ULTIMATE IMMONEN: STUART IMMONEN TALKS ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN

[MattBrady]

by Chris Arrant

Newsarama Note: Artwork shown is not from Ultimate Spider-Man, but from previous books by Immonen.

Astounding readers, defying critics and making some retailers eat bugs, in six short years Ultimate Spider-Man has gone from speculative experiment to unbridled hit. Over the course of 100+ issues, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley have re-envisioned the formative years of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, through modern eyes and explored familiar territory and uncharted deviations from the status quo. But with Bagley choosing to leave the series with #110, the question on everyone's minds is…. Who's the next artist?

Wonder no more.

Rumors of this have been floating for the past couple of months, and now, Marvel has confirmed with Newsarama that artist Stuart Immonen will be joining Ultimate Spider-Man with issue #111. Best known for his work on Nextwave, Superman and Ultimate X-men, Immonen has long been a go-to talent for Marvel Comics and this new assignment with the Ultimate web-crawler promises great things for Ultimate Spider-man and Stuart Immonen fans alike. As we've discussed with Immonen previously, Immonen displays a classic illustrator's mindset and the creative acumen to make the question not "Can he do it?" but "How great will it be?"

With several issues left in Mark Bagley's tenure on the title, Immonen's first issue won't be on shelves until summer 2007… but that doesn't mean it's too soon to get the first word from the upcoming artist. Let's go.

Newsarama: Stuart, you're coming hot on the heels of the 110 issue run of artist Mark Bagley, who's been called the definitive Spider-Man artist. What were your thought processes when you were pitched to take over and what you thought about before accepting it?

Stuart Immonen:Well, when the offer comes directly from the Editor-In-Chief, you sit up and take notice.

NRAMA: [laughs]

SI: As I've mentioned elsewhere, the situation regarding the future of Nextwave had already been brought to my attention, and to continue on would have required a major shakeup of some description, and even then, we were already facing diminishing returns. I was unhappy, obviously, about leaving, but it was agreed on all fronts that this was an opportunity not to be turned down. Joe Quesada told me I was on a very short list of candidates. Frankly, I was flattered to be considered.

It's always intimidating to follow in the footsteps of someone who's had a long and successful run, but when that person has been the only artist ever on a title, those feelings are magnified exponentially. Mark's a watershed artist, and well-deserving of the accolades and respect he's received. Whenever there's a creative change on a title, there are going to be readers who refuse to accept it-- hopefully I'll convince a few of those to stick around for a while.

NRAMA: Ultimate Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis is staying on the book. Have you had any email or phone conversations with him about the book as of yet?

SI: No... no. He sent me an email, and I sent him one-- I guess technically that's an exchange, but he's a pretty busy guy, and I have a number of things on the go, too. It's actually a bit early to be planning for issue #111 and beyond. He and Mark have quite a lot left to wrap up, and so do I. We'll probably have a good long chat in the new year.

NRAMA: Have you had a chance to familiarize yourself with the entire run of Ultimate Spider-Man books and the story? If so, what stands out to you?

SI: It's all good, actually. Consistently well-crafted in both story and art. Mark's particularly skilled at unconventional page and panel arrangements, and his action sequences are dynamic and well-paced. I think I'll be a good match for Bendis' knack for characterization-- you know, all those little talking head panels that need subtle expressions. I can do that, and I've had some experience drawing young people...

NRAMA: "Some experience"? [laughs] That's pretty modest. Pulling back to talk about the universe the book inhabits….

Working the Ultimate universe gives artists the opportunity re-design characters for more modern sensibilities, which you showed off especially during your run on Ultimate X-men. When it comes to the cast of debuting Ultimate versions of characters, how much of it is sticking to the standard Marvel character guides and putting your own sensibilities to it?

SI: Ahhh... did I do a lot of re-designing? It doesn't strike me as such.

NRAMA: Your redesigns of Doctor Doom and Longshot particularly stood out.

SI: It's a pretty common technique; I mean, we did it on Legion and Superman all the time, so it just seems to me to come with the territory. Artists are always called upon to tweak existing costumes (Superman Red/ Blue joke here...). But actually, the party line in the Ultimate Universe is to make it look like it could exist in the real world. I'm not sure that I succeeded every time, but there was little editorial push to stick to existing character templates.

NRAMA: Trolling through the back issue bins, I find this isn't the first time you've been saddled up with the webcrawler. I see a cover to Spider-Man Megazine in 1995, What If Peter Parker Had To Invent Spiderman?, a Spider-Man / Gen 13 crossover in 1996, and a story in last year's Spider-Man Unlimited #6. With your previous dalliances and the popularity of the character, what's your comfort level at with the character and the series as the new artist?

SI:As a fan, I've followed Spider-Man since the Ross Andru days, getting Romita Sr in reprints. As a pro, my very first job with Marvel, for their licensing department, was a Spider-Man and Black Cat drawing-- it was stiff and self-conscious, but it was exciting for me. This would have been around 1992. Since then, as you say, I've enjoyed a few opportunities to try my hand at the character, with varying degrees of success. The What If? story was a high point, mostly because working with Terry Austin was a dream gig, and he has such affection for the character-- it came through in every panel.

NRAMA: I just glanced at the recent sales figures and noticed Ultimate Spider-Man outsells the flagship Amazing Spider-Man, making it the new defacto flagship Spider-Man title. What's it like coming into such a popular character & book, compounded with the upcoming movie?

SI: Thanks for adding to my stress, Chris.

NRAMA: [laughs] You're welcome.

SI: I honestly don't look at the numbers that closely. I know the book is popular, and I'll do my best to keep it that way. I can't think about the movie franchise or how we stack up against the other titles-- I'd go nuts. More nuts.

If I think about it for a second, it's a lot of pressure, so I don't think about it. I'd rather concentrate on the task at hand, which is making comics, rather than worry about comparisons.

NRAMA: This will be your fourth stint in the Ultimate universe, after doing Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-Men and an Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual. What is it that brings you back? The characters? The editors? Or do you just like the world 'Ultimate'?

SI: I take it as a sign of professional goodwill-- I left the Ultimate stable on good terms (sort of left-- I've been in contact with Ralph Macchio and John Barber throughout my stint on Nextwave, doing covers and contributing to the annual). I like what they're doing, and they like what I'm doing-- it's a whole lot of mutual admiration going on...

NRAMA: I also read somewhere you're doing some work on the upcoming Marvel Comics Presents title, and that you might be writing and drawing those pieces. Can you tell us anything more about that?

SI:A little. Kathryn Immonen writer of [The Flash, Captain America, Mutant X] and I are collaborating on a multi-part story to be serialized over four issues. The character's been confirmed, but we're keeping it quiet for the moment.

NRAMA: Lastly.. how many issues of Ultimate Spider-Man are you signed up for, and have you started on anything for it yet?

SI: I'm in the beginning stages of working on a couple of pieces, which Joe Quesada and the Ultimate editors quite like. There is no fixed number of issues set for my run. I'm on exclusive until 2010, so I could be on the title for a long time....

To see more of Immonen's work, check out Nextwave (in stores now) and his website, Immonen.ca.

[Impulse2k1]

Seems like a good choice to me

[James Seals]

Nice. Sign me up on the Immonen bandwagon. I love his Superman work, and this looks ten times better.

Good work all around.

-James

[xdemon]

Great choice! A good artist who can make deadlines.

[ejulp]

no offense to bagley fans, but not being a fan of his work, and a huge fan of immonen means i can finally pick up this title...again....havent read it since like issue 13. i'd rather see immonen on a team book, but am excited for this well deserved high profile assignment. hopefully he can continue to work in more design elements into his cover for this series.

[Young Vision]

I love this choice.

[sirbluenose]

Sorry

The guy just doesn't fit my tastes.

[FChamberlain]

An artist with solid skills is coming onboard. I'm just hopeful that he moves back towards the style that he was displaying a few years back , before changing it to a style complimentary to the Ultimate Spidey world. His Superman: Secret Identty stuff was amazing, though I'd imagine that should he use the Nextwave style it would be a bit jarring and change the tone of the book a bit too much in my mind.

Congrats Stuart!!

[Spider-Boy]

Originally Posted by Impulse2k1

Seems like a good choice to me

No doubt it's a good choice, not a bit bummed out about Bagley leaving now as Immonen will just knock this one outta the park as far as I'm concerned!

[Bearpod91]

I'll let a go for it on his first issue but if it's going to be blocky and those thick bold lines around each character then bye bye USM.

[toonbates]

"...artist Mark Bagley, who's been called the definitive Spider-Man artist."

What? Who the heck has called him that? Bagley's gotten better over the years, but I sure wouldn't label him the definitive Spider-Man artist.

[Sirettx]

I guess everything will be fine and work out but after 101 issues I am use to bagley, thats how the characters are suspose to look. I just SI does a long run i hate shifting creators USM gave us stability and consistency it was nice

[NightRiver]

awesome! Now Ill have to add another book to my pull list.

[Absalom]

good point for the series, immonen is a great artist with a very dynamic style

[ShadeCrowe]

The last chart I looked at had Amazing outselling Ultimate, and, over the course of the year, it's outsold Ultimate more often than it hasn't. Unless I read the chart wrong...?

Incidentally, the only other artist I would put just above Bagley as "definitive" is John Romita Sr. Then Bagley, absolutely.

[CitC]

USM has never been about the art for me. I liked the action scenes, but was only so so on the non costume stuff. The book as a whole has been terrific though. To me it looks like Immomen will fit in well to the storytelling style of Bendis.

[PhoenixFacto]

I think this is a great choice.

[FChamberlain]

Originally Posted by ShadeCrowe

The last chart I looked at had Amazing outselling Ultimate, and, over the course of the year, it's outsold Ultimate more often than it hasn't. Unless I read the chart wrong...?

Incidentally, the only other artist I would put just above Bagley as "definitive" is John Romita Sr. Then Bagley, absolutely.

Ross Andru would fall second for me.

[Jef]

Originally Posted by toonbates

"...artist Mark Bagley, who's been called the definitive Spider-Man artist."

What? Who the heck has called him that? Bagley's gotten better over the years, but I sure wouldn't label him the definitive Spider-Man artist.

There's not a single piece of Spider-Man merchandising you can buy that isn't a bagley drawing. He's been drawing the character since the early nineties, and draws Spidey's flagship book. There's an entire generation for whom Bagley is THE Spider-Man artist.

Congratualtions to Stuart Immonen. I love his work and look forward to seeing how he tweaks his style for this book.

[shadowchaser]

maybe i'll finally pick the title up, i never liked bagley's work

[Kolimar]

Great choice. Interesting and unexpected. For me at least.

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by Impulse2k1

Seems like a good choice to me

Agreed. No plans to drop the book here.

Originally Posted by CitC

USM has never been about the art for me. I liked the action scenes, but was only so so on the non costume stuff. The book as a whole has been terrific though. To me it looks like Immomen will fit in well to the storytelling style of Bendis.

Agreed

[Street Carp]

I stopped reading the book with that whole Ultimate Deadpool crap, but I woulda liked to see Tom Grummett take over. He woulda done a helluva job.

Oh well... Hopefully DC will get him back. And maybe he'll bring Mark Bagley with him!

(ian)

[Skyldt]

i'm gonna wait for a final judgement, but he doesn't seem like a bad choice. there are better artists for USM, in my opinion, and i wouldn't have expected him, but now that i think about it, he seems like a good artist.

[Bobo Da Hobo]

Yay. Yay Yay. This is a good DAY!