Links to the interviews in question:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=51417
http://comicsalliance.com/tom-scioli-jo ... interview/
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/Home/1/ ... eID=143725
The question:
The answer:CBR News: John and Tom, aside from the obvious implications of the title, what exactly is "Transformers vs. G.I. Joe" all about?
Translation: Duuuurrrururururururrrrrp.We're pretty close to figuring that out ourselves...
Yeah, it is another reset.We'll see the origins of our heroes; we'll see first meetings and secret pasts. This is the ground floor of an astounding new reality, here.
This is from the guy who releases story in one page chunks? Wow, we must be working with multiples of 1/10 of an hour here. Amazing.So far, the script for this first issue, which we're close to finishing, is the best thing I've ever worked on. I've spent more hours per page on this than anything I've done before, and the results are better than I could've imagined.
A preview page:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/prev_ ... &oid=51417
Yay, retro-style shit!
(Seriously, "Robot Chicken" has more to say.)
Wow, when a writer is calling the the least articulate iterations of (Marvel) characters from 5 decades ago "definitive", there is a huge problem.Because there is not yet a definitive version of these characters (the way '60s Kirby comics are the definitive Marvel comics, the way the original "Star Wars" trilogy is definitive), I plan to make this the definitive version of both those universes. In my mind, at least.
My god, Scioli sucks. (Plenty of jems from him in the interview actually.)
From Scioli:
Oh, yeah, based on Scioli's previous work, this is totally credible.Early drafts were extremely serious, hard sci-fi, with absurdist touches and pitch black dark humor. John's brought a little more of a sense of adventure and fun to it. We're folding all of that stuff together and hammering it into what feels like a real, breathing universe from which we can pluck any story we need.
The CA interview:
Yeah, this book, with its backwards ass art style and writing is exactly what mainstream audiences want on FCBD. And, we all know that TF and Joe are exactly what the deconstuctionist Cambridge types love!CA: That’s something I wanted to bring up, too. The Free Comic Book Day book is always big for every publisher, it’s the book you want to put out into as many people’s hands as you can. I remember seeing a ton of kids come to the store on FCBD, and I am legitimately jealous of a kid who gets this as his first comic. I can only imagine how mind-blowing this book is going to be, which I think is going to replicate your experiences as fans. You’re going to blow minds the same way that your minds were blown.
From the FCBD.com interview:
Yeah, a clearly sarcastic over-sell. Nothing says "good comics" like a clearly sarcastic over-sell!FCBD: Tell FCBD fans why they should pick your book first on Free Comic Book Day!
Tom: "It’s a complete mini-movie. It’s the guiding principle for the series, to make each issue a satisfying experience that the reader will cherish, re-read, and share with others. There’s human drama, grand spectacle, and things that can only happen in a comic book. It’s your chance to get in on the ground floor of a giant mega-epic we’re weaving out of a series of single-issue epics. It also happens to be the best single comic I’ve ever worked on. I put every ounce of my being into it. It’s my thesis on everything I learned from my decade-plus of making comics. You get a graphic novel’s worth of sci-fi action, adventure and heartbreak in a single issue."
John: "Well, that about covers it… I don’t even know what I could add there. Is this the absolute pinnacle of human achievement? Pick it up. You be the judge."
Why in the hell is IDW marketing TF/Joe to the indie crowd? Seriously? What the fuck?
Another jem from FCBD:
Those are the most incoherent lists of junk I have every seen. (There is good stuff on the lists. But, there is no reason or explanation for how it is relevant.) I love how they jump from specific stories like "Lone Wolf and Cub" to general stuff like "Captain America" (which has been around for decades under a dozen or so writers). Oh, and "Prophet" (a Liefeld book?) makes the cut.FCBD: What other titles would you associated with your FCBD book? “If a comic reader likes _______ , they should pick up my title"?
Tom: "If you like superhero movies, the comics of Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and Jim Steranko, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dune, the eighties, the seventies, the sixties, NES games, and the films of Quentin Tarantino you should pick up TRANSFORMERS VS. G.I. JOE. To name a few specific titles: Batman Year One, Ronin, The Avengers, New Gods, Fantastic Four, Judge Dredd, The Forever People, Prophet, Cannon, RASL, The Spirit, Spacehawk, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Lone Wolf and Cub, The Micronauts, Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos, The Dark Knight Returns, Captain America, Dune, Nick Fury and the Agents of Shield, Nextwave, Hawkeye, Daredevil, Sin City."
John: "I think that might be everything I like, there, Tom. I think if you’re loving comics like Hawkeye, Black Science, Pretty Deadly, Prophet, Glory—the comics with unique individual voices that are having a renaissance in the comics mainstream, check this out. And if you love any of Tom’s comics like American Barbarian or Godland or Final Frontier, if you love G.I. JOE and TRANSFORMERS comics from the past or the present, this is a comic for you."
I no longer make the long-runs on FCBD. I hit one, maybe two, stores.
If the local shop only allows for one free book, I dunno that I will bother with this one. (Avatar is releasing an "Uber" special with new content. I dislike new-content books on FCBD. But, I am not going to pass up new content for a *good* book for the sake of getting junk.