Comics Interview — Issue #062

Harras discusses the launch of the new Wolverine solo series set in the fictional Far East locale of Madripoor, stressing that Wolverine will be portrayed as a moody loner in civilian clothes rather than a costumed hero — a mood piece inspired by Terry and the Pirates — while insisting the character will retain nobility and not become a gratuitous killer. He talks candidly about editing Marvel's top-selling X-books, the challenge of maintaining character integrity across guest appearances, the bi-weekly X-Men schedule, and the demands of the Inferno crossover. Harras also reflects on writing Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D., which evolved from a standard comic format into a bookshelf-format limited series.

Buscema explains how he came to Wolverine without knowing the character's popularity, consulted Chris Claremont directly to understand the character, and designed the black body-suit costume himself. He draws parallels between Wolverine and Conan in terms of mood and physicality, discusses his new Silver Surfer graphic novel with Stan Lee (entirely in splash pages, which he found limiting), and reacts with strong opinions about the mistake of breaking up the Fantastic Four. He also reflects on teaching a comics art course and his philosophy of figure movement.

Williamson recounts how financial pressure led him to shift from pencilling to inking, first for DC (inking Curt Swan's Superman) and then for Marvel. He describes his approach to inking over the very different styles of John Buscema (*Wolverine*) and John Romita Jr. (*Daredevil*), expressing deep admiration for both. Williamson voices concern about increasing violence in comics, arguing that suggestion and choreographed action are more effective and more appropriate than graphic gore, and discusses his Star Wars newspaper strip years and his collaboration with Reed Crandall on Edgar Rice Burroughs illustrations.

Vogel warns about a Washington, DC phone line established for armed-services members to report colleagues with "foreign accents," noting that far more civilians than servicemen are calling it; he argues this is an incremental erosion of civil liberties analogous to the surveillance state in 1984.

A multi-issue ongoing debate between reader T.M. Maple and associate editor Darrel Boatz on the definition and limits of censorship; Boatz announces he is writing a longer piece on the definition of censorship for future publication.