Post by brentlambert on Mar 28, 2012 17:45:03 GMT -5
SCOTT CASPER
Marvel Anthology: What appeals to you most about Marvel Anthology as a site?
Scott Casper: The editors. It's been a delight working with Erik, who has such an ambitious vision for the MA site, and Clayton, who's such a great and thorough proofreader. And also just how welcoming they were to all the writers at Marvel Lab when that site closed and everyone needed a new "home".
MA: Top three favorite titles at the site. Put them out there. Why do you like them?
Scott: My ego demands that I like my titles best. If they weren't my favorites, I wouldn't feel comfortable putting them out "there" for public consumption. But, pushing ego aside for the moment, I would have to say #1- Agents of Atlas. Marvel doesn't do nearly enough with AoA, one of the best series Marvel has done in years, so it's wonderful to see Jaimie so expertly pick up where Jeff Parker left off. #2 - Starjammers. I've always been a huge Starjammers booster ever since the Marvel Lab days. Mitch really breathed new life into this tragically underused Marvel property. Can't wait for new issues! #3 - Master of Kung-Fu. I'm not even a huge Shang-Chi fan, but I'm familiar enough with the old title to see that David has not built-off of the old material so much as absorbed it and fed it back to us as a fan's tribute. Very nice. Touching, even.
MA: Who's your favorite writer at the site?
Scott: It should be Meriades Rai. I know that guy has the skill. I don't feel like he's given us his best work at MA yet, though. Yeah, Meri, I'm calling you out! I could also say Morgan Abbot because I love working with him as a co-writer and wish he could get over his writer's block and come back to fanfiction. Yeah, I'm calling you out too, Morgan! I would also have to give a shout-out to David Brashear. I have practically begged the man to co-write something with me, but it looks like that won't happen here at MA. Maybe I'll get luckier on DCA's historial imprint.
MA: What do you like the most about what you get to write at Marvel Anthology?
Scott: What I like is that Erik's vision for MA is so all-encompasing that any idea you approach him with, he'll say, "Sure, let's do that!" or "You need your own imprint to make that happen? You've got it!" He's never insisted that I have to write a title for MA in current continuity -- and I know I'm in the minority at MA for loathing current Marvel contintuity -- so he lets me play with the 1970s and the 1940s all I want.
MA: Your dream title. What would it be? And if you're already on it, then what would be your dream title you'd like to see someone else write?
Scott: I know (because the stats on fanfiction.net tell me so) that Amazing Adventures of the 1970s: Featuring the Black Widow has broken out as my most viewed story ever. Morgan is a little more cynical than I am about that and think it's just a bump from Scarlet Johansson's "interpretation" (to be generous) of Black Widow in the movies, but I think it's because we were really able to make something there together that was better than either of us could have done individually. That's what you always wish for when you do a collaboration. Anyway, I would love to see this title continue now, for those people reading it. But I can't do it. I just don't see a way past the happy ending I put at the end of Year 1 for a sequel or a continuation. So my dream title would be for someone else to jump in and take over writing this for me. I know Meriades could do it. But would he...?
MA: Who's your favorite character at the site to read about?
Scott: Separate from a title? It would make sense that my favorite character would be from one of my favorite titles. I already answered that, so I'm going to go off on a tangent instead and name the characters I find most *interesting* on the site. That would be Derrick's Ka-Zar, because I really respect what he tried to do in making Ka-Zar more revelant to the Marvel universe, Anthony's Yellowjacket is the most original new take on an established character (and one of my favorite characters), Mitch's Fallout is my favorite original character (still waiting on that Fallout solo series, Mitch!), and David's Gambit for actually making me care about an X-Man.
MA: Who's your favorite character under your pen?
Scott: I love so many of them. Medusa, Gorgon, Dr. Doom, Black Bolt, Reed, Maximus, Natasha, Ben, Alicia -- but I'm going to go with Namor. So many writers have tried to fit Namor into different molds, but I think if you look at Everett's Namor, you see this man-child who is fun to write, but also frightening because he's ultra-powerful, but he also doesn't have a very developed sense of right and wrong. So he could always go either way.
MA: Which character do you most look forward to writing?
Scott: In the future? I have long tormented Morgan with my plans for, in the 1970s-verse, to say that Hank Pym never became Ant-Man -- he learned how to communicate with apes and became Ape-Man. Out of respect for how blasphemous that seemed to be to Morgan, I only referred to Jan by her name and never to her hero name or powers in Amazing...Black Widow (at least until the next and final issue). But I've been waiting for a long time to debute Ape-Man (later changed to Giant Ape) and Monkey.
MA: So what are all of the titles you write at Marvel Anthology and how do you feel that they fit into the wider Anthology universe?
Scott: I write Amazing Adventures of the 1970s: Featuring the Inhumans and 1970s Fantastic Four, co-author Amazing Adventures of the 1970s: Featuring the Black Widow, and I’ve kept a strong editorial hand in 1970s X-Men. Each title fits into MA like a What If--? Imprint. It doesn’t mesh with MA continuity as much as it reflects on its past.
MA: What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer? And/or weakness?
Scott: I think my greatest strength is being able to plan out a story, down to the dialogue, in my head before I even start writing it (at least with the length of story we work with here at MA). When that happens for me, the writing is fast and easy. Of course, the converse of that is when I can’t get the details to work out right in my head and then the writing becomes one long, grueling chore…
MA: Which writers do you draw influence from and why?
Scott: It was Stan who taught us 50 years ago that superheroes could grow and evolve just like complex, more realistic characters in a novel and we’ll always owe him that debt, but it’s really the writers who took that idea and ran with it, while remaining reverential towards Stan’s continuity, that I admire the most – Steve Englehart, Roger Stern, John Byrne.
MA: Marvel comes to you today and tells you that you can write any comic you want with any artist that you want. What do you write and who's your artists?
Scott: Untold Tales of the Avengers, like Busiek’s Untold Tales of Spider-Man, but drawn by John Byrne.
MA: Why is the 70s such an appealing era for you in terms of comics? What draws you to that atmosphere?
Scott: In terms of comics, the Silver Age of Comics was ending right here, in the space between Jack Kirby leaving Marvel and the death of Gwen Stacy. I wanted to pick up right in there, as if the Silver Age never ended. As if the slow-down from real time passing never happened. As if change kept happening organically instead of to pretend to shake up the status quo.
Also, where I’m at now in the 1970s-verse also marks 10 years of real time since the dawn of the Silver Age. Marvel Comics claims that all of their past history can somehow be compressed into 10 years. And look at how that’s turning out. Or look at Steve Englehart’s Big City mini-series to see his vision of how the Marvel Universe would really look like after 10 years. I’m just showing you another interpretation of how it would have gone.
What draws me to this atmosphere? Well, I grew up in the ‘70s! This is nostalgia for me. And, as it happens, the month and year of my birth fell between Jack leaving Marvel and the death of Gwen, so I decided to make that the cut-off point for my 1970s continuity. Everything before May 1971 was still sacrosanct. Well…except then I wanted to tweak this…and then I wanted to tweak this too. So there’s been an awful lot of tweaking now, but basically the concept is the same.
MA: On the flip side of that, do you read any modern comics? And what about modern comics irks or discourages you?
Scott: I’m so sick of – hasn’t it been 25 years now? – of angry, heavily flawed, deconstructed superheroes. I hate what Alan Moore and Frank Miller have wrought so much that I’ve swung completely in the other direction to light and fluffy comics. I love Art Baltazar’s Tiny Titans now. From Marvel, Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius and Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers. And it’s been pushing me away from superhero comics too. Avengers used to be my all-time favorite comic book. Now it’s Jeff Smith’s Bone.
That said, I can still enjoy a good superhero comic book when it’s done Old School enough. Marvel just did an Atlas vs. Avengers mini-series two years ago that I thought was great.
MA: What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of essentially having your own imprint on a fanfic site?
Scott: The main advantage is that I don’t ever have to worry about a dibs list! I don’t like this whole concept of a dibs list; it seems to me that writers can hold onto too many characters and keep them out of circulation for too long. And, of course, it’s great having the freedom from restrictions to do whatever you want in any title without having to conform to what someone else is doing.
The big disadvantage is that it’s hard not to feel like you’re still the outsider looking in. The rest of the MA community is “over there” doing their thing and I’m “over here” doing my thing. I’ve tried bridging this gap by being extra involved on the groups and message boards, but get shut out by people telling me I’m not *really* contributing, or that I’m pushing my own product too much. I’ve tried volunteering to help with other people’s stories when they’ve asked for a hand. I’ve always been turned down before, but Tony Thornley finally let me “in” on a Spider-Man story. It’s good to be collaborating on something again, since my 1970s-verse collaborators have either left or are on indefinite hiatus.
MA: If you weren't writing the 1970s what other decade would you write and why?
Scott: MA Historical Imprint! I am still excited about this idea of Erik’s and hope he still manages to pull it off. I was all set to write more Golden Age Sub-Mariner, help Morgan on Captain America, and was looking forward to tackling an Angel story or three as well. The Golden Age is big with me because, well, it all starts there! Past continuity isn’t backstory anymore, it’s what’s happening right “now”. You get to recreate it – all of it – as you go along.
MA: Do you have an end game in mind for the 70s-verse or do you see it as something that could potentially continue on without you?
Scott: There is no end game. I have roughly mapped out in my head where things go from here for decades. And you can see glimpses of this on fanfiction.net, where I’ve got a 1975 Avengers story and “The Last Fantastic Four Story” set in 2001. These are both canonical with the “1970s-verse”.
MA: So this is where you get to sell the 70s verse to the readership. Tell us why you think we should be checking out your little imprint at Marvel Anthology.
Scott: Is four titles little? What about when I hit five titles with my 1970s anthology title? If you prefer pre-‘90s Marvel Comics to what’s come after, you should check out the 1970s-verse. If you want to see another interpretation of what the Marvel Universe would look like after 10 years of real time passing, then check out the 1970s-verse. If you want to check out the longest sustained What If? Scenario on MA, you should check out the 1970s-verse. If you want to read a healthy balance of plot-driven fight scenes and character-driven story elements, you should check out the 1970s-verse. If you want to see superheroes interwoven into history, instead of history being just topical references on the side, then check out the 1970s-verse. If you dig pregnant superheroines, check out the 1970s-verse. It’s all good.
