FABIAN NICIEZA TALKS CAPTAIN ACTION

[MattBrady]

by Troy Brownfield

If you’ve read comics in the last 20 years, you know Fabian Nicieza. Across several companies, the man has written a laundry list of top-selling and fan-favorite titles. A quick refresher? X-Force. New Warriors. Thunderbolts. That barely scratches it. He co-wrote Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare, the mini that set the table for the Grant Morrison run, with Mark Waid. And the list goes on. As you may have heard, Nicieza will be writing a mysterious second section of the Trinity title at DC, on which Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley are taking the lead with their take on Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. But first, he’s got a little action elsewhere. We talked to Fabian Nicieza about some of his history, and the special project that he has underway at Moonstone.

Newsarama: Fabian, before we delve into your newer projects, how about a quick look back?

Fabian Nicieza: To the Mesozoic Era, which remains my favorite era to date. Oh. Not that far back? Okay.

NRAMA: You’ve been writing in the comic industry for over 20 years (I have your first published work at 1987). What is, in your immediate estimation, the most important thing that you’ve learned about your craft in that time?

FN: Well, that's almost close to the Mesozoic Era, isn't it? 1987. You have my first published work? Psi-Force #9 -- did you buy it when it first came out or did you have to spend like, $100 on eBay for it? Ah, those were the daze. What have I learned about my craft in all that time... apparently, in all the time I've been doing this, I still haven't learned how to do an interview.

What have I honestly learned? Well, as you go along, you're always learning things - pacing, characterization, basic storytelling structure, navigating business relationships, economy of words (that one I haven't mastered yet). I hope I've learned a lot about how to do things, but to tell you the truth, twenty years later, it's not an altogether different process from a nuts and bolts standpoint than it was for my first story, nor was my first story much of a different process I imagine from the guys working during the Golden Age.

NRAMA: You have a reputation as a guy who can successfully juggle the writing of many books at one time. What’s the critical factor when handling multiple assignments like that?

FN: A couple of things, I think. First is a lesson I learned very early on, reluctantly, but it was an acceptance that you can't be too precious about your words, even when you want to be. You have to let go of the work -- often sooner than you'd like in the case of monthly comics -- because the work has to get done as part of the business.

And what I always thought was a no-brainer, but learned a long time ago wasn't the case, is the ability to focus. Even before the Internet, creative people always found ways to let their minds stray. I had pretty incredible focus when I was younger, and though it does wander a little more easily as I get senile and the Internet lures like a porchlight to flitting insects -- ooh, naked celebrity pictures -- I do still have a very strong work ethic.

NRAMA: Many fans became really aware of you during your incredibly busy early ‘90s period at Marvel. Several of the books that you helped shape or co-create (New Warriors, X-Force) have recently gone through relaunches or renewed interest of a sort. What’s it like to see a book or group of characters that you were previously associated with strike such an ongoing chord? Is is strange seeing those ideas taken far afield from the original concept (as is the case with Warriors)?

FN: No cynicism or anger intended, but I honestly don't even look at them. After I left New Warriors, I didn't read Evan Skolnick's run for almost ten years -- and he's one of my best friends. I have to divorce myself from such matters because it's the only way I have to prevent myself from crying. I learned the hard way that when you care too much, the company will find a way to kick you in the nuts, so, I try not to look at what other people have done with "my" characters unless I absolutely have to (like catching up a bit on Cable and Deadpool before writing them for the first time in ten years).

I was just emailing with Kevin on New Warriors, congratulating him on the gig since he was a real fun letter writer before he became a real fun writer and we commiserated a bit on some things, but he knew our conversation was in the context of my complete lack of knowledge on anything going on in his book.

NRAMA: Speaking of revamps, you’re going to be writing Captain Action at Moonstone. Though most readers would probably know the Captain from his storied toy history, this isn’t the first time that the Captain has seen comic life; are you familiar with the small run from DC in the ‘60s?

FN: Yes, familiar from having originally bought them when they came out! But, having lost those issues during a childhood move -- thanks, Mom... still love ya -- I decided not to refresh my memory when revamping the character. We all decided pretty quickly that it wasn't advantageous for us to be tied down to 5 issues of continuity from the 1960's.

NRAMA: The primary antagonist of Captain Action in toy form was Dr. Evil; are there any issues associated with the name, considering the Austin Powers franchise? And if not, is that name somewhat of an albatross due the pope culture saturation of that Dr. Evil?

FN: We discussed this and decided the character is too integral a part of Captain Action's history to deny him because of Austin Powers. So, fully understanding that he might come across as anachronistic or even a self-parody at this point, we found a way to incorporate him -- and name him -- within the context of the original Captain Action's missions so it's appropriate to the time they originally appeared, namely the 60's.

How that plays out in the future, I don't know, but I think the way we handled it in the upcoming Captain Action novella worked well.

NRAMA: What makes this the right time to revamp Captain Action?

FN: I don't know that there's a screaming need to revamp any old character. I think there rarely is. People weren't screaming for a Transformers movie, although obviously there was a near-religious cult of man-boys who had grown up on the cartoon that fueled its revival once it was in production. Conversely, I wasn't screaming for a Battlestar Galactica show, having hated the original, but damned if the new one didn't enthrall me.

In this case, we can't depend on the very niche audience for the original toy. We want very much for them to enjoy what we're doing, but the approach was that this should, could and would be accessible to anyone picking it up for the first time. In that, I think we succeeded. It's James Bond meets Astro City and that status quo is very easy to get into.

NRAMA: Is it a hard call to decide which elements to use? It seems like the Silver Streak vehicle would be a given. Could you break down the overall premise and your basic approach?

FN: The original designs for so much of his stuff still holds up and when maybe it doesn't, like his original cap, we found a reason why it would work from a story and character standpoint, rather than just because "it was always there."

I mean, a lightning bolt sword. C'mon. Even Conan would stop and wish he had one of those.

NRAMA: I understand Mark Sparacio (Heroes for Hire) is on art; what in particular is the special ingredient that he brings to the book?

FN: I think he gives it such a feeling of "this close to reality." His art is so expressive and his figure work is so detailed, that it's "prettiness" draws you in. His storytelling is very strong. We talked a lot about every panel and page, so it was real fun for me to flex those art muscles again. He worked real hard, as he always does, with his backbreaking absurdly detailed style of penciling, but I think it pays off in the final product. I think Mark is thisclose to breaking out to the industry.

NRAMA: In addition to April #0 issue (which arrives at $1.99), as you mentioned, you have a “comic novella” for June. Could you explain that to the readers?

FN: Joe Gentile asked if I would be interested in doing something like that and, my prose work having suffered for years and caused profuse eye-bleeding from whoever I asked to read it for me, I said, "Sure, sounds like fun!"

So, it's a rip-snorting fun adventure featuring the original Captain Action in the 60's on the night of his first assignment, so you'll have a good time with that, I think, but, you know, the eye bleeding might be a problem. Joe was smart enough to offset my sad prose with some wonderful illustration work that will accompany the story.

NRAMA: After that, I understand that you, Sparacio, and Marv Wolfman will be working on more Captain Action. What’s the overall plan from here?

FN: I wrote the very rough plot structure for a 5-part, 10 page each chapter, serial story with a real movie serial cliffhanger feel to it that Marv graciously agreed to help both make sense of my outline and make it good.

Mark will be illustrating it. I'd love to have been able to do the entire job, but apparently, between my non-comics work and this little weekly comic book from DC called Trinity, I'm back to wishing there were eight days in a week again!

Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to Captain Action in the future, since I've enjoyed developing the entire world they operate in. It brought out the six year old in me a bit to be able to play with toys -- in print this time -- that I'd played with as a kid. To this day, Captain Action remains my favorite toy ever, so there is that odd man-child emotional attachment to the character. I think I did right by him and I think anyone who samples the comics will enjoy them quite a bit.

[Blackbeard]

Awesomesauce! I pre-ordered, so I should have a copy waiting for me.

[samnoir]

I'm really looking forward to the new Captain Action toys that they are working on making. Hopefully this version will be more successful than the short lived Playing Mantis version.

Although given the fact that the appeal of Captain Action has been that he dresses up as other Superheroes like Spiderman, Superman, Phantom, Green Hornet etc, is there enough of an appeal as a standalone character?

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[Templar1305]

Originally Posted by samnoir

I given the fact that the appeal of Captain Action has been that he dresses up as other Superheroes like Spiderman, Superman, Phantom, Green Hornet etc, is there enough of an appeal as a standalone character? _

Maybe they could take a page out of the Warren Ellis' book where thinly disguised versions of classic pulp and comics heroes pop up like the Dead Ranger and Lord Blackstock....
That would work...and be fun....

[Jiminy Snick]

Wow, I'm sure it will be a good series, and all, but his outfit needs a serious update.

I never realized until seeing this, just how much his logo resembles a recycling symbol!

Even for the toy line his outfit needs a relaunch, unless they are strickly looking at sales based on nostalgia.

This also made me consider just how much DC Direct should put out a Blackhawk figure - maybe even a 12".

[Raff]

Hhmmmm...sorry, but --no.

[bairdduvessa]

fabian is the man, but caption action interests me almost as less as superman

[Drcharles]

Ive never encountered this character before, but Ive pre-ordered this bk just for the hell of it.

[apoehler]

Hmm, sounds worth a look, but the first issue had better have a strong hook right out of the box.

[Mike Bullock]

From what I've seen behind the scenes, this is gonna be a LOT of fun.

[roblewmac]

im REALLY curious

[Lupek]

I'm not really familiar with the character but in general I like revivals of vintage characters. And he looks cool. And dammit that's is enough to get me to try this!

[ThomasBoyd]

Psi-Force #9--a decent comic.

Psi-Force #25--a superb comic.

That guy has a free pass for life from me.

[eh_ver]

love fabian, so i'll buy this purely for his script. those covers are great, too! i think that concept is really neat, as well. almost sounds like the kind of original revisions that valiant did back in the day.

[Ken Wolak]

Yet another great title coming out from Moonstone. I've worked with them for years and even though they are a small company, they have managed to stay in business while others with bigger names have fallen. It's a tough market out there if your name isn't Marvel or DC. I have seen the interiors of this book and if you like the covers you'll love the art inside. Great job to everyone who worked on it.

[tunabeard]

I just added the title to my pull list at Midtown. Great article, would've been exciting if they had featured covers from the old DC series along with the story. I still have my bagged copies that I paid $5 bucks each a gazillion years ago from Jerry Ohlinger's "Batcave" in Greenwich Village somewhere boxed in my house.

[IvCNuB4]

Capt Action also had a twist. He had a collection of ancient coins. Each coin gave him access to an ability or power as long as he held it. He didn't always have the coins with him as he kept them secure elsewhere. That's why he also had standard weapons. It was cool stuff for it's time.

[GHERU]

fabian writing = GHERU will buy

[wretchedangel]

i loved Fabian on X-Force back in the day
i may give this a shot

[idkidd]

While I'm happy that Fabian is getting the Trinity work, I'm really disappointed it's apparently going to pull him away from ongoing involvement is CA. What will the format of the series be post novella if it's 10 page serial chapters?

Here's a very good article on the current owners of Captain Action -- how they got the property and what they hope to do with it.

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/featur...6027446022.htm

[cptaction]

Hey Gang!

Joe Ahearn from CA Enterprises chiming in! After the Novella, the format of the on going series will be 10 new pages of Cap as the lead story every issue, plus 2 back up features featuring other Moonstone characters. Our presale figures for Issue #0 have been substantial and we are very encouraged by all the support we are getting thus far. We'll be kicking things into high gear next week at NY Comicon! Come on by and see us at Booth #1862 if you are there!

Hope you all enjoy the return of Captain Action this month!

Joe

www.captainactionnow.com

[idkidd]

After the Novella, the format of the on going series will be 10 new pages of Cap as the lead story every issue, plus 2 back up features featuring other Moonstone characters.

hmmmm this sounds like an interesting approach. I really enjoyed Moonstone's holiday special this past December that features 4 or 5 of their licensed characters in 6-8 page adventures. It was really old school cool too see these well known characters from different owners all co-existing on the same cover.

[JFx]

I LIKE THE WORKS DONE BY MOONSTONE count me in.

[Mike Cruz]

Another title I'll ignore written by that hateful writer.

[Ken Wolak]

Originally Posted by idkidd

hmmmm this sounds like an interesting approach. I really enjoyed Moonstone's holiday special this past December that features 4 or 5 of their licensed characters in 6-8 page adventures. It was really old school cool too see these well known characters from different owners all co-existing on the same cover.

That's great to hear that you really enjoyed the Holiday Special idkidd. I did the art for the Buckaroo Banzai story as well as the coloring on it. I also colored the Kolchak story in that book. I will agree that it was really cool to see all these characters in one action packed book. I hope they do another book like that soon. I know it did really well for them and I'm sure they have plans for another one. I hope they ask me to do another story in that one. I had a lot of fun doing that first one.