An Interview with Doom DeLuise about the implications of New Avengers #31

JIM DOOM: Hello, Doom. Thank you for joining me for this interview.

DOOM DeLUISE: Not a problem, old chap.

JD: First off, did you read this Newsarama interview with Brian Michael Bendis? (editor’s note: You can read the interview here)

DD: Are there spoilers in this?

JD: Yes there are, so if you haven’t yet read New Avengers #31, don’t read that interview.

DD: I have read the comic in question.

JD: Very well. The interview I present to you is about what it means for…Elektra to be a Skrull.

DD: Yeah, I read that. I think it’s some interesting spin. I wonder if they really have been planning this all along. If they have, that’s really cool.

JD: I do think they have, because think about Daredevil – Bendis worked with like a 60 issue plan there.

DD: If Bendis really has been planning this all along, well, shoot. That’s maybe the coolest thing I’ve heard in awhile.

JD: I think people like Bendis and Millar enjoy the work they do too much to just half-ass things. I really do think they get off on these big-picture scenarios.

DD: You do realize, though, that guys on the internet will be like, “Oh, this is just revisionist history. It’s a way to just wash over two years of awful storytelling.”

JD: Oh, certainly. But people who stick to that just won’t enjoy anything, don’t you think?

DD: Indeed.

JD: I would like to get your thoughts on this. Another reason I’m inclined to believe it was planned is because Marvel started laying the groundwork for this after the time that DC was getting praised for their several years of planning for IC.

So it seems reasonable to me that Marvel was like “Ok, they got us on this one. Let’s start laying some groundwork for something big to happen in 07-08.”

DD: Meanwhile, DC was like, “Marvel’s making more money than us by doing these half-assed things with characters who act irrationally. Let’s just do that through 07-08.”

JD: Quite, quite!

So I was thinking about recent characters to come back from the dead. Do you think Mar-Vell is a Skrull? Wasn’t he a Kree?

DD: Yeah, Mar-Vell was, is, whatever, a Kree. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and somehow got a fucking spanish version of his entry. It made even less sense than Wikipedia usually does

JD: Like I was saying before, I don’t care if it was planned or not. Even if it wasn’t, it still shows some good creative ingenuity to see this editorial mess and figure out a way to do something positive with it. At least they didn’t say “We have a mess, let’s have a Crisis!”

DD: That should be DC’s next big crossover. “Infinite Mess”

JD: Or “2 Year Mess,” since it wasn’t, you know, infinite. 52 is actually quite finite.

Now, this is a long question with a lot of set up. Personally, I don’t really care if it was planned or if it was revisionist to clean up mistakes. If it makes for good stories, I’ll like it. Even if it was planned, it still has the potential to be executed poorly.

What’s brilliant about this is the same thing that was brilliant about DC’s multiverse – it gives the creatives at Marvel a chance to give storyline justification for bad editorial and creative decisions of the past.

This quote from Bendis is what makes me excited about continuity stuff: “That’s what I’m all about here. You bought the comic, and we told a story that now, if you chose to, you could go back and enjoy your comics on another level.”

He continues to say, “But what’s a less stable Marvel Universe? One with government sponsored heroes, or one without? One with a strong Avengers, or one without?”

To really do this Skrull invasion right is a great idea, and letting these other big events happen placing heroes as the antagonists is brilliant. I also agree with this comment on that thread: ‘i’m just glad they’re not making skrulls responsibel for CW but more like the skrulls saw CW brewing and were like “Yes, we are jumping now. Go time folks!”‘

DD: I thought you said you had a question.

JD: Oh yeah. So, do you think that’s cool or what?

DD: Yeah. Fuckin’ a.

JD: Indeed.