Interviews 

WonderCon Aftermath: Jason Aaron

By | April 18th, 2011
Posted in Interviews | % Comments

As part of WonderCon Aftermath, today we have none other than one of the Marvel Architects, Jason Aaron! We talk about almost his entire workload today so if you like any of his book, you might want to check this one out!

We’re here with Jason Aaron, the writer of Scalped, Ultimate Captain America, Wolverine, Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine, PunisherMAX, and now, X-Men: Schism. Starting off with the big news, X-Men: Schism, what the idea in the book that coming up?

Well you know, it’s kind of a culmination of stuff that’s been building in the X-Men Universe since House of M. We’ve seen Scott Summers become the General that the X-Men needed. He’s done the best to lead them to the Promised Land. Through all of that Wolverine’s his right hand man; he’s been the true soldier, done everything Scott needed him to do. So when Schism opens, these guys are really as tight as on-page as we’ve ever seen them. They’ve had a contentious history in the past but they’re Butch & Sundance now. But then something happens over the course of Schism that puts cracks in that relationship, that puts them on opposite sides of the fence.

Is this a return to the old school; where Wolverine did NOT like Cyclops and vice versa?

No, it’s not that simple. I’m not trying to write this book to where one of these guys is a villain, but Wolverine fans will read this and say “I completely side with Wolverine” and Cyclops fans may side with Cyclops. I think both sides of the argument are defensible; it’s not a situation where one guy is the villain and the other guy is the hero. It’s just that next step in their relationship.

And you said that this is the culmination of the past seven years, with Cyclops as the leader. So all the mistakes he’s made in the past come home to roost? Is this his comeuppance?

A little bit, yeah. In some sense, it’s a self contained story; the incident is here in the book; in terms of them butting heads. In some ways it’s very much the culmination of everything that’s been going on between these two guys for a few years now.

Is it going to be its own book or is it going to cross over into Uncanny or Legacy?

It’s a five issue mini-series. When the book ends, we’ll see big time ramifications of this book all through the X-Men Universe.

Will the recent Age of X tie into it at all?

No Age of X stuff in here, but this book features pretty much every X-Character I could think of to cram in there. Just the issues I’ve written so far, I’ve written a little bit of everybody. I’ve written a lot of characters in there, a lot of giant robots are in there, The Hellfire Club play apart in this. It’s a brand new Hellfire Club; brand new characters; a brand new twist on the Hellfire Club. They come out of Schism in a very big way. A couple of X-Characters I’ve wanted to write for a long time play a big role in this. There’s a part of everybody, but by the end of the story, what it really comes down to is Cyclops and Wolverine, and these two guys saying “how do we now go forward as X-Men?

I can actually hear my co-blogger Brandon Burpee crying for you to write Maggott into the series. I think he’s dead, but if you did, I think he’d hug you if he ever saw you.

I’ll see what I can do. There’s no Maggott in there yet, but if we can bring him back by the end of this, he’ll be in there. I’d tell him not to hold his breath though. [Both Laugh]

Moving on to your other Marvel work, you’re currently working on Wolverine. Could you give me a quick synopsis of what you’re doing with that book?

Continued below

Well, in Wolverine right now is the “Wolverine vs. The X-Men” arc. Wolverine is still out of his mind, possessed by demons; there’s a fight going on inside of his head, there’s a fight going on outside of his head. When that resolves there’s a standalone issue about Wolverine and Mystique that focuses on the next step in that relationship. I did Mystique’s storyline years ago with Wolverine chasing after her and leaving her for dead. It’s very much a return to that sort of story. After that, there’s the next big arc called “Wolverine’s Revenge,” where Wolverine goes out of revenge on those who did this to him; who sent him to Hell. We find out who these characters are and what their beef is with Logan; and then “What is their ultimate plan? Why did they do this? What do they hope to gain from this?” It all comes crashing down in this arc.

Are there going to be anymore crossovers with Daken or X-23?

Nothing on the horizon right now but that’s always a possibility.

Now going into Ultimate Cap, it’s a mini-series, but are you going to do anything after that with him, or is it a stand-alone book?

It’s a standalone mini-series that I think is almost done. Once Ron Garney’s done with that he’ll be coming back to Wolverine, so we’ll be doing more Wolverine stuff together.

That sounds really exciting! And finally you have PunisherMAX with Steve Dillon, it’s an ongoing, but how much do you have planned for this series, how much further do you want to go from here?

It’s one big story that I’m telling; we’re pretty much halfway. The arc that is about to start is called “Frank.” The people who have been wanting to see more of Frank Castle in PunisherMAX; this is the arc you’ve been waiting for. In the present, Frank is in prison, in a hospital bed, recuperating from the injuries at the end of the Bullseye arc. Meanwhile, we’re flashing back and showing a period of Frank’s history that we’ve never really seen before. Between when he came home from Vietnam and when his family died in Central Park. We always sort of assume he had this idyllic happy family life but we’ve never seen it, so “what was that time really like?”

So it’s a fleshing out of his pre-origin?

Right, right.

Are there any more Punisher or Marvel villains that will show up after this or can you tell us?

Yeah, maybe. In the “Frank” arc, we see Nick Fury pop up and play a big role. After that we could see “ElektraMAX” maybe, but it’s still up in the air.

Moving on to your creator owned book, Scalped; which has become one of my favorite books recently. You said at the Scalped Panel that it’s entering the homestretch. How much longer do you think you have on the title?

I’ve avoided putting a specific issue number on it because I don’t want to be bound to that. You know issue #50 is coming up in a couple months. It’s amazing to me that we’ve been able to make it that far. Once we hit 60–you know, 60’s a nice round number. A lot of other great Vertigo series’ had 60 or so issue runs. It will certainly be in the vicinity.

And we seem to be getting near the end with Dash’s prophecy coming to fruition.

Yeah. A lot of stuff for a lot of characters are starting to come to a head. In the current arc we see things for Dino Poor Bear come to a head in a big way. Things are rolling along for Red Crow, for Dash, for Shunka, for a lot of these characters. Certainly the next arc after issue #50–not everyone’s going to make it through that arc. A lot of these stories will come to a resolution.

More on the note of character resolution, about a year ago, you revealed that Shunka is homosexual, and it’s really rare because you actually showed him in a relationship with someone else in a relatively mainstream book. Is it going to be revealed soon, or will it be a tragic closet story?

Continued below

Well you know, that’s kind of hanging out there. We’ll see. Shunka will be a huge part of the arc that starts with issue #51, it’s called Knuckle Up; and a big part of it is–you know– I’ve been teasing and hinting at and building up toward this confrontation between Dash and Shunka. Well, we see that in that arc. It doesn’t necessarily work out the way either of them were thinking. That’s all coming. Shunka’s secret certainly comes to play in that.

One of my favorite characters is Chief Red Crow. Are we going to see more of his rivals? I know he dealt with the Hmong’s, but are we going to see them again?

Yeah, they’re done for now, but Red Crow will certainly have his share of trouble on his hands. Issue #49 has a really huge Red Crow moment that sets the stage for where he’s headed until the end of the book.

You’ve worked with a bunch of different artists on this book, and they all tend to set their own tone. Are there any other artists you’re trying to get for the book before it ends?

I think at this point, hope Guéra can draw everything that’s left. There are other artists I would have loved to have fit into Scalped, that I tried to fit into Scalped, it may ultimately not work. I always really wanted Jock to draw some interiors on the book. Maybe even switch it up to where Jock draws and issue and Guéra draws a cover. Maybe we’ll still have room to fit that in, maybe not. I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.

You’re obviously writing a lot, but with the end of Scalped coming, are you planning on any other Creator-Owned Titles for Vertigo or even Icon?

Yeah, I’m certainly already in the planning stages for my next couple of Creator-Owned Books, but in terms of what they’ll be or where they’ll be; that’s still being figured out. But the wheels are turning for those next few books.

I can honestly say if they’re half as good as good as Scalped then I’ll pick up every single issue.

That’s what I’m aiming for! Half as good as Scalped! [Both Laugh]


Gilbert Short

Gilbert Short. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. When he's not reading comic books so you don't have to, he's likely listening to mediocre music or watching excellent television. Passionate about Giants baseball and 49ers football. When he was a kid he wanted to be The Ultimate Warrior. He still kind of does. His favorite character is Superman and he will argue with you about it if you try to convince him otherwise. He also happens to be the head of Social Media Relations, which means you should totally give him a follow onTwitter.

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