As Marvel continues to explode into the world of animation, so does the career of writer Craig Kyle, who, along with frequent collaborator Chris Yost, who has been involved in most of the company’s recent animated efforts. His credits as writer and/or producer include the series Fantastic Four, X-Men: Evolutions and the forthcoming Wolverine and the X-Men, as well as the made for DVD films Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2, Next Avengers, The Invincible Iron Man and January’s Hulk vs. (which as the green giant going up against, separately, Wolverine and Thor).
AVENGERS ON FILM: How does it feel to be doing these films and series; chronicling the adventures of these characters?
CRAIG KYLE: The easy answer is that I’m one of the luckiest guys in the world. The longer version is that’s it’s really, really tough and for all the best reasons. We have the harshest and toughest fans and critics in the world, and for good reason. These people that we try to bring these shows and direct to DVD and films to, have been given some of the best stories out there in the past. I’ve been reading comics for over 25 years, as scary as that is to say, and in that time I’ve read life-changing panels. I can say that because when I was a kid and I picked up my first book, up until then I wanted to do Disney animation. The second I found the X-Men, my whole life changed and here I am working for Marvel. These characters and these stories have huge, huge meaning to our fans. To be a fan, to grow up and to be able to carry on the next chapter in these characters’ lives is an honor, it’s terrifying and it’s a hard job. It’s everything and anything anyone can imagine, but it’s fantastic. And the neat thing is that in places like Marvel, you find fans of all different kinds of characters and groups. We have people who grew up with Spidey, I grew up with X-Men. Although we’ve all read various titles, everyone has their favorites. There’s this rich collection of people who have different personal stakes in the world that we write and work on. It’s a dream come true, but it’s one that we earn every day we’re here. I feel like that’s the job in front of us: we have to keep delivering, we have to do honor to the work that has been done before us. It’s daunting, but the best job I’ve ever had in my life. It’s tough to describe, but it’s a wonderful job and I’m grateful for it.
AVENGERS ON FILM: I do know that feeling. Even as a journalist I get to interview people involved with film, TV and comics – and many times I’m able to tap into my childhood doing so. It’s an amazing feeling.
CRAIG KYLE: Absolutely. I’ve had more fanboy moments now than I did when I was a kid. I still trip out when I sit down and people want autographs on comics I’ve worked on or they want to talk about shows I’ve worked on. I’m still in awe of the creators of these things. These are the people that inspire me. I tell people I’ll always be the kid on the other side of the table with my books in my hand. I’ve never forgotten that. I’m still that guy. I still struggle with being on the opposite side of the table. It’s just such a treat, man. Besides saying our fans are tough and they can be harsh, they are also the sweetest people I’ve ever met. I can’t say that I’ve ever been confronted or met somebody who has gone out of their way to say hello to me…even someone who was nervous with what I was doing with a character or storyline…who hasn’t been gracious. I still think that San Diego Comic Con is the nicest place to live for those four days. It’s fantastic. It’s a gig where you’re surrounded by the sweetest people whether they be fans or creators or something in between. It’s amazing to be able to say that you’re a nerd or a fanboy or a comic book fan; I love those terms. I grew up with those books. I’ve got pictures in my high school yearbook where I’m holding up comics. I was wearing the T-shirts back then. I just love this stuff. The nice thing is that the bulk of the people there are true fans and it’s a great place to be. We’ve been able to bring so much of our work to that fan base, and that is the most nerve wracking and exciting time to do this, when they get to put it on screen for the first time and you get to see how the audience reacts.
AVENGERS ON FILM: Were you at Comic-Con for the screening of HULK VS. WOLVERINE?
CRAIG KYLE: I was. I had the honor of emceeing, so I went up in that 5,000 Hall H – how huge that place is! It was amazing. I think we had 4,500 people there, which is our biggest screening by 2,500. It was amazing. The reaction was better than we’d hoped. A hell of a way to kick off Comic-Con.
AVENGERS ON FILM: Were you watching the audience watching the film?
CRAIG KYLE: I have a tough time sitting down; I often find myself standing up when it’s showing and it’s nerve-wracking. We walked to the side of the hall and we looked out at the audience. The screen’s playing to our right and our eyes are on the audience, trying to see what they laugh at, what they cheer for, what they don’t react to. It never fails: they get excited by something you never predicted. It was great; the audience responded the way we’d hoped.
AVENGERS ON FILM: What are the challenges of adapting these stories to film? DC is doing those made for DVD movies and they take a lot of shit for things like SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY, because they didn’t have the time to do an exact adaptation, so they did more of an “inspired by” type story.
CRAIG KYLE: The adaptations are tough. Of all of the projects we do, the direct adaptations are my least favorite. I say that because it is such a daunting task. When you’re moving through and you have something that’s six issues or 12 issues or more, you’re going to have to lose things. There’s just no way to make a clean, precise and fulfilling journey if you try to keep every panel and scene that made the comics so great. You have to make those tough choices. I feel for the guys across the street; they do a wonderful job over there and you couldn’t find a bigger Bruce Timm fan than me. He’s a great person to keep the bar high and he’s someone we always look to. And I also think we’ve really come in to our own on this side. Everyone struggle with this. We tried adaptations of the first two films – ULTIMATE AVENGERS – but it was still kind of a hybrid. There were some issues in THE ULTIMATES that were so great, that were a little tough to tackle on our first outing. That’s why we brought the Avengers name into it, and I think we succeeded in a lot of ways. I think the first few films were a little bit of a growing up process for us. I think when we got to DOCTOR STRANGE, we fell into a groove. Then we got a little cocky and tried to make a younger piece with NEXT AVENGERS, which turned out to be far better than we ever hoped for and the fan reaction was extraordinarily supportive, which, again, was a huge surprise to us. We have not done another adaptation, although we will be with our eighth film. I can’t say a lot about it, but it’s PLANET HULK. I think it took us that long to ask whether we wanted to try again; to try and take something that’s very loved, that was hugely successful, and try to bring it to life in animation.
LOOK FOR PART TWO OF THIS INTERVIEW ON WEDNESDAY IN WHICH CRAIG KYLE DISCUSSES HULK VS.