MANIPULATING THE MARVELS: BRIAN REED ON MS. & CAPTAIN MARVEL

[MattBrady]

by Vaneta Rogers

It would be an accurate and potentially clever pun to say Brian Reed writes all the "Marvel" characters, seeing as the creator is the mind behind both the Ms. Marvel ongoing series and the Captain Marvel mini-series for the publisher.

But for readers of the two series, it's probably more accurate to say this guy is getting more green and Skrully than just about any other Marvel creator right now. Between the dozens of Skrulls who have shown up in Captain Marvel (including -- we've been led to believe -- the good Captain himself), to the accusation last issue by Tony Stark that Ms. Marvel is, in fact, a Skrull herself (click here for a preview of this week’s #25), Reed's titles have morphed quicker than a shape-shifting Super Skrull into some key issues for those following the build-up to Secret Invasion.

And with the announcement at Wizard World L.A. that Reed is also writing the Secret Invasion: Front Line series and will be part of the Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? one-shot, fans are starting to wonder if that chin of his is going to start getting all green and wrinkly.

Newsarama sat down with Reed in L.A. to talk more about his two Skrull-focused series right now and to find out more about what's coming up in the Secret Invasion tie-ins. And as we discussed the characters involved and the themes being explored in the titles, we found out that Reed feels like he's grown as a writer, and he's hoping his work is reflecting it.

Newsarama: Between Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel and the other work you're doing, you are really knee-deep in Skrull central, aren't you?

Brian Reed: [laughs] Yep.

NRAMA: I guess we can't come right out and ask you if Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel are Skrulls, can we?

BR: It kind of takes all the fun out of the next couple of issues, doesn't it?

NRAMA: Well, let's just start with catching people up with what's going to happen in this week's Ms. Marvel #25. Tony Stark just said at the end of the last issue that Ms. Marvel is a Skrull. Does Tony have reasons for saying that?

BR: Yeah. And that's what the opening of issue #25 is all about. It's him explaining that, while Carol was on Monster Island fighting the Brood a couple issues ago, another Carol was walking around Stark Tower, and they were kind of following her. But they lost track of her, and now that the other Carol's back in town, either one could be the Skrull. And Tony's got to take her down. So he sends in agents to take down Ms. Marvel. So her whole Lightning Storm team is trying to take her down.

NRAMA: Let's talk about the Ms. Marvel series. Having read this series since its beginning, the focus and even the tone of the title seems to have changed as Carol's changed.

BR: And as I've learned how to write. Let's be honest. [laughs]

NRAMA: Do you think you've grown as a writer since you started the series?

BR: I have totally grown. I went back to the first three issues when I was writing this story arc with the Brood and Cru and resolving all that, because it was supposed to be resolved in, like, issue #9. But Civil War happened and some other stories happened, and I finally decided I just had to end this. So I went back and I re-read the first three issues so I was fresh and remembered what I had set up. And I was in pain. I couldn't stand it. I was like, "Oh my God! This is bad! What have I done?"

NRAMA: But you've written a lot since then, and co-wrote with Brian Bendis on Illuminati.

BR: I did. We teamed up on Illuminati, and I've been doing Red Sonja with Mike Oeming and now I'm writing that solo, and I've been doing a lot of other things here and there. And coming back to where I started was like... all I'd done was co-written five issues with Brian at the time. That was it. Ms. Marvel was my first solo. And I remember re-writing it three times. [laughs]

You can watch as it goes along, or at least I can, it's like, here's where they were paying me to learn what I was doing. And it was like on-the-job training, right in the deep end of the pool.

NRAMA: But even the overall tone of the comic has changed, hasn't it? Ms. Marvel has changed herself.

BR: Yeah. She started off very naive and focused on her wanting to be a big superhero. When I told my mom that I was writing Ms. Marvel, she was like, "Who's that?" And I thought, that's the first six months of the title right there. Ms. Marvel: Who's that? And that was a lot of the early stuff. She wanted to be a superhero again. And she went about it completely the wrong way, wanting to be famous instead of being good. She hired a publicist and everything. And it was about issue #11 or #13 where she realized that was backwards. She realized that was wrong. And that was the first little bit of her growth as a character.

And now, in the Secret Invasion tie-in, I wrote a bit of dialogue for her, and she says, "This is what I've always needed, but I didn't know it until just now." And it was one of those things I wrote that I didn't know she was going to say it until I typed it. It's that moment where she changes yet again and we move into the third act with her now. I started her as really insecure but trying to be the hero, then I went to her being the hero, and now, to where she's figured it out and she's going to do it full steam ahead.

NRAMA: As we go forward with Ms. Marvel, can you tell us how Secret Invasion is going to tie in?

BR: This is the start of our Secret Invasion tie-ins right now. This is where people want to come on board if they haven't been reading. We go #25, #26 and #27, which are set up, and then #28, #29 and #30 are in the heart of the invasion. And Ms. Marvel is one of the only heroes in New York at the time of the invasion, so it's going to be pretty much her against an army when that starts. So that's something for people to look forward to.

NRAMA: Should readers be looking elsewhere, perhaps, in both of these titles for who the Skrulls are besides whom everyone is pointing at?

BR: Well, there are other Skrulls. In Captain Marvel, we saw that some of the bad guys weren't who we thought they were.

NRAMA: The Kree soldiers who attacked Captain Marvel were actually Skrulls...

BR: Yes, and Cobalt Man was actually a Skrull. There were big, heavy hints there that all of the bad guys who have come along who were supposed to be dead were probably Skrulls.

NRAMA: And Captain Marvel is supposed to be dead...

BR: ... and one of them has told him, "You're not Captain Marvel at all." That's what issues #4 and #5 are about. Is that guy lying? Is that Skrull screwing with him, and why, if he is?

NRAMA: So in the Captain Marvel mini-series, are these things that will lead into Secret Invasion?

BR: Oh yeah. We'll have an ending to this mini-series, but we're seeing what's happening in the build-up -- that day-to-day thing. And it all ties into Secret Invasion.

NRAMA: So Captain Marvel plays a role in Secret Invasion?

BR: Yes.

NRAMA: In this mini-series, Captain Marvel is obsessed with this painting.

BR: Yes. Alexander Entering Babylon.

NRAMA: I'm sure you can't tell us the whole secret behind this obsession, but how did you come up with the idea to include this mystery in the series and why have it as an ongoing theme?

BR: That was one of those things where I needed him to be doing something in France. The pitch said, "Captain Marvel is in France." And then it said Tony Stark goes and gets him out of France and the rest of the story plays out. And I didn't have why he was there. I didn't have what he was doing. I just was like, "Fine, I'll put him at the Louvre. I'm not going to be a hack and have him looking at the Mona Lisa. I need a painting for him to look at. And I went to the Louvre website and looked at what they had in their collection, and it literally was like, the first thing I clicked on was this. And I read a description of what it was, and I went, Oh my God! And I did this quick thing to make sure I remembered my high school history classes and Alexander the Great. And I went, "This is perfect!!" It meshed with the whole story I had already written. And it made it all work better than it had. And I was like, "Yay!!!" And it just clicked and it went in and it brought so much more with it.

We now have this mystery of "Why is he looking at this painting?" I understood instantly why he was looking at it and why it was important. It gave me three issues worth of story where I could reveal pieces off the puzzle. And it's been great how much readers have latched onto that.

NRAMA: Readers are thinking: “I should have paid more attention in art history!”

BR: Exactly.

NRAMA: If we look up the history of the painting, will we find clues?

BR: Maybe. Captain Marvel even talks about it a little bit in the first issue, of why he's looking at it and why it's important to him. But there's a little more to it than that, that even he doesn't realize yet. He knows there's something going on with it, but he hasn't put all the pieces together.

NRAMA: The mini-series also has a group of people worshipping Captain Marvel. That really came to a head in the last issue. Why add that element to this story?

BR: I've always wanted to play with that idea of superheroes and religion, because I honestly think if we had people flying, we wouldn't be just pointing and going, "Hey, look! It's Captain Marvel!" We would be like, "Holy God!" There would be people who would fall to their knees and start worshipping. There would also be people who would scream and kill themselves because they think it's the end times. You would see all these religious reactions, and I wanted to play with that. And I thought, when better than when a guy has just come back from the dead? It gives you that one more beat, like Christ rising or whatever. It's a story that you see in religion, so I thought it was perfect and I could play with this.

And it was another case where I wanted to have this cult that worships him, and the more I got into writing them, the more story I found to do with them. And it turned out being a lot of fun.

NRAMA: And it's all going to tie together in the end?

BR: It all comes together in the fifth issue. It was really surprising to me when we went back and did the lettering, because I kind of wrote all the scripts -- bang bang bang. When we were doing the lettering, I realized I was revealing things in issue #3, and I went -- "Wow, I didn't realize I was giving that away that early." But people haven't quite picked up on that yet.

NRAMA: I think readers expected this mini-series to be about the fact that Captain Marvel would need to go back in time and face his death of cancer, which is still hanging over his head, but it is by no means the central issue in this story. Was that a conscious choice on your part, to avoid concentrating on that too much?

BR: I didn't want it to be five issues of Captain Emo. [laughs] "I'm going to die. I should go see Spider-Man one last time...." I didn't want to do that. It's the easy way to tell that story. And that's part of why I wanted to have him go off to France initially. I wanted him to kind of have this moment to think, and what he says in the book is, "I die flat on my back, and I'm a soldier. That's not how I want to die, but I know that's how I end up, so I've got to do something between now and then." And that's when I thought, OK, that's the story to tell. That story of between now and then. If we focus too much on when he dies, it because this really downbeat thing, like "ooooh goooosh." It's supposed to be what's in the back of his mind and what's driving him, but not what the focus is.

NRAMA: Yet it was a focus of the Young Avengers Presents issue you did where Captain Marvel meets his son, Hulkling, for the first time. It's a very touching issue that explores a part of time travel we rarely see.

BR: I wanted to write that scene in the Captain Marvel mini-series. It was Issue #3 or #4 that I had tried to squeeze it in. It wasn't in my initial treatment or anything, but was just one of those things that came up as I was writing it. I thought, "I've got to have this scene." And I came up with some totally hackneyed way to get them together. And the scene lasted for like half a page. And there's no emotional resolution to it or anything. And I didn't do anything else with it.

Everything else I do in the book, I started it here [holds hand to one side] and ended it here [holds other hand out to the other side]. This was just this blip in the middle. It didn't work. I decided I couldn't do it. As much as I wanted to write it, I took it out. And it was that afternoon that one of the editors at Marvel, Molly Lazer, called and said they're doing this Young Avengers thing. So I got the opportunity to do that story. You could put it into the middle of the Captain Marvel graphic novel, and it would all work fine.

NRAMA: Anything you want to tell people about the end of the Captain Marvel mini-series?

BR: Well, Issue #4 ended on a pretty huge cliffhanger. So I'm looking forward to #5, because that's where everything comes together and everyone will understand what we've been doing.

NRAMA: I know we already talked to you about what you're doing for the Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? one-shot, but is there anything else you want to tell readers?

BR: Well, I'm writing the eight pages that get us from Captain Marvel #5 to Secret Invasion #1. We had this story that happened off camera that none of us felt like needed to be told, because it just kind of made sense. But then we were talking about what it would be, and we realized that we needed to show that. And so that's what we see there, is how Captain Marvel makes this decision that you understand him not being comfortable with. So he has to explain it to himself, why he wants to do it. We see the decision go down as to why he does what he does. It's not an entirely agreeable thing that he decides to do.

NRAMA: And you're also doing the five-issue Front Line series that we talked to you about last weekend. Man, you really are knee-deep in Skrulls, aren't you?

BR: [laughs] Yeah, I am. But with this series I'm kind of taking the title literally. It's not just Front Line the newspaper, but it's the front line of the invasion. It's Ben Urich from the Front Line comics and Daredevil -- a character I love and wanted to use in Captain Marvel, but the reporter story I was telling wasn't a Ben story -- so I got the chance to use him here.

It's a story about the regular people of the Marvel Universe. It's those people you always see in the background of the panels when the heroes are fighting. And it's really my wanting to make the heroes look as big and heroic and special as possible. So we see everything from the point of view of these regular people. When we see Spider-Man, it's an event. As readers, we're used to seeing these heroes. But to somebody in the Marvel Universe, it's still pretty special. The comparison I've been using is every night on the news, we hear about some explosive devise blowing up a truck in Iraq, and we feel bad about it, but it doesn't really mean anything to us because we haven't really experienced it. But if you're driving to work tomorrow and the car in front of you explodes, think about what your reaction to that is going to be. That's what it's going to feel like when you're driving to work and Dr. Octopus busts through that wall and Spider-Man comes out. That's what you'd be feeling. You've seen it on the news and it's not really real to you, but now it is. And that's what I want to show.

When the Skrulls show up, it means something to these people. It's not just, "Oh, the heroes will take care of it." No -- this is the end of the world.

NRAMA: Will each issue of Secret Invasion: Front Line focus on a different person's point of view?

BR: All five issues focus on four different groups of people, and then I kind of slowly bring them all together and cross the stories and bring them apart again as the story goes on.

NRAMA: Wow, multiple crossing storylines. You really are growing as a writer, Brian. [laughs]

BR: [laughs] I'm working on it! Honestly, I don't think I could have pulled off Captain Marvel if that had been my first job. I think it would have been a completely different book and it would have been Captain Marvel punching people for five issues. And I don't think I could have done Front Line even a year ago. I've definitely learned a lot in the last year that I'm bringing to that book. And hopefully, the readers have noticed and will enjoy what I'm doing as we go ahead.

Check back soon with Newsarama for another interview with Brian Reed where we talk about his work outside Marvel, including his first creator-owned series, The Circle.

[dkc_2001]

Well, I'll give a few issues a shot.

[Gorgeousaur]

I really like Brian Reed. He's not the best Marvel's got, but I think overall he's a very dependable writer.

[dlfurman]

Hmmmm.

Nothing about the Young Avengers Presents #2 when Hulking says "But I never saw him alive again.", speaking about Captain Marvel.

[Ace]

Brian Reed's work reminds me a lot of Gerard Jones' work on Wonder Man and Justice League.

you can take that however you want.

[Kinnelon]

It's been great to see Captain Marvel back in action, but from what was said in YA Presents by his son, in reference to their meeting..."That was the last time I saw him alive"...it would appear as though his time back in the Marvel Universe will expire sometime during Secret Invasion.
Really great character...wish they could have worked it out for him to remain among the living.

[yonofui]

I used to like Miss Marvel, but I learn to hate her.

I think Marvel (or Bendis) made her a Hated character and Reed is traying to save her.

Just Kill the anomaly quickly.

[Edogawa1983]

Originally Posted by dlfurman

Hmmmm.

Nothing about the Young Avengers Presents #2 when Hulking says "But I never saw him alive again.", speaking about Captain Marvel.

but I never see him "alive" again? alive again? but he sees him again, just not alive....

Captain Marvel Zombie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COSMIC ZOMBIE TIME

[dstorres75]

Hmmmmmm Personally, I'd like to know where those Nega Bands came from since his original bands were used to make the Nega Bomb that destoryed the Kree Empire back in the Op Galactic Storm story.

[Countdowner]

BR: I didn't want it to be five issues of Captain Emo. [laughs]

Aww, that's too bad... I always loved that Captain Emo movie with Michael Jackson they used to have at Epcot Center.

[PyroTwilight]

I'm looking forward to this. Hopefully Miss Marvel and Captain Marvel can team up during the Invasion.

[The Last Word]

Originally Posted by dstorres75

Hmmmmmm Personally, I'd like to know where those Nega Bands came from since his original bands were used to make the Nega Bomb that destoryed the Kree Empire back in the Op Galactic Storm story.

I'd like to know how Marvel's going to explain away Captain Marvel's apparent lack of cosmic awareness, should he turn out to be the real deal, and not a skrull. As demonstrated in the past, CM's cosmic awareness cannot be fooled, even if a skrull believes itself to be something other than a skrull. In sum, the CM meltdown in CM No. 4 should not happen to the real CM.

[ZeoVGM]

Reed is one of the best Marvel's got right now, simply because his comics feel fun, even when they're serious stories.

Ms. Marvel is a really fun read and I wish more people read it.

[StoneGold]

Originally Posted by The Last Word

I'd like to know how Marvel's going to explain away Captain Marvel's apparent lack of cosmic awareness, should he turn out to be the real deal, and not a skrull. As demonstrated in the past, CM's cosmic awareness cannot be fooled, even if a skrull believes itself to be something other than a skrull. In sum, the CM meltdown in CM No. 4 should not happen to the real CM.

Assuming CM is the real deal, being time displaced out of the N-Zone into a time period where he's dead and his Protector status has been taken on by at least two different people, and his cosmic awareness has been taken on by his son, might be enough to scramble his brains a bit. If Marvel can scramble the spider-sense from time to time, is your imagination really so limited that you can't think of a way to scramble cosmic awareness?

[MarvelBoy74]

I always find it interesting when creators look back and said they had a crap idea for a story. I'm glad Reed is starting to realize that; I wish others would get over their egos and realize that as well.

[nightw1ng]

Originally Posted by The Last Word

I'd like to know how Marvel's going to explain away Captain Marvel's apparent lack of cosmic awareness, should he turn out to be the real deal, and not a skrull. As demonstrated in the past, CM's cosmic awareness cannot be fooled, even if a skrull believes itself to be something other than a skrull. In sum, the CM meltdown in CM No. 4 should not happen to the real CM.

they already addressed that by saying that his cosmic awareness seems to be messed up ever since he was brought back to the present.

as far as the nega bands, there are multiple copies out there. genis and rick jones had a pair, and phyla had some version of them, too. they could have always found a new pair off panel and then buried it with mar-vell again to replace the ones stolen from his body during operation: galactic strom. yeah, it's a little out there, but it works...

[JSS]

i hope captain marvel kills sentry.


thats all i got.

[Sevedris]

I think #4 made it clear this is the real Captain. Why would a Skrull Infiltrator reveal another character to be a fellow Skrull sleeper agent, while in custody, the conversation being recorded for Earthmen to see? He'd only say so in order to confuse both Mahr-Vell and the authorities watching, hopefully making them take down said Captain Marvel.

Anyone else think the coffin on Titan is going to be empty?

[StevieCool]

Originally Posted by Edogawa1983

but I never see him "alive" again? alive again? but he sees him again, just not alive.... Captain Marvel Zombie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COSMIC ZOMBIE TIME

It could also be...
Hulking dies and never sees him again.

[StoneGold]

Originally Posted by ZeoVGM

Reed is one of the best Marvel's got right now, simply because his comics feel fun, even when they're serious stories.

Ms. Marvel is a really fun read and I wish more people read it.

You know what I like about him? He knows his earlier stuff wasn't so good, and he knows he still has room to go as a comics writer. And is freely willing to admit that. I spoke with him recently at one of the cons, and I mentioned that he has improved into a really good writer, and he was the one who launched into the tirade about how he sucked when he started. It's not what makes him a good writer, but it's a good attitude for a writer to have. It's a good sign.


Really though, the Captain Marvel mini should have sucked. It should have been terrible. The whole return reeked of "OK, we brought him back to protect the copyright, we'll figure out what to do with him later." And he made it not only not suck, but be pretty intriguing, at least for the first couple issues. A terrible last issue could still ruin it, but it's been great up until now.

[artiepants]

this has been a really good book. can't wait for the finale!

[Trevacious]

That looks like a pretty hot double-date...

[Spidey616]

Originally Posted by Trevacious

That looks like a pretty hot double-date...

I hope Brian Reed manages to find a way to get Carol back into that costume on the right showing her midriff. I'm sure the Ms. Marvel title would get a whole bunch of new readers then

[sweetmisery]

You guys should get Ms. Marvel, its a very good comic. Not great, but still good.

Glad Reed is writing Frontline this time around.

[I-Ching]

I really Marvel would work at unifying the Marvel Family.

Ms. Marvel's current lightening bolt costume needs some tweaking...the colors and symbol should be all tied to the glowing starburst and the red/blue costume...not just the red in the sash (which needs to go...too phoenixy).

I'd love to see Capt. Marvel, Ms. Marvel and Marvel Boy all have some kind of connection in their costumes.

Photon...I dunno much about her...the white/yellowy costume needs some work though...and the new Quasar I'm not 100% on her as well.

I would love to see Carol "graduate" onto the Earth X "Lady Marvel" name and get a costume change at the same time.