BUSIEK ON MARVELS: EYE OF THE CAMERA

[MattBrady]

As Newsarama reported Tuesday, Kurt Busiek and Jay Anacleto will join forces for Marvels: Eye of the Camera early next year, a continuation of the original Marvels which came out in 1994 by Busiek and Alex Ross. Newsarama caught up with the writer for a chat about the project.

Newsarama: First off, and this is pretty obvious, but - 10 years. Why so long?

Kurt Busiek: Actually, I should mention that I don't think of this project as Marvels II, but as the Marvels 10th Anniversary project, which is what it started out as, or as Marvels: Eye Of The Camera, which is what we've been calling it so far. Marvels II was a different project.

But as you know, we were going to do a sequel, the story I think of as Marvels II, back in 1994, and it fell apart over creative differences -- and let me point out that that's not a euphemism, not a codeword; it was truly creative differences. So I went off and did Astro City instead, which has worked out okay, and it wasn't until the 10th anniversary of Marvels was approaching that Tom Brevoort asked me about doing something to mark the occasion.

We'd talked about doing a new story for a 10th anniversary collection, but only if Alex could do the art. Or a standalone special or mini-series or something, and the more we talked it over, the more it evolved, until it became the project we're doing.

But that's why 10 years -- it was the anniversary that got us talking about it.

NRAMA: Okay then - where does this pick up in relation to the original Marvels? Following with the theme you mentioned, is it “ten years later?”

KB: Actually it picks up between Marvels #1 and #2, hitting the period we didn't really get to explore the first time through -- the birth of the Marvel Age, beginning with the debut of the Fantastic Four. It didn't make sense to do that last time through, since the first issue was all about the dawn of superheroes, so why follow that with another "beginning of an age" story? But it makes sense here, as a good place to start a new story.

By the end of #1, however, we're past the events of Marvels and into stuff that happened thereafter.

NRAMA: Okay – so if the bulk of the story is set after Marvels, is Phil Sheldon [the Daily Bugle photographer] still the point of view character and narrator, or is that torch being passed?

KB: Our original plan, when we were doing a sequel way back when, was to pass the mantle to another set of eyes. But the seed of this story was a story about Phil, and some of the stuff that happened to him afterward, so as we fleshed it out we stayed with Phil.

This is very much his story -- more so than the first, in which he was the observer through whose eyes we saw the changing world of the Marvels. This time, the story involves Phil and what's going on with him and his family and his life, and his observation of the marvels and the larger world plays into that and reflects on it. So it'll still feature Phil's perspective on the Marvel universe, but it's more personal, too, more particular to Phil.

NRAMA: Going back to an earlier comment – when you spoke with us about Astro City: The Dark Age, you said that is an adaptation of what was to be Marvels II. So in that regard, is Eye of the Camera a wholly new story, distinct from your original stab at it?

KB: Correct - the story that was going to be Marvels II will still be Astro City: The Dark Age -- although it's changed quite a bit as it traveled to another universe. But this story dates back to those days as well -- I came up with a story idea back then that Alex and I talked about every now and then as a special we could do, a self-contained story that'd be our farewell to Phil as a character and a kind of epilogue to Marvels.

In talking that story idea over with Tom, we expanded it, planting the roots of it back in the early Marvel days and adding a lot to the development of it. So the original one-shot idea has become the meat of issues #5 and #6, but we've got a lot more stuff building up to it, exploring the Marvel Universe of the Seventies and Eighties, and exploring Phil and what he's experiencing in those years. The original story idea became the climax of the larger story we're doing.

So some of it's brand-new, but the core idea is one I've had in mind for a while.

NRAMA: With Marvels, you began at the early Golden Age and ended with Craig Shutt's "end" of the Silver Age, that is, the death of Gwen Stacy. Will this story cover the same sized expanse of time?

KB: "Craig Shutt's 'end' of the Silver Age?” I say ha! Ha, I say! Actually, I think Craig's endpoint for the Silver Age is Kirby going to DC, or something like that.

NRAMA: Oop.

KB: The idea that Gwen Stacy's death marks the end of things was Alex's and my idea -- that it was a story moment that made an appropriate coda to all the many changes that comics had been undergoing. But that was, what? 1939-1973? 34 years?

Eye of the Camera runs from before the birth of the Fantastic Four to some time after the "Fall of the Mutants" crossover in, what, 1989? So we only got 28 years this time, give or take.

NRAMA: What will be some of the milestones along the way that you're going to look at from Phil’s point of view?

KB: I'm not so sure that it's about "big moments" this time, so much as it's about characters and changes. So we'll see a lot of Marvel moments, but it's not as if I've got a list of milestones to hit. I'm more concerned with making sure we see things like the rise of the Punisher and Wolverine and the new X-Men, the darkening of Daredevil, Bullseye and Elektra, Phoenix, the Avengers at some of their various peaks trough that period, and so on. There's a couple of Secret Wars, plenty to do with Spider-Man, the FF in the news ... but it'll be the events that resonate with Phil's life more than a laundry list of the big stuff.

We got mileage out of some pretty odd stories last time, from Count Nefaria taking over Washington in X-Men #22 to the Black Widow being tried for murder in Daredevil #83 to SHIELD fighting goofy-ass egg-craft in Strange Tales #145. So we'll mix it up some -- hit some of the stuff people remember fondly - or hate with a passion, and a bunch of surprises along the way.

NRAMA: With Marvels, at least from Phil’s point of view, things kind of had an organic flow to them, with one “age” of comics flowing into another, stitching together some fairly disparate stories with a common thread. In Eye of the Camera Are you going to at least give a logical explanation as to why things in the '70s moved from where they were to angst-ridden and grim and gritty?

KB: It'll come up, at least. Whether there's a logical explanation for it, or whether it just happened, well, it'll have a major effect on Phil, and we'll see what he thinks of it all.

NRAMA: Something that has people talking as much as the fact that you’re coming back to write a new Marvels chapter is that Jay Anacleto is handling the art this time out. Not to disparage something that hasn’t seen the light of day yet by any means, but in many people’s eyes, the success of Marvels was as much about you as it was Alex. Did you discuss coming back to the project with Alex, or is he just too busy?

KB: Even back in '94, Alex said he wasn't opposed to a sequel, but wasn't all that interested in exploring that era himself, so he gave me his blessing to go on with a different artist. This time, when we started up again, I was pretty sure he'd be way too busy, but I wouldn't have wanted to just assume that and have him say, "Dude, what's wrong with you? I'd have done it!"

So I called him as soon as Tom and I had started talking seriously about it, and sure enough, way too busy. But we'd have been idiots not to at least check in and see.

NRAMA: When he was writing Kingdom Come, Mark Waid often described the experience as being in a fishbowl, given that he felt everyone was watching and had expectations as to the story. Do you feel that way with Eye of the Camera at all?

KB: Well, not 'til now...!

No, seriously, there's been some looking-over-my-shoulder by higher-ups at Marvel, since they clearly think this is a pretty major project. But I don't think the readers out there know where we're going with it or what we're going to do, and I don't think they have expectations that we're going to do a remake of the first series or anything.

I'm sure that once the news breaks we'll hear from lots of people with ideas on which bits they want to see most, and if they're good bits we hadn't considered, maybe we'll get 'em in there as we go along. But overall, I feel like this is a story I want to tell, and I've got a pretty strong sense of how it should go, so I'm solid on it enough not to be panicked by other people's expectations. I think they'll like the end result, and that's what really matters.

Besides, if I was the kind of guy that got stage fright from doing a project that came with a lot of expectations attached, I'd have fallen apart while doing JLA/Avengers. If I can get through that, I figure I can take whatever comes on Eye of the Camera.

NRAMA: Any scenes, characters or events that you’re most looking forward to revisiting and exploring from Phil’s point of view?

KB: I'd really rather let people read it for themselves. If I tell you the cool scenes ahead of time, they won't be as cool when the series actually comes out.

So I'll stick with "Wait and see...”

[psycha]

Wow, that artwork looks awesome!

Oh and since I can' post my own topics on these message boards, check out the new Spider-Man 2 posters!!! *psyched*

you can, and always have been able to post your own topics on the Talk@ boards. Please repost your pictures there -MattB

[Gordon McAlpin]

Every time I see this guy's art I think, "Wow, his art would look good if he had an inker."

Computer coloring under pencils does not look good.

[OcCaM]

Originally posted by psycha
Wow, that artwork looks awesome!

Oh and since I can' post my own topics on these message boards, check out the new Spider-Man 2 posters!!! *psyched*

you can, and always have been able to post your own topics on the Talk@ boards. Please repost your pictures there -MattB

I like that Doc Ock movie look. First movie look to hit the comics I'll be happy to see when the new Doc Ock limited series hits in Oct.

Anyway, this is the first Marvel project I've actually been excited in for about 2 years now. Good going! And anyone who doesn't like Jay's artwork, well there's no understanding why people like Chuck Austen's writing either!

[AForceOfOne]

waiting patiently for the "I'm not buying this book because Alex Ross isn't painting it" naysayers to make a comment. I was right when I said Alex was probably too busy. But the book, I feel, is more about Kurt's writing than Alex's art even though both made the first one a classic.

Kurt's one cool guy and not (only that) but he's a top notch scribe. I just picked up his Arrowsmith and he continues to amaze me to this day.

[DarthRandall]

This is great news. This is the era of Marvel I'm most familiar with, and can't wait to see it through Busiek's eyes. Plus the Anacleto art just looks amazing.

[GenXMaverick]

Originally posted by DarthRandall
This is great news. This is the era of Marvel I'm most familiar with, and can't wait to see it through Busiek's eyes. Plus the Anacleto art just looks amazing.

I second that emotion--Jay Anacleto's art is beautiful! Pick up Wizard #0 for Jay's awesome shot of Spidey webslinging across NYC. I like Alex Ross, but if the samples here and in Wizard are any indication, then I think Jay's work on Eye Of The Camera is going to blow Ross away.

Given this mini-series focus on the 70's and 80's, this sure brings back a lot of fond memories. Eye Of The Camera is definitely geared toward us GenX-ers since it's a book squarely focused on things like Frank Miller's Daredevil and Claremont & Byrne's X-Men. My first Marvel comic was a George Perez Avengers and my second was Uncanny X-Men #98. It's funny to see Busiek and Marvel tipping their hats to the post-Kirby generation with this book; the progression of "darkening" in the Marvel Universe that Busiek refers to in Wizard.

Which brings me to my other point. The next batch of superhero movies in the production pipeline is quite dark itself: The Punisher, Hellboy, Catwoman, Elektra, Ghost Rider. The new Hawkeye book is sans spandex and has Clint hitting the road & fighting crime. And now Eye Of The Camera is, in Busiek's own words, examining "the darkening of the Marvel Universe." All this darkness, ghosts, hellions, vigilantes, thieves, assassins for hire, Dark Phoenix, the death of Elektra, the Dallas "death" of the X-Men in EOTC... could Grim 'n' Gritty be making a comeback?

[L'Zoril]

The art looks indeed very good but I can't help to think that the art would have been more appropiate for the 2st marvels rather than this one.

I'm saying this because it has this kinda look of older times rather than 70's or 80's.

[shakey]

"waiting patiently for the "I'm not buying this book because Alex Ross isn't painting it" naysayers to make a comment. I was right when I said Alex was probably too busy. But the book, I feel, is more about Kurt's writing than Alex's art even though both made the first one a classic."




I'll reserve judgement til I see the new book, but it was obviously the photo-realisim of Ross's art that made MARVELS stand out visualy.Beyond the look of the figures, it was the radical panel layouts that made the visuals come alive.

Not to diminish Busiek's great storytelling. MARVELS was the template that begat ASTRO CITY, but even great colaborators like Carlos Pacheco and Brent Anderson on other current Busiek books can't match Ross's style.

Still, this sequel could be fun.

[Mr. Special ED]

Sorry but ROSS's art set the tone much smoother than JAY. This isn't to say the picture doesnt look good, but ROSS felt more real - like him or hate him.

[mpg]

are there people who hate ross? he seems to be the chosen one of painters

[renetod]

NRAMA: With Marvels, you began at the early Golden Age and ended with Craig Shutt's "end" of the Silver Age, that is, the death of Gwen Stacy. Will this story cover the same sized expanse of time?

KB: "Craig Shutt's 'end' of the Silver Age?” I say ha! Ha, I say! Actually, I think Craig's endpoint for the Silver Age is Kirby going to DC, or something like that.

Can anybody out there tell me who Criag Shutt is?

[MattBrady]

Originally posted by renetod
Can anybody out there tell me who Criag Shutt is?

"Mr. Silver Age" - columnist for Comic Buyer's Guide with a brain for comics minutae like a steel trap. He's done some heavy-duty musings on what comic "ages" are, as well as what maarks their beginnings and endings.

MattB

[AForceOfOne]

Make no mistake people...I am a big Alex Ross fan. Just wanted to point that out. I just don't think it's essential he be apart of the project. Maybe he wants to read it more than he wants to paint it. He can be a fan now like most of the rest of us.

Probably not...but here's hopeing.

[Jerry Smith]

I've thought since the first issues of MARVELS and ARIA that Alex Ross and Jay Anacleto were the finest painters working in comics. If Alex can't do this project, I'm thrilled that Jay is on board. And his drawing of the Thing above is perfect.

It's nice to have a project to look forward to from Marvel.

[StoneGold]

Originally posted by OcCaM

And anyone who doesn't like Jay's artwork, well there's no understanding why people like Chuck Austen's writing either!

Jeebus, that was pretty much an off topic bash. Bitter much?

[Kevin Street]

I'm looking forward to this comic. The Anacleto art sample (much appreciated, by the way) looks interesting and vivid, which bodes well for the art end of the project. And Kurt Busiek is a great writer, so that end is looking good too.

After all this time (and sans Ross), it's hard to think of this as a sequel to Marvels - but the 70's through the 80's focus is very intriguing since that was "my time," the period when I discovered comics and Marvel was all shiny and new. It should be fun to see that era through the jaded eye of Phil Sheldon.

[Dave_Garcia]

Originally posted by mpg
are there people who hate ross? he seems to be the chosen one of painters

I certainly do not hate Ross. I think his sense of character design (check out the Earth/Universe/Paradise X character designs or his rejected X-men costumes, they're things of beauty) and his covers are excellent.

But his panel to panel work leaves me completely cold. And once you get over the novelty of "oh, it looks like a real guy wearing a costume," his sequential art is generally static, posed and the opposite of dynamic.

But then again, I'm blinded by my own biases. I'm completely turned off by the fetishized versions of "reality" comic creators think they have to offer up as a means of legitimizing superhero comics. I prefer imagination to photo reference personally.

[manosx]

Originally posted by mpg
are there people who hate ross? he seems to be the chosen one of painters

While I certainly don't hate him, I generally disagree with his comics politics. Alex seems to be one of those guys who think that everything was better when he was a kid, and it should be like those times today. I, personally, enjoy comics as a moving forward art-form. Also, Alex's bitterness over Kevin Smith leaving Jack Kirby's name out of Mallrats seemed WAY over the top to me. I also disagreed with comments he made about disliking X-Men because to him there was no iconoclastic quality. It was just "Gangs fighting Gangs". His love of the X-Men that developed after the 1st movie came out helped tho, and I do think that Marvel should use his character designs for the X costumes when they move away from the current uniforms.

[JamesSchee]

Very interesting, as I really like Jay's art style. I hope they are giving him enough time to work ahead though, as he isn't know for being very fast.

James

[beta-ray]

Originally posted by mpg
are there people who hate ross? he seems to be the chosen one of painters

I don't hate Ross, he never offended me.

Regarding his art. I like most of his stuff, but there are times I thought "man, this is hack work!" His Batman with Dini was weak in my book. I do like his character designs for the Earth/Paradise X, but his covers have been hot and cold lately. No doubt he is skilled, just sometimes he displays it better than others (which is the case with most artists).

I think his best stuff painting-wise was with Marvels and Kingdom Come. *shrug*

I have only kind of like the promo-type work from Anacleto. I had flipped through some of the comics he did and it was fine, but didn't make me drool. As with Ross, I have no doubt he is talented though.

I am excited more by the story that Busiek will craft. Looking forward to this one!

[littlewolvie]

Thanks for the interview, Matt. Loved reading it! Needless to say I'm looking forward to this book.

[J Wyatt]

I'm not surprised that Ross wasn't interested in doing post-silver age material. He really seems locked into that period.

[Justin M. Campbell]

The only downside to this not being the original Marvels II("which explains what went wrong in the '70's [Wizard #77, February 1997]) and not being painted by Alex Ross (who used celebs as reference in Marvels (Tony Stark-Timothy Dalton, Ben Urich-James Spader,etc.)is: No pictures of Tigra based on Traci Lords.
Beyond that, cool.

[Slangword]

Does anyone know if the 10th Anniversary reissue is going to have any extras that weren't in the previous two hardbound editions?

Essays by Kurt and Alex looking back on the experience would be appropriate, but I don't think anything else is needed.

--Scott Rowland