Word Balloon has just posted a lengthy interview with Jeph Loeb and among the topics that are covered is his upcoming run on The Ultimates. I would recommend downloading it for anyone interested (http://www.wordballoon.com), but it’s a pretty big file (40 megs), so I took notes on what he says about The Ultimates for those of you that can’t listen to the original version.
Loeb is well spoken and has a dry sense of humor, so not everything he says comes across perfectly when transcribed -- especially when paraphrased. So don’t take anything below to be the gospel:
Loeb began down the journey of writing The Ultimates by having lots of talks with Millar.
Weird thing -- he told Mark where he saw his run starting and Millar said that’s good because that's also where his was ending. It lined up perfectly.
Loeb is concerned that people are going to get to the end of Mark’s run and there are a series of twists that happen at the end. No matter what he, Mark, and Marvel say, some people will believe that editorial or Loeb made MM compromise his vision in the end. But that’s not true, the ending has been MM’s plan all along and it just happened to fit Loeb’s ideas of where he wanted to go.
Had Mark wanted to end it a different way, Loeb would have picked up from there as well. It was just a happy coincidence that MM was going where JL hoped.
Also, Loeb wanted to remind people that MM built in a year-long gap between U1 and U2. U3 will also start up following a year-long gap, but he knows people will claim it’s a DC guy coming over and doing the ‘year later’ DC thing.
The gap will be helpful -- he knows people are concerned about whether The Ultimates will be different with him and Joe Mad than it is now and he says indeed it will be. He will always be in awe of Millar/Hitch and there is nothing at all wrong with the book now. But Millar/Hitch are not just leaving the kingdom, they’re looting it on the way out. It’s not really an option to continue on with the status quo.
The story will probably be a little less politically minded because Millar’s ‘pinko, liberal, anti-American slander that he used to turn the book into a monster hit’ (relax, he’s joking -- sort of) is not something Loeb would attempt to duplicate.
Also, people expect Loeb and Joe Mad to be a little bit more superhero-y, but don’t worry, that doesn’t mean the book is turning into the Avengers. It also doesn’t mean it won’t include topical hot buttons that get people excited.
Loeb thinks it’s interesting to consider the morality in the country and the division between the right and the left. There is a very natural division within the team and what they consider acceptable and unacceptable behavior -- and what does that mean to them as public figures? In that way, it will have its currentness -- they just won’t be invading Iraq.
There will be some changes to the team. There will be some things that happen at the end of Mark’s run that necessitate that. Also, there are some things that will happen during the U2-U3 one-year gap that you don’t see that will necessitate changes as well. U3.1 will start up with events already in motion and you kind of join in the middle. It will take a little while for you to catch up and you will be going, ‘Who’s that?’ and ‘How did they get on the team?’ and ‘Where is such and such?’
It will unravel and you’ll be clued in as the story goes along.
It’s all based on the extraordinary characters Millar and Hitch created. They did all the heavy lifting by doing the set-up character work in the first two volumes. That’s another reason why Loeb and Mad can move into more action earlier, but it’s not as if Loeb is just going to have them running around all the time.
Loeb is well spoken and has a dry sense of humor, so not everything he says comes across perfectly when transcribed -- especially when paraphrased. So don’t take anything below to be the gospel:
Loeb began down the journey of writing The Ultimates by having lots of talks with Millar.
Weird thing -- he told Mark where he saw his run starting and Millar said that’s good because that's also where his was ending. It lined up perfectly.
Loeb is concerned that people are going to get to the end of Mark’s run and there are a series of twists that happen at the end. No matter what he, Mark, and Marvel say, some people will believe that editorial or Loeb made MM compromise his vision in the end. But that’s not true, the ending has been MM’s plan all along and it just happened to fit Loeb’s ideas of where he wanted to go.
Had Mark wanted to end it a different way, Loeb would have picked up from there as well. It was just a happy coincidence that MM was going where JL hoped.
Also, Loeb wanted to remind people that MM built in a year-long gap between U1 and U2. U3 will also start up following a year-long gap, but he knows people will claim it’s a DC guy coming over and doing the ‘year later’ DC thing.
The gap will be helpful -- he knows people are concerned about whether The Ultimates will be different with him and Joe Mad than it is now and he says indeed it will be. He will always be in awe of Millar/Hitch and there is nothing at all wrong with the book now. But Millar/Hitch are not just leaving the kingdom, they’re looting it on the way out. It’s not really an option to continue on with the status quo.
The story will probably be a little less politically minded because Millar’s ‘pinko, liberal, anti-American slander that he used to turn the book into a monster hit’ (relax, he’s joking -- sort of) is not something Loeb would attempt to duplicate.
Also, people expect Loeb and Joe Mad to be a little bit more superhero-y, but don’t worry, that doesn’t mean the book is turning into the Avengers. It also doesn’t mean it won’t include topical hot buttons that get people excited.
Loeb thinks it’s interesting to consider the morality in the country and the division between the right and the left. There is a very natural division within the team and what they consider acceptable and unacceptable behavior -- and what does that mean to them as public figures? In that way, it will have its currentness -- they just won’t be invading Iraq.
There will be some changes to the team. There will be some things that happen at the end of Mark’s run that necessitate that. Also, there are some things that will happen during the U2-U3 one-year gap that you don’t see that will necessitate changes as well. U3.1 will start up with events already in motion and you kind of join in the middle. It will take a little while for you to catch up and you will be going, ‘Who’s that?’ and ‘How did they get on the team?’ and ‘Where is such and such?’
It will unravel and you’ll be clued in as the story goes along.
It’s all based on the extraordinary characters Millar and Hitch created. They did all the heavy lifting by doing the set-up character work in the first two volumes. That’s another reason why Loeb and Mad can move into more action earlier, but it’s not as if Loeb is just going to have them running around all the time.
