o “A Bit Lacerated”

Laura Hudson interviews Kieron Gillen, one of the most interesting writers working in Anglo-American mainstream comics right now. Gillen discusses the prospects of another volume of Phonogram, his acclaimed Image series with Jamie McKelvie:

“[E]ven if money fell from the ceiling now, I’m not sure we could do it; Jamie’s very booked up at the moment, and I think even emotionally Phonogram: Singles Club was such a f**king drain, it’d be the sort of thing that we couldn’t, we wouldn’t go into it now, immediately, even if we could.”

Gillen also talks in detail about his work for Marvel, including Thor and the upcoming X-Men spinoff Generation Hope.

o “Strewn About the Globe”

Here’s Marvel editor Axel Alonso, pitching the current X-Men crossover “Curse of the Mutants”:

“That’s right, the X-Men are going to resurrect Dracula. To do that, they must first retrieve his severed head from the darkest depths of the ocean. […] Then they must retrieve his body from a heavily guarded vampire fortress on a remote Greek Island [sic]. […] And then, they’ve got to put Humpty Dumpty back together again… and pray their plan doesn’t explode in their face. […]”

You know, thinking 10 years back, I can see the Axel Alonso of the year 2000 editing that very same story. Only back then, it would have been a 30-page one-shot written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Simon Bisley.

o “Too Much Jet Pack”

Out now: Ex Machina #50, the wrap-up of Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris and J.D. Mettler’s story starring a fictional New York City mayor who used to be a superhero. In an interview conducted by fellow writer Brad Meltzer (part 1, part 2), Vaughan looks back at the series.

Ex Machina has been a fun read while it’s been coming out, but it’s perhaps disappointing that so many of its individual arcs ended up being sci-fi mysteries with super-villains at their heart. Vaughan and crew did these stories better than most, mind you, but ultimately, in terms of what they delivered, I expected something a little less conventional back in 2004, when the series started, and perhaps a little more daring in terms of how much emphasis was on the “political stuff” and what it means to the characters.

That said, I can’t recall every being bored by Ex Machina, and while the various clues regarding the central mysteries of the series were too far and few between to keep all of them in mind over the course of six years, I’m looking forward to re-reading the book and catching that stuff, once the final issue appears in my mailbox. Vaughan’s other opus magnum, Y: The Last Man, paid off nicely a couple years ago, after all. I’m sure this one will, too.

Marc-Oliver Frisch writes about comics at his weblog and at Comicgate. You can also follow him on Twitter.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Axel Alonso as an editor in his Vertigo days really worked for me. Still retain a great deal of respect based on that stuff. Not sure if it’s based on his early career sensibilities, or his real cool name. But, I often find myself not buying the hype he lets lose with in current interviews given his past (or cool name.) Have a very hard time picturing him saying the above quote in anything but an utterly disinterested voice after being the editor of Preacher. Someone please give this guy a well paying but avant-garde job in comics so that I can maintain some of the illusions of my youth.

  2. Correction on the Gillen interview. David Uzumeri interviewed him, not Laura Hudson. Just clarifying for proper credit.

Comments are closed.