The past Wizard World attendee answers our questions about the upcoming War Machine series!
By Brett White
You may have heard of Greg Pak. He's the guy that gave Phoenix an Endsong and the Hulk his own planet. Now he's set his sights on the ironclad corner of the Marvel Universe and will launch a new ongoing series starring Tony Stark's BFF, War Machine. With Pak at the wheel, Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes is in for the wildest ride of his life...that doesn't involve Eidolon Warwear.
War Machine is going to be the main character in an upcoming arc of "Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." by Christos Gage. How will that arc relate to the upcoming "War Machine" ongoing?
PAK: Writer Christos Gage and penciller Sean Chen are setting up a surprising new status quo for Rhodey with their awesome "Secret War" tie-in in Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #33 - #35. Then we'll go from surprise to total shock when the ongoing launches in December. If Christos's story takes Rhodey to the edge, we're pushing him right off the cliff. It's going to be insane.
The success of the "Iron Man" film has put a big spotlight back on the Iron Man characters. Does this put you in a different mindset when writing the series, knowing that there may be many fans picking up the title based on renewed interest from the film?
PAK: I flat out loved the "Iron Man" movie. If they'd found a way to throw in a flying-spoken-word-poetry scene, it might just have dislodged Richard Donner's first "Superman" movie as my favorite comic book flick ever. And War Machine editor Bill Roseman likes to point to that market scene in the movie in which Iron Man takes out the terrorists. "That's 'War Machine,'" Bill said in San Diego and I'm inclined to agree. So fans of the movie should be right at home. But at the same time we're doing our own thing, telling a brand new story with its own distinct themes and character arc and shocking surprises. Jim Rhodes and Tony Stark are two very different men. War Machine is going to go places very few Marvel heroes ever could, and the War Machine comic book is where you can follow him.
You put the Hulk back in the forefront of the Marvel Universe with "Planet Hulk." Is it your goal to try and do the same thing with War Machine, to reinvigorate his character and make him a fan favorite?
PAK: I'm always just trying to tell the best story I can. But just as I felt lucky to get on board with my big, green buddy just when it was time to cut loose with something crazy like "Planet Hulk," I'm enormously excited to be writing War Machine at this precise moment in time. I went into the last Marvel summit with no intentions of lobbying for another book. But as soon as I heard Bill talking about his plans for War Machine, I was hooked.
You've mentioned that you'll be assembling a quirky supporting cast for the series. Any hints as to who is in this cast and how War Machine will interact with them? How important is a strong supporting cast?
PAK: A strong supporting cast is absolutely key. "Planet Hulk" wouldn't have been nearly as successful without Korg, Hiroim, Miek and Caiera. And Incredible Hercules is pretty much inconceivable without Amadeus and Athena and Ares. With War Machine, we're drawing on War Machine's and Iron Man's histories to pull together a surprising group of familiar faces. It's a pretty great group with some glamour, guts, humor and a touch of shameless skullduggery just to keep things interesting.
James Rhodes filled Iron Man's shoes for a while in the '80s. Do you think any other character could similarly fill War Machine's shoes, or is this armor too strongly linked to Rhodey?
PAK: Tony himself has worn the War Machine armor. And Parnell Jacobs, Rhodey's old war buddy, stole the armor and indulged in a little supervillainy back in the day. But right now, Rhodes' new mission is so hard core I can't imagine anyone else who could handle it. With the possible exception of Frank Castle. Hmmm...
Since War Machine is going to start acting globally, have you used real life global conflicts and political events to inform the series' tone or stories?
PAK: You bet. For the most part, we're avoiding the use of actual countries because we don't want to create a fake history in which a superhero solves the problems of real world conflicts that continue to this day. But there's a real world precedent for almost every outrage and atrocity we're showing. If you've ever opened up the newspaper and shook your head with dumbfounded amazement at the horrific stories that the whole world seems to be doing its best to ignore, War Machine might just be the comic book for you.
You've gone from creating the epic "Planet Hulk" storyline to this new, globally conscious "War Machine" series. What attracts you to the bigger storylines and how do you balance character work with explosions and high-action?
PAK: When you're telling a giant story, concentrating on the characters is pretty much the only way to make it work. We've all been to spectacular action movies with the most mind-blowing action sequences imaginable...that were totally boring because there was nothing there to make us care about the characters. So I've always loved stories that combine those big genre hijinks with genuine emotional stories. "Seven Samurai" is probably my favorite movie of all time, both for its ridiculously entertaining epic scope and for its utterly human and humane depiction of every character. As far as I can figure, the trick is to make certain that every big action piece reflects and furthers the emotional conflicts at the core of the story. So in every issue of War Machine, we're aiming to blow your mind viscerally and emotionally.
Consider my mind blown already. If that get your gears going for a big ol' character driven action drama, you're last name's probably Stane. If you still have a hankering for more Greg Pak, you can check out his website. Wizard World Texas is this November 7-9. You can purchase your tickets now online and save up to 20%. Be sure to friend our new MySpace page and facebook page so you can get up-to-the minute updates about all our shows!
