Dan Slott dives into his master plan behind 'Avengers: The Initiative's' graduation arc and teases on the perils of this week's 'Peter Parker Paparazzi!'
By Kiel Phegley
Posted 5/12/2008
May is a month of beginning and endings for writer Dan Slott.
Slott started the month with the twelfth issue of his ongoing Avengers: The Initiative on stands, providing an end cap to what's become a dangerous and deadly year for the young heroes of the 50 State Initiative as well as a graduation for many of the characters fans have grown to follow. And this week, Amazing Spider-Man #559 hits comic shops tossing Peter Parker into the ranks of photo journalism's sleaziest photogs: the paparazzi.
Wizard Universe went to Slott for the straight dope on both books and learned why nothing in The Initiative has gone according to plan (and why that's a good thing), what's in store for Secret Invasion and why he's an endangered species in the Marvel writing pool.
WIZARD: When Avengers: The Initiative launched, what was the plan? Did you plan on doing a year-long arc with one class?
SLOTT: No. [Laughs] When we launched originally, it was going to be a six-issue mini, and there was a story that was going to wrap up by issue six. And we have not done that story. All the pieces are there. We will get that story—and I'm not going to tell you when—but the thing that was the original story, we never hit because once we got the go ahead to go ongoing, we started having fun like stretching out the World War Hulk story to two parts in stead of one and moving things around and letting the story and characters grow and change organically. By then, we knew that Hank Pym was a Skrull. So where do we take that? All these other pieces—like I knew if we did six issues and got another six, in that second six I was going to bring in Mutant Zero. But then I was like, "Forget that! I'm bringing her in now! We're an ongoing! Woo hoo!" So things kept changing, and then when Chris [Gage] came on board and you get another set of hands in there, another mind in there and you're going to use it. So you start going all kinds of fun places.
Well after the intro arc, the WWH arc and the K.I.A. arc, you end up back at the beginning by ending the story with Cloud 9 when she was our intro character in issue #1. Moving forward, do you want to keep following this class of kids, or are you gong to start introducing even more characters in through the Secret Invasion stuff? How are you deciding who the focus character is?
SLOTT: Let me just say, "Hmmmmmm." [Laughs] Because if we introduced all these characters and then never showed them again, that would be kind of stupid. You invested all this love and energy into Cloud 9 and Kimono and Hardball and Trauma...boy, that would really be a stupid move to jettison them with all that character equity, wouldn't it? That would be kind of dopey. One of the things fans were saying when we first started this book was, "Wait! I thought we were going to get to see every team in all the different states. Where are the teams in the states?" My feeling on that was that that book would be heading towards cancellation city pretty fast. "Hey! Here's the team from so-and-so. Let's do a story about them. Then here's the team from so-and-so. Now let's do a story about them." Then by the time you get to issue 50 you've met everybody. That would be fun. [Laughs] Now you're invested, so if we cut over to Nevada and see Hardball or we cut over to Atlanta and see Ultra Girl and Thor Girl, we now care about at least two members on that team. So maybe we're not going to see what happens to the next group of cadets. Or maybe we will. We're going to keep you on your toes, and it's going to be lots of different stuff, but we now have a nice cast of characters to play with. You're always going to see new cadets, and you're always going to see teams in states, and there will be stories, and every time something big happens like Civil War or World War Hulk or say, Secret Invasion, these characters are going to be on the front lines. And every time the Marvel Universe changes and has a major status quo shift because of big events, it's going to have a big effect on The Initiative.
One of the threads that grew out of the first year was that idea of conspiracy and deceit. The Initiative started out as a bright and optimistic idea—to train the heroes of the future. Then all this terrible stuff happened. Was that something you wanted to put in initially, or did having Gyrich and the crossovers and everything else turn you towards it?
SLOTT: One of the things I think Marvel does best is that Marvel is the world outside your window. And it would be really hard for me to write a book when you turn on your TV and see [Alberto] Gonzalez constantly saying, "I don't recall" or a new story about Halliburton or stuff about the President's approval ratings and have that not reflected. When the world gets happier, The Initiative will get happier. [Laughs] So you want to be able to reflect stuff that's going on. I had so much fun in #12 where Gyrich keeps saying at the tribunal "I don't recall." I wonder who he's parroting?
Moving forward, you'll be pulling in the revitalized 3D-Man, and you've done a lot with older characters as well as brand new ones. To you, who do you gravitate more towards first: older or newer guys?
SLOTT: Well, first I think, "What will tick everyone off the most?" I kid! For me, it's how much of the Marvel Universe tapestry can I play with? I love how it's all going out to all these different corners, and it's the same thing with Chris Gage. We both have this love for how expansive the Marvel Universe is that you can open a book and here's a Punisher story, and then comes another book where here's a Thor story or a Howard the Duck story—and it's all taking place in the same place. It's all still the Marvel Universe. There's something neat about that. And it so neat to say, "Here's a character that ties to Spider-Man's side. Here's a character that has ties to the New Mutants. Here's one with ties to the New Warriors." It just keeps building from every walk of life of Marvel, from modern day stuff like Young Avengers to stuff from the '90s like Slapstick to classic characters. We're going to bring in during Secret Invasion an Avenger's Avenger. Like a really good, old school Avengers character that the minute you look at them, you go, "Yeah. That's the Avengers." I'm not going to tell you who it is, but it'll make a lot of people happy. It's all so cool. The Marvel Universe is a big toy box, and if no one else is using these guys, I'm going to play with them.
#13 is Chris alone, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's an issue that he wrote a while ago that was going to be an inventory issue, right?
SLOTT: When they pitched it, we knew when it was going to fall in the timeline. We're not suddenly putting the breaks on The Initiative and dragging something up from the depths. This was planned to go in at this spot, but it was after I read this script that I went, "Oh my God! This guy gets it." It was so good, and I can't wait to see how people respond to #13. it's a great story, and after I read that I was falling behind on The Initiative Annual, so we brought Chris on to script over, and I asked Tom, "Can we keep Chris?" So now Chris and I work together, and we have a great time working on the book.
After that issue, you guys roll right into Secret Invasion, Secret Invasion Secret Invasion?
SLOTT: It's not "Secret Invasion." It's "SECRET INVASION! SECRET INVASION! SECRET INVASION!" [Laughs] Completely different. You can't just roll it out in a dull monotone. One of the fun things about [the event tie-in arc] is that it's going to be a war on three fronts. We're going to see what The Initiative are doing on the front lines as the grunts in this war, we're going to see what's going on at Camp Hammond—something big's going to happen at Camp Hammond—and then you're going to get one of the things I'm most stoked about in the new 3D-Man and his Killer Krew who are going to be taking it on the road.
You also have your next arc in Amazing Spider-Man coming up in issue #559.
SLOTT: YES!
And I do remember you saying before that when you guys had the very first Amazing summit, this paparazzi story was the one thing you'd always wanted to tell with Spider-Man, right?
SLOTT: Yeah. I fought for this story tooth and claw. I wanted this story. I needed to do this story. It's fun. And to do it with Marcos Martin is an honor. The art he's turned in on this whole job is some of the best art I've ever worked with. He blows me away with every page he turns in. Anyone who's seen Marcos' work on Batgirl Year One or Doctor Strange: The Oath are in for a treat.
You're one of a dying breed in that you're one of the few guys who still writes your stories Marvel-style, plot first...
SLOTT: They really want me to stop doing that. [Laughs]
Well, it must free up your artists to play around. I've heard editor Steve Wacker at conventions that Marcos is playing around a lot with the layout in regards to the new villain Paper Doll and how her powers work.
SLOTT: I cannot think of any other artist drawing Paper Doll. Where Marcos has taken it and the things he does with the character – it's beautiful. You call me a dying breed, Marcos Martin is so multi-talented. His character work and line work is beautiful, so right off the bat he's a beautiful illustrator. He's a fantastic storyteller, but one of the greatest things about him is his design sense—the way he designs a page, the way things flow. It's masterful. This is going to be a real treat for people who are comics connoisseurs, people who want to break it down and go, "How did he do that?" What a joy. I really do want to lock this guy in a room and have him draw everything I write. [Laughs] The hardest part about scripting the Marcos Martin stuff was that I didn't want to put a single word balloon or sound effect on any panel. I didn't want to cover up any space.
You've been doing so many new villains. When did Paper Doll come about, and why is she the character who so well fits this paparazzi storyline?
SLOTT: I don't want to give anything away before the story happens, but I always knew that for the paparazzi story—even before we decided to do new villains for the first half a year—that this story was going to need a villain created for it, someone who is going to react to Peter Parker's paparazzi pictures in a very certain way. Try saying that five times fast! Peter Parker's paparazzi pictures! Then there was the question of what are the best kinds of power sets to abuse that. So there was going to be a character designed for this. Having played around with this character and having gotten under her very thin skin, there's all this stuff I want to continue doing with her if we get to do another story with her. The new characters that I've had more of a personal hand in, you just want to go, "Man, I want to explore these characters more!" What is Mr. Negative going to do next? When is the next time we'll see Screwball? Where is the next place to take Paper Doll too. It's cool. It's such a fun gig.
One of the most memorable scenes from "Spider-Man 2" was when Peter was forced to take photos of JJJ's kid, and Mary Jane popped up unexpected. In this story, will he be chasing after a character that's well known to him or the Marvel U?
SLOTT: There is a celebrity du jour that's in New York – very much a Hollywood bad boy who always seems to get into trouble, and his antics are great fodder for paparazzi. He's a composite of many different male celebrities, but he's a fun character too. He's going to provide the biggest target for Peter Parker paparazzi. I just love saying that! Actually, in the singular it's Peter Parker paparazzo. So please forgive us for the misspelling in the title.
