CBR: With "Realm of Kings," it looks like you are doing things differently from the previous cosmic events. Instead of a main mini-series, all four cosmic books will have their own separate storyline, though all will be related to the Fault. How important is the "Realm of Kings" one-shot to what's happening in the other four books? Does it directly impact those titles, or does it lay the ground work for a later story that will affect the cosmic books?
DnA: You're right - "Realm of Kings" is a thematic link that runs through all 4 books and details the various ways the characters interact and are affected by the Fault, this bizarre new region newly formed by a rip in the fabric of space and time. All the stories stem from the aftermath of the "War of Kings" series and springboard out of the events in the one-shot, which serves to set the scene and establish the threat that will be present throughout. Each title has major storylines that play out of the repercussions of "WoK" and have the Fault as a main setting; sort of like telling various stories from the worldwide theatre of combat in WWII. "Realm of Kings" is the overarching backdrop on which these tales takes place.
Let's talk a little bit about the one-shot, which is in stores this week. It stars Quasar, a character that you both have some affinity for. Why did you want to use Wendell Vaughn for this particular story?
DnA:We've always had a soft spot for Wendell, ever since we killed him off in the original "Annihilation" series. One of the things we strived for in the "Nova" mini-series was to make Wendell a genuinely likeable character. We felt that if we got the readers to relate and care for him, then the impact of his death would be that much more shocking. Thing is, we realized we liked him too and jumped at the chance that the "Secret Invasion" offered us with Project: P.E.G.A.S.U.S. to bring him back. Wendell is ideal for the role we've given him in the one-shot: he's the "Protector of the Universe" and has been looking for a new role for himself as he's been absent from the galactic stage for some time. The chance to explore and investigate the Fault is an opportunity he cannot let pass, and he's ideally qualified to act as scout and explorer as he believes his new energy form makes him almost invulnerable to the hazards of travel into this deadly territory.
For the one-shot, you're working with both Leonardo Manco and Mahmud Asrar; two artists with very different styles. What do they bring to the book?
DnA:Mahmud's an excellent superhero artist who draws in the more traditional style. He's handling the art chores for the story that takes place in our universe, with Quasar boldly and heroically embarking on his mission to explore the Fault. Mahmud has given these sequences a bright, heroic quality with his clean, bold approach. While Leonardo, another excellent artist, but definitely more stylized when compared to Mahmud, is handling the art from the story that takes place within the "otherverse," which has its own, distinctive and forbidding feel which Leonardo has captured brilliantly.
)
