Legendary Comics presents The Adventures of Jonas Quantum, an original sci-fi odyssey from two of the most exciting voices in superhero storytelling: Marc Guggenheim (writer of the hit TV series Arrow) and visionary artist Freddie Williams II (Justice League America, The Flash, Robin).
Meet Jonas Quantum: a maverick hyper-genius with the power to cure death in the morning, time travel in the afternoon and unlock transdimensional wormholes at night. And what have you done with your day? Blessed with the curse of infinite intelligence, there’s only one thing Jonas Quantum can’t do: play well with others. This thrilling 6-part action-adventure spans cosmic voyages, history-changing inventions, and delusions of grandeur.
CBM: You've been working in media the last couple of years. How exciting is it to get back into comics?
Marc: Yeah, I love comic books. I've always been a huge fan of media, and I've always enjoyed writing Comics. It seems like no matter how busy I get it's worth finding time to write a comic or two, because I enjoy telling stories in a public form so much.
CBM: Can you tell us how you came up with the idea of "The Infinite Adventures of Jonas Quantum"? Can you tell us a little about Jonas himself?
Marc: I was kicking around the notion for a new character. I was craving something I wasn't getting. Nobody was creating anybody new it was always reboots or relaunches. I was thinking about the characters I grew up with and one those was Indiana Jones and how Indiana Jones felt new and orginal even though it was an homage to the 1930's. How the Indiana Jones movies were inspired by James Bond. I would try to take an adventurer and have him be inspired by Indiana Jones. That is sort of where the idea came from. One of the things I admire about Indiana Jones were the characters intelligence and intellect. What if I took that to the nth degree an created a character who had incredible intelligence, sort of off the charts intelligence. That is were the idea started to germinate. Jonas is about solving problems and going on adventures. He is a guy that because of what he invented doesn't really have to work a day of his life. So to keep himself occupied he explores, problem solves for the goverment, he does what interests him which I guess in a way it is what also interests me. It's alot of fun to play around with all the different things this guy can do. The thing about this series that makes it unusal is that each issue is self contained, each issue tells a completly different story, and as a result the adventures he goes on can and will be always different. My goal as a writer is to never let him settle into a rutt, and each issue should be unpredictable and a little bit out there.
CBM: Sounds like Jonas can time travel. Can you tell us where and when this comic takes place?
Marc: It takes place in the present day. It's a present day that is shaped by all his inventions. So the 2015 of this book is a little more advanced, look at how Steve Jobs and Apple sort of changed the face of the world and apply that to it's logical conclusion with someone as inventive as Jonas. You sort of get a sense of how different the world has become. Each issue is different so you'll get time travel, parallel universes, pocket universes, and all different kinds of sci-fi concepts. Everything is up for grabs.
CBM: Jonas seams to not get along with other people. Does that make it a love/hate relationship with his character?
Marc: I hope it would be love. He is a super intelligent person so there is some arrogance to him, but what I think readers will find over the course of the series is that each issue will give you new insight to his life, his character, and his world. The thing about Jonas is his intelligence is a blessing and a curse because it keeps him from connecting with other human beings. So this guy that has more money than he knows what to do with, goes on adventures and sees incredible things that no one gets to see, also is incredibly lonely and is lacking human connection. So I hope that people will find some sympathy for Jonas, despite whatever arrogance precedes him.
CBM: You've worked with Freddie Williams before on "Justice Society Of America," how was it working with him again?
Marc: It's great Freddie came to this project with so many different ideas and each issue he tackled it with such enthusiasm and it's wonderful because so much of this book is really dependant on the visuals. It's sort of a throw back inspired by comics like Bond and Silver Age where everything was a little more bombastic then they are today. Whats fun about what Freddie is doing is it feels as big, epic, and widescreen as some of those Jack Kirby comics, but Freddie is doing his own thing.
CBM: You've worked with Marvel and DC Comics, how excited are you to see all your hard work come to fruiton, and was there one inparticular that was your favorite?
Marc: I have been very fortunate to play in both sandboxes. Whenever I am able to do anything that kind of sticks it's a huge thrill. I created an X-Men character when I did my run on "Young X-Men" called Ink. To see Ink on the big sreen in X-Men Days Of Future Past was incredibly exciting and defintely a bucket list item for me so it's always nice when you can do that. I am very conscious that I am standing on the shoulders of giants . More than anything I am playing with other peoples toys, so if I can occasionally add another toy to the toy box that's really exciting to me, but those are few and far between.
CBM: How excited are you to see how huge comic book movies and superheros have become?
Marc: It's gotten to the point where I think it has exceeded everyones expectations. No one I think saw this coming . I am old enough to remember when comic books where sort of frowned upon, they were the ugly step-child of the popular culture. I see these comic book movies and they have kind of actually filled two fantasies for me, one is that comic cooks are accepted as a legitimate art form and the characters that come out of them are legititmate elimates of popular culture, and the other is the universal fanboy wish fulliment of actually seeing these comic book characters come to life on the big screen and all screens. There's something about seeing these characters as live action characters. Now I am almost at the point where I worry about the bubble bursting, the pendulum swinging back the other way, but I think the nature of the comic book fans is to worry about the medium.
CBM: I'd like to ask about DC's Legends Of Tomorrow; Can you give us any insight on what we will be seeing this first season?
Marc: This show is so big and so much fun. The combination of all these characters it really makes for incredible rich tableau of story. Unlike Arrow and The Flash where it's about a single superhero and thier ensemble. This is multiple superheros and multiple supervillians and the combustable nature of these combinations make it so much fun. I think people will want to tune in each week to see which characters are getting paired up and which stories we are telling with them. It's always going to be exciting and very different.
Release Date: September 2015
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Freddie Williams II
Monthly series
Price: $3.99 single-issue cover price
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