 NEWS |  | Home > NEWS > THE WIZARD Q&A: JASON AARON
|
THE WIZARD Q&A: JASON AARON | | The writer of Vertigo’s ‘Scalped,’ is taking over writing duties on two of Marvel’s toughest customers: Wolverine and Ghost Rider | | | By Jim Gibbons | | Posted 2/14/2008 | |  | |  Jason Aaron has been crafting a compulsive page-turner over in his creator-owned Vertigo book Scalped, taking Native American undercover FBI agent Dashiell Bad Horse through Hell and back in a reservation full of crooks and killers. Marvel took notice and put Aaron to the task of putting two of their most badass heroes through the wringer. In the 4-part follow up to “Messiah Complex,” Aaron has Wolverine out for vengeance against the bluest of baddies, Mystique. And while Ghost Rider may just have been revealed to be an angel, Aaron promises that still means Johnny Blaze ain’t takin’ sh-- from nobody!
Wizard caught up with the writer to talk about what tricks Mystique has in store for Wolverine, what he’s doing to make his Ghost Rider run appeal to long-time fans and new readers, the future of Scalped and what it’s like to be Marvel exclusive.
WIZARD: First off, when I read your Ripclaw book for Top Cow all I thought was, “Give this guy a Wolverine book!” So, how did you go about getting on the book?
JASON AARON: Well, you know, I did an issue—the last issue, 56—and I guess just based off that everybody at Marvel seemed to really like that issue. I got a lot of compliments and, you know, fans seemed to really respond to it so I think that's why they put me on the much higher profile arc spinning out of “Messiah Complex.”
Speaking of Messiah Complex, was this a story that you kind of had incarnation beforehand or did they come to you and just say, “Okay, here's what Wolverine's doing after Messiah Complex. We'd like you to write it.”
Yeah, well they came to me and said, you know, basically, this is just after Messiah Complex we'll have Wolverine chasing after Mystique. So that's it. Within the confines of that I could do whatever I wanted.
Your one shot issue was more of a psychologyical Wolverine story while what you're doing now just strikes me very much as a classic Wolverine story. I mean, he's doing the tracking, he's chasing a supervillain. Even, the arc title of “Get Mystique!” with that exclamation point at the end, it just really has that classic Wolverine flavor. Was that something you wanted to do since you'd already done a psychological Wolverine story?
Yeah, I mean, that's one of those things—I think you can do these very different types of stories. So yeah, it is a very different kind of story from that single issue because, you know, that was a kind of somber little character drama that focused on this everyday guy where Wolverine was a supporting character pretty much, and this Wolverine is very much the main character. It's just pretty much a non-stop action chase scene from beginning to end and we even dive into a bit of Wolverine's history and some of the meat of his character.
Yeah, I was gonna say, in the issue, he is all over the place: Afghanistan, Mexico, Iran. What’s the significance to using those locations?
Well, the reason I brought it into the Middle East was I figured Mystique's in a situation where she's trying to throw anything she can at Wolverine so he slows down. So what better place to do that? What better place to have all these dangerous situations to lure him into than in the midst of a war zone, which is why they end up in Iraq for the bulk of the story.
In reading that first issue, it seems like you've got Mystique down. I mean, it seems like you have your style of Mystique that fits in with her character and it's more of this covert-style shape shifter than just a character you’re throwing it in there as confusion for confusion's sake, just because she's a shape shifter.
Yeah, yeah, and she should be a pretty dangerous character because, you know, like Logan she's one of these mutants who's been around for a hundred years. She's really old, so just being able to survive that long especially when you're a villain like she's been, you've got to be pretty dangerous.
| |  So can we expect some more shockers like that reveal at the end of the issue? I mean, going from the early part where you're like, “What is Wolverine doing? He's stabbing this woman and he's wrong! Wolverine's not wrong about smelling stuff!” And then the Mystique reveal at the end! I got to the last page and I was like, “You've got to be kidding me. I can't wait another month to find out what happens here,” which I've got to assume is Wolverine being riddled with bullets, healing from it and then still chasing after Mystique. Is that kind of setting the tone for the rest of the arc?
That's pretty much exactly the next issue. Yeah, it's definitely—it's a pretty violent story and, like I said, one long chase scene, but at the same time there's still some more quiet character moments mixed in there.
What's it like been working with Ron Garney? I think his art's fantastic and it looks great in this book. What's the creative process been like with him?
It's been great. I think the stuff he did on this is some of his best work ever. It's just been amazing. Yeah, and he's been terrific to work with. It's also great that he's one of those guys who when you're giving him an action scene to write, if you've met him in person, you know he's the kind of guy who could probably pull it off in real life. He's a big dude and, you know, trained for the martial arts. You feel confident that he's going to be able to handle a good action scene.
So when this starts hitting stands tomorrow [EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview took place on Tuesday, February 12, the day before both Wolverine #62 and Ghost Rider #20 hit stands in comic shops], at the beginning of this arc and with the arc in general, what do you hope that readers take away from this particular Wolverine story?
Well, ultimately it's a fun read but it's a fun read that's still like most of my stuff—dark and violent and gives you a few surprises along the way and maybe shows you something about Wolverine you haven't seen before and also fits into some of the meat of who he is.
So can you give us a little bit of a tease for what's coming up in the arc?
Wolverine getting shot to pieces, getting up and chasing after her again. (Mystique) throwing more and more dangerous obstacles in his way and putting him in a position where he has to decide how far is he willing to go to bring her in. Of course, in the end we'll see what happens when he finally does get to her.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE WITH JASON AARON as he talks about Ghost Rider and the future of Scalped.
| | | | | | | |
Share this article
![[Slashdot]](http://slashdot.org/favicon.ico)
![[Digg]](http://digg.com/favicon.ico)
![[Reddit]](http://reddit.com/favicon.ico)
![[del.icio.us]](http://del.icio.us/favicon.ico)
![[Facebook]](http://www.facebook.com/favicon.ico)
![[Technorati]](http://technorati.com/favicon.ico)
![[Google]](http://www.google.com/favicon.ico)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.stumbleupon.com/favicon.ico)
|  |
 | |
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
|  |
| |
|
