The Quarter Bin

Even though he’s been busy providing Marvel fans with Annihilation saga, and the continued adventures of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Andy Lanning took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for all you Quarterbingers. Hit the jump to see what Andy had to say about working with Dan Abnett, plans for War of Kings, and how they plan to leave their mark on the Authority.

They’ve been in the business for years, but really started capturing everyone’s attention with their storyline Legion Lost with Olivier Coipel. From there, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have, among other projects, gone on to tackle a complete resuscitation of underappreciated space heroes in the Marvel Universe. Despite being responsible for pretty much an entire galaxy, Andy Lanning was gracious enough to answer some questions I had about their projects and plans for the future.

You and Dan Abnett have had a big hand in reviving the grand space adventure
in the Marvel Universe. What was it about characters like Nova and the
Guardians of the Galaxy that made them so appealing to you?

DnA: Both Dan and myself have been huge fans of Marvel’s cosmic heroes ever since we were kids. Characters such as Warlock, Nova, Captain Marvel and the Guardians of the Galaxy were our favourites when we were reading comics in our formative years. Maybe we are attracted to the cosmic titles as were were raised on a diet of UK sci-fi comics such as 2000AD and Starlord. We both had read Nova and the Guardians from their first issues and it is a great privilege to write them now.

There seem to be a lot of old Guardians of the Galaxy showing up in the new
book. Any plans to bring some more back into the fold? Perhaps Charlie-27?

DnA: Check out issue 7 for an answer to that question!

You’re going to be tackling another space opera later this year with War of
Kings. What can we expect in the battle for the skies?

DnA: We’re planning a truly epic cosmic tale of warring species: it’s a battle for succession and territory. For the first time since we started writing the cosmic books, we get to link the Kree Empire and the other parts of the Marvel universe we’ve been playing with, with the Shi’Ar Empire from the X-Men titles. We’re also adding the Inhumans to the mix which should result in a unbelievable levels of action and excitement which will have ramifications throughout the Marvel Universe.

Please tell me there’s a chance for a Starjammers/Guardians of the Galaxy
team-up.

DnA: Given the playground we’re working in, that’s distinctly possible!

As far as memorable writing duos are concerned, you and Dan are making a
pretty solid case for yourselves. How do you two tackle the writing? Do you
alternate issues, or does one of you plot while the other scripts?

DnA: We get together once a week for a plotting session, where we run about with towels for capes and make up ridiculous sounds FX. Once we’ve exhausted ourselves doing that, we finally plot out an issue in a beatsheet, including detail of what’s going on each page, which Dan takes away to tighten up and script. This seems to work for us as we’ve been doing it now for some 15 years!!

Are there any characters back on Marvel’s Earth that you guys want to write?

DnA: Of course, Marvel has some of the most iconic characters in the industry and we’d love any opportunity to have a crack at writing them. We’re true work for hire whores and would jump at anything offered to us from X-Men to Dr Strange!

You’re now a Marvel exclusive, but you and Dan are still writing the
Authority relaunch for Wildstorm. What do you guys have planned for Jenny
Quantum and the rest of the team?

DnA: Marvel generously let us fulfil our outstanding commitment to Wildstorm, as we’d promised them 15 issues. Given the desperate straights of the Wildstorm Universe at present: having been laid waste by an apocalyptic catastrophe, we’ve got the chance to explore these characters from the ground up and see how they cope with survival in a wasted world and how they rediscover themselves as heroes. previously, the Authority watched over the planet as benevolent dictators with an arrogance that made them aloof and unsympathetic. Now they have been brought low and we get to see what they are truly made of and what they stand for.

It’s been said that every comic is somebody’s first. One thing I always like
to ask a creator is which of their comics they want to be someone’s first.

DnA: Of our recent stuff, we’;re very pleased with the first issue of Guardians of the Galaxy as it does what a first issue should do: introduces it’s cast, their mission and a cool villain plus the obligatory cliff-hanger ending.
If you can find it, we’re also very proud of the first issue of Resurrection Man.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, and The Authority can all be found every month at your local comic shop. Thanks again to Andy Lanning for finding the time to do this interview.

To find a comic shop near you: 1-888-COMICBOOK