Another Way To Breathe

6th August 2012

Post with 53 notes

Iron Man

(Crossblogging this, as - y’know - new book)

In November 2012 myself and Greg Land will be launching IRON MAN. Popular character. I think he’ll go a long way. You can read my first interview about the book over at Marvel.com, where I talk to Ryan Haupt and download a selection of things that are rushing through my head about him. I suspect if you read it, you’ll see early versions of things I’m polish up into the diamond-hard catchphrases by the time we get nearer release. This quote I think speaks to my intent most…

I can only write books that are personal. You never turn the character into you but you look at what parts of you are in the character. Tony is asking questions of the universe and I’m using Tony to ask questions of myself.

It’s radically different in approach to Fraction and Larroca’s run, for the simple reason I think they took the corporate angle as far as it can reasonably go. This is Iron Man as adventurer and knight and… oh, let’s just have a quick burst of words. This is hyper-intense bursts of adventure and the future. This is about reclaiming the single issue story in the context of a larger narrative. This is me finally writing a single-character hero book for Marvel. This is abo questions, answers and big old fights. This is about as many suits as armour as I can make up. And villains - lots of new villains, each speaking to a weakness in Tony. This is about an awesome moustache. This is about sex and gender, men and women, and Tony’s problems herein. This is about mistakes. This is a love letter to everything I’ve ever loved about a dude wearing a powered exoskeleton and saving the world. This is is the theme-tune of the first arc:

And the video speaks a lot to the mood of it as well. A selection of influences, both conscious and unconcious: That video. The ABC Warriors. Ellis’ Extremis. Space Hulk. Lovecraft. Dick Fosbury. Arthurian Grail Knights. Arthur full stop. Greece in an age of Rome. The Apollo missions. The Right Stuff. Metroid. Turrican. That panel with Tony in the last issue of AVX. The redesign of the Living Laser, as it was pretty damn awesome. R Kelly. Telstar by the Tornados. Magazine’s Shot By Both Sides. And on and on and on. It’s a rush of a book, designed to use up ideas at a massive rate.

The interview’s here. Go read. Lots more later.

Tagged: Iron Man Kieron Gillen