ASSEMBLING THE YOUNG AVENGERS WITH ALLAN HEINBERG

Allan Heinberg might not be exactly what you think. While he may work on hit shows like Sex In The City and The O.C., he is also a comic book fan. Part of a new generation of comic book writers like Geoff Johns, Joss Whedon and J. Michael Straczynski who have come from other mediums to write comics for one reason: because they love comics. Now he is assembling a new group of young heroes who want to try and find out what being an "Avenger" truly means.

ComiX-Fan: Marvel has been keeping their cards pretty close to their chest when it comes to Young Avengers. What can you tell us about the book?

Allan Heinberg: Marvel has been extraordinary at both promoting the book and keeping its closely-guarded secrets. I honestly could not have asked for a more supportive and nurturing publishing environment in which to write my first comic book scripts.

That said, I can tell you that Young Avengers is about a team of young heroes on the brink of adulthood who’ve banded together in the wake of Disassembled to confront a formidable Avengers foe now that the Avengers have technically disbanded. AND I can also tell you that each of these young heroes has a secret — as well as a direct tie to the Avengers themselves OR to Avengers history.

CXF: Comic book fans can be particular when it comes to retcons or things being inserted into history off panel. How do you take a new character and interweave them into comic book history without having it seem forced into continuity?

AH: It’s always a tricky proposition, isn’t it? The Marvel Universe is already so vast, how do you introduce NEW characters and have anyone care about them? How do you get readers to invest their time and hard-earned cash in characters (and in a writer) they’ve never heard of before?

With Young Avengers, the answer for me was: the Avengers.

The audience is already deeply invested in the Avengers, and so am I. So, the Avengers themselves — their history, their uncertain future, and their legacy — are at the center of Young Avengers. That’s why this book isn’t New Warriors. Young Avengers is a book about what it means to be an AVENGER. And if readers are invested in the Avengers, I hope they’ll be invested in these kids’ relationships to the Avengers.

And as a continuity-hound myself, the last thing I wanted to do was force new characters into an existing history. Happily, though, there were enough dangling plot elements and unanswered questions in Avengers’ history to provide plenty of inspiration for new characters.

Young Avengers #1 PreviewCXF: Is the cast going to be compromised of all new characters or will there be any familiar faces showing up in the book?

AH: The core team is made up of four newcomers to the Marvel Universe — though there will be plenty of familiar faces in the book’s supporting cast: Jessica Jones, J. Jonah Jameson, several former Avengers, and many more...

CXF: Any chance of getting some of the code-names for the new characters that will be appearing? Lately I’ve found myself referring to them as Private America, Thor Lad, Iron Boy and Hulk Jr.

AH: The kids’ code names (when we meet them) are: PATRIOT, ASGARDIAN, IRON LAD, and HULKLING.

CXF: Joe Quesada has said several times that Young Avengers is not what we are expecting. With so much of what it is being kept for the release, can you tell us what not to expect?

AH: Don’t expect Teen Tony. And don’t expect the book to be Marvel’s answer to Teen Titans. The folks at Marvel and I have an enormous amount of affection and respect for the work Geoff Johns and Mike McKone are doing on Titans, so everyone involved with Young Avengers has taken great pains to make sure YA is its own book with its own voice and point of view. That said, I hope the audience is able to set aside whatever preconceptions they may have about the book and experience it on its own terms.

CXF: Outside of Young Avengers you are also currently a writer on the hit show The O.C. Do you find it hard to switch gears and write in the Marvel Universe as opposed to The O.C. Universe?

AH: I did. Especially at first. If only because when you start a project like Young Avengers, it requires a tremendous amount of research and planning and TIME — the one thing there is NOT much of in television. But the good people at Marvel have been extremely generous and patient with me, and writing the book has become more pleasurable with each successive script.

CXF: How far ahead do you have the future for Young Avengers planned?

AH: Right now, we have the first twelve issues planned. And I sincerely hope that healthy sales and reader interest will justify plotting the next twelve.

Young Avengers #1 PreviewCXF: What is the core audience that you are trying to attract as a reader of Young Avengers? Are you writing with any particular demographic in mind?

AH: I actually wanted to build a book that would appeal to longtime comics fan as well as newcomers to comics; one that Avengers fans and non-Avengers fans would enjoy. Mostly, though, I wanted to write a book that I’d have fun reading every month. A book that was utterly respectful of Avengers history without having its stories be dependent on the readers’ intimate knowledge of that history.

CXF: How has it been working with Jim Cheung?

AH: Working with Jim Cheung is maybe the most fun I’ve ever had. He’s an ideal collaborator. Smart, funny, brilliant, and a complete gentleman. He has an endless supply of terrific ideas. And his work is spectacular. Beyond my wildest dreams. Honestly, I cannot say enough about the man’s talent. You should see the smile on my face when he sends me new pages. I could not be more grateful to C.B. Cebulski and Joe Quesada at Marvel for bringing us together.

CXF: Since we are dealing with some brand new characters, or at least new character designs, what sort of process did you and Jim Cheung go through before finally getting to what we see as the finished project?

AH: I think that by the time Jim got involved, I had already written a series pitch for Marvel that included the character descriptions and the stories for the first two issues. Jim and I met on the phone shortly thereafter and spent a lot of time talking, bouncing ideas — and JPGs — back and forth. It all happened remarkably quickly. And Jim’s designs were truly awe-inspiring.

CXF: You have also been working closely alongside Brian Bendis while writing Young Avengers. What has this experience been like?

AH: Working with Brian has been a dream come true for me. I’m a huge, huge fan of Brian’s work and I have to tell you, he’s been nothing but generous and encouraging and inclusive. AND he lets me ask him all the geeky, fanboy questions I want about Jessica Jones and Deena Pilgrim and Night Nurse.

CXF: How long have you been into comics and what originally pulled you in to the medium?

AH: I’ve been into comics since I was maybe seven years old. And, somewhat ironically, I got into comics through television by watching Super Friends and Wonder Woman and Adam West-Batman reruns as a kid in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The first comic book I ever bought with my own money was Wonder Woman #212, the first of her twelve labors to rejoin the JLA. After that, I was hooked.

Young Avengers PromoCXF: You have worked in the television industry for quite a while, how is the comic book industry typically viewed by others in that industry? Has their outlook changed since the recent blockbuster super hero films such as Spider-Man or X-Men?

AH: In terms of pure economics, the success of the Spider-Man and X-Men films have definitely given comic books more cachet in Hollywood. But the television networks are still trying to figure out how to do super heroes on the kind of budget and schedule that doing twenty-four episodes a year requires. It’s a tricky proposition, but not impossible. Joss Whedon and company did it year after year on Buffy and Angel — and beautifully, too.

CXF: Are there any other characters that you would like to get the chance to write?

AH: Absolutely. Marvel’s been great about allowing me to guest-star my favorite Marvel characters in Young Avengers. And in the DCU, I’d love to write Wonder Woman someday. And Barbara Gordon, the JSA, the Legion of Super Heroes, Nightwing, the Question, the list goes on and on...

CXF: I have also read that you are friends with Geoff Johns. A lot of comparisions have started going around between Young Avengers and Teen Titans/Young Justice. Has the idea of a Young Avengers/Teen Titans crossover ever came up?

AH: Geoff and I have definitely talked about it over dinner, but we’ve only ever gotten as far as "Man, wouldn’t it be cool if..." And I’d love to do it — if only because it’d be so much fun to work with Geoff.

CXF: Do you have any other projects coming up in the future?

AH: No comics projects right now. But I’ve been talking to Warner Bros. Animation and the Cartoon Network about developing a super hero project for them. After that, I’m writing a movie script (WITHOUT super heroes) and a musical (WITH super heroes). And with any luck, more comics...

Young Avengers #1 will be on sale on 9 February 2005.