FRANK CHO ON MARVEL EXCLUSIVITY

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

As was announced at the recently-concluded Wizard World Chicago Con, artist Frank Cho has signed an exclusive contract with Marvel for three years.

Born Duk Hyun Cho in 1971 in Seoul, South Korea, Cho and his parents migrated to the United States when he was at a tender age of six. Cho is best known as the creator of Liberty Meadows, which he created in Baltimore, Maryland while he was finishing up his last semester in the University of Maryland School of Nursing where he eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1996.

Cho’s been working on a new and updated version of Shanna the She-Devil for Marvel’s mature line, MAX. And he’s provided fill-in art for Terry Dodson in the recently-released fifth issue of the Mark Millar-written Marvel Knights Spider-Man and is currently working on the eight issue of the series. Not to be left out is the cover to Trouble #1: The Second Chances Edition where he once again showed why he’s comics’ St. Valentine.

Cho’s star is certainly rising and it’s no wonder that the House of Ideas has more projects lined up for the father of two girls. We caught up with Cho to discuss about his decision to sign a three-year contract with Marvel, the ladies in his life right now, the status on Shanna and some teasers from the MK Spidey.

Newsarama: How did this opportunity present itself?

Frank Cho: My original two-year contract was coming to an end. Marvel was happy with my work so they decided to keep me around longer.

NRAMA: What made you decide to be exclusive to Marvel?

FC: I’m a huge Marvel fan. Marvel comics were all that I read growing up. Marvel has the best characters to work with. They’re colorful, flawed, and always entertaining. My decision was an easy one to make.

NRAMA: How does it affect your work on Liberty Meadows, or is it an arrangement similar to Robert Kirkman's whereby it only involves work-for-hire projects only and not creator-owned?

FC: It doesn’t affect Liberty Meadows at all. I have the same clause in the contract like Robert Kirkman. I’m exclusive to Marvel but I can still do Liberty Meadows for Image. The only thing that’s screwing me up is that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do both.

NRAMA: Let's talk about the ladies in your life right now, the stars of Liberty Meadows, Shanna and Mary Jane. What's so special about each of them?

FC: Brandy – She’s everything that I love in a woman. She’s intelligent, affectionate, and downright sexy. Little trivia. Brandy’s modeled after Lynda Carter and two girls from my high school.

Jen – She’s Brandy’s roommate and best friends. But personality-wise she’s the polar opposite of Brandy. While Brandy is super ego. Jen is the id. Funny note, I get so many requests from fans for me to draw Brandy and Jen in a hot lesbian action. I swear if it wasn’t for this Catholic guilt, I could make some serious bank right now.

Shanna – She’s what I think a good jungle queen should be. Oddly enough, my Shanna is completely different from the previous incarnations. I had to recreate and update her. There’s no way that a young woman unarmed with some gymnastic skills can fight off armed poachers, wild animals and the indigenous population. Whoever came up of Shanna’s original concept was smoking some serious crack. It just wasn’t well though out. So I powered up Shanna and recreated her origin.

Mary Jane – She’s one of the most beautiful women in comics. I wanted to glam her up a bit so that people will know why Mary Jane works as a model.

NRAMA: What's the current status of Shanna? When is it coming out? How far ahead are you with the project?

FC: I’m drawing issue #6 (out of #8) right now. It’s taking longer than I hoped. The reason is that I write as I draw. Often times, I would rewrite pages that I’ve already drawn. Just the first issue alone I drew about 50 pages before I finally settled with 23 pages that I liked. Marvel hasn’t scheduled a launch date yet but I think they are looking at early 2005 .

NRAMA: For the uninitiated, and for those looking forward to your version of the She-Devil, who is Shanna, and tease a little about the limited series?

FC: As you may know, Shanna was originally a cheap rip-off of Sheena. So I had to move Shanna away from the Sheena character and make her unique. The first thing that I had to do was to update her and power her up for the modern audience. This opened doors to more interesting story potential.

In the story, Shanna is a genetic experiment. She was Nazi Germany’s answer to Captain America. I don’t want to give too much away but if you want to know her level of power, she fights off several T-rex and hundreds of raptors throughout the series.

NRAMA: And how's [editor] Axel [Alonso] been treating you with regards to Shanna? What kind of creative input do you gain from interacting with him on Shanna?

FC: Axel has been wonderful. He’s one of the best editors that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. He’s from the “leave the creator alone” school. He believes that creators should be left alone and let them do the work that they’ve been hired to do. He’s a very pragmatic guy. If I get too crazy and stray off, he would gently nudge me back on the path. I hope that Axel will be my editor for all my future Marvel books.

NRAMA: Have you ever met [Marvel Editor-in-Chief] Joe Quesada? What have you learned from him and his art?

FC: Yes, I’ve met Joe several times. He’s a sweetheart. The great thing about Joe is that he’s a realist with solid ideas about what comic books are and should be about. Joe’s a superb artist with a great sense of design and dynamic anatomy. Just look at his Daredevil run [with Kevin Smith]. Beauttiful stuff. He’s also starting to emerge as a great writer too. I’ve always believed that artists are better comic writers than most writers since they think visually. Hell, look at Frank Miller and Brian Bendis. They both started out as artists. Joe’s no exception, he’s a great writer-artist in all sense of the word.

NRAMA: You’ve filled in on Marvel Knights Spider-Man #5, and you’re also working on the last issue of Millar’s second arc [#8]. Is it true that you'll be the regular fill-in artist for the Dodsons?

FC: No. I don’t think so. I’m just giving Terry some much needed breathing room before he tackles Mark Millar’s final epic story arc.

NRAMA: What could you tease about the Spidey issues that you've drawn?

FC: Venom and Spidey going toe to toe with no holds barred. It’s one of the most brutal and dynamic stories that I’ve ever read. It’s also one of the best Spider-Man stories that I’ve ever read. Readers are in for a treat.

NRAMA: What’s it like working with Mark Millar so far?

FC: The guy’s a nut. He’s my favorite comic writer currently working. He writes the kind of stories that I enjoy – over the top, bombastic, action comics with the right amount of drama and humor. Ultimates by Millar and [Bryan] Hitch has to be my favorite comic book right now.

NRAMA: What else is being planned for you at Marvel?

FC: A bunch of stuff that I’m not at liberty to say at this time. Let’s just say that Marvel is going with my strength - drawing the female form - and has matched me nicely with a lovely character.

NRAMA: What projects, characters, writers do you hope to work with in your three-year exclusive with Marvel?

FC: [Astonishing X-Men writer and creator of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Firefly] Joss Whedon. That man is a genius. I also want to draw Wolverine - in his tan and brown uniform - at some point in the near future.

[bigmentalross]

Cho's a quality artist and Liberty Meadows is great.

Nice to see some of the Shanna art.


In fact, pretty nice art all around there.


Good stuff.

[Christian Otte]

While the new Venom looks like a mix between a hidden third member of Insane Clown Posse and Spawn, I can't deny that Frank Cho is one hell of a talented artist.

Looking very much forward to his upcoming work.

[Padding]

I could give a long articulate response about the technical excellence of Mister Cho's artwork, but fuck that let's get to the real point here


Look at those bodacious tatas on Shanna my penis runneth over


Mister Cho I salute you

[onestar]

Let's face it.

Any man with this much respect and love for Lynda Carter is all right in my book.



I've long been a fan of his work, ever since they started running Liberty Meadows in the local paper.

Good article. I'm really looking forward to his new work.

[Jeremy Williams]

Those picks are incredible, I had never seen his work before other than in Previews about Liberty Meadows. I didn`t know he could pull off big action scenes like that. Very impressive.

[tridon]

Oh wow, so, so beautiful. Frank Cho is definitely an amazing artist and I can't wait to see him work on more characters in the Marvel universe after this.

[Noc]

Wow I can't wait to see what Cho does at Marvel.

[Woody]

Frank Cho is the best

[Falkner]

Boobs and Dinosaur heads flying all over the place! What's not to love?!? Cho's one of the best in the business!!

But that Venom redesign has got to go.

[UnicronKaosBrng]

Hey, folks... Can anyone say "She-Hulk"?? Think about it... hot female form and lots of comedy...

[melperfect]

No wonder the Shanna series has taken so long. That work is fantastic.

Can't wait for more from the tremendously talented Frank Cho.

[pfunk70]

Shanna better be strong like Captain America, otherwise she's going to have some serious back problems swinging those puppies around.

And it looks as if Spider-Man's going to have some serious back problems of his own with Venom's fist through it. Didn't he just get out of the hospital? Marvel's not gonna have anybody left if they keep tryin' to kill of their characters. At least DC's just killing off all their character's wives.

[Kolimar]

I'm not sure about that mask on Venom.

[Zadillo]

Frank Cho on Ultimate Fantastic Four covers? Sign me up!

-Zadillo

[John Gallagher]

http://newsarama.com/forums/showthre...threadid=16649

nuff said!

[Brandon Peterson]

What more can be said. Frank is the best.

Brandon

[Kolimar]

Originally posted by Padding
Look at those bodacious tatas on Shanna my penis runneth over

tatas...? that's a new one for me...

[Spider-Bob]

I applaud Cho's new Venom design. The old design with the lolling tongue has become a bit of a parody of itself. I think this redesign makes the character look seriously dangerous and less goofy. As for Shanna - hubba, hubba! I love the way she actually moves and flows in the way a real woman would. I can’t wait to see some of these images in COLOR. I would also like to cast a second vote for Cho on She-Hulk, assuming its still around by the time he is free for new projects.

[Kolimar]

I forget... Is Shanna a mini/maxi or an ongoing?

[Jumpin' Monkey]

Those Shanna pages are mind-blowing !
Loved the art on MKSpidey #5, from what I see here #8 will be even better. Great Venom costume BTW.

Cho rocks !

Let’s just say that Marvel is going with my strength - drawing the female form - and has matched me nicely with a lovely character.

Sounds great !

[GOSD]

Ummm.....I need to be alone for a minute....

[Brian Garside]

Originally posted by Kolimar
I forget... Is Shanna a mini/maxi or an ongoing?

8 issue miniseries (he said in the interview that he's currently working on issue 6 of 8).

The man can draw a dinosaur! I don't think I've seen such amazing dinosaurs since Michael Golden's dinosaur book years back.

Very nice looking stuff.

The Venom design is kind of interesting, but the eyes don't work very well. Spider-eyes like Spidey's mask would have worked better.

I like the tweaked symbol, and the mouth is kind of cool too.

[marioboon]

alot will depend on the coloring of that young lady to see if this series will be PG or X-rated

[Aaron]

Yay! More jerkoff material for the basement dwellers! Just what the industry needs!