TROUBLE is coming

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Friday, June 06, 2003

Arrving on comic book store shelves in July is the first issue of TROUBLE, published by Marvel Comics. Written by Mark Millar (THE ULTIMATES) and with art by Terry and Rachel Dodson (SPIDER-MAN: BLACK CAT), the comic book is also the debut book from Marvel's new creator owned imprint line, Epic Comics. It's also something of a creative gamble for the company as there are absolutely no superheroes in it whatsoever. Instead, TROUBLE's main characters are a pair of teen girls, May and Mary. Venturing into the city to work at summer jobs, the two girls meet two teenage boys, Ben and Richard. Savvy readers of SPIDER-MAN will recognize those names as belonging to Peter Parker's parents and his extended family, Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Does that mean TROUBLE is the origin story of Peter, or better yet, the "conception" story?

"Is it the origin of Spider-Man?" asks Bill Jemas, CEO of Marvel Comics. "Right now we don't know. I don't think the answer to that question should be up to Joe [Quesada] or Mark or Terry or Axel [Alonso, the book's editor] or me. We think the final answer ought to come from the comic community."

"That's not to say that we don't want this to be the origin," Jemas adds. "We hope that the happy ending to this story [is] that millions of teenagers read this book as they face similar situations and that they have some sense how older, more experienced people deal with situations like this. We hope this gets to new readers who would otherwise never read a SPIDER-MAN book."

Marvel is hoping that they can attract the female young adult marketshare to try out TROUBLE and see that there's more to comic books than just heroes in spandex fighting bad guys. "I have nieces that are 11 and 12-years-old," comments writer Mark Millar. "They come to my house to read something that interests them. IRON MAN lures me in but that doesn't lure them. I wanted to introduce them to the comic forum, and maybe people who don't normally pick up a Marvel or DC book will pick this up."

The company also hinted that there will be an unexpected twist somewhere in the six-issue mini-series. Jemas hinted that the surprise would be similar to the revelation in ORIGIN #2 which revealed the true identity of Wolverine.

TROUBLE #1 arrives in comic book stores on July 2.


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