BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO One of the great things about Avengers Classics are the new stories included with each of those legendary tales. True Story, Swear To God's Tom Beland got the chance to tackle a few of his favorite Marvel icons in issue # 11. He told us what it was like scripting these classic characters for a modern audience.
THE PULSE: Before you got the chance to contribute to Avengers Classic, what did you think about this new series letting modern comics readers experience these Silver Age tales?
TOM BELAND: I think it's important to look back at what's been done, in order to improve on what already is... if that makes sense. For instance, I can't really appreciate a Spider-Man/Green Goblin fight if I don't go back and read what Osborne has done to Parker. I can assume he's a bad guy, because someone tells me he is... or because I saw the films and I saw how bad he was.
But if I go back to the original comics and see how he stalked Peter and how he discovered his identity and how he killed Gwen Stacey... I can then REALLY appreciate Osborne for the maniac he truly is. It gives you that sense of history that really allows you to bond with the characters.
I think that's true in most anything. I can open the fourth Harry Potter book and enjoy it immensely, but if I go back and read the first book... then the fourth book is taken to a higher level. I can watch Michael Jordan's final championship run and be amazed at what he could do... but to go back and learn that he didn't make his high school basketball team helps you truly appreciate his career.
So, something like Avengers Classic allows you to appreciate them as a team. Yeah, it's corny and goofball superhero stuff... but I'd love to hear why that's so awful these days. I had a hard time understanding why the X-Men had to dress more like a navy seals team than superheroes. I mean... really.
How can you ditch Wolverine's costume and think that's a good thing? Yeah, it's bright yellow and it doesn't make sense for a hunter to wear something that makes you stand out like a beacon... but it's still a killer costume design. This need and desire to be practical in comics sort of kills comics for me. You shouldn't have to shove so much reality into comics.
All that said.. what I love about this series is that it allows me to write within those goofy perimeters. I can use the formulas of that era to work with. That's a very freeing and liberating zone to work in.
THE PULSE: When did you find out about the chance to create a new "classic" Avengers tale?
BELAND: Alejandro Arbona, who I worked with on FANTASTIC FOUR: ISLA DE LA MUERTA, contacted me and asked me to come up with something involving Spidey and the Avengers. Look, all you have to do is say "Spidey" and I'm on board. If readers don't know what a mental boner I have for that character, then they don't know my work at all, lol.
THE PULSE: What is your piece about? I mean, I take it it has Spidey and some of the Avengers in it ... just going by your above answer!
BELAND: Well, the ORIGINAL version was Captain America hanging out with Spidey as they discussed their most embarrassing moments. During this story, Cap tells Spidey about the time he fought the Red Skull and Cap uttered the line "ONLY ONE OF US IS LEAVING HERE UNDER HIS OWN STEAM SKULL... AND IT WON'T BE ME!!!" To which, Spidey laughs it up and we also learn that every year, Red Skull sends Cap a card that reads "ONLY ONE OF US IS GOING TO LIVE THIS DOWN... AND IT WON'T BE YOU" as a reminder. It was a very fun story.
Then, right before we were ready to go... Tom Brevoort informed us that the "IT WON'T BE ME" moment didn't actually happen until five years AFTER the timeline we're dealing with. So, Cap couldn't be admitting this to Spidey. Yeahhhh... Brevoort just took out his MIGHTY MARVEL BALLOON-POPPIN' PIN and gave us a big POP!!
So, the script had to be changed and since I didn't have the payoff for a comedic theme... I went in another direction to a more normal conversation where Cap basically tells Spidey, "I'll be there for you, unless you turn to evil... and then I'll bring you down." It's sort of Cap's welcome that he gives all the new heroes.
I actually like this version better than the original version, to be honest. You really get to see an interesting side of Cap's personality. I really wanted to get into what it must feel like to fall asleep in one period of time and awaken in a future period. Like Fred Flintstone waking up in the Jetson's timeline. Cap really talks about what it's been like for him to wake up in what he considers a futuristic period.
THE PULSE: What kind of mindset do you have to be in to tell an "untold" Avengers story from that point in time? Is it different than some of your modern Marvel Comics work?
BELAND: Not really. The setting changes, but other than that, it's a very fun era to work with. Really. There's not a huge battle scene in this story, since the opening story has one already. So it's all character-driven. It's a very innocent story and innocence is the one thing that's missing in comics today. That's not to say today's stories are horrible... but when I got into comics, it was for escapism. Now I sometimes feel as though I have to escape from comics. It can't always be about doom and gloom.
THE PULSE: How did you get to know the heroes from that point in time? Did you do a lot of reading of the Avengers Essentials or were you already pretty familiar with the heroes? BELAND: No. I have a great feel for that time period. That was just about my starting point in comics. I came onto the scene when Stan Lee was still writing Spidey and Roy Thomas was writing Fantastic Four and there was plenty of access to the older Kirby stories, thanks to the reprint books they made back then, such as TALES TO ASTONISH, MARVEL TALES and all the annuals. I grew up in the Silver Age of comics, so I didn't miss the Golden Age by that much.
But the Essential books are a great resource to me. They're inexpensive and I can pull them right off my bookshelf if needed. Plus my nephew can read the stories and beat the crap out of the spine and it won't matter, lol.
THE PULSE: What's your favorite Avengers story from the Silver Age? I still love reading the return of Captain America. There's just something about seeing that ice-encased body floating in the water ...
BELAND: Yeah. That ranks right up there with the first Galactus story. Those types of stories made me want to run to the telephone and call my best friend, Rob, across town, and scream "DID YOU READ AVENGERS??" I remember when they'd revamp the lineups and Rob and I would have endless debates over who should and shouldn't be an Avenger. I mean, HEATED debates ending in "YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT" followed by hanging up on each other.
I think my favorite Avengers story is a tie between "EVEN AN ANDROID CAN CRY" and "THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL." I was a fan of the issues Steranko worked on, those were awesome issues. The issues where they're fighting the Space Phantom and Grim Reaper while Cap's having these flashbacks of his days fighting HYDRA with Bucky. Great shit. The HYDRA agents are invisible and have Cap and Bucky trapped in a kitchen. Cap grabs a bag of flour and Bucky grabs the sugar and they throw them at the agents, making them re-appear. My head exploded reading that.
My favorite Marvel books are usually the ones nobody ever discusses on the message boards when they talk about greatest stories. For instance, my favorite FF stories are issues 135-139, which begins with Gregory Gideon capturing the FF using Dragon Man. They defeat Gideon and are then transported back to an altered time thanks to the Shaper of the Worlds where the 50's generation battle the 60's generation... and the awesome creature known as WARHEAD!! THEN after all THAT... they hook up with Wyatt Wingfoot for his graduation and have to deal with the Miracle Man!! Yeah, they were goofy weird-ass stories, but I just LOVED that run. Gerry Conway fucking ROCKED on that title!!
One thing has to be mentioned above all else regarding the AVENGERS CLASSIC story and that's the work Kano did on this story. He literally had two weeks at best to crank those pages out and he did an incredible job. Originally, the art was to be handled by Juan Doe, but there was a scheduling conflict and so the story went to Kano. He really came through.
THE PULSE: I always think working on a short story is tougher than a long story, because it might be tough to fit everything you want into just a few pages. What was it like for you having to tell your story within the confines you were given?
BELAND: You have to look at the size of your plate and then adjust the serving. That's all. I mean, yeah... you can't use a lot of the stuff you'd love to use, but if you can accept that aspect of it, you can deal with smaller scripts. I always prefer to have too much than just enough. And let's face it... twenty-four pages of two guys eating hot dogs and talking gets old fast. This smaller format allows me to have that conversation and it's still a fun story.
THE PULSE: How do you focus so you can tell a rich story, but not have too much crammed in there or not enough?
BELAND: By leaving the rest of the Avengers out of it. I took Cap and then there's a cameo by Giant Man, but otherwise, it's Spidey and Cap. The way I figure it, the reader is already reading a story packed with action and adventure.. this is like a nice dessert. The dessert is always smaller than the main course. So, I think it's not always the best thing to write a power-packed adventure story to run after an action-packed adventure story. It becomes overkill. To me, the backup story should enhance the overall reading experience of that issue.
THE PULSE: What are the challenges to finding the balance?
BELAND: I think the challenge is always to write a story that I would personally buy. That's always the main goal, be it AVENGERS CLASSIC or TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD. The time frame makes it a challenge because with TSSTG, I won't send it to press until it's the way I want it. With the Marvel work, I'm locked into a specific scheduling period and I'm working with a team who are relying on me getting my end of things done in order for them to do their job.
And yes, I can totally see how that can be seen as hypocritical, but TSSTG is a much more personal work. I won't cut corners or rush it just to get it out. That's just me. It's a very personal piece of work and I can't sign it off until I would personally buy it.
THE PULSE: What was it like having Kano illustrate your tale? How well did his art suit the "style" and "era"?
BELAND: With Kano... I really think his style brings you into that early Romita era, which helps the reader slip into that timeline. I love his Spider-Man. It has that rare combination of old-school/new-school look to it.
THE PULSE: Have you got any other "Classic" Avengers back-ups on tap or other Marvel projects you're working on?
BELAND: No plans on that. I think the series is going to end with that issue. I'm currently working on the sequel to FF: IDLM and Juan will be doing the art chores for that. We're going over the plot at the moment. It's Spidey and the Human Torch saving the day on the island of Vieques. Puerto Ricans are foaming at the mouth as we speak, lol. I'll be using a favorite FF villain (not Doctor Doom) and we'll be introducing a brand new threat that's been a blast to write! It's also got the Johnny Quest flavor and I hope everyone will dig it as much as they did the first story.
THE PULSE: What's coming up next in True Story, Swear To God?
BELAND: The new issue is done and Jonathan is working his magic on the production end of things. The story centers around the dilemma of having a wedding where both families live a billion miles apart from each other. Where do you have it and how do you decide? It's a very light issue, given all the death that's been in the previous issues, it should come as a relief to the readers, lol.
There's also the TSSTG OMNIBUS. Again, it was a matter of getting everything in it that we wanted, so there was a delay. There was also a problem with getting some of the two-page spreads to line up and I included sketch and photo pages. We're almost to press with that. Over 500 pages for twenty bucks. Can't go wrong with that.
I'm currently working on the wedding issue. It may be a bigger issue than usual, with lots of good feelings. It's a very emotional thing to write about for many reasons and I'm going to put it on a gentle simmer than rush it out. I have about 12 pages so far and I've been loving every one of them. I can't believe we've been able to do the amount of issues we've done. It's been a dream come true.
Avengers Classics # 11 is in stores now.
Posts: 21256 | From: PA | Registered: Aug 2002
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Wonderful pages and interview. If Beland were writing the regular Captain America title this way, I'd be buying it. I completely agree with his comments about the X-Men's and Wolverine's costumes. When the Cap movie becomes reality, I hope the filmmakers have the good sense to go in that direction, as in the Spider-Man and Superman films, rather than the gritty and quasi-realistic direction taken with Batman and the X-Men.
(Not that I dislike the new Batman(s) at all! But Cap *wears the flag!* and if he doesn't, in the film, to me it just won't be Cap.)
Posts: 202 | Registered: Aug 2004
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