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Radiation Interrogation: Frank Tieri
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Location: Blogs Atomic FalloutRadiation Interrogation |
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| Posted by: Jake Bell |
Wednesday, December 20, 2006 11:25 AM |
 If Civil War hadn't been delayed, this book never would have been. What makes this more than just a fill-in book?
War
Crimes was most likely going to exist somewhere at some point
regardless of whether Civil War was delayed or not. I had pitched the
idea earlier to Tom Brevoort--he liked it and the good folks at Marvel
liked it. The only problem was figuring out where it would fit in and
once CW got delayed, we got our opening.
But hey, if nothing
else, the delays made our lives easier. So I guess I’m the one guy
who’s not exactly broken up the series hasn’t come out on time. I’ll
send the creative team a bottle of scotch or something. Maybe a hooker.
How difficult was it to find a compelling story with
characters that weren't already being covered in the other 400 Civil
War tie-in books?
You know, if you’re a writer and you’re unable
to figure out how to spring a compelling story out of Civil War, you
should pack it in. I really mean that. Do us all a favor and fucking
retire.
Because really, with everything that has already
happened in that series, with everything that still COULD happen, as a
writer you should be able to do a story coming out of that in your
sleep. Fuck, I could figure out how to do Civil War: Willie Lumpkin if I had to.
How did the idea of making an imprisoned, non-superpowered criminal a major player in the superpowered war develop?
So the Kingpin
doesn’t have super powers... so what? He might very well be the most
powerful person in the Marvel Universe. And this one shot with show you
how.
We've already seen the registration side of the war turn
to supervillains, now Tony Stark turns to Kingpin for help, remind me
why Iron Man's not a "bad guy."
I’ve heard people say that a lot
since CW came out, but honestly, I think it’s too simplistic a view of
things. Whether Tony is right or wrong (and I’ll let you guys in on a
little secret... I think he’s wrong), he thinks what he’s doing is for
the greater good. And he’s the type of person that recognizes that
sometimes when you do things for the greater good, some very tough
decisions have to be made. The kind of decisions not everybody’s going
to like.
Is he an arrogant son of a bitch? Hell yeah. Can he be
a bit of a bastard? You bet. But is he an out and out villain? I don’t
think so. But I do think—and I’ve said this before and I’ll say it
again—right now, I think he’s quickly becoming the most interesting
character in comics.
How
do you approach a crime book that takes place largely in prison
differently than you do Excalibur? Which style of story do you prefer
to write?
The danger of man rape in Excalibur is significantly less.
Seriously
though, you obviously approach writing something like War Crimes and
Excalibur much differently—and yet, there are things that are the same.
WC is essentially a villain piece and Excalibur is a team book so you
approach the motivations differently, the relationships differently,
etc but in the end you’re writing about people—and the trick is to try
to make those people as relatable to the audience as possible. (With
War Crimes, I try and do that through Turk. Turk is our narrator and
the guy whose eyes we all see everything through.)
As for which
story I prefer to write, fans know I tend to gravitate towards “tough
guy” characters like Wolverine and Juggernaut or villains. (I just get
where those guys are coming from better, I guess) But while it’s not
the type of book people would normally associate me with, it was fun
writing Excalibur—fun to explore a different side of yourself and get a
chance to stretch some different writing muscles.
Now that Dazzler's in New Excalibur, how long will it be until we see Longshot? How about a roller disco?
Well,
you’ll have to ask Chris that since my stint on the book ends with
issue 15. The shame is, there was plenty I would have liked to explore
with Dazzler had I been given the chance. I only got to touch on her
addiction to fame, but I would’ve liked to explore that more—-along
with stuff you mentioned like what the fuck ever happened to Longshot?
Also,
and I never hear anybody say this, but she’s clearly a product of the
70’s. And yet, she’s supposed to be in her twenties, right? So what's
with all this disco crap? She shouldn’t even have been alive in the
70’s, never mind been performing—-which then means she’s got this
disco-motif working in the 90’s—-which is really fucking weird. I think
it would’ve fun to address that at some point.
You
worked with Staz Johnson before so you have a feel for his strengths.
What does he do best? Do you find yourself writing differently when you
know what he's best at doing?
If I have a story in mind going
in, I really don’t write differently no matter who the artist is. To
me, it’s up to the editor to put an artist on the book who's going to
properly convey that story. That being said, if you know you're going
to be working with somebody going in, you might make a little more of
an effort to play to that artists strengths. So if you’re working with
someone who’s known for "big action," you may want to work a nice
action sequence in because you know that’s what fans would be looking
for.
Now as for Staz, the advantage of working with him is I
know he's well suited for the type of story that War Crimes is. We get
down in the gutter in this one shot and having worked with him before
on Underworld, I know that Staz is able to climb into that gutter with
me.
You've
been at Marvel for a few years and managed to nab yourself this gig. Is
there any particular project you've been lobbying for or that you wish
would fall in your lap? What's Frank's dream book?
Just as long
as it's interesting to me. And as long as I'm not given so many
limitations that I can’t properly explore the characters in question.
I'm of a mind we all have flaws as people, no matter who we are, and
comic book characters are no different. And as long as I'm able to play
with that a little, I'll write anything. |
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