It can be reasonably argued that without Jim Starlin there never would have been a Guardians of the Galaxy.
Thats right, the galactic evil of Thanos sprang from Starlins endless imagination as the cosmos was changed forever.
What first drew you to cosmic super hero stories?
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Those kind of stories you dont have to draw cars or horses.
Were there any authors or films that served as inspiration to you when crafting your tales?
Same with the movies.
Everything gets taken in, mulled over, mixed up and spit out again as my own.
Life, itself, is inspiration.
What was your take on Captain Marvel as a character?
He seemed kind of stagnant when you got your hands on him.
What was your approach?
I like my characters to go through some changes during a story arc.
I owe him big for that kindness.
How did you get theCaptain MarvelandWarlockgigs?
Warlock, Id been doing a little work over at DC Comics but had decided to return to Marvel.
When did you know Thanos was going to be as important as he became?
What made him stand out from other villains?
Hard question to answer.
When he showed up, the sales of those respective titles went up.
So no one ever stopped me from this indulgence.
When he appeared at the end of the firstAvengersmovie, I guess his popularity really exploded.
Theyre the things we do or say that we regret later.
But with Thanos, he has no such governing method.
He gets a dark thought, he acts upon it no matter what the consequences.
They dont call him the Mad Titan for nothing.
How did Marvel editorial view the cosmic stuff in the 70s?
Did they support the space stuff?
Back in the seventies it was all about meeting the deadline; it was a production line.
A new book had to come out each month or every other month.
Hence the freedom to do what I wanted with the stories.
If a book sold really well, you might get a raise.
If it didnt, the book got cancelled.
Categorizing books into genres really wasnt part of the mix back then.
Can you talk about the creation of Drax?
Which kind of worked me into a corner with him.
you might only go so far with frustration.
Plus the Hulk at the time was gray and highly intelligent.
I figured Marvel still needed a big dumb green guy running around.
Talk about the creation of Gamora.
I modified the womans fishnet stocking outfit a bit and Gamora stepped onto the stage.
Her being the most dangerous woman in the Galaxy was just a throw-off comment that stuck.
From there she sort developed organically into what she became.
2and we can talk about this at another time.
The Guardians clearly got big because of James Gunns movie.
Their comic had been canceled for a while before its debut, if I recall right.
Advancements in computer graphics in film suddenly allowed movies to create stunning never-before-seen visuals.
It used to be that comics had it all over movies for doing spectacular space scenes.
That opened the genre to film exploration and a much wider audience.
That then prompted the comics to do more space stuff.
Can you discuss the development and evolution of theInfinity Gauntletseries?
Was it always going to be an event series?
I took over the writing on the Silver Surfer when it was at a low ebb in sales.
The numbers picked up and Marvel wanted more.
But Marvel wanted a big event book instead.
So was born theInfinity Gauntlet.
But editor-in-chief, Jim Shooter, eventually shot down those objections, for the most part.
Thats why theres only two X-Men in the story.
How does it feel that your work is the beating heart of both theGuardiansfranchise and the thirdAvengersfilm?
What can I say?
Its great fun flying out to LA for premieres and meeting all the actors and directors.
But I think the biggest kick for me is seeing how directors and actors interpret those characters and stories.
What were doing, both in comics and the movies, is pop culture: nothing biblical or sacred.
There are no sacred cows.
Different medias require different approaches and (in the case of Marvels cinematic universe) different chronologies.
Though I sympathized I still found his outlook unrealistic.
In theGuardiansmovies I find Gunn and Saldanas portrayal of Gamora very much the character I wrote in the comics.
In both the Guardians and Infinity Watch, shes the adult in the room.
In the second film Gunn and Bautista develop Drax into a character quite unique to the film.
In my opinion the versions of both Drax and Gamora are equally valid and I enjoy them immensely.
Jim Shooter was quite up front about it when he approached me on the project.
So they wanted to kill Cap off and create a new Captain Marvel.
Tossed them all without anyone ever reading them.
But my father had passed away from cancer about six months earlier.
Any other cosmic work of yours that you would like to see on film?
Warlock and the Infinity Watch.
Itd be nice if someone one day wanted to do a film ofGilgamesh II.
Still working to get aDreadstarTV show into production after the deal with Universal fell through because of unforeseen circumstances.
How does it feel to be working with Thanos so many years later?
Like going out with an old friend for a drink.
I listen to what hes been up to and write another story.
Youre still delivering awesome cosmic tales.
Whats next for you, Thanos, and Marvel cosmic?
