 COMICS |  | Home > COMICS > MARVEL/DYNAMITE SPOTLIGHT: AVENGERS/INVADERS #1
|
MARVEL/DYNAMITE SPOTLIGHT: AVENGERS/INVADERS #1 | | We hook up with Alex Ross and Jim Krueger, the brain trust behind this epic time travel crossover, for their commentary on the first issue | | | By Andy Serwin | | Posted May 9, 2008 | |  | | With Skrull paranoia running rampant in the Marvel Universe, and the catchphrase “Who can you trust?” the mantra of the day, WizardUniverse.com takes it to heart by going straight to the source when it came time to dissect one of the few non-Skrull related events going on right now: Avengers/Invaders by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Stephen Sadowski.
To that end, we caught up with co-writers Ross and Krueger for their directors’ commentary on Avengers/Invaders #1, which finds the World War II-era superheroes time traveling to the current Marvel Universe and encountering both teams of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes along the way.
Of course, don’t expect tea and crumpets when these powerhouse franchises collide; just check out issue #1’s slobberknocker between the Invaders and the Superhero Registration task force known as the Thunderbolts—a cadre of “reformed” villains led by psychopath Norman Osborn (aka the Green Goblin)—for proof that this is a heavyweight slugfest for the ages.
| |  WIZARDUNIVERSE.COM: The series opens up in World War II with Bucky acting as narrator; will he be the main voice guiding us through the 12-issue series? And was he the focal point because of his current role as Captain America in that series?
ROSS: That’s mostly Jim’s bag. [Laughs] What I mean is, Jim really wanted to embrace Bucky as the central voice, so you can anchor the series based on just a couple different voices that lead you through it. You’ll see by the second issue there’s a lot more how of Tony Stark matters to the story, but Bucky’s the key point of focus for the Invaders’ perspective, and it does specifically relate to how his life in the future will wind up, as people will see from what Brubaker’s done in Captain America.
KRUEGER: The answers to both those questions would be, yes and no and maybe. That probably doesn’t help you that much. [Laughs] It was interesting because so much has been said about Cap. There’s this whole mystery about the gas that transports them to the current day, and that will be solved at some point, and that’s going to be the key to everything. So much of what’s happening is the Avengers are being faced with their inspiration, and we’ve got this cross commentary. As we’ve gotten to known Bucky, it seemed interesting to have him be the voice who carries us through the thing. On a certain level, Avengers/Invaders will be a coming of age thing with him and where his life will go.
| | 
Was using the Thunderbolts as the first modern encounter for the Invaders done as a way of hammering home the changes that have occurred in the Marvel U, what with Civil War and the Superhero Registration?
ROSS: If anything, we didn’t want to have them run into the Avengers the second they hit our reality. It sure seemed like a cool thing to do, and the fact that the Thunderbolts were chasing Spider-Man particularly, which, I’ve been reading every issue of Thunderbolts and they hadn’t done that yet. I was talking to editor Steve Wacker who came up with that idea; it seemed like a cool idea to have one of the New Avengers meet up with the Invaders, you know?
KRUEGER: You know, it kind of begins with all the post-Civil War stuff as it is, it’s like, villains to a certain degree, have been made heroes, and look at the New Avengers, those heroes have been made villains. And now with Secret Invasion, Marvel has almost X-Men-ized their entire pantheon, made them something of outcasts. There’s a shadow over the entire board. So it seemed like a very dramatic way to set off the entire thing having them meet and fight the Thunderbolts. Plus, the Thunderbolts are cool! I’ve loved them for a long time. I’m a big fan of the Warren Ellis book. Plus, another reason I wanted the Thunderbolts in the first issue, these were the characters who were once villains in the Avengers universe, which some people may have forgotten about. Plus, with the Invaders coming in, you wanted to create the sense that, “Is this America? What’s happened here?”
| | 
Alex, I couldn’t help but notice that Spider-Man’s costume looks an awful lot like the way you’ve drawn it before; was Sadowski riffing off of your past Spidey work?
ROSS: This is the way I did it in Marvels, and basically, I hoped Steve would be in line with the way I render Spider-Man, and he was. I sent him one of the Dynamic Forces busts of Spider-Man so that he could base his approach on that. I just really wanted it to look like John Romita’s designs, and I hoped that Steve was down with that, and he was. He didn’t have to make the reflective lenses; that was certainly his choice too.
Speaking of Sadowski, what’s your guys’ take on his work so far and what he’s bringing to the table?
ROSS: Steve’s stuff really makes me jealous, in terms of the quality and the realism and the liveliness to his work. I know Steve uses models like I do, but his are in much better shape. Often times these days, I’m lazy enough that I’ll do a quick photo shoot in my basement by myself. I don’t have anyone around me on hand who’s built like the beautiful human beings that Steve knows, so his stuff shows amazing understanding of, when you see Namor’s muscular body, it’s like, “Wow! Holy cow! Look at that!” and some of the stuff forthcoming in the next two issues, is just spectacular. I’ve been thrilling to every single page that Steve does.
KRUEGER: I think Steve is great; it’s so interesting to see him not be inked, it’s a much different look. Between him and the coloring, it’s just such an amazing look. He draws the human form with such great detail. Steve’s…art…good! When in doubt, reach back to caveman times. [Laughs]
| | 
From what we saw in issue #1, the Invaders weren’t alone going through time to the present; there was a G.I. who tagged along with them. I assume he’s going to play a major role in the story.
ROSS: It would seem to be obvious that’s where things are going! If I say he’s going to be really, really important, will that blow anything for anybody? [Laughs] Yeah, he will kind of turn out to be sort of the center of our story.
KRUEGER: What’s really interesting is that his story starts out very slowly in the midst of this, but he becomes a vital part of the story, and all of that [his background, who he is, what he’s doing there] will be revealed as time goes by. To a certain degree, his story is important, but it’s unfolding at a different pace.
| | 
The issue ends with that splash shot of Tony Stark/Iron Man at the computer terminal flashing images of the returned Captain America. How do you plan on playing Tony Stark; will he be more sympathetic or lean more towards a douche bag?
ROSS: I think he can be all of those things. I think he can be both sympathetic and a douche bag. That’s life. I love the regular Iron Man book, and I’m a big follower of all the Avengers-related titles. This is a character that we adore, even if he is this control freak who’s out of control to some degree. I’m happy to see where the character’s evolved to, because in a way it’s still very true to the way Iron Man’s always been.
KRUEGER: You know what, he’s the necessary douche bag, but really, this is a great time for Iron Man. He has to somewhat blame himself for Cap’s death, so as a result, he’s the most tortured of characters in this book. Because you know, he looks in the mirror and sees the person to blame for Cap’s death. And he can’t even bring himself to embrace his old friend. He’s going to come off as heroic, but it’s a conflicted heroic.
| | 
| | |
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)
|  |
 | |
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
|  |
| |
|
