PlanetEternia | Allgemein | Im Gespräch mit Robert Kirkman

Das Interview, welches in englische Sprache vorliegt, wurde am 21. März 2003 von Jennifer M. Contino (http://www.comicon.com) geführt. Robert kam über Val Staples zu dieser Serie. Geplant sind vier Folgen die ab Juni erscheinen werden:

Ausgabe 1 - Beast-Man
Ausgabe 2 - Mer-Man
Ausgabe 3 - Tri-Klops
Ausgabe 4 - Trap Jaw

How did you come to be involved with MV Creations Masters of the Universe comics?

Kirkman: Val Staples colored all the covers of my Battle Pope series back when I was writing and publishing my own stuff. When he struck it big by landing the Masters of the Universe license he decided it was a good opportunity to pay me back for all the covers I let him color. Val was a big fan of Battle Pope and of my writing, so he s pretty receptive when I pitch him ideas for books and what not. Val s a great guy and I think out immense amount of respect for each other makes us get along. I think I ve done some of my best work for Val.

When you were younger, were you a fan of He-Man and the gang? What did you think made this cartoon better than the rest?

Kirkman: I wasn t even in kindergarten when the show first started running, so I don t remember many specific details of it. I had an aunt that worked at Mattel when the toys were big and she used to ship me cases of the toys from time to time, so I had a ton of the figures. I honestly couldn t name another show that was on at the time that I watched other than Sesame Street or Captain Kangaroo... and I love He-Man, but you can t compete with Big Bird or the Captain... I mean, come on.

Why do you think so many people are embracing this 80s iconic return?

Kirkman: We re all working stiffs now... trying to pull in a steady pay check so we can pay for cable T.V and all kinds of other stuff we don t need. These comics remind us of times when the most important things in our lives were convincing our parents that they need to buy us more toys. It takes us back to simpler times for the few minutes it takes us to read the things... this industry is all about escapism, in one form or another.

Which member of the He-Man supporting cast was your favorite hero? Why?

Kirkman: That s like asking me to choose my favorite child. I liked them all, except Ram-Man... I HATED Ram-Man. I just didn t like how his toy never fit in with the others.

Which of Skeletor s minions was your favorite bad guy? Why?

Kirkman: Trap-Jaw is a favorite of everyone, me included. He just LOOKS so damn cool. I always like to think of him as an evil twisted smurf... y know, because of the blue skin...

What do you think of the new cartoon series currently running on Cartoon Network featuring He-Man and co? How do you like the updated version of these characters?

Kirkman: The thing to remember is, this cartoon isn t made for ME... it s made for kids, and on that level I think it s a great cartoon. There s a ton of people working really hard on it and I think it s coming along swimmingly. I think for the most part, ALL the characters look better than they did before. The four horsemen and are doing a great job with their redesigns. They decided that whole apocalypse thing was a bad idea and decided to sculpt toys.

What is the new "Icons of Evil" series about?

Kirkman: It s a series of four one-shots that focus on the prominent villains of the MotU world. Most of them can be described as origin stories, some of them are just about prominent events in their lives early on. All of them focus somewhat on how the title character came to be in the service of Skeletor. They re just fun little stories about villains that probably won t get enough time devoted to them in the regular series.

Which villains get the spotlight in these specials?

Kirkman: Beast Man, Mer-Man, Tri-Klops and Trap-Jaw. Skeletor is the focus of the prequel mini that s been mentioned a few places, so he doesn t get a one shot of his own, but he s featured prominently in each one-shot either as Skeletor or his former self Keldor.

A lot of these characters were hardly ever fleshed out in the initial series. How daunting is it to create a past or story for characters almost 20 years old?

Kirkman: It s not too tough, it s actually a lot of fun. I get to be the guy that tells the story of how Trap Jaw lost his arm... and stuff like that. I don t want to give too much away, but I m really surprised at what Mattel has let me get away with so far. It s obvious that they are a company that believes in the input of creators and respects what they bring to a project. They like to keep things consistent, and they make sure nothing conflicts with the television show s continuity, but they ve really just backed off and let me play. Of course, I wouldn t be able to do any of this stuff if it wasn t for Val, that guy is a fountain of MotU knowledge. I don t know how many times I ve called him up and said: "Hey, what kind of vehicle would so-and-so use?" with him immediately just spouting back the answer. Val KNOWS EVERYTHING, when it comes to He-Man, it s really kind of unsettling.

What inspired your stories? Are any of these taken from the things you imagined as a child must have been involved in their villainous careers?

Kirkman: A couple of the storylines are based on a one sentence description that Mattel provided me, which Val has really helped me flesh out. Val and I have kicked ideas back and forth on a couple of them. One of them, the Tri-Klops one, is all me. Val wrote me and said "Mattel has no idea how Tri-Klops got to be the way he is, they re giving you free reign." So I got to come up with that one from scratch, which was a blast.

Just because it s called Icons of Evil, does that mean we won t see He-Man, Man-at-Arms, or any of the other good folks of Eternia in the series? What role will our heroes play in the life of these villains?

Kirkman: We won t see any of the heroes in this series at all. All these books from beginning to end deal solely on the villains, which is how I pitched the books. Buff, tan, clean shaven guys aside, the villains of the Masters of the Universe are just really visually cool characters. I think any one of the books could be picked up by someone that hates the 80s movement in comics and enjoyed as stand alone stories about cool characters. I m trying to keep these things as self contained as possible, in order to keep accessibility high.

What do you enjoy the most about working on this?

Kirkman: Being able to create stories about characters I liked as a kid is pretty cool... it d be even cooler if I could go back in time and tell my 5 year old self what I was doing, but it s still a hoot nonetheless.

Which character did you want to do an Icon on but weren t able to this time around?

Kirkman: I like Whiplash quite a bit, I think he s a pretty cool guy, but Mattel didn t think he was popular enough to do a book with him.

Why should new and old fans check out this series?

Kirkman: Because I m writing it! Heh...seriously though, there s a lot of talented people behind them and I think people will enjoy them. Also, the pages are printed on chocolate, 24 karat chocolate, that s the good stuff.

What s the comic included in the Game Boy Advance He-Man game about?

Kirkman: It s a simple retelling of his origin, aiming at a younger audience. It s a simple story that supposedly leads into the first level of the game. Not exactly my magnum opus to be quite honest.

Who was your target audience? I notice the comics from Image are written with a more young adult/adult feel to them. Was that the same for the Game Boy game or did you have certain rules you had to go by for a younger audience?

Kirkman: Not really any rules involved but it was aimed at a younger audience than the series at Image is. The violence in it is minimal.

Did you get a chance to play the game yet? What was it like?

Kirkman: No, I don t have a game boy advance or anything. It s a rare occasion for me to play video games of any kind.

How is working with MV Creations? After several years self-publishing and doing your own editing, writing, etc.,. what s it like to be "hired" for specific projects and have to work on someone else s time schedule?

Kirkman: MV Creations is great to work for, I highly recommend it. I didn t totally enjoy self publishing, it s great to not have to do ALL the work. As far as deadlines go, I ve never had a problem working on a schedule, so there s really no change. It s just less work, which is ALWAYS good.

What other projects are you working on?

Kirkman: I m plugging away on my monthlies, Tech Jacket and Invincible, and they re coming along quite nicely. The artists E.J. Su and Cory Walker (with Ron Riley and Bill Crabtree on colors) are a dream to work with and I think the books are turning out GREAT. E.J. s a machine, he s plugging away on the book at record pace, with each page looking better than the last. Cory s a little harder to work with because of his condition and the fact that he s only 14, but I really couldn t be more happy with how Invincible it turning out, Cory is the god of art. On the horizon I ve got another creator owned book approved at Image. It will be debuting sometime next year and is my first non-superhero book there, so I m looking forward to it.

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