Jeff Parker Interview
July 2007

Jeff Parker is the critically acclaimed writer whose credits include Agents of Atlas, Spider-Man/Fantastic Four, Marvel Adventures Avengers, and X-Men: First Class.  Parker frequently collaborates with artist Leonard Kirk.

Interview conducted by Christopher Hoerdemann 

Let’s start by getting some background information on you Mr. Parker. At what age did you take an interest in comics?
Three? Four? As soon as I could.

Do you remember your very first comic book that you read?
It was probably a Fawcett Dennis the Menace, but I can't remember exactly. I couldn't read yet, and comics really helped me learn.

At what point did you decide that you wanted to work in the comic book industry?
At about 14. That's probably when I came to the realization that I couldn't BE any of the characters I read about, and would have to settle for making stories about them instead.

How did you break into the industry? What was your first published comic?
I drew some things for free, like almost everyone has to at first. The first book I was printed in was Poets Prosper from Caliber. Nate Masengill, who inks many comics, adapted The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde and I drew it. It's much easier to get work drawing instead of writing, because people can tell if you can draw at a glance, and they don't want to slog through whole scripts.

   

Now, moving on to some more current stuff! You are the writer on the X-men First Class ongoing, and the mini series by the same name that preceded it. That mini series was a huge success. What about that story do you think made people enjoy it so much?
I think a lot of fans feel like they've had to just write off the original five because their team wasn't as popular as the next line up, and they're glad to see them getting the full spotlight again. And others seem happy that we've made the book easy to jump on, which can be hard with an X book because of all the continuity. We're trying to make the most of the relatively clean slate we have to work with.

What’s the best part for you as a writer being able to play in the "early X-men Years" sandbox?
Making them real people. To me, the mutant characters have often suffered from being at the whim of plots that are about showdowns with other characters. And then characters are only judged favorably by how much destructive power they have. XFC gives us a chance to scale it down some, make the world a little more real in ways, and see in depth what it's like to be a different kind of human.

What’s your favorite character to write as a young x-man or x-woman? Why?
It changes all the time. At the moment I'm liking writing Marvel Girl because I think I'm getting more of a voice for her.

   

You also wrote the critically acclaimed Agents of Atlas mini series. I’m not sure how excited people were when the series was announced since it dealt mostly with more B and C list characters from early in Marvel’s history. After people actually read the comics though, it became a huge hit. What process did you employ to take these B and C listers and turn them into fan favorites?
If I had a process, it was pure indulgence. First I took into account most of the character's appearances, and then started looking for a logic that would connect them all. Then I just started thinking of what stories that I would enjoy, and luckily there are readers who share my tastes. That's really always the right way to go about it- try to entertain yourself first. Also, no matter where characters rank in recognition levels or comics history, once I'm writing them I become convinced that they are what it's all about. As far as I'm concerned, the Agents of Atlas are why the Marvel Universe even exists. If you don't think that way when you're on a title, you don't have any business writing that book.

Your credits also include Marvel Adventures Avengers, and Spider-Man/Fantastic Four. For the most part, these are all ages titles. Do you enjoy doing more all ages stories, or do you have a darker side to your writing sometimes as well?
I think there really needs to be all ages books or our industry will die out. Especially with super heroes. But I also like more mature stuff, and I do write that, as in the mini-series "Walk-In" from Virgin Comics. Ideally I'd like to bounce between both.

You’ve worked on the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four............since you’ve gotten your hand in quite a few of Marvel’s biggest cookie jars already, what other hero, or group do you want to tackle that you haven’t yet?
Hmm. I like Dr. Strange, but really any of the magical characters would be appealing.

   

To this point in your comic book career, what project that you’ve done are you most proud of and why?
My graphic novel The Interman. I was making the kind of story I wish there were more of in comics, and it had a lot of personal significance to me.

Can you give us some teases about what we might see in your ongoing books in the months to come? How about some teases about some new projects that you’ll be working on?
There could be big green people involved, and the kind of folks who stick to walls.

Final Question: What is your dream comic book project (what character(s), collaborators, type of story, etc.)?
I don't really have any certain thing that would make me say "Ah. At last!' I'm really more psyched about working on a variety of subjects and genres. Like, I would enjoy doing some horror for a while. And if I started rattling on about collaborators I'd like to work with, we'd be here all day. But a few that would be great, while we're dreaming: Juanjo Guarnido, Claire Wendling, Kevin Nowlan again... there's so many.