and you're reading comics, you're already going into a comic book store regardless of whether there's a specific comic aimed at you. It's nice that this is going to be there, but as to whether or not it'll bring in female readers I'm not sure it will, but maybe.
IGN Comics: Looking at the comics that seem to appeal to female readers the most Runaways, Sandman, and so on it doesn't seem like you can attract a female audience just by having female characters or female creators.
Liu: Well, to be perfectly honest it's all about the storytelling. If you've got the storytelling down, you'll bring in readers of all genders. It won't just be men or women. I think marketing only works to a point.
IGN Comics: In the past there have been stories from certain female creators who maybe haven't had the best experiences working in the industry. How well do you think women are represented in comics these days? Does this represent a shift towards the better?
Liu: Well, sure. But I've never felt like there was a problem, personally. I've talked to other female creators and artists, and they feel the same way. Sometimes when we're at comic book stores, then maybe there's going to be situation where people act like "Oh, you're a girl in a comic book store," but as far as actually being in the industry, the ladies I speak to -- and in my own personal experience -- have never encountered that sort of strange treatment. Not at Marvel, anyway. My experience there has been great.
So when you ask whether or not the "Women of Marvel" comics are a step in the right direction, I don't know how to answer that except to say, of course, I think it's wonderful -- so that those outside the industry realize there's already a strong female presence.
Again, I think the atmosphere is pretty good within the industry, specifically at Marvel. Sometimes when I'm in a comic book store, that's when it begins to feel a little awkward. In the past, some folks have flat out asked, "Why are you here? Are you buying something for your boyfriend?" They don't believe you're actually there for yourself.
IGN Comics: Well, I don't think anyone has ever accused comic shops of being stuffed with the social elite.
Liu: [laughs] But in the industry itself, I haven't encountered anything that would make me cringe. If others have, then I'm sorry about that, truly, but in my own personal experience and from others I've spoken with, we don't feel any strange vibes.
