Liefeld, Nicieza Return to X-Force

[starvenger 0]

Liefeld's lucky to have Nicieza writing this. Fabian's obviously got a good sense of humour about the whole thing...

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

This is a website that talks about the lawsuit Liefeld had with Marvel over Fighting American and Capt. America.

 

http://members.aol.com/chrisv82/america.htm

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/tommy81.html

 

WAITING FOR TOMMY: ROB LIEFELD REVISITED

By Richard Johnston

Right. A mixture of sickness, foreign travel and anniversary gossip columns have made Waiting For Tommy a little spotty of late. Hopefully we'll keep this run going weekly for a nice chunk.

 

Now. Neal Adams. David Choe. Frank Miller. There are some people in comics who the word 'maverick' seems to suit perfectly. But I don't want to interview them right now, I want to talk to Rob Liefeld. I don't know why, I'm just attracted to the guy. Must be his smile.

 

I'm not alone. Despite having the worst rep in comics outside CrossGen, he's constantly bouncing back with new series, new ideas and new comics, some of which he actually publishes. And now he's back at Marvel as X-Men Reloaded starts to resemble X-Men Revisited. A bit like Brideshead Revisited with less stiff upper lip and more explosions. And X-Force is slap bang in the middle of the action. So what's the bad boy of comics up to right now?

 

RICHARD JOHNSTON: This year, it looks like there'll be a lot of books eying up the Top spot. Jim Lee's Superman. Warren Ellis' Ultimate Fantastic Four. Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. Bryan Singer's Ultimate X-Men. What are your chances of taking their crowns?

 

ROB LIEFELD: No chance. Zero. Honestly if we can break the top twenty I think that Fabe and I would be thrilled with that. I see us as more of a complimentary book to the X-office rather than a flagship title.

 

RICHARD: See, I dunno. Despite, or maybe because of, the hostility some of your work engenders, there's a curiosity, a fascination with your work. It's like people who hate Howard Stern, they often still listen to him. There's not many people who can rely on an audience who loves you and hates you to both buy your book. I really think it could surprise people. Whenever you work on an established mainstream comics property, sales boom. X-Force, Captain America, Wolverine... why do you think this time will be different?

 

ROB: I think fans will give it a break much more so than retailers. I won't mind at all if we build over time, if that's possible. Both the characters and myself are in the same boat, viewed as sort of old, outdated, best days seem to be behind us, etc. Like I said before, no guarantees on this project, the characters were virtually kicked to the curb years ago, they fell out of favor they were viewed as products of a bygone era. There's so much ground to make up it's daunting.

 

RICHARD: Not too long ago, you said that you only expected to work with Marvel after the current regime. Did you change your mind, or do you believe the regime at Marvel has changed? If so, how?

 

ROB: I think the thinking at Marvel changed. I absolutely believed that the current regime had no interest in working with me for a considerable period of time, I didn't believe that I'd be doing anything with Quesada and Jemas. The brass at Marvel can certainly attest to the fact that I initially thought the request to do the Cable/Deadpool covers was a hoax. I thought I was being punk'd. Maybe I still am.

 

RICHARD: April's long gone!... but seriously, there do seem to be changes at Marvel. Reverting their publishing policies and even to the same books, that flourished when you last did major work for them. Less politics, more traditional superheroics, variant covers, lack of experimentation, removal of creator-owned titles, X-Force back the way it was - is that fair? Some would certainly see this as a creative step backwards to revisit your past glories - so what is it that attracts you back again? And is it healthy?

 

ROB: Well, obviously I think the notion that it is a step backwards is crap and not because they're working with this old dinosaur again. The fans have spoken and they've crowned some very straight forward commercial work with the top crowns in the industry. Amazing Spider Man, Ultimate Spider Man and Lee/Loeb's Batman sat at the top of the charts for the last 2 years. Each book was very liberal with heavy doses of splashy images, tons of action with flying kicks and punches. Quietly I watched and wondered if the message would be received and clearly it has been. The result has been Batman/Superman, Silvestri's X-Men, Ultimate Six, Teen Titans and others including X-Force which contain a nice balance of Exciting splashy images with exciting soap opera intrigue and drama. The fans as they always have, have the power and when they speak, the industry responds.

 

RICHARD: Might that not indicate the fans want a step backwards, and everyone's just now more willing to march in line with that step?

 

ROB: No, I think it means that the alternatives were just not good enough. Plain and simple as that. Changes were attempted with mixed results at best. People like what they like, there's no harm in giving them steak if they want steak. If they want flan there's flan to be found.

 

RICHARD: Well since you've got your Nostradamus head on, what else do you see in the undercurrent of comics? What's the future going to hold?

 

ROB: Better sales at the top, less tolerance at the bottom of the charts. Comic fans have so many more choices nowadays, it's the same as the broadening from network to cable, they won't just support the same old comic if the books aren't up to snuff. The middle ground is vanishing fast. If I can get an exciting SUPERMAN/BATMAN story by A-listers, Jeph Loeb and Mike Turner, why do I buy the others with lesser production values and B-list talent? I don't and neither are others. The downside is that experimentation is left out in the cold, but the indie market will survive and continue to push the envelope. The big companies are getting better financial results putting big commercial packages together, they're appetites are growing as a result. The dilemma that will be faced for them is if there is enough A-list talent to produce the big results that are driving their spreadsheets.

 

RICHARD: And how about comics now compared to comics ten years ago. What are the major differences that you see, both in the work and in the industry?

 

ROB: A better balance of commerce and art.

 

RICHARD: Is it working through? Aside from the top twenty, sales are slip sliding away right now. The market right seems buoyed by a series of events, specials and stunt casting, rather than a sense of continual, long-term creation. Can this be sustained, or do we expect a new event every six months now?

 

ROB: I touched on that above. That's the big dilemma. Can they continue to grab big movie talent and put them to work on big titles? Kevin Smith broke the dam wide open, especially with Green Arrow, are there other Whedon's and Singer's. Can Tarantino be turned? Rodriguez? Spielberg? Cameron? I'm certain the results would be spectacular. Is there enough pie to share? We'll certainly see in the months and years ahead.

 

RICHARD: When last we spoke, while Youngblood Bloodsport was being promoted, I asked you about your reputation for lateness. I asked "How can reader and retailers trust you again to deliver on your word? Why should they pick up this first issue when your recent history at least indicates that they might never get the finished story?" You agreed it was a valid point and concluded "I can't think of anything I could say that could convince anyone that the product will arrive on time. I just need to produce the work, and I intend to do just that. Hopefully the fans will enjoy the results." You've previously said that you weren't satisfied with your work on Bloodsport and went back and redrew it a number of times. Yet further schedules, plans and guarantees were repeatedly made and repeatedly broken. Is this a problem for you? It's one you've recognized, do you think you can kick it once and for all?

 

ROB: Eventually I can. I'm doing my very best to synergize the X-Force and the Youngblood work at the moment. If all works out both will go global at the same time.

 

RICHARD: Well, you've spoken about your movie work taking up so much of your time, putting in huge amounts of hours each week. Considering you've been pursuing Hollywood for ten years now, there hasn't been anything to show for it that the punters can see. A lot of promises, a lot of expectation, but nothing on the screen. Does this not frustrate you? Do you still believe something will click there? Or does it not matter if the options keep rolling in?

 

ROB: The movie stuff does indeed take up a considerable amount of time, especially travel. Someday's it's faster for me to fly to New York than to commute to L.A. back and forth. And it's actually been more like 12 years since I started dealing with Hollywood and trying to get a movie from page to screen. Obviously it can be very frustrating but as long as people continue to meet with me and buy my projects I'll continue to work at it. I have a meeting this morning with a red hot actor and producer about a new project which is why I'm answering this at the crack of dawn so I can get out of here and high tail it up the freeway. I may be as old as Stan Lee was when Spider Man opens but I'm confident it will happen. And before someone says, but Marvel had cartoons and T.V. long before they had movies, I don't pursue T.V. at all as my only dealing with networks were 10 years ago and more frustrating than anything I've ever encountered. My focus is on movies for the near future.

 

RICHARD: Just remember not to draw Tom Cruise looking gay! He really, really doesn't like that... which brings me onto your artwork. You're famed for expressing extremes of bodily forms, emphasizing secondary sexual characteristics (breasts, muscles, legs) without actually shoving genitals in people's faces. Soft-core superheroes is one expression I've heard. Do you see a sexual aspect in the work you create, or is it all in the dirty mind of the reader?

 

ROB: Uh?I'm gonna skip this one. Thanks though.

 

RICHARD: Ah dammit. You see, you cop out when the going is good. Right. We see Youngblood Bloodsport and other Arcade Comics being distributed through Diamond again. There were some rumours that Diamond refused to distribute your work at some point - were they ever rue? What happened between you and Diamond? And why the reconciliation?

 

ROB: Nothing has ever transpired. It is a persistent but truly baseless rumor.

 

RICHARD: Damn.

 

ROB: I wanted to self distribute and I did and will continue to do so. It's fun if you have the time. We moved 30,000 books by ourselves. I was impressed. Store to store, convention to convention. We got some big help along the way from great retailers like Chuck Rozanski at Mile High and so many others. We're sending the remains of our inventory on our first 2 books through Diamond as well as plenty of new product. The time just feels right.

 

Rob Liefeld's X-Force is published by Marvel any day now. Rich Johnston writes Lying In The Gutters.