Marvel Mondays: Five Questions With Marvel Writer Andy Diggle

Comic Vine talks to the Daredevil And Thunderbolts Writer!

  We had the opportunity to ask Marvel writer and British native Andy Diggle a few questions about his work on Thunderbolts, Daredevil, what it is like working overseas for a company like Marvel, and what his guilty pleasure is. Check it out below!

 

1. Being that you presently live in the UK, what is it like working for Marvel when you live overseas?   
 
These days everything's done by email and FTP, so it doesn't really make any difference whether my editor's in London or New York. Technology makes the collaborative process massively freeing. I recently did some work where I was writing in England for an American editor in Japan, with an Australian artist and a designer in New York. Gotta love that global economy!
 

•  Do you think it makes interacting with your editor difficult?
  

 
Wacker can still ring me up and yell at me if he wants to.  And believe me, he wants to.

 

• Would you ever consider moving to the United States? Why/why not?

I'd love to become an American citizen. "It's the chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure... "
The only thing that's holding me back right now is the fact that my daughter has just finished her first year at school here in England, and she's doing so well and has made so many friends, I'd hate to tear her away from that.

 

2. If you could take over writing any comic, (it could be any Universe, not only Marvel,) which would it be?

Nick Fury and Blade. Plus maybe some obscure characters from old-school 2000AD, like Joe Black or Orlok the Assassin.

 

3. What can you tell us about the film adaptation of your comic book ' The Losers' which will be hitting theaters in April 2010?

I could tell you LOADS... but then I'd have to kill you. We recently visited the set in Puerto Rico and met the cast and director Sylvain White, and trust me, it's gonna kick seventeen different kinds of ass. It's very faithful to the crazy action comic Jock and I put together. We were frankly freaking out seeing these characters we'd made up years ago suddenly taking on a life of their own, walking and talking and blowing stuff up!

•     Did you have any involvement or say in the production of the film or the screenwriting?

Yeah, when director Sylvain White came on board he sounded me out about the screenplay, and it looks like he's taken most of my suggestions on board. I've been pleasantly surprised at how faithful they've been to our original comic. It became very clear as soon as we met Sylvain that he wanted to steer very close to the book. I wish I could show you what we've seen, but we're sworn to secrecy!

•       Are you excited about the project?

 
Are you kidding? This is like six months of the night before Christmas for me! They have an awesome cast and a director who's hungry to show the world what he can do. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was born to play Clay, and Idris Elba is genius casting for Roque. Chris Evans was the best thing in the FANTASTIC FOUR movies, and he's hilariously cool as Jensen in THE LOSERS. And we all know Zoe Saldana is drop-dead gorgeous, but you've never seen her kick ass they way she does as Aisha.

 

4. You are presently the writer for 'Daredevil' and 'Thunderbolts.' Which book do you prefer writing and why? Is it more difficult to write a team book or a story focused on an individual character?

Honestly, I think I'm more comfortable with solo books. THUNDERBOLTS was an absolute hoot to write, but it can't compete with getting right inside Matt Murdock's head and taking him places he's never dared to go before. I've got some stuff planned out for him that's... uncompromising. It hopefully cuts right to the heart of the character, and defines -- and redefines -- what Daredevil stands for as a Marvel character.

 
 
5. My guilty pleasure is eating a pint of ice-cream (often in one sitting)...what is yours?

CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE multiplayer deathmatch. I gotta get my daily dose. MODERN WARFARE 2 can't get here soon enough -- but then Steve Wacker will have to yell at me even more...