It’s been a long, strange trip for Mike Carey. The British scribe started out on smaller books before gaining notoriety for writing mature, enthralling stories. His work at Marvel began with Ultimate Elektra and later Spellbinders, but he didn’t truly find his stride until locking onto both X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four. Smashing into both books with a smattering of wild ideas and fresh takes, Carey’s quickly becoming one of Marvel’s hottest writers.
But you knew all that, didn’t you? How about we crack that wonderful brain open and see what exactly makes his wheels turn, yes?
Agent M: Your Ultimate FF run has had some pretty big concepts, plenty of crazy technology and a barrage of vividly new characters. Where did it all stem from?
Mike Carey: Well, a lot of it came from the King. All of the characters in the arc are based on Kirby originals--apart from Thanos, of course, who was created by Starlin. In a way, what I’m doing is a sort of a baroque riff on the series of Lee/Kirby FF stories that began with the FF discovering the sinister Sentry and ended with them fighting Ronan inside the cone of judgment. But there’s other stuff mixed in there as well, so I don’t think the parallels are always obvious.
AM: How do you like reinvisioning classic characters in the Ultimate Universe?
Carey: For my money, that’s the biggest pleasure of working in the Ultimate Universe--being able to go back to the classic Lee/Kirby stories and re-imagine the archetypal plots and characters for a new generation of readers. It means you’re always writing on two levels: aiming to give different kinds of satisfaction to readers who know the originals and readers who don’t.
AM: Aside from Thanos and Ronan, are there any other classic characters or concepts showing up in “God War” that may not be quite so apparent?
Carey: Oh yeah, very definitely--but I think part of the fun is the argument about where your inspirations are coming from and who each character represents. They all have counterparts in classic Kirby stories, but beyond that I don’t want to get specific and short-circuit the discussion.
AM: With so much in the series being new and alien (literally and figuratively), how closely have you worked with artist Pasqual Ferry to establish the look and feel of everything?
Carey: We did a lot of work on character designs very early on, before I’d actually gone to script. Working with the Ultimate editors, I came up with a set of notes on who the big players were and roughly what I’d like them to look like. Then we brought Pasqual in and he started to do sketches, which immediately triggered fresh ideas and allowed me to refine the character notes and so on. The whole process was really enjoyable and almost effortless. I mean, here we were bringing in literally dozens of new characters in his first couple of issues on the book, and he not only rolled with it he came back with great ideas of his own that just opened everything up in new directions.
AM: You’ve also put the X-Men through the wringer, creating some crazy new villains and totally mixing up the team dynamics. How are you feeling about the book now that you’re several issues in?
Carey: I’m addicted to it. I hope there’s some kind of rehab program for former X-writers, or I’m in big trouble somewhere down the line. Seriously, it’s probably the most exciting gig I’ve ever had as a comics writer. There’s something about the X-verse that both inspires and intimidates you at the same time. I mean, you’re adding chapters to a story that spans literally tens of thousands of pages: probably the longest story ever told, or at least a serious contender. And it helped that I got pretty much all my favorite characters on the team--well, expect for a few who I then went ahead and borrowed anyway.
AM: Who’s been your favorite X-character to write, and why?
Carey: Rogue. Some characters you think you know until you get in the driving seat and start to write them--and then they surprise you. Rogue’s like that. I knew how strong she was, and I knew a lot of the big character beats that I wanted to hit. But there were things about her that started to come out of nowhere as I wrote her. It’s weird. I’d plan a scene one way and then I’d come to write it and I’d just feel, “no, she wouldn’t do it like that; she’d do this…” There’s a scene in [X-Men] #194 where she has to discipline Lady Mastermind, and it wasn’t anywhere in the plan. It happened because I just had this strong sense as I was writing the scene, “Rogue wouldn’t let that pass…”
AM: You’ve got some fascinating ideas, from the plots to technology to characters. How do you feel about creating so much from the ground up, particularly within the context of a book such as X-Men that has a great deal of history?
Carey: Well, it’s the bad guys I’m creating from the ground up, and that’s been lots of fun to do. It’s a challenge to create serious antagonists for the X-Men: not just because of the powers but because of the combat experience, it takes a lot to throw them off-balance. I enjoyed trying to come up with a threat that wasn’t mutant-based but would still allow for some classic team-on-team battle scenes.
But within the X-Men themselves, what I’m trying to do is to stay faithful to the classic portrayals of the characters and to let the surprises come from cool, unexpected interactions and tensions. Situations like trying to “tame” Sabretooth with the nano-sentinels are really drawing on elements that were there all along, but putting them together in what I hope are unexpected ways.
You have to remember that first and foremost this is a character-driven book: If you get the characters wrong, you’ve lost game, set and match.
AM: There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the return of Exodus in X-Men Annual #1. Can you give some context to the issue? Also, I hear tell that Exodus isn’t the only character making a reappearance in the annual. Can you give any revelations?
Carey: Well the context is the appearance of the twins, Northstar and Aurora, as puppets or servants of the Children of the Vault in X-Men #189 and #190. At the close of that story, the X-Men had taken the twins down but they hadn’t done anything beyond that. And clearly something needed to be done, because these were former comrades-in-arms, a former teammate in Northstar’s case, who had been through hell and still hadn’t come out the far end. So the X-Men’s goal in the annual is to put things right--or at least to start putting things right--for the Beaubiers.
But then Exodus turns up with a very different agenda, and everything is thrown into the melting pot. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that what he’s trying to do arises to some extent out of M-Day, and the depowering of Earth’s mutants--and that the story contains a big revelation about that event, or maybe makes something explicit that was there all along but hadn’t been faced.
And you’re right, Exodus isn’t alone. We’re seeing the revival here of a villain team that’s been through a great many incarnations and had some very prestigious members…
AM: What do you have more of an affinity for: the big, cosmic titles such as Ultimate Vision and Ultimate FF, smart super hero action as in X-Men or more supernatural-oriented projects you’ve done in the past?
Carey: Oh man, I don’t even know how to begin to answer that. I love telling the same kinds of stories that I love reading--which includes all the categories you just mentioned. It had been burning in me for a long time, this yen to write a big superhero book. I never imagined I’d get a crack at X-Men and Fantastic Four, but here I am. I’m a very happy man: professionally schizophrenic and very happy.
AM: What’re a few projects, books, issues, characters—whatever—on the horizon that you’re super excited about?
Carey: Well the X-Men Annual for one. I’m really knocked out by how that story came together and how Mark [Brooks] is drawing it. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve done.
And issue #200, which is also coming up. Chris [Bachalo] and I have got some great ideas percolating for that. And speaking of Chris, there’s a spread in #193 which is mind-fusingly gorgeous. I don’t just want to own it, I want to kiss it.
I’m totally psyched about the first issue of Ultimate Vision coming out. Brandon Peterson has drawn a symphony. It sings. It sings hosannas.
On the FF front, I’m looking forward to seeing how people react to the close of “God War,” as we bring in Thanos and Ronan--there’s some amazing stuff coming up there.
Oh, and I’m doing another story with the ineffable Mike Perkins for the Holiday Special. It’s called “A is for Annihilus,” and it’s in the same crazy vein as last year’s poetic extravaganza. Working with Mike is just being paid to have fun.
Five from the Fans – Five questions pulled straight from the Marvel.com message boards.
What do you think of how Scott treated Jean? – Sarah1
Carey: I was up and down and all over the place. Some of the things he said and did were just so damn cruel I swore aloud at him. But it was a beautifully played, beautifully observed storyline: I never entirely lost sympathy with him, and more importantly, I could really see how someone--even someone fundamentally decent--could be drawn, step by step, into that awful situation. It was genuinely tragic, rather than the kind of over-loud mock-tragic you often get in comics.
I'd like to know which universe [you think] is better: the 616 universe or the ultimate universe and why? – Marc Miller
Carey: Speaking as a writer or as a reader? You go to them for different things, I think. The Ultimate Universe at its best is pure sugar rush: fantastic action, fantastic concepts, streamlined and eloquent storytelling. It can’t match the richness and complexity of 616, but it’s not trying to. It’s like, you know, is Tarantino better than Kubrick? No, definitely not, but when you’re in the mood for the first one, you’ll probably get less out of the second.
I'd like to know what [your] opinion is on the large number of X-titles, (besides your own). Which is [your] favorite, and what other writer (if any) [you] enjoy reading the work of in comics today. – Butters266
Carey: When it comes to the X-Men I’m kind of a sporadic completist. There are gaps in my collection, but I’ve always picked them up and I’ve always tried to stay abreast of what was happening. Right now I’m loving both Astonishing and Uncanny--can’t say I have a favorite because, again, you’re not comparing like with like. I think Peter David is doing a fantastic job with X-Factor--turning it into a book with its own unique flavor, very unlike the rest of the line. I always get a big kick out of Cable and Deadpool (the “Burnt Offerings” arc was one of my favourite X-stories of recent years). I like what Kyle and Yost are doing with New X-Men.
Outside of the X-verse, I’ll read anything that Brubaker is putting out, anything that Grant Morrison writes and of course Mark Millar’s Ultimates and Bendis’s Ultimate Spider-Man.
There's been rumors of a big Sinister storyline next year because of it being his 20th anniversary. Do you know anything of this? – Canemacar
Carey: I do. But if I told you I’d have to kill you.
Nah, seriously, Mister Sinister is in the offing: you’ll get a glimpse of him in January, and something a lot bigger than a glimpse later in the year. In fact, something pretty huge.
It seems that whenever a writer comes aboard an X-Book one of the things they immediately do is generate new love interests within the team. Over the years, the X-teams often feel more like a dating pool than a team and family. Do you feel that it is essential for teammates to be romantically involved with one another? – Aleinfreakjim
Carey: Nope, not at all. But you are going to get romantic attractions forming in any group of people that are thrown into each other’s company a lot--especially in extreme and stressful situations. It can be overdone, but as I said earlier this is a character-based book: We care about the characters and their relationships. Romantic/sexual relationships are one part of that. I’d normally want to avoid making the relationships the core of any given story, though: they’re the architecture that underpins the stories.
That’s all for now!
Agent M
-Your Spy inside the House of Ideas
(20 images)
