THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY by Brandon Thomas and Lee Ferguson.
© Archaia Studios Press

Related Links

0

Running up the Hill with Brandon Thomas

Greetings, Maniacs, and welcome to another week of Comicscape. Before I dive into my interview with comic writer Brandon Thomas, I want to acknowledge the passing of Heath Ledger, who passed away in his apartment yesterday morning. Ledger, of course, plays the Joker in the upcoming sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. I always enjoyed Ledger’s work, especially after seeing A Knight’s Tale a few years ago. His work on The Dark Knight was complete, and we can only hope that the film serves as a fitting sendoff for a talented young actor that died long before his time. I can only extend my condolences to his family, friends, and fans.

Brandon Thomas seemed to have a future as a writer at Marvel. After writing a popular column called Ambidextrous, first at Silver Bullet Comics and then at Newsarama, a recommendation by Mark Millar started him on the fast-track to a career writing comics for Marvel, with a little work at DC to boot. But, once he got there, things didn’t work out the way he’d expected and he found himself no long working for Marvel. Now, Thomas has returned with an independent, creator owned project called The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury from Archaia Studios Press with artist Lee Ferguson. He couldn’t be happier. The exuberant solicitations calls his titular space opera heroine “the greatest adventurer in this, or any other galaxy, the kind of old-fashioned, classic science-fiction heroine that can successfully defeat The Time Raiders of Xaxium, brave the wonders of The Glass Planet, survive The Perils of Yor, and battle The Infinity Class to a veritable standstill!  All while facing the one enemy that perhaps even she cannot defeat, a microscopic poison rushing through her veins, courtesy of her greatest adversary, Cyrus Vega...With only one year left to live, Miranda Mercury will have her morality tested and values shaken to see her life’s mission completed.” I talked with Brandon about the dizzying highs and crushing lows of writing comics for Marvel, along with the newfound freedoms and challenges of working in the small press.

Kurt Amacker: As I understand it now, you’re transitioning from what looked like the start of a career with Marvel back to the independent world. Can you tell me what happened?

Brandon Thomas: I put my fate in the hands of others, and there's no one else that can take responsibility for that other than me. I started writing Ambidextrous, my Newsarama column, in the summer of 2001 with the express purpose of using it to help me break into comics as a pro writer. I thought it would be interesting to chronicle this story with all the excitements, crushing disappointments, and false starts that I assumed were part of this process. But, I was young and naive and had no idea what it even meant or took.

Through the column I created contacts (mostly by accident) of other writers and editors whose works I was strictly a fan of, who started writing in and telling me not to give up, things and people to avoid, and who was willing to look at the work of new guys – that sort of thing. No one was as invaluable and supportive as Mark Millar, who publicly called me out (along with two other young writers) as "creators on the rise," which was kind of the tipping point in getting my foot into some important doors. It got me an opportunity to pitch for something in the Epic imprint and convinced Rob Liefeld to take a chance on me. Things just kind of awkwardly rolled from there.

KA: Who was your first published work with?

BT: It was with Arcade Comics. It was Youngblood: Genesis #1, which Rob launched as a companion book to the Bloodsport miniseries that he started with Mark on scripting chores.

KA: Ultimately, though, you ended up working for both Marvel and DC. Has your relationship with both of them ended?

BT: Good question. While Epic never panned out, it did get me in position to pitch some stories for the Unlimited anthologies Marvel was putting together, which later led to the Fantastic Four Tales miniseries and Shatterstar, which Rob told me I was going to script probably a year or so before it ended up happening. As fate would have it, both series launched in the exact same month, and for four glorious months, I had two books coming out from Marvel, which was pretty fantastic to me.

DC came much later, but was all due to the editor of Shatterstar transferring over to DC, and us staying in semi-regular contact over the years. That led to me pitching for the Robin monthly, and then to getting a chance to write a fill-in issue before the big dog Chuck Dixon came back. 

KA: From your column, I got the impression that you won't be working with either Marvel or DC for the foreseeable future. Was there some sort of grand falling-out with both of them, or separate departures?

BT: Well, I don't know if DC wants to work with me again, but my Marvel relationship ended in an unfortunate situation. I essentially got into a really heated discussion with my main contact over there, which probably got spread all over the office as an example of my immaturity and how difficult I was to work with. And then, I wrote a column about it in one of my weaker moments and probably made the argument even worse.

KA: Could you elaborate?

BT: What started as a semi-friendly discussion about why I wasn't getting more traction on the pitches I was turning in turned into this contentious and really (what I thought anyway) inappropriate discussion about my race and how it related to the perception of my abilities and status as a writer. I took major offense and responded back pretty strongly, and it just left a really bad taste in my mouth that someone who I had a great deal of respect for – and placed a lot of trust in – just stopped thinking of me as Brandon, and started talking to me like a "black writer."

But again, this is partly my fault because I didn't branch out and make sure that I had my own stuff going on, to complement what I was trying to do at Marvel. I put all of my effort and focus into this one avenue, so when it was poisoned for me, there was nothing else for me to do other than disappear for a bit and try to regroup. Unfortunately, the whole race thing is something people still haven't grown out of, and I'm sure that conversation won't be the most insulting thing that happens to me as a writer.

KA: Is your relationship with DC is still open to continue?

BT: As far as I know – I've really only worked with a couple people there thus far, but they were extremely supportive. I'm really obsessed with a lot of the Batman characters (among other people), but with the position I'm in now, I refuse to wait for them to call and tell me that they'll publish some more of my stories. I would like them to, of course, but for my own sanity and sense of self, I'm not making the same mistake – at least not in the same way.

KA: So, you're moving ahead with The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury. Tell us about that, and also about what you've learned moving back into independent comics.

BT: Miranda Mercury is a love letter to comics and encompasses everything I've loved about the medium since being thrown into the deep end back in 1992. It's something that I've had sitting in my head (in relative pieces) over the years and in just over a month, the book will launch and we'll sort everything out from there. It's high adventure and drama with cool good guys and bad guys having these incredible adventures in a world where literally anything is possible. Every issue is self-contained, and we're starting with issue #295 at the very beginning of the last year of Miranda's life. The intent is to deliver the best six comic books we've ever had our names on.

KA: Why are you starting with #295?

BT: Why not? As we understand it, there have been Miranda Mercury comics published for a very long time, but they're just now available in our dimension and 295 was the earliest we could get on the train. Those other 294 stories are still out there and might be seen one day, if people express interest in them. If people want more, there is so much more, but right now, we want to focus on this arc and establishing the property so it's viable to several years to come.

KA: After your experience with Marvel, do you feel more at home doing an independent comic?

BT: It's easily the most fun I've had in comics and there is a control and influence that work-for-hire just can't match. Miranda is our baby and we have the latitude to do whatever we want with her and creatively, that's an incredible feeling – to have this sensation that the only limits are the ones you place upon yourself. Our publisher, Archaia Studios Press (ASP), has been fantastic to work with, because they just understand the project and they're supportive and helpful. They don't often tell me "no" about things we want to try that might push boundaries. The black female space heroine wasn't an easy sell at every company that saw it, but ASP jumped on it immediately and said, "We believe this can be successful and we're willing to help you prove it."

KA: Could you elaborate on some of the challenges that come with either small press work or self-publishing, versus writing for Marvel?

BT: Well, the December sales charts were released the other day, and there are only four comics in the Top 100 not published by DC or Marvel. One of them is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One is Angel. One is The Boys, and the other is Umbrella Academy. The reality is that it is brutal out there for independent comics and anything that doesn't strictly fall into the realm of superhero fiction. Even within that genre, the characters and concepts that aren't as well-known struggle. Hell, Matt Fraction's The Order – from Marvel – is being cancelled. That is a very clear indictment of what the fans wants when they go to the shop every Wednesday. People say the word they want is "good," but the right word is really "familiar," so you have to examine your motives and expectations with doing independent stuff. The fame and fortune might never come, and if they do, they'll probably show up a lot later than you're anticipating.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to work for Marvel or DC, there are certainly reasons for dreaming and wishing for this to happen, but in my personal case, it was a pursuit that I went into with all heart and no sense, so it's no great surprise that I came away feeling a little stung about the whole situation.

KA: Anyone looking to get rich working in comics should probably look elsewhere. You really have to do it because you love working in the medium. Unfortunately, we have to blame ourselves – the fans – for the industry's emphasis on superheroes. Publishers sell what people will buy. And, I like superheroes a lot. But, I think, especially after seeing the return of so many 1990s trends both in terms of gimmicks and storytelling, people need to realize that Marvel and DC make money by spinning their wheels.

BT: Exactly, which is why I'm continually distressed at the levels of negativity and in-fighting that goes on in comics. It doesn't seem to be enough money to spread around for people to be such pricks to each other, but what can you say? I’m sure it's that way in every industry on the planet.

KA: They essentially traffic in nostalgia. Brand New Day proved that in spades.

BT: It's the illusion of change, which is why I'm really surprised that people were so incensed by Brand New Day. Have you just started reading comics? Why can't you see the pattern here? Everything goes in a circle, but what people want is to be entertained along the way – at least I do. If there are comics or creators that I don't enjoy, I get rid of their books and go on with my life. I don't read comics so that I can complain about them all week. I have a day job for that.

KA: I think the problem is that Brand New Day was so blatant about it. Joe Quesada essentially said that Spider-Man had drifted too far from what made him appealing, which is a nice way of saying that he'd become unrecognizable to new readers that learned about him through licensed media. I don't understand why we can't allow superheroes -- or any ongoing characters, for that matter -- to grow and evolve.

BT: It’s because of money really. What company in the world is going to allow their multimillion dollar property to intentionally pull away from the audience and intent that made it incredibly successful in the first place? It just doesn't make any sense at all for them to do that, and instead of worrying about Spider-Man, I wish people would go read things like Powers, or Queen & Country, or any number of creator-owned things were the story is the only thing that matters. When you have movies making billions of dollars, kids' underwear, action figures, and cereal, it's naive to think anything is going to permanently change. It's just not good business sense. 

KA: It’s sad, but true. It’s been great talking with you. Tell the Maniacs reading this when and how they can get The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury.

BT: The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury #295 is set for release on February 27^th. It will set you back 3.95 for 26 pages of story, and it can be ordered with Diamond code DEC073385. The next issue will be appearing in the Previews that releases at the end of this month, also retailing for 3.95.

KA: Thanks Brandon, and good luck.

The Spinner Rack

By Ben Johnson and Kurt Amacker

DARK HORSE COMICS

Berserk TP Vol 21 (MR) $13.95

Little Lulu TP Vol 18 The Expert $10.95

Ben: I’m waiting for the Greg Horn variant.

Kurt: This will easily be the hottest thing ever. 

Scream #3 (Of 4) $2.99

Speak O/T Devil #4 (Of 6) $3.50

Kurt: I speak o/t Devil all the time. The bastard never returns the favor.

Trigun Maximum Tp Vol 12 $9.95

Usagi Yojimbo #109 $2.99

DC COMICS

Army @ Love #11 (MR) $2.99

Authority Prime #4 (Of 6) $2.99

Blue Beetle #23 $2.99

Ben: Spider-Man fans! This is for you.

Countdown Lord Havok And The Extremists #4 (Of 6) $2.99

Ben: DC continues to dissect the Marvel universe.

Countdown To Final Crisis 14 $2.99

Countdown To Mystery #5 (Of 8) $3.99

Kurt: DC continues to lose both my business and my interest.

Crime Bible The Five Lessons Of Blood #4 (Of 5) $2.99

Detective Comics #839 2nd Ptg (Ghul) $2.99

Faker #6 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99

Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99

Ben: I’m going spoil the whole thing in these very pages just to stick it to the “wait for trade” people.

Gon Vol 03 $5.99

Gotham Underground #4 (Of 9) $2.99

Ben: Dinosaur bones!!!

Kurt: Don’t you know that those were put there to test your faith?

Hellblazer #240 (MR) $2.99

JLA Classified #51 $2.99

Ben: Psst! DC doesn’t want you to know that the cartoon was better than the comics have been in years.

JLA The Hypothetical Woman TP $12.99

Legion Of Super Heroes #38 $2.99

Mad Magazine #486 $4.99

Nightwing #139 2nd Ptg (Ghul) $2.99

Ben: I like getting two chance to not buy something.

Robin #169 2nd Ptg (Ghul) $2.99

Ben: And ditto.

Kurt: It would actually be cheaper for me to just pick up the issues of this crossover that I’m missing than it would to get the trade. But, that would be giving in.

Showcase Presents Aquaman TP Vol 02 $16.99

Superman Batman #45 $2.99

Superman Confidential #11 $2.99

Tales Of The New Gods TP $19.99

Tangent Comics TP Vol 02 $19.99

Ben: That reminds me of the time my friend and I were hiking and we thought we had a good path picked out but read the elevation incorrectly. 

Kurt: Hey, did I tell you that my friends and I booked a band at this club the other night? It rained, but we still did pretty well. We were able to pay the band, so we were mostly happy about that. What were we talking about?

Teen Titans #55 $2.99

Teen Titans Go #51 $2.25

Ben: To Mexico and drink the water.

Testament #22 (MR) $2.99

Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #5 (Of 8) $2.99

Wetworks Tp Vol 02 $14.99

Wonder Woman #16 $2.99

Zombie Fairy Vol 01 $9.99

Ben: I hate the exploitation of zombies, and yet I buy almost everything book about them and in spite (or perhaps because) or this dumb name I will do it again.

IMAGE COMICS

After The Cape II #3 (Of 3) $2.99

Kurt: You know what’s after the cape? The ground.

Bomb Queen TP Vol 03 Bombshell (MR) $14.99

Frank Frazettas Death Dealer #6 (Of 6) (MR) $3.99

Ben: He goes around selling marriage licenses and faulty birth control.

Kurt: I know what I’m doing this weekend – watching nudie movies! Actually, I’ll be reading through all six issues of Death Dealer with my right hand making devil horns in the air the whole time.

Jack Staff Special #1 $3.50

Ben: Made up completely of processed Dom Perignon.

Kiss 4k #5 (Note Price) $3.99

Madame Mirage #2 Baltimore Comicon Excl Var Cvr $10.00

Ben: Screw you Image!

Madman Tp Vol 03  $17.99

Mice Templar #3 $2.99

New World Order #1 $3.50

Ben: If done right this illuminati busting story set in the real world could be one of the great comic book achievements. I’m very intrigued.

Kurt: Do you actually believe in the Illuminati? Are you scared of the Reptilians, too?

Spawn Godslayer #6 $2.99

MARVEL COMICS

Amazing Spider-Man #548 BND $2.99

Ben: Meaning Ben’s Not Down.

Kurt: Or, Buy Now, Dumbass. All right, I was really reaching with that one.

Annihilation Conquest HC Book 1 $29.99

Astonishing X-Men #24 $2.99

Kurt: Wake me up when Warren Ellis starts writing it.

Daily Bugle February Pi

Fantastic Four TP The End $14.99

Hulk Visionaries Peter David TP Vol 05 $19.99

Kurt: I should really read David’s run on Hulk. Thankfully, these trades are there when I get the time.

Iron Man #25 $3.99

Kurt: Wait, are we back to the double-sized, higher-priced special every 25 issues? Welcome back, 1992!

Marvel Adventures Iron Man #9 $2.99

Marvel Illustrated Picture Dorian Gray #2 (Of 6) $2.99

Ben: Brought to you by the letter A for Absinthe.

Kurt: Bring on the foppery. I love this book.

Marvel Zombies 2 #4 (Of 5) $2.99

MMW Golden Age Daring Mystery HC Vol 1 $59.99

MMW Golden Age Mystery HC Vol 1 Var Ed 89 $59.99

Order #7 $2.99

Ben: I think that’s a Fishwich. Who buys those?

Kurt: No one, apparently, since the book will be cancelled at issue #10.

Punisher #54 (MR) $2.99

Kurt: The conclusion to the Frank-apparently-has-a-daughter arc. I can’t wait.

She-Hulk 2 #25 $3.99

Ultimate Fantastic Four #50 $2.99

Ben: One of my favorite books. Great Sci-Fi, strong characterization, and now the cosmic cube.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #50 White Var $2.99

Ben: Screw you Marvel.

Ultimate Iron Man II #2 (Of 4) $2.99

Ben: Is that a double negative in fact referencing that lack of poopiness?

Ultimate Vision TP $14.99

Kurt: Wasn’t this supposed to have never been collected in trade?

Ultimates 3 #2 $2.99

Ben: Should the first issue prove indicative of the quality of this series then this particular moniker is appropriate for all installments; meaning Ultimates 3 is poop.

Kurt: The first issue sucked so hard that it almost forcibly dragged me inside the book and made me part of its crappy, tattoo-art world.

World War Hulk Aftersmash Damage Control #1 (Of 3) $2.99

X-Men #207 MC $2.99

Kurt: I have a feeling that I’m going to be hopelessly lost in the one X-Men book I read after Messiah Complex. Thankfully, the hardcover comes out in April

X-Men First Class Vol 2 #8 (Of 8) $2.99

Young Avengers Presents #1 (Of 6) $2.99

Ben: Written by Bru the invincible. Now I have to change my pants again.

Kurt: I’d say that Ed Brubaker owes me several packs of tighty-whities by now.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@mania.com.