Ooit schreef hij zo veel verschillende
comics per maand, dat hij bij het tellen ervan bijna vingers
tekort kwam. Van New Warriors tot X-Men, van Cable tot X-Force,
je kon als lezer van Marvel comics begin jaren negentig niet
om hem heen. Verschil van mening over de te volgen werkwijze
leidde tot zijn vertrek, maar na een tot op zekere hoogte
mislukt uitstapje naar Acclaim keerde hij iets meer dan twee
jaar geleden terug bij Marvel. Daar lanceerde hij de serie
Gambit, nam hij Thunderbolts over en werkt hij momenteel aan
een handjevol nieuwe projecten.
Fabian Nicieza is de naam. Ik heb
hem leren kennen tijdens de San Diego Comic-Con van 1994.
Ooit was hij bij Marvel redacteur van de serie Wonder Man
en in die functie heeft hij akelig veel van mijn brieven geplaatst.
Kortom, ik had een streepje voor, want we kenden elkaar van
naam en reputatie. Zijn enthousiasme is aanstekelijk, zijn
humor is droog en toen hij me ongevraagd zijn tweedelige miniserie
Two-Gun Kid: The Sunset Riders opstuurde, kon hij eigenlijk
niet meer stuk. Door de jaren heen hebben we elkaar zo nu
en dan een e-mail gestuurd, dus toen ik voor de site Amerikaanse
schrijvers wilde benaderen, stond Nicieza hoog op het verlanglijstje.
Aangezien hij liever geen columns
schrijft, heeft hij dat aanbod afgeslagen, maar hij deed wel
een tegenaanbod: een question & answer interview voor
weeklydose.com. Ik zou wel gek zijn geweest als ik een dergelijk
aanbod niet met handen en voeten had aangenomen. Veel ervaring
met het afnemen van interviews via e-mail had ik niet en ik
ben daardoor helaas niet altijd van de juiste voorstelling
van feiten uitgegaan. Toch is het eindresultaat een leuk en
op bepaalde punten erg verrassend interview in twee delen
geworden. In dit eerste deel spreekt Fabian Nicieza over alles
van zijn eerste werk voor Marvel tot zijn uitstapje naar Acclaim.
Let wel: omdat bij een vertaling de woorden van Nicieza te
veel geweld wordt aangedaan, is het interview in het Engels.
q&a
interview :: deel 1
weeklydose.com:
At what age did you and your family move from Argentina to
the United States and what was it like, living in a different
country, going to different schools and learning a different
language?
fabian
nicieza: I was very young, I just turned four
and I honestly don't remember a lot of my life between the
ages four and seven. I think probably the language transition
had a lot to do with this. I was too young to really encounter
adjustment difficulties in school or socially.
weeklydose.com:
For me, reading American comic books has greatly helped me
learn the English language. Has this been the same for you
and what titles were you reading after moving to America?
Did you have any favorite books and favorite writers?
fabian
nicieza: I think because of comics, my brother
and I learned to read and write about 5 times faster then
we otherwise would have. Neither of us was kept back in school,
so we must have picked things up pretty quickly. The first
comics we read were Batman and Superman, then some Richie
Rich and Hot Stuff for me.
Soon, we were getting pretty much
only Marvel titles, such as Spider-Man and Fantastic Four.
Then Avengers for me. So I grew up on Stan Lee, Jack Kirby,
John Romita, John Buscema and Roy Thomas.
I also devoured books like Hardy Boys,
then Doc Savage and Conan as I went from ages eight through
twelve.
weeklydose.com:
After college, in the early eighties, you were looking for
jobs in public relations or advertising. Was that your main
ambition or was the idea of one day becoming a freelance writer
already there?
fabian
nicieza: I always had wanted to be a writer
'when I grew up,' but learned at a very young age that there
were few young people who seemed to earn a living as a professional
writer (very few old people for that matter, too). I figured
I better get a job, preferably in the publishing or advertising
fields.
I worked at a paperback book publisher
for two years before I interviewed and got a job at Marvel
in their manufacturing department.
weeklydose.com:
While working at Marvel's advertising department, you wrote
your first published comic: Psi-Force #9. I'm always embarrassed
when I reread my first translation for the Dutch publisher
Juniorpress. Looking back at Psi-Force #9, are you pleased
with the way it has all turned out or is there some embarrassment
as well?
fabian
nicieza: Actually, I gotta tell you, I am
very, very pleased with how my first assignment turned out.
Even the cover was done by Mark Texeira from a concept sketch
I'd shown him!
In many ways, I think Psi-Force was
much better work-- certainly far more indicative of my actual
writing-- than some of my more widely read 'popular' work
such as X-Men.
weeklydose.com:
In general, the whole style of writing a comic book was different
in the late eighties. These days, 'accessible' is the keyword.
A new reader has to be able to read a comic and understand
it. Doesn't this restrict a writer's possibilities?
fabian
nicieza: Actually, I think that under the
editorial regimes of both Jim Shooter and Tom DeFalco, editors
and writers were much more responsible for making 'every book
a reader's first' than writers in the late 80's and 90's.
The larger the audience, the older the audience, it seemed
the less attention we paid to a potential new or younger readers.
The buzzword now around 'accessibility'
actually only pertains to people's perceptions of how structured
continuity helps or hinders a reader's ability to enjoy a
comic. I simply feel it is all a matter of craft. If you present
your characters well and provide appropriate background information
as needed, a continuity-based issue can be just as 'accessible'
as, oh, say... an 'ultimate' reading experience.
weeklydose.com:
Psi-Force and all of the other New Universe titles were not
your average superhero books. With a superhero title, every
reader can compare it to other superhero titles and judge
a writer on that. Not so with the New Universe. Did that make
your job easier or harder?
fabian
nicieza: Easier, I think. By the time I started
working on the titles, there were little expectations left
for them and Jim Shooter had left Marvel so the editors had
a less fearful approach to the NU books.
Basically, it was paid on-the-job
training for me, so both at the time and in hindsight, it
was a very enjoyable experience.
weeklydose.com:
Marvel was in a state of turmoil at that time, with Jim Shooter
(the Editor-In-Chief at the time) having just left the company
and the New Universe line being doomed, possibly from the
start already. What is your take on this?
fabian
nicieza: Well, it wouldn't be fair to comment,
since I wasn't a part of any of it. It would be like asking
the kid peeking through a hole in the fence to tell you what
it was like to play in the game he was watching! I have been
told lots of things by lots of people, so those are their
opinions and individual interpretations of events.
Since I wasn't physically present
for 99.99% of whatever went down, giving you my take on it
would be sort of like playing a game of telephone and that's
not fair to any of the people involved.
"If
you present your characters well and provide appropriate
background information as needed, a continuity-based issue
can be just as 'accessible' as, oh, say... an 'ultimate'
reading experience."
- fabian nicieza
weeklydose.com:
From the New Universe we move to the New Warriors. The basic
concept came from Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, but you landed
the job as the ongoing series' regular writer. How did this
all come about?
fabian
nicieza: Through much hand wringing, shot-drinking
and muttered cussing under my breath until editor Danny Fingeroth
finally made the decision (attrition really!) to go with my
proposal for the title.
weeklydose.com:
Your work on New Warriors, especially with artist Mark Bagley,
was very powerful stuff. Granted, it was a superhero book,
but just a tad different from the other books out there. Is
this where your experience in the New Universe corner helped?
fabian
nicieza: Not really. I just brought to the
table a combination of my background as a reader and my desires
as a writer. I wanted to flirt with the edges of the 'dark
and gritty' which was the popular vogue back then, while still
acknowledging that New Warriors was a mainstream, old-fashioned
classic Marvel title.
I honestly think we did a very good
job of bridging that gap. It really was an edgy book that
had a classic feel to it!
I am also confident that the run I
had with Mark and Darick Robertson stands the test of time
as some of the better work Marvel produced during that time
period.
weeklydose.com:
What was your working relationship with Mark like back then?
fabian
nicieza: We got along very well from the beginning.
We were both really hungry to succeed and we had open, friendly
lines of communication. I think we clicked, I think it showed
then and again recently on Thunderbolts.
Sometimes, certain creative combinations
just click. I think I've produced better work with certain
guys like Mark, Kevin Maguire, Darick Robertson, John Romita
Jr, Greg Capullo, and Rafael Kayanan. That is not to denigrate
any of the seventy thousand artists I've worked with, but...
sometimes the collaboration just feels good while you're doing
it.
weeklydose.com:
Even with those artists, are you still in full control of
the plot or do you at times end up swapping plans back and
forth to find out if the artists has certain ideas about where
to take the book?
fabian
nicieza: I have always tried to remain open
to collaboration with the artist, but sometimes I guess I
get a bit anal about the structure I want or the long-term
plans I have for a title. It's really just a matter of keeping
open lines of communication between all creative personnel
to maximize everyone's working situation.
weeklydose.com:
More in general, how detailed are your scripts and does this
vary depending on what artist you are working with?
fabian
nicieza: I do a 'Marvel style plot,' but it's
relatively detailed. I break down a book by page and suggested
panel breaks as well. The artists can interpret that as they
see fit, condensing or expanding certain sequences to better
tell the story, etc.
I can cut corners with guys like Mark,
because they'll instinctively know what to emphasize on any
given page.
weeklydose.com:
You have pointed out you left New Warriors after more than
four years because the amount of creative energy required
from you to keep the book going was not being reciprocated
by the company's interest in it. Could you elaborate on that
statement?
fabian
nicieza: Not really. I think it kind of stands
on its own. I was working harder to write and sell the book
than the company was. I just got tired of butting my head
up against the wall of indifference. Seeing the big picture
down the road and knowing that Bob Harras would eventually
become sole EIC and that he did NOT like New Warriors (not
that he ever read it), I just figured to get out while the
gettin' was good!
weeklydose.com:
After New Warriors, you embarked on what must have been one
of the most turbulent periods in your writing career. How
did you end up in the X-offices and, in retrospect, do you
regret taking any of the opportunities that came your way
back then?
fabian
nicieza: Well, you're mixing your time frames
a bit. I had been working on the X-titles before I stopped
writing Warriors. I ended up in the X-offices the same way
I got any other assignments back then. A combination of my
pitching story ideas or editors asking me to do work for them.
Do I regret the choices I made? Financially
never, creatively yes. Would I make the same choices again?
If it's a choice between financial stability for my family,
college educations for my kids versus creative unhappiness,
then it's a no-brainer.
I'll endure what was both a very enjoyable
and a very excruciating time all over again because of the
security it has awarded my family today.
weeklydose.com:
Taking over X-Men after Chris Claremont's departure must have
seemed like a daunting task. What exactly was your approach
and did you ever feel weighed down by the many subplots he
had left dangling?
fabian
nicieza: I felt burdened by absolutely everything
going on in those books! I spent a year trying to avoid Chris's
voice in my book and by the time I did, I'd lost the confidence
of my editor.
I was never able to regain that confidence
because he never gave me the chance to earn it back.
As a result, my entire run on X-Men
was fits and starts of introducing story elements that are
never followed up on or resolved (because I was forced to
abandon them two issues into their development) or trying
to resolve dangling plot threads and being forced to stop
them before they could be completed.
It was a mess.
On the plus side, there were Scott
Lobdell's Hawaiian shirts and luckless love life...
"I
spent a year trying to avoid Chris's voice in my book
and by the time I did, I'd lost the confidence of my editor."
- fabian nicieza
weeklydose.com:
Writing books like X-Force, Cable and X-Men, your work must
have been under close scrutiny. Not just from the readers,
but also from the editorial department. New Warriors was your
sandbox, so to speak, but the X-franchise was the company's.
How much freedom were you given?
fabian
nicieza: None.
weeklydose.com:
Were you given specific outlines of what you could and could
not do?
fabian
nicieza: No, it was worse than that. I provided
outlines of what I wanted to do only to never have them approved
or rejected. The books were made up at the last minute on
a monthly basis with absolutely no long-term planning. I'd
be writing plots five pages at a time pending a decision by
my editor who was waiting on the finished plot by the other
writers.
Old news. Boring.
weeklydose.com:
It seems like the editors had more power than the writers
at that point in time, with even writers like Peter David
and Mark Waid leaving their X-titles. Was this limited to
the X-books or not and have things changed in the past decade?
fabian
nicieza: I would hazard to say that it was
mostly the province of the X-office, although there are often
'editorial differences' between writers and editors working
on company-owned characters.
It depends on the situation, case
by case, to determine how the differences get ironed out.
weeklydose.com:
Scott Lobdell and you have written the two core X-Men titles
for close to three years. How did that work? To the outside
world, you two looked like you were having loads of fun, but
you have been quoted as saying Scott's 'infernal interference'
behind your back was one of the reasons you eventually left.
Exactly what did you mean by that?
fabian
nicieza: I mean that Scott and Bob's working
methods were based on chaos and mine are based on order. I'm
not saying one is an inherently better way to work than the
other, just that chaos doesn't work for me. They're not evil
bwah-hah-hah mustache twirling villains, it just was a ménage
à trois that didn't work.
weeklydose.com:
You left Marvel after that and decided to take Steve Massarsky's
offer to become EIC at Acclaim, where you also wrote a couple
of monthly comic books. While the company produced some good
books, it went sour awfully fast. What went wrong?
fabian
nicieza: Lack of income and employee infrastructure
to make our plans work. Lots of good ideas but inefficient
execution. Enthusiastic and intelligent workers who lacked
the experience and contact base to implement the plans (and
I include myself in that description).
It was a lot of fun. We tried really
hard. We did some good things-- and not just mainstream superheroes,
but also off-genre, different format publishing programs like
Classics Illustrated and Young Readers books-- but ultimately,
it was probably never going to succeed.
weeklydose.com:
As a writer for Acclaim, you worked on Troublemakers and Turok.
Do you feel you have ever really hit your stride with those
books?
fabian
nicieza: Not so much on Troublemakers, because
the smaller stories needed more attention than I was often
able to give it.
I was very happy with the way the
Turok one-shots came out and think my work on that character
among my best.
In deel twee van het interview
praat Fabian Nicieza over zijn bizarre tijd als schrijver
van Gambit, zijn werk voor Thunderbolts, miniseries als Citizen
V en X-Men Forever en over de toekomst van comics.
q&a
interview - fabian nicieza, deel 1 feeddate:
02.04.01