Tuesday Q&A: Paul Pelletier
In this Marvel.com exclusive, the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY artist reveals he will be providing the visuals for WAR OF KINGS
Posted Dec 9, 2008 12:00 am
Updated Dec 12, 2008 10:14 am
By Kiel Phegley
Over the past few years, journeyman artist Paul Pelletier raised his stock as a cosmic comic draftsman beyond compare with lengthy stints on FANTASTIC FOUR, EXILES and most recently GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Now, Pelletier will compose his biggest epic yet by joining GUARDIANS co-writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning on the WAR OF KINGS limited series in 2009.
"Paul is just brilliant, in terms of his visual imagination, his fabulous storytelling and his astonishing, some would say relentless, work ethic," Abnett enthuses. "The material he has produced over the first eight issues of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY has been outstanding, and if you are in any doubt of his talent, take a look at the Badoon sequence he did in issue #7."
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"We are really glad [Paul] has come to us on WAR OF KINGS as his presence instills confidence in us that no matter what we come up with, how ever wild, crazy and daunting, we have an artist who will more than meet us," adds Lanning. "He makes us raise our game with every page he turns in."
For an early look into how Pelletier plans on upping his game for the series, we asked the creator what it's like to spend time in space, how he plans to portray series leads Vulcan and Black Bolt, and which classic artists he's drawing on to make WAR OF KINGS an interstellar smash.
Marvel.com: WAR OF KINGS is set up as the major event where Abnett and Lanning get the chance to finally bring their stories back in line with what everyone else in the Marvel Universe has been up to. Did you get the call for this series based on your previous working relationship with them?
Paul Pelletier: That's a tough one because when Bill [Rosemann, the editor,] called me about it, I was kind of surprised because I thought they'd already gone to work on WAR OF KINGS. But I guess Bill was really pleased with the stuff I was doing in GUARDIANS, especially in issue #7 with some of the double-page spreads I was doing, and he basically pitched my name for WAR OF KINGS thinking, "Paul's ready to do a bigger book." He went to bat for me at Marvel, and I guess it worked out.
Marvel.com: Do you feel you'll approach this differently from even the cosmic stuff you've been doing of late? Is it a different mindset doing an event in terms of all the characters and big action pieces you have to draw?
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Paul Pelletier: Well, when I first read the plot outline that [Dan and Andy] turned in, it was kind of overwhelming. [
Laughs] The amount of characters and everything that's involved is so huge that I think if I would've taken it as a whole, it would have been overwhelming, but I have to take it one page at a time and tackle it from there. It would be awesome to think of everything all at once. There's a lot of work involved.
Marvel.com: The conflict centers on Vulcan and Black Bolt where the former is a straight villain and the latter has always been played as an anti-hero but never a leading man. Does that affect the way you draw the series?
Paul Pelletier: A lot of these characters are pretty new to me, so it's going to take a little bit to get into them. I have the basic gist of what they're about, and when I'm drawing Black Bolt, Bill will tell me to portray him as kingly and powerful. When I read stuff about Vulcan he's a darker, more sinister character. I'll definitely be trying to portray him that way. But it will take me probably an issue or so to get used to the characters. Getting to know them is one of the fun parts of working on the series.
Marvel.com: You've done solo characters and big team books in the past. Has anything helped you prepare for an event like this?
Paul Pelletier: Over my career I've worked on a lot of team books, and I think I got a reputation as a team book guy. "He can do it! He can draw a lot of characters!" And in a way, that's a lot of fun because you're not drawing the same character over and over again. Especially with these sci fi books where you have weird aliens and different body types, that can be a lot of fun to explore.
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Marvel.com: Do you really dig drawing space ships and battle cruisers and all the hardware stuff that comes with sci fi?
Paul Pelletier: [
Laughs] Not really! That's kind of the funny part. That's another thing I got pegged with—I was pegged as the sci fi guy. "Oh, it comes easy to Paul to draw things in space!" Not really. It's not the easiest stuff, but I guess I do a good enough job with it that it gets the story across and looks fairly dynamic. I must be doing something right with it.
Marvel.com: The first piece of WAR OF KINGS that fans will be seeing comes in the form of the SECRET INVASION: WAR OF KINGS one-shot that you'll also be working on January 7. Had you gotten that job before the main gig, or did all this come part and parcel with the one-shot serving as "Issue #0"?
Paul Pelletier: That's pretty much it. When Bill contacted me to do WAR OF KINGS, he also mentioned that there would be this prequel before the series. I think there's 38 pages, and I did 26 of them. In a way, it was a really nice way to warm up with the Inhumans characters, who I've never really dealt with so much in the past. It was a taste of what's to come in the series. I could cleanse my pallet of the GUARDIANS stuff and gear my mind to WAR OF KINGS.
Marvel.com: When it comes to drawing the Inhumans and the Shi'ar, you get the nerve-wracking task of walking in the footsteps of Jack Kirby on one hand and Dave Cockrum on the other. Did you look back at their work before you got to drawing?
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Paul Pelletier: Oh definitely. I've got all my ESSENTIAL volumes lying around. I read up on the Starjammers and the Shi'ar, which is all great Dave Cockrum stuff. There was some John Byrne stuff but mostly Cockrum. I've got stacks of all kinds of stuff to get used to the characters, but you've always got to look to the source material. Kirby and the guys who drew them first give that real inspiration. It's great stuff.
Marvel.com: So far out of the scripts you've looked at, what are you most excited to tackle in WAR OF KINGS?
Paul Pelletier: Essentially, it's just these great cosmic characters. They're a lot of fun to work with. It's a little crazy having them all in one series. [
Laughs] But it's exciting to be working on the thing. When you mention Kirby doing the Inhumans and Cockrum with the Shi'ar, this is stuff I grew up with, so getting a chance to tackle it overall is the most exciting part. And it's also great to be working with [Dan and Andy] again and my buddies Rick Magyar inking and Will Quintana coloring. It's cool to work with those guys again on a series.
Check out more from Paul Pelletier on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
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