One of the ultimate points I wanted to do with this comic is to show that when you really examine these characters, you see how similar they all are. It's the little details from one's life that shape our destinies. Look at Otto and Banner. They're both brilliant but socially fragile men that, as a result of their impatience (and a little ego) are transformed into monsters. What separates Banner from Ock? Why does Banner attempt to walk the "good" path despite his curse? And why does Ock lash out at society? Based on everything we've learned from reading these comics, based on the "rules" of comic book superheroes, you'd think Banner would become a villain. The traumatic childhood, the bullies, the rejection from his colleagues and the opposite sex--why isn't this guy a madman? Maybe if Banner embraced his dark side, he'd gain better control over it. It's going back to the Nature-Versus-Nurture discussion. Was Banner simply born "good", and Ock "bad"? One can look at Ben Grimm in a similar way. We couldn't really fault Ben for wanting to lash out at the world, could we? I mean, look at the guy! Same goes for Xavier or any of the X-Men. Do humans possess either a "good" gene or an "evil" gene, like Dr. Hibert suggests?

The central journey of MKA will be about Banner learning what the Hulk is, and the characters he encounters along the way will each help him to understand a small part of his problem: Richards focuses on the scientific side; Murdock is the religious side; Strange is the psychological/mystical side; Rick Jones, Frank Castle and the Fantastic Four focus on the family aspects; And so on and so forth. Tony and Otto figure into things too, as does Hank Pym. All of these characters can relate to each other, at least in MY bubble universe.

In an interesting way the MKA story is a almost like a spin on The Wizard of Oz, only with Marvel characters...

Reed Richards represents the Wizard; Banner is Dorothy; Thunderbolt Ross is the Wicked Witch; Tony Stark is the Tin Man (with his bad heart, get it?), The Punisher is one of the flying monkeys (actually, he'd be more like a flying gorilla) Daredevil is like a reverse Cowardly Lion. Eh...maybe I'm reachin', but it's a fun comparison.

One of the pitfalls of fan-fiction is the temptation to go overboard with cameos and put cool things in just for sake of being cool. It's very easy to get sidetracked and it can really hurt the story. Believe it or not, I started to roll my eyes at Tony's "trip to the Arctic" reference. I thought it was way too much and I honestly didn't think readers would buy it. But not only is this fan-fiction, it's also a "prequel". That means Marvel fans will know the fates of certain characters. Ock, for example. I'll tell you right now that I'm not going to change anything major. I won't be killing anyone off (that didn't die in the official books). Therefore, the cameos I've inserted are really corny and designed to get a reaction from readers, similar to "Vader's Theme" playing softly in the background as young Anakin struts around in the Star Wars prequels. We all know he's going to turn into Vader, we just don't know how or when. That's what the cameos are for. That's why I hint at Otto's dark side and Tony's alcoholism. We all know Otto's going to turn, just not when. Did I need to drop these hints? No, but they're fun, and I don't think they detract from my overall story.

Believe it or not, there were more cameos, but I cut them down because I didn't want anything to happen in this issue that wouldn't be referenced in later issues. I was going to have Prof. Xavier and Hank McKoy appear, but I decided early on that the only mutant that will appear in this series is Franklin (and Angel, if you count page 12). Every bit of dialogue in this issue is there for a reason. Tony's wisecracks to Otto will come back to haunt him. The Captain America and Doctor Strange references, they're there for a reason. Xavier and McKoy have no roles in my ongoing story, so their cameos were cut.


Adding Foggy, Deleting Hank...

The appearance of Hank Pym relates to the "Arctic" reference, and I was going to have the camera follow the three men and listen in on their conversation--duh, it's about the Avengers--but I didn't want it to be THAT obvious. I don't mention Hank's last name, nor do I really make it clear that it's Don Blake standing next to Hank (I'll get into the whole Don Blake/Jake Olson mess at another time). Instead, I opted to stay in the moment and go with the Otto/Peter/JJJ/Daredevil bit, and let Tony and friends chat in private. This is because Daredevil is right around the corner, as it were, and the Avengers are a year away. Maybe I made the wrong decision.

Foggy is there really just to set up Issue #4. True, I have the brief mention of Daredevil between Peter, Connors and JJJ, but I wanted something more, to introduce someone from DD's world before we see Hornhead for the first time. Sure, I could have had Matt attend this conference thing alone or with Foggy, but that would've hurt Issue #4. I tried to explain that Matt was invited to this scientific get-together, but his other life got in the way. Thus, Karen and Foggy attend. When we first meet my DD, he's kinda dancing on the edge. He's about to lose it mentally, I'm talking Born Again territory here. Foggy's like a bright spot, he's there to help Matt (and the reader) remember that there's still hope left. Since the next issue is all about how life as DD is destroying Matt, I wanted to at least get Foggy's intro out of the way, giving me more pages to devote to Matt's fall from grace. Again, maybe I made the wrong decision.


Reed and the FF...

I toyed with the idea of having Reed stretching; his fingers doing wacky things as he spoke to the audience; but I thought that mugging for the camera just wouldn't be in Reed's character. He's not Plastic Man. Even though his powers come very naturally to him, he just wouldn't do it for the sake of "oohs and ahhs". I did plan on having Reed's neck stretch like a giraffe's as he examines the Iron Man suit with Johnny, but I eliminated that scene. Plus, I wanted to play a little bit more with the "smoke and mirrors" mystique of Reed that the guy on the bus alluded to back in Issue #1. (That guy will reappear, by the way.) Are the FF for real, or are they just "actors"?

I still think Reed's line: "Nothing amazes me anymore, Otto" is a little out of character, no? Everything amazes Reed! But that scene and that line popped into my head and I loved it so much. Plus, that was one of the few panels that I was able to transfer to the page exactly as it appeared in my mind. (It's funny how rare a feat that can be for an artist).

Storyboards were tricky...and boring. Otto addresses audience; Tony turns to Johnny; Johnny responds to Tony; Banner looks sad, Banner looks frustrated, etc. "Quiet" scenes are harder to plan and draw than action scenes, no doubt. Don't let anyone tell you different.

I'm happy everyone seems to respond so well to that final page. It was originally going to be my "Page 1", but I thought it worked better as an epilogue. I also wanted the narration on that page to be ambiguous. It could be Otto, Reed, Tony, even Peter Parker narrating it. I always intended it to be Banner speaking, but it has a great universal message that any Marvel person could be speaking it, from Connors to Xavier.

I'm also not happy with the "Angel" cameo. It was very rushed (and it shows). I think the Dr. Strange cameo may have been lost on some who aren't familiar with his origin, but he plays a role later on so I needed to include some mention of him. Angel doesn't play a role, so why include him? The reason was to establish that mankind is changing (evolving), and these changes are frightening, for good or bad. As beautiful as Angel's appearance is, it's pretty scary when you think about it. I also wish the final "Bigfoot" panel didn't get shrunk down so much. It loses a lot when converted to grayscale. The expression on the old guy's face really sells the piece in the larger, color version.