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Working
Magic With Warlock:
An Interview with Greg Pak on his new Marvel
project...
Writer/Director
Greg Pak had been kind enough to let me interview him on his
outstanding feature film Robot Stories.
When news of Pak, along with artist Charles Adlard, reviving
Warlock for Marvel Comics came across the news desk at the
Fanboy Planet office, we went back to one of our favorites
and asked him a few questions on his next big project.
Fanboy
Planet: You’ve gone all Kevin Smith
on us and are now writing Warlock for Marvel. How long have
you wished to live the fanboy dream? Are you just using
this run as a way to get Marvel to let you direct Spiderman
3?
Greg
Pak: It is indeed a lifelong dream. I've been a
comics fan and a cartoonist almost as long as I can remember
-- somewhere in my parents' house there are two comics I
drew at the age of three or four -- the first starring Superman
and the second involving a lonely dragon who "went
electric."
Over
the past year, I've been working with various editors at
Marvel trying to find a project that would click with me
as a writer. It's incredibly exciting for me to have it
all actually happening. And yes, I requested that the Spiderman
3 clause be added to the contract, but I'm not sure
it made it into the final draft.
Fanboy
Planet: So, Adam Warlock is one of those
old school characters that seem to be popular for revival
right about now. What’s your take on him?
Greg
Pak: Cory Sedlmeier, the Marvel editor I'm working
with, had this great idea of taking Warlock back to his
almost-forgotten origin way back in Fantastic Four
#66 as the creation of a team of mad scientists who want
to save the world from self-destruction by establishing
a utopian dictatorship. We're starting with the notion that
the scientists are trying again, and this time they're determined
not to let their creation escape them.
Fanboy
Planet: How much of the previous Warlock
material did you examine? What did you think of the Jim
Starlin Warlock? Where are you going that's different from
that run?
Greg
Pak: As a teenager, I read Starlin's first Warlock
run when Marvel did the deluxe reprint and enjoyed it hugely.
In Starlin's hands, Warlock was one of Marvel's cosmic characters,
having most of his adventures in a kind of mystic, metaphysical,
outerspace world.
In contrast,
the new book represents a kind of rebirth for the character
right here on Planet Earth. He'll struggle with the themes
he's always struggled with -- primarily, the question of
how even a "perfect" man handles nearly god-like
powers -- but it'll be in a more real-world context, more
science fiction than fantasy, if that makes sense. Hopefully,
new fans will be able to jump right in while hardcore Warlock
fans will enjoy the book's new angle on themes which are
vital to the character.
Fanboy
Planet: What’s next for festival film favorite
Greg Pak? Are we gonna see another film out of you anytime
soon?
Greg
Pak: I've been working on a short film for the
Nike website which will should go live in the next month.
Should be fun -- got to work with special effects and flying
aliens and other nifty wingdings.
And
as always, my producers and I are trying to raise money
for my screenplays "Rio Chino" and "The Dead
Boy." Wish us luck!
All
right, Greg, good luck. He's
promised to speak with us again when his next project is
made public.
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