Q: How long have you been with Marvel, and what have some of your favorite projects been while working with them?
I started working for Marvel in 2005 and have been doing so ever since! It’s hard to pick favorite projects, but I’m pretty proud of my current ongoing series, AVENGERS ACADEMY. Also, WORLD WAR HULK: X-MEN was a ton of fun to work on…the X-Men fighting the Hulk for 3 issues. It was like I was getting paid to write fanfic! And my first Marvel miniseries, UNION JACK, is a sentimental favorite. I’ve been lucky to work with some amazing artists and editors.
Q: How did you get involved with the Captain America: Super Soldier video game?
TQ Jefferson at Marvel Studios called and asked me if I’d be interested. I said yes without hesitation – Cap is one of my favorite characters – and we were off to the races!
Q: How do you approach writing for a comic book versus a screenplay versus video games?
Video games are kind of a middle ground. In comics you have unbelievable freedom…anything you can imagine, you can do. There are no budget restrictions whatsoever. In screenplays, you have to be conscious of budget, but there’s something wonderful about having actors bringing the roles to life. In video games, you can do a lot, but there are some budget issues – you can only properly animate a limited number of characters, for example. But you do get the benefit of voice actors. So it’s got elements of both. And all three are extremely collaborative forms of writing.
Q: How much creative freedom did you have when writing for the game and were you tempted at all to stray from Cap’s Marvel roots at all?
There was a lot of freedom. The general setting of the game – a mountainous castle that Hydra has turned into a fortress – had already been decided, because you have to start building the location very early, but beyond that there was a ton of creative freedom. Not only was there no temptation to stray from Cap’s Marvel roots, I was specifically asked to suggest elements from the comics…cool WWII era villains we could bring in. I immediately thought of Iron Cross, an awesome but obscure Invaders villain, and the development team loved him, so that was a good sign right there.
Q: How did you go about incorporating elements of the movie into the game, and did you have to change anything as the movie went into production?
I did go to Marvel Studios and read the script (under armed guard!), because the game takes place in the same “world” as the movie. But there weren’t any production-related changes, because the game and the movie are separate stories. The game isn’t an adaptation of the movie, it’s a complete story of its own. I think that was a smart way to go, because that way you get to focus on making the best game possible, and the players aren’t just going through a story they may have already seen in the theater.
Q: In November I was able to travel to London to learn about the video game and they had nothing but great things to say about you, including that you were quite the workhorse. Was it difficult writing the dialogue for the three different versions of the game? Is there anything else that’s different, other than the dialogue?
Really? That’s nice to hear! No, I wouldn’t say it was hard writing dialogue for the different versions. Once I got my head around the feel of each game it was just a matter of coming up with entertaining ways of saying what needed to be said. As for differences, I know the Wii version is a bit more light-hearted than the Xbox/PS3 version…it seems like it has a bit of the feel of an adventure serial from the Golden Age of movies. I haven’t actually seen the gameplay of that one, but I’m really looking forward to it.
Q: How closely did you work with the development team at Next Level Games on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game?
Very closely…I went up to Vancouver and we brainstormed things like what villains would be good to have in the game, the storyline, that sort of thing. Because of the necessity of working ahead, things like the setting had already been determined, but I threw out a bunch of ideas for the storyline and what villains I’d like to see, the development team told me about various gameplay elements they were working on, and the collaboration went very smoothly.
Q: What type of issues did you run into working on the game (artwork, timelines, etc)?
The biggest issue was that I am a huge nerd and I wanted to cram about a zillion characters into the game. The developers very patiently explained to me that you can only animate so many, so there was no way we were going to be able to get the Blue Bullet in there. (That’s a VERY obscure Invaders reference!) But they were wonderful about listening to my suggestions, and that’s how Iron Cross made it in there, which I am very excited about. He’s not a well-known villain, but he’s really cool – kind of a walking tank – and I think people will dig him.
Q: Have you been able to spend much “hands-on” time with the game?
Playing it? Not yet. I did get to play the demo at New York Comic Con, which made me feel special because the public wasn’t allowed to play it yet, since it was in very early stages and if you took a wrong turn you’d walk off the edge of the earth. But from what I saw I loved it; it makes you feel like Cap. I love bouncing the shield off multiple enemies and using it to deflect bullets back at the shooters.
Q: What’s the single best, or perhaps funniest, moment that you can share with the ComicBookMovie.com users about your experience with the Captain America: Super Soldier video game?
The best moment for me was meeting Joe Simon, the 97-year-old co-creator of Captain America, at New York Comic Con. I’m glad I got the chance to thank him for creating a character that’s been so fun and inspirational to work with.
In Captain America: Super Soldier, players become Captain America as he faces the Red Skull and his Hydra army in an epic third-person action adventure set in the darkest days of World War II. Wielding Captain America’s legendary shield, gamers will engage in free-flowing combat and acrobatic platforming to infiltrate a mysterious castle overtaken by Hydra forces, where they’ll battle a host of nefarious enemies serving the Red Skull, including the infamous Iron Cross, Baron Strucker and Madame Hydra. Players must defeat the evil scientist Arnim Zola and his wartime experiments, combining powerful melee combos and shield attacks to devastating effect.
Captain America: Super Soldier is scheduled for release this July for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Wii and Nintendo DS.