Matt Fraction Interview
March 2007


Interview conducted by Christopher Hoerdemann

Okay, lets start with the big question everyone's asking. You write The Punisher, and the Punisher seems primed to become the next person to don the Captain America garb (or something similar). How does Frank Castle, a man with no problem killing people, fill the boots of Captain America?
I think Frank Castle would be the first person to tell you that nobody, let alone him, could ever fill the boots of Captain America.

Is there going to be a bit of synergy between Captain America's book, and your Punisher book? If so, what kind of interactions will they have?
No, not in terms of an outright crossover or anything like that. Thematically, though, I suspect we're both exploring the space left behind in Steve Rogers' absence. Frank discovered he had a hero, and he discovered he admired him even more when he discovered there was a man beneath the mask. Now that he's gone, what does that do to someone like Frank? 

   

I am willing to assume that the Punisher book will be quite a bit more popular now with Cap getting capped, and the Punisher picking up the mantle. How much freedom did you have with the title since its launch, and how much less might you have now that the Punisher is a pretty important character in the Marvel U?
Well, again, that's a pretty large assumption-- are we looking at what someone like Steve Rogers leaves behind? Yes. Are we continuing to explore the relationship between Steve and Frank as set up in the first three issues? Yes. Will you hear Frank ask if the A on his head stands for France? No. I've had an awful lot of freedom since starting. There were some landmarks that I knew CW was going to establish (I knew in, I think, April of last year that Frank Castle was going to pick up the Cap mask in the wake of CW #7) and it was being given the greenlight to play in that space that made me want to go after the job in the first place. I think the only thing that, content wise, were a couple of lines of dialogue that were a little raw. Let me say this: the costume change is the LEAST CHALLENGING and LEAST CONTROVERSIAL thing in the story arc.

Has the pressure been amped up on you now? It's a pretty big task that you seem to be taking on, so do you worry that you might make some comic book fans mad?
I think it's impossible not to make some fan mad somewhere, because whatever you're doing is gonna be different from whatever their favorite run was. I've gone into ego quarantine, to tell you the truth. I've seen a few reviews or read a few things here and there, but I don't want to turn into one of those guys that can't write anything without consulting reactions on 17 fan sites. There are stories I want to tell. I hope people give us a chance, and I hope that if they like what we've done, they trust they'll like where we're going.

Sometimes writers know that they are going to tell a controversial story. Do you have that feeling now? Yyyyyyyyyyyyyeah. Yeah. Maybe a little, yeah. 

   

What's working with Ariel Olivetti like?
Oh, man, I love it. He was on my wish list of guys to work with, and he was available and on-board from almost day one. I've been writing the book for him. I'm an Ariel Olivetti fan, so I set out to write the ultimate Ariel Olivetti book.

How long will we see you guys collaborating for?
Until someone somewhere writes the Venom & Hulk Punch Each Other In The Face Forever book for him to draw.

You also are one of the writers on Iron Fist. That title has gotten rave reviews by me, and the comic book community. How did you and Ed Brubaker go about taking that character, and making him more than just a joke like he was for quite a few years?
I think because we realized that, at his core, Danny Rand was a totally awesome character just waiting for someone to come around and rock the hell out of it. Color us insane, but "Kung Fu Billionaire" kind of makes for the perfect comic book character. 

   

Do you and Brubaker share duties when it comes to scripting and plotting, or does one of you plot, and the other script (or something like that)?
There's a lot of back and forth. We talk a lot, someone jots notes or outlines, and eventually the script starts rolling. Sometimes one of us will call dibs on one scene or the other (I wanted to write the Wu Ao Shi stuff, Ed called dibs on the Severin flashback). It's a really organic process, honestly. Ed gets the final pass and tends to make these micro adjustments to the dialogue that smoothes the whole thing out.

How did the idea of showing the Iron Fist throughout history come about?
That was the seed of the idea in Ed's head. There as an old issue of IRON FIST where Lei Kung showed Danny the costume and talked about the legacy of Iron Fist... Ed wanted to write a book that gave the character a rich history and a kind of gravity that as a Marvel spoliation character he didn't necessarily have.

We've seen a couple of them (Iron Fist's) in the first three issues. What others can we expect before the end of this arc?
You'll see a Davos history and just some of the incredible life story of Orson Randall.

Iron Fist is now a member of the New Avengers. Will the Iron Fist title be tied to events in New Avengers, or are you going to write the Iron Fist book as its' own entity, without being bogged down by the Avengers?
Me and Ed routinely shoot Bendis in the face via Xbox Live, so we're all pretty in sync with one another. You don't need to read one to understand the other or anything, and it all makes perfect sense with our plans for Danny. Besides, Iron Fist is now a f*&^%$# Avenger! How sweet is THAT?!?

What kind of stories can we expect after the end of the first arc of Iron Fist?
There's the story of Wu Ao-Shi in #7, and if I told you what came in #8, you'd know what happens in #6 and we don't want anyone to know how "The Last Iron Fist Story" ends.

Are we going to see some Luke Cage/Danny Rand cooperation as a throwback to their old Heroes for Hire days?
GOD YES.

Any upcoming projects you can tell us about?
THE CHAMPIONS! Me and Barry Kitson! California-based superhero mirth in the mighty Marvel Manner! CASANOVA v2! Me and Fábio Moon! Mind bending spy-ence fiction the way YOU demanded!