Assistant Editor Molly Lazer greets me with a warm smile and a pronounced level of enthusiasm exuded by someone who truly loves what they do. That could be a result of working on a host of books that she can genuinely say she likes, including Spider-Girl, Thunderbolts and more. I hung out with Molly to get the dirt on her books, find out how she got here and dig up a few new details on her upcoming projects.

Agent M: So how’d you get your start at Marvel?
Molly Lazer: I was a comic fan growing up, starting from when I was about five years old and my dad would read me his old comics. My interest kind of petered off when I ran out of comics to read. [Laughs] When I was in college I got back into it and it was fun to go hang out in a comic book store every week.
I didn't think about making a career out of it until the end of my senior year of college when I became a lot more interested in the process of how comics were made. I spent a while fascinated by word balloons. [Laughs]
I spent four summers teaching learning disabled kids and young adults and that was something I could have continued doing if I hadn't found another job, but it wasn't going to be a long-term career for me. I thought if I could have any job in the world, what would it be? And the answer was Assistant Editor at a comic book company!
And so, I started networking. I found some connections that I hadn't known that I had previously. I worked through them. I went to a convention, very inappropriately dressed in a suit and I was handing out my resume and introducing myself to people. I met some of the folks at Marvel--Jenny Lee who introduced me to Dan Buckley and a couple other people. Eventually out of the blue, I got a phone call for an interview and a week later I got the job. And I was as surprised as anyone else!
AM: So how long have you been at Marvel?
Lazer: I've been at Marvel for two weeks short of two-and-a-half years.
AM: And you're in Tom Brevoort’s office, which handles a fair number of books. What's the breakdown?
Lazer: I have my books that I edit on my own...
AM: And do they also fall under Tom's purview? How does that work?
Lazer: Well, Tom has a very large umbrella of books that fall into his office. He reads everything. He reads scripts for my books, for Aubrey [Sitterson]'s books, for Steve Wacker's books, for Warren [Simons]', everything. He's reading scripts for stuff in other people's offices. [Laughs] He's involved in my books in that he reads them at each stage, but I have more of a hand in running the books and directing where they go.
AM: Which ones are yours?
Lazer: Spider-Girl. Well, now Amazing Spider-Girl. Thunderbolts, which I've been editing since issue #101. I'm doing all the MC2 limited series, so I did Last Hero Standing, Last Planet Standing and now I'm doing Avengers Next. Then, I'm doing the Zemo limited series, Zemo: Born Better, Iron Man: Hypervelocity with Adam Warren and Brian Denhem and then a couple other things that haven't been announced yet.
AM: What’s been your favorite book to work on so far?
Lazer: I adore Spider-Girl. [Laughs] It's funny. When I started working at Marvel, I found that it's very much a learn-as-you-go process. You're thrown in and just...go! I had some downtime the first month I was here because I didn't know all of what I was supposed to be doing, and I couldn't fill my day every day. So I actually read the entire run of Spider-Girl in my first month here. The issues were right next to my desk. Andy Schmidt was editing the book at the time, and then it passed over to Nicole Boose. I was really excited when it got handed over to me.
Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema--those guys are pros. They know what they're doing. While I really like Civil War and all the interesting turns that the main Marvel Universe books are taking, it's also nice to have my little pocket universe where Spider-Girl can be light or dark or funny. It doesn't have to worry about main Marvel Universe continuity or what characters are appearing in so-and-so's book. We can just do what we want and have fun with it.
AM: Spider-Girl is well-known for its rabid fanbase.
Lazer: I love those guys, they're great.
AM: How did the fans' reaction to the cancellation and subsequent relaunch of Spider-Girl affect you?
Lazer: It's always really nice to see the support that we have.
AM: Did you feel bad tricking them into thinking the book was really gone?
Lazer: Well, yeah. [Laughs] Yes, I did. The choice was if we were going to have a new number one or have issue #101, and we ended up deciding to take a break and do a new number one. I actually think that was a good choice for the title. And yeah, I felt a little bad for saying the title was cancelled. But it was cancelled, so saying it was valid. [Laughs]
But there was also a period of time when, maybe, we weren't going to go on with it or #100 was going to be the last one, so the cancellation could have been legitimate.
AM: How was that for you?
Lazer: Oh, that was really sad! I love the book. I'd been editing it for 15 issues at that time. It's my book and I like working on it! But the fans went and started their campaign again.
AM: They took out an ad in Diamond Previews, right?
Lazer: Yeah! That's crazy. They papered comic book stores and started websites. Issue #97 had a big Hobogoblin cover, and the fanbase made a flyer out of it. I didn't think I was going to see it in any stores, but I went to [Jim Hanley's Universe] and there it was, smack on the door! That was awesome! And they went out and were hyping the #0 issue and the new #1 issue, and I think we've gotten some new fans out of it.
AM: You’re also editing the Avengers Next mini-series. What’s your favorite MC2 character?
Lazer: Oh man! [Laughs]
AM: Outside of Spider-Girl.
Lazer: Ah, well...[Laughs]...Franklin Richards has the best mullet in comics. [Laughs] I like American Dream quite a bit, especially after what she's been in Last Hero Standing and Last Planet Standing. She doesn't have super powers. She's a super athlete, but I don't think she's enhanced in any way. She's just really good at what she does. And she models herself after Captain America. So when Captain America died in Last Hero Standing, she was at a loss for what to do with herself. I think that her journey since then has been pretty interesting.
AM: Definitely. Now switching to Thunderbolts, it's been getting a lot of buzz lately. I’ve seen it regarded as the New Avengers for the supervillain circuit. What do you think about that?
Lazer: [Laughs] That's funny. The idea for New Avengers was to put all the heavy hitters on the team. Before "New Avengers Disassembled" and Civil War, you had Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Wolverine. On the Thunderbolts, you've got your Venom, your Green Goblin, your Bullseye, but you've also got Songbird, Radioactive Man, Moonstone and Penance...well, we'll find out more about him in the future. You've got some carryovers from the last incarnation of the team who aren't necessarily as big as Captain America or Iron Man, the carryovers from Avengers to New Avengers. I think that having Songbird, Radioactive Man and Swordsman there is really important. Songbird, to me, is like the heart and soul of the team. Her journey in the new version of the team will be something to watch.
AM: Yeah. Before she was up here [motions high] and now she's down here [motions low]. That's going to play a big role?
Lazer: Yeah. We got the third script in today and we're getting more of what's going on with her. We don't really know, but something's definitely up.
AM: What was the actual process for putting the team together and deciding on the new direction?
Lazer: We came up with this list of who could possibly be on the team and then whittled it down from there. This person couldn’t be there for this reason, that person for that reason, so-and-so's appearing in that book, so-and-so's dead, etc. We were trying to find heavy hitters, but we also presented Warren [Ellis] with a list of the current Thunderbolts team. I remember I typed up--and then Tom finessed--the list of characters and what's interesting about them. We sent it to Warren, and he picked the characters he wanted. I was actually surprised with the characters he chose to carry over. I wouldn't have expected him to use Swordsman.
AM: Well, Swordsman's pretty freaky. He wrapped the handle of his sword with his dead sister's skin so he could still access his mutant powers! Ugh!
Lazer: Yeah, Swordsman's kinda freaky. [Laughs] I don't know, but that came back as kind of unexpected for me. I was really glad he's still using Songbird. She and Moonstone together just clash! [Laughs] It's also nice to see tension between the old members and the new members. And to see Norman Osborn in charge of the group. I mean, that guy's a nut job.
AM: Yeah, putting him in charge of a whole group of maniacs is wild. You mentioned that you brought a list to Warren of possible characters to use in the series. Do you remember any of the characters he didn't want to use?
Lazer: Hmm. Lady Deathstrike was briefly on the list--and she was on the Thunderbolts team that we saw in Civil War--but someone else had plans for her in another book, I think. Abomination was briefly on the list. I don't really remember. There were some strange names rolling around there.
AM: You just brought up Lady Deathstrike. She's on the team in Civil War, but not the one in Thunderbolts. Are we going to see what happens between?
Lazer: Kind of. We get a little in Civil War #7. But Jester and Jack O'Lantern got their heads blown off [Laughs]. The other members that are featured in that splash at the end of Civil War #4 keep showing up through the rest of Civil War.
AM: And the T-bolts are going after Jack Flagg in #111. Do you all hate America?
Lazer: No, no, no! [Laughs] He was a one-time sidekick of Captain America's. If the T-Bolts are working for the pro-registration side and Cap is the leader of the opposition, then some of his former cohorts would be great people to go after to make an example of.
AM: That's what they're doing to poor Jack?
Lazer: In a way. Their goal is to go out and hunt down unregistered superheroes, and Jack Flagg hasn't registered. He's on the list.
AM: What three villains do you want to see on the team and what three unregistered heroes do you want to see them go after?
Lazer: I’d love to see Sandman get involved. He seems like a perfect guy to be on the T-Bolts team--he already reformed once, but went back to being a villain after while. Maybe it would stick more if he was on a team. Then again, he’d be working with Norman Osborn and Mac Gargan, so maybe not.
I remember that someone had tossed Kang’s name around as someone who could possibly be on the team when we were trying to come up with a list for Warren to choose from. He would be a real x-factor in the group, because it’s not always easy to know what he’s up to.
And it would also be nice, I think, to see some lower-level schlubs--guys who really did want to turn over a new leaf and become heroes.
As for the heroes…I don’t have any vendetta towards any particular heroes. I wouldn’t really wish the T-Bolts team on anyone!
AM: So now that Zemo’s off the team, what’s his story?
Lazer: Songbird shattered the Moonstones, and Zemo just kind of fell off into we-don’t-know-where. The general public doesn't know where he is, the Thunderbolts team doesn't know where he is. No one knows where he is. But I do! [Laughs] We’ll see in his Born Better series that Zemo is traveling back in time, ending up as a player in his own family history starting way back when the first, second and third Baron Zemos were around.
AM: It all takes place at one point in time?
Lazer: No. Each issue takes place in both the past and the present. In the present, you'll find there is a guy who is researching, obsessively, the Zemo family lineage. Throughout the series we come to find out why he has an interest in the family and specifically in our Baron Zemo. And then we also see Zemo’s ancestors. The first issue deals with the first three Barons. “Ours” is the 13th. We'll go through the entire Zemo family tree as our Zemo travels through time, getting back to the present.
AM: Will this dovetail into what's going on with the rest of the Thunderbolts or is he really now on his own path?
Lazer: He's pretty much doing his own thing at the moment. If it happened, it'd be pretty interesting!
AM: Definitely. So, what's Hypervelocity?
Lazer: Iron Man: Hypervelocity is written by Adam Warren with art by Brian Denhem, who is fabulous. This is his first Marvel gig.
The story...It's very difficult to explain the story without completely blowing the ending of the first issue. [Laughs] It's about what happens when a covert unit of S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks Iron Man has gone rogue--whether he has or not, we'll have to wait and see--and how they can take him down if they think they need to. At the same time, someone or something has infiltrated Tony Stark's mind. He's having these visions and he feels that his memories are being messed with and he doesn't understand why. As the series progresses, we'll find out what that has to do with why S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks that Iron Man has gone rogue.
AM: You’ve got a few new books coming over the horizon. Can you talk about any of them?
Lazer: We've got Spider-Man Fairy Tales coming up in May. That's being written by C.B. Cebulski, who did X-Men Fairy Tales. We're doing a Little Red Riding Hood issue, which I don't think will be what people expect in regards to who's cast as what character and what we're trying to say using the Little Red Riding Hood story. Ric Tercio is going to be doing the artwork for that. It'll be his first Marvel work. We'll be doing a story based on Japanese myths and ghost stories. We're doing a story based on the African tale of the trickster, Ananse, the spider. And we came up with a neat idea for a Cinderella story that also won’t be what people are going to expect. It's exciting.
AM: Do you have any other artists lined up?
Lazer: We're not totally finalized yet. But for Avengers Fairy Tales, which will come out later in 2007, Claire Wendling's doing all of our covers. She's done the first one, and it’s so beautiful. We're doing a Peter Pan issue with the boy who never grew up, which in Marvel terms is Captain America. That's with art by Joao Lemos, who's doing an independent comic with C.B. right now. His designs for that are mind-blowing. They're so simple, but so beautiful. He's putting so much work into it and doing a crazy amount of research into the story.
We're doing an Alice in Wonderland story, Wizard of Oz and one other one. The fun thing about Avengers Fairy Tales, like in the X-Men Fairy Tales, is that there are so many characters to play with, and each of the characters comes with their own backstory that we can use to compare them to the characters from classic literature and find new and interesting things to say about them. We're trying to not just give the reader an Avengers story and not just the story of Peter Pan or Little Red Riding Hood. We're going to twist it, so they meld together to say something new about both the fairytale characters and the Marvel Universe characters.
AM: What are you excited about throughout the offices?
Lazer: I'm just excited to see where the Marvel Universe goes post-Civil War, where everyone shakes out.

Five from the Fans: Five questions pulled straight from the Marvel.com message boards.

How is editing a book like tbolts different from the other titles you edit? What is it like working with Fabian, Warren and company... -moonstonelover
Lazer: Every title and every creator needs a different approach. Working on Thunderbolts, for example, requires a better knowledge of the main Marvel Universe than working on Spider-Girl does. I learned a lot about the lower-tier villains working on the Civil War arc of Thunderbolts with Fabian, who has an enormous knowledge about lots of characters that I hadn’t even heard of before.
Both Fabian and Warren have written other books that I’ve enjoyed--I love both Cable & Deadpool and Nextwave--so getting to work with them has been a treat. Tom Grummett is a wonderful artist to work with. I’m glad that the whole “old” Thunderbolts team gets to continue on with the Zemo series. Mike Deodato is also doing a bang-up job on his T-Bolts issues so far.

Will other (true) villains be joining the Thunderbolts in the near future? - twl7569
Lazer: I think we’re going to stay with the current lineup at least for the first six issues. But I could see being on the T-Bolts team as a job with a really high mortality--er, I mean turnover rate, so you never know.

What sort of preventive measures will be taken to control the Thunderbolts? -hallie365
Lazer: The T-Bolts have been injected with nanotech that allows the powers that be to watch them and even take them down if there’s a need for it. But not all of the team members have this nanotech in their systems. There are a few who don’t, for different reasons which you’ll find out in the first few issues.

Variant covers--which ones stick out to you and as an editor, what is your opinion on variants in general? - moonstonelover
Lazer: Aesthetically, variant covers that do cool things, like interlock with each other or show the pencils from a piece of art appeal to me. I like the Civil War variant covers, for example, because, on the sketch variants, you get to see what Michael Turner’s pencils look like before the ink and the colors gets added.
As a fan, though, I don’t go searching out variants for my collection. I’m more interested in what’s in the inside of the comic than what’s on the cover. But I understand why they appeal to other readers. It can also be fun to have a choice of which cover to buy. As an editor, I think that variant covers can be useful and appealing on the right book, as long as they’re not overdone so that fans who actually do go out and buy every cover of a certain title don’t feel overwhelmed or like they’re being forced to spend extra money all the time.

Will the storylines be aimed at more mature readers then say, the Avengers, or will it be lighter and not too violent? - hallie365
Lazer: With characters like we’ve got on the team, the book will definitely be violent. But Thunderbolts isn’t a MAX book, so it’s not aimed solely at mature readers. It’s a darker take on the team than we’ve seen lately, but there are moments that have made me laugh out loud, too. I hope that there will be a mix of violence, dark humor and intrigue that will appeal to the readers that we have now and also to new readers just picking up the book for the first time.

Until my cover’s blown…
Agent M -Your Spy inside the House of Ideas