First and foremost, who is Dale Glaser and what’s he doing writing at Marvel 2000? For that matter, what has he done elsewhere? What makes him tick?
I'm just another feral child of pop culture who's cumulatively lost years of his life to reading comics, books about comics, websites about comics, and so on ... and who clearly amuses himself way too much writing his own takes on all that rich tradition of material. If memory serves (and that's definitely the part of my mind I'm missing most these days) I got involved with Marvel 2000 when Dave Golightly reached out and contacted me, offering several open titles that for whatever reason he thought I'd be a good fit for. Ghost Rider got my attention, and thus began my nefarious run on that title.
I've been working at FauxDC since 2000, currently writing my creator-owned series Bad Blood as well as Justice League Europe and Catman, while in the past I've had stints on Green Lantern, Justice League of America, and various other mini-series and one-shots. I'm the editor-in-chief over there these days, too. I also have a run going at Marvel Omega on A.R.M.O.R. at present, and I used to scribe What If...? and Squadron Supreme over at dear old Avengers 2000. Plus various other little nuggets here and there, but to be honest I'm just embarrassed enough about the ones that should have amounted to more significant work but never quite went anywhere that I'll pass on checking them all down by name.
Who or what are these Secret Defenders and what’s so secretive about them? How are they different from the other two incarnations of Defenders in M2K’s history?
There's a shared premise between my Secret Defenders series and the 90's Marvel series from which the name is being appropriated: Doctor Strange gets up to lots of craziness as sorcerer supreme, and when he needs some back-up, he can bring together the right heroes for the job. The secrecy in question doesn't so much have to do with the identities of those heroes, or the visibility of the team, but more the environments in which they'll be operating. You won't see my Secret Defenders stopping drug deals or thwarting bank robberies, but rather dealing with the hidden, shadowy corners of reality that lurk behind the shiny facade most people accept as all there is. So real secrets-of-the-universe type stuff.
As far as who exactly these heroes are who answer Doctor Strange's summons, I think that finding out the line-up case-by-case is going to be half the fun of reading the series, so I don't want to give anything away! I will say that there should be a good mix of familiar faces and also more obscure denizens of the community.
The one common thread between the two prior M2K incarnations of the Defenders and my Secret Defenders will be Doctor Strange. Volume 1 of M2K's Defenders had a great old-school vibe to it with Strange, Hulk and Namor teaming up with Nighthawk, Valkyrie, Power Man, Daredevil and many more - it was definitely "Defenders Classic". Volume 2 primarily dealt with Howard the Duck, Aquarian and the Star of Capistan - it was totally "Defenders Surreal"! I expect Secret Defenders will be somewhere in the middle, with some nostalgic elements and some utter weirdness. It won't be the same-old same-old by any stretch.
Let’s establish a fact: heroes are only as crazy awesome as their villains. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, can you tell us what sort of forces of darkness the Secret Defenders will be pitted against?
That's a great point and a great question, so I hope that my answer doesn't come across as a cop-out. But here's the thing: what I really wanted to do with Secret Defenders is put together a line-up of heroes that no one has ever seen before, not just once, but basically with every new arc or storyline, as Doctor Strange constantly optimizes his gathering of allies for whatever world-saving business needs taking care of at the moment. That said, it's difficult to approach that premise via your usual established villains. If I went with, say, Diablo ... it's hard to figure out a justification for Doctor Strange to handpick his Secret Defenders, when the Fantastic Four and the Avengers have all dealt with Diablo before and could probably do so again. And that goes for everyone from Doctor Doom to Doctor Bong.
So there's a very good chance that most if not all of the villains in Secret Defenders will be original creations, some fiend or cabal that's never been seen before and thus requires a unique kind of response from Doctor Strange and his compatriots. I usually try to at least ground these creations somewhat in established continuity; for example, the villain of the very first arc across the first two issues claims to be the offspring of a Marvel deity most people would no doubt recognize. But as to the details, again, I don't want to give too much away!
All that said, there will be a handful of recognizable baddies who show up, but what role they play remains to be seen. I can't imagine writing Doctor Strange for any extended period of time without Nightmare eventually rearing his cadaverous head. Also, I don't necessarily have a story in mind just yet, but I'm hard at work trying to figure out a way to incorporate Chtylok the Che-K'n Kau into a Secret Defenders story. At least one of those previous two statements has a grain of truth to it!
Can you tell us what sort of stories you have in mind for the series? Was there anything that you just couldn’t do at M2K that you wish you could – or for that matter – didn’t think would go over well?
I've already been alluding to this, but basically the series is going to be comprised of a string of capers, with Doctor Strange as the main constant and connective tissue throughout. The arcs should be short and reasonably self-contained, so that any new reader can pretty easily jump on and have a very good shot at seeing a new team of Secret Defenders come together, save reality as we know it, and then go their separate ways. And then alongside that, maybe 10 or 15 percent ongoing subplots as a kind of bonus incentive for people who do read every issue from #1 onward. That's the intention, at any rate.
Of course as I've started writing the series I already find that difficult to stick to. It's all well and good to plan on incorporating certain characters only for very brief arcs, but I tend to find myself getting attached to some characters as I write them, and I don't know how I'm going to keep letting them go after brief tenures with the team! On the other hand, if I don't hold myself to that part of the bargain, and meanwhile keep putting together more and more new strikeforces, I'll end up with a book weighed down by a twenty-hero roster or something. So clearly something's gotta give. The only way to find out is for me to write 'em and you to read 'em!
I feel like I have plenty of freedom at M2K, so there was never anything I had to set aside as undoable. The main thing I tried to keep in mind was how to keep a series going even if I end up going into some long stretches of non-productivity, which I'm well aware of being prone to. Hence the short, self-contained arcs, because I don't want to leave readers hanging or, worst-case scenario, abandon the title with so many impossible loose ends that no one else could make heads or tails of it. I do have some very fuzzy ideas about a longer-form Secret Defenders epic that would be a blast to write and hopefully enjoyable for people to read, but that's just not likely to see the light of day since I can't imagine having enough time to really do it properly. But you never know!
Your run on Ghost Rider was the first successful one in M2K’s history prior to four failed attempts by other writers. How badass does that feel? Would you want to revisit the character again in, oh, I don’t know… Secret Defenders?
I guess we're grading on a curve here in calling my Ghost Rider run a success, based on the fact that I set out in issue #4 to carry on with some of the subplots from the prior three issues and ended up telling one long, involved, more-or-less complete story by the time I wrapped up with issue #13. It doesn't feel entirely badass to have needed over four years to write ten issues! But I am proud of the story I ended up telling, which really was remarkably similar in final form to the earliest ideas I had way back in late 2007.
I have some pretty clear early childhood memories of reading a few of the original issues of Ghost Rider and the character made a huge impression on me that has always stuck with me. So I'm very fond of Ghost Rider, especially the Johnny Blaze version, and chances are pretty good that sooner or later, of course I'll want to revisit him! It does just so happen that Blaze should be making a cameo appearance as soon as Secret Defenders #3, not because he'll be joining the team but because he has some unfinished business to take care of with Doctor Strange. Still, once I've established a foothold in the series for the Spirit of Vengeance, will he see more action down the road? I wouldn't doubt it!
Do you have a favorite title at M2K? If so, tell us a little bit about it! What is it, who writes it, and why do you dig it so much, sucka?
I did quite enjoy Alan Strauss's Fantastic Four series, and it's kind of a shame that he's wrapped up his run on that book (or ... has he ...?) because I felt like he really got the characters and brought a lot of creativity to the endeavor as well. To a large extent, I feel like various superhero comics/fanfics are interchangeable because they follow the same basic formula: villains launch plots, heroes get wise to them, heroes and villains trade punches and/or energy blasts to resolve differences, repeat. But Fantastic Four should have a different formula, which I don't think is a revolutionary concept, it's certainly been noted before. There's the family aspect, of course, but again most superhero books have evolved to the point now where the lines between teams and family-like constructs are indistinguishable. Fantastic Four's distinctive niche is actually its science-fiction leanings, the fact that the FF are as much explorers and scientific trailblazers as defenders of innocent lives and property. And that's something I think Alan was mighty good at, getting inside Reed's genius and setting stories in wildly exotic locales and so on.
Name five ways that Wong puts the “man” in “manservant!”
Heh, heh, heh. Wong is pretty cool, a gold-standard supporting character. Let's see ...
1 - He's directly descended from someone who was the tragic hero of the War of the Wizard Kings in another dimension.
2 - He possesses martial arts skills potent enough to qualify him as bodyguard for the Sorcerer Supreme.
3 - He has survived coming face-to-face with Dracula, the Shadow Queen, Urthona, and the New York City subway system.
4 - He as equally adept at brewing up oolong tea and an Elixir of Watoomb.
5 - He looks damn fine in silk.
Yeah, I'd say he's pretty much the man!
Hey, thanks for chatting with us today! Is there anything else you want to say about your upcoming Secret Defenders or any other work at M2K? Now’s your time to let it all out!
My pleasure! The only thing really left to say about Secret Defenders is that I hope people check it out, enjoy it, and let me know! Thanks!
Secret Defenders #1 by Dale Glaser is set to release this Monday, May 14th, 2012!
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