Comics Interview — Issue #095

Langen, who won the 1990 WGA Award and Humanitas Award for The Wonder Years, discusses writing the screenplay for TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze, detailing its collaborative development with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in Northampton. He covers the plot's focus on the ooze's origins, new characters Keno and Professor Jordan Perry, the physical limitations of the Turtle suits, and the challenges of on-set rewrites. Langen also reflects on leaving television to pursue a feature-film career.

Vess discusses the origins and creation of the Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth graphic novel, explaining how his love of Scotland inspired him to set the story there and how the Hellfire Club came to serve as villains. He talks about incorporating Mary Jane at Marvel's request, his cinematic approach to color and shadow informed by classic film noir, his environmental/ecological themes, and his ongoing collaboration with Rob Walton on the Nordic saga Skade.

Part one of a career retrospective covering Colan's early freelance work at Quality Comics, DC, and EC through the early Marvel Age, including Hopalong Cassidy, Ben Casey, war stories for Warren/Archie Goodwin, and the landmark "Marvel method" with Stan Lee on Iron Man, Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. Colan discusses his film-influenced visual style, his preference for spontaneous panel-by-panel storytelling, his difficult early years with overbearing editors, and his collaboration with Don McGregor on Black Panther.

A brief editorial reflecting on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' popularity with elementary-school children as evidence that comics characters can connect powerfully with new generations, while noting that many educators still look down on the medium.