Eric Ratcliffe and Jim McCann Discuss
New Avengers: The Reunion #4
Hey there readers! Welcome to the last (last for now at least) edition of Staves and Arrows where Jim Mccann and I discuss everything about New Avengers: The Reunion. This issue separates our heroes for the first half as Bobbi faces the AIM super scientists and Clint has an adventure underground. Oh and Jim even set's up a fun new status quo so let's jump right into things.
Eric: So Jim, with the last issues in the bag, everything is wrapped up and our heroes have a new status quo. What can we be expecting for them next? Will Brian be adding the costume tweaks and the over all changes to both characters in New Avengers?
Jim: What happens next? Well, we are looking at the best timing for a follow-up. The whole team is excited and ready to go. However, these two crazy falling-in-love-again heroes have quite the Fall & Winter ahead of them! Look for them in War Machine 8 in August and then in some things Brian has planned. Brian and Greg Pak have read my scripts and know where they have been left off, so look at those books for the next chapter. That's one of the things about playing in the big Marvel U sandbox- you have to give the toys back some times. Once the dust settles, if they are both still standing, we'll see what road lies ahead for them and for the W.C.A. Trust me, you'll hear about it the second I know when we get the green light!
As for the costume change, that is up to the editors, artists and writers. If nothing else, that costume is Bobbi's W.C.A. look, like Wolverine has multiple costumes.
Eric: Bobbi was extremely calculating in that fight and didn't let her emotions get the better of her. What was she thinking about the entire time? Just get the job done before her target could do any real damage?
Jim: During the fight with Monica, Bobbi was coping the best way she knew how- kick ass. She thought Clint was dead and was faced with the woman responsible. Also, Monica was trying to get into her head. When she & Dr. Miner come back to the scene of the explosion, she says that she can't deal with what happened to Clint yet. One thing about PTSD is that you get better at compartmentalizing, but you also run the risk of dissociating. I think she was dancing that line.
Eric: I remembered seeing the solicitations for War Machine #8 and thinking in my head "Jim totally got into Greg's ear" and it made me actually excited for the book, though I've been digging War Machine.
Jim: The West Coast "Reunion" in War Machine will be great! Greg is an incredible writer.
Eric: Did you get to see Bobbi's appearance inside of Captain America #50 with the rest of the team? I embarrassingly didn't realize that was her.
Jim: I haven't gotten a chance to see Cap 25 yet, but I will by the time this interview is posted, so let's assume I loved it (like I love everything Bru touches)!
Eric: I really enjoyed seeing Monica getting cocky and dropping her guard. Super villains sometimes, huh?
Jim: Monica was a lot of fun to write. I talked to Fred van Lente about using her when I first got this project approved. As she points out to Bobbi, they are like opposite sides of the same coin. I was surprised to see some fans upset that she was back from the "dead" with little explanation after M.O.D.O.K.s 11. Fred had always intended for her fate to be ambiguous until he or someone else wanted to use her, that's why she has the teleportation belt. She's a great villain & I am glad Fred gave his blessing for her to be alive & up to no good!
Eric: Clint found himself in a really interesting position early on in the issue. Loved his conversation with his new "friend" and I swear he'd find anyway to amuse himself.
Jim: Clint separated from Bobbi & the action was fun to write. Jeanine suggested we follow Clint a little more in this issue & I am so glad she did. No matter WHERE Clint is, he finds SOMETHING to do. In this case, it's talk to- and disarm- bombs! LOL
Eric: Do you personally think Bobbi would love to be the scientist she would have been if things had gone differently?
Jim: The life Bobbi could have had is something that fascinates me about her. I think deep down we ALL wonder what our lives would be like if event a or job offer x hadn't come around. I was almost a high school teacher of English & Drama at my alma matter, but that fell through. If it hadn't I would still be in Nashville, TN, and we most likely wouldn't be having these discussions. What if Bobbi hadn't been recruited by SHIELD? Or struck out on her own? Or become an Avenger? Who knows what would have happened, but I definitely think it goes through her mind- especially now that she is back & could start fresh again, be anything she wants.
Eric: So were their ideas that didn't make it into the mini? Scenes cut on the scripting floor?
Jim: Cut scenes? Oh yeah. But more like scenes that started out one way and ended up totally different. More in the earlier issues than in this one. Issue 4 was plotted out from the beginning for the most part and I would script whole scenes of it as I laid out earlier issues.
Eric: Did the police officer understand what Clint was saying even though it was in english?
Jim: As for the Spanish police understanding Clint, I'm sure get understand parts of it and the rest, Clint would know how to get his point across, language barrier or no.
Eric: I think my personal favorite scene in this issue and probably the whole mini was where you were able to say just why clint is a capable, intelligent leader with the dialogue nod to his time with some of the smartest people in the Marvel U. Was that a moment you wanted to map out to the readers the whole time and show some growth in the character? I know, for myself as a reader, I'd compare it to Dan Slott's reveal of how Hank knew about Tony's identity early on at least feeling-wise. It's a great nod to all the previous stories.
Jim: That scene was important to all of us (editors & myself). I had always intended to spend a lot of the first half of the series setting up Bobbi & showing everyone why she was cool & what her place was in the MU now. I wanted the back half to be about Clint being just as competent and showing why they work so well as a team. I wanted the final battle with AIM to echo the first encounter in issue 1, where Bobbi was in control. In this one, Clint and Bobbi were working together, showing how they compliment each other.
I seeded Clint's knowledge of things outside of just being an expert marksman in the first issue when he used Bobbi's cell phone to open the restricted access door in the hospital. This scene was a further pay-off from that. I recently got a copy of Clint's first appearance in Tales of Suspense #57 (thank you Jermaine, Stephen & crew at ACME Comics in Greensboro, NC, for the great deal!). In it, he sees Iron Man in action & says that he can do that just as well, and he whips up a whole quiver of tech & gadget arrows. He started out as a really intelligent guy so I wanted to remind people of that, as well as show how the characters can grow by working together over the years. I'm glad you liked it & it worked!
Eric: Oh and of course the moment leading right out of that, where he even shocks Bobbi with his plan. Do you think he was hesitant at all that it would work?
Jim: I think Clint rarely hesitates. That's one of the great (and worst) things about him. He sees his target, and he shoots. He thinks on his feet better than most people, and so he saw what was happening with the bomb and what they could do to stop it.
The stopping of the bomb by blowing it up and creating this beautiful heterodiamond (one of the only things on Earth that could contain the radiological effects of a chemical bomb like that) led to my favorite line of the series- Clint sees this explosion encased in crystal and says "It's us." A summation of their relationship and them individually.
Side-note, behind-the-scenes: I did so much research on dirty bombs, what goes into them, different ways of stopping them, Boron, shockwave catalysts, etc, that I am POSITIVE I am flagged somewhere in a database. To balance it out, I would run searches on rainbows, comic book history, and cute cat pictures. I either confused the database flagging me, disturbed them, or am now in a "special" category! LOL
Eric: So now we can finally talk about something I guessed right about last issue. Being Bobbi's jacket and Clint's cane, those were really cool. Loved the arrows popping out like quills and clint commenting about how he loved it.
Jim: The coat was very important to me. It was the thing that really solidified Bobbi as a super-spy-- the cool, tech built into her cover. I always pictured the two of them in this final battle where she was like a human quiver to Clint. But David turned in these AMAZING designs for the cane and the dress. The cane transforms & has a hawk head. I love that. The dress he said works by hiding the arrows in plain sight. It was a fantastic concept design. David Lopez is a genius at design & he loves it.
Eric: Of course the couple being outnumbered as they gained their weapons was pretty fun too!
Jim: For this battle, the stakes had to be higher and the threat more than in the first issue. If you look at the different types of goons David drew, you'll see some frightening, brutal, and hysterical ones. It's great!
Eric: Oh and Bobbi seeing Clint alive made me grin. I can see how everything pretty much came to you organically.
Jim: When Clint & Bobbi were split up (a bomb will do that to you), I had pictured that we follow Bobbi until the moment we see the flame arrow set off the fire suppressant system. Jeanine suggested we follow Clint a but, and I LOVE her for that because it really gave us an insight into his character. It helped give that moment of their reunion more a feeling of them coming back together, knowing that they are in this, just the two of them.
Both of these bring up things I find funny. In stories like this and others, I see some fans complain that an issue is all "set-up", as though that were a bad thing. That's absurd. Without the set-up, the events in the end make no sense. From the moment Bobi mentioned the coat in issue 2, we knew SOMETHING would pay off from it, and midway through issue 4, you see. That reveal would have been ridiculous and out of left field if the previous information hadn't been seeded. The same with Bobbi thinking Clint was dead. I knew he wasn't, you knew he wasn't', and I knew YOU knew he wasn't. But that doesn't me we should ignore how that would affect Bobbi. That's why the moment when she sees he's "whole" means so much more. Sorry for the mini-rant, just something I notice in this story and in a lot of story critiques from certain "reviewers" who confuse pacing and set-up as something that should be dismissed and not worth your #3 or $4
Eric: Well, let's get into that a little seeing as how this was your first real professional full on miniseries. A lot of the reaction online and in reviews has been incredibly positive. I don't remember seeing any negative ones?
Jim: I have been incredibly flattered and humbled by the reaction, both in sales & reviews for the mini-series. It's been amazing. The only real negative was in issue 3, some people thought that all of Bobbi's time on the Skrull world was narrated in her head by the Skrull Hawkeye and that confused
them. If you go back & read, it's all part of a monologue he is giving once he's recaptured her. The viewer is being shown what he's talking about, but that seemed to confuse some. That's really the only negative I've seen. People really enjoyed my take on them, and I'm so thankful!
Eric: Something I really want to get into you heavily with, was the pacing on the last 10 pages. Clint convincing bobbi to not just run off and give up on him again. It was interesting to see a new status quo for the two that honestly seemed like the old one with a fresh take on it.
Jim: That ending is what we've been building to. I wrote that out in a notebook before the first issue was even scripted. We wanted to make sure there was a status quo change for the couple & having them do the one thing they never did- date- gives us the possibility of a future remarriage while providing a lot of future story potential to draw from.
Eric: So here's hoping that they decide to lose the mask on the Ronin costume as I think Dave nailed a new look for Clint without the mask.
Jim: I can't say what will be happening to Clint but he's making quite a stir in Avengers, isn't he?
Eric: So the WCA has been set up in the Marvel U. Do you think we will see them used and referenced just like HAMMER, SWORD and ARMOR?
Jim: Regarding the WCA, like any group or organization in the MU, you hope that other writers find it interesting enough to pick up on it and use them. David & I have been talking a LOT about other members of the WCA and what WE would like to see, if given the chance. I know *I* want to revisit them and keep them going and growing.
Eric: For those wondering, will there be anything extra in the hardcover?
Jim: The HC will have character designs and sketches from David. He keeps a great sketchbook and draws every costume change or new look out, so you can see its progression. He also did this AWESOME design for Clint's cane/bow, how it transformed and everything. I didn't have room to show Clint using it that way, so you'll see its schematics in the HC.
Eric: So what can readers expect to see you doing the next few months Jim? back to focusing on the marketing side of things for a while?
Jim: In the coming months I will be hitting the road to do convention season. I have a few one-shots I am working on and some pitches in the pipe. I also have a very different project for me that I am really proud of with an artist new to the comic medium. Her name is JK Lee and you can see some of her art here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=32751644835&ref=ts
We're doing an OGN together. You'll see some art in the fall from it.
As to the question frequently asked- am I working on a follow-up to THE REUNION? Will I be using these characters again. Marvel Magic 8-Ball says "Signs Point To Yes" but stay on the look-out for an announcement. I hope. :) THANKS EVERYONE! This has been an amazing ride!
Eric concludes...
On a personal note, this has been a blast for me the last four months talking with Jim and reading each issue. Getting excited at the end of every month looking forward to seeing how he was going to treat Clint and Bobbi each new issue was great. Honestly, all the time I've gotten interviewing Jim, whether it was that first spotlight or finding him during New York Comic Con, I honestly think he's one of those writers that everyone needs to watch in the coming years. He's a great guy and I cannot wait to see the follow-up whenever Marvel let's him work on it. This column has been a blast for me and I hope people have enjoyed reading it. But that's all she wrote for now. You can catch more of Clint and Bobbi in the future thanks to Brian Michael Bendis' best Avengers book, New Avengers, monthly from Marvel!
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Eric Ratcliffe is a young writer/pop culture journalist/interviewer currently working on pitching a project named the Hunter chronicles. When not reading his weekly stack Eric can be found watching dvd's, playing on his 360 (gamertag: Zack Hunter) or just surfing online trying to find a scoop or two. Brand new to the Comic Related family, Eric is a fun new voice.
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