Q&A WITH JOE QUESADA

Are there plot points in a story that you wish you could have changed after publishing?

No. At the end of the day, no. We publish what we publish and some things sell, some things don't. But we never published in fear and I think I don't regret a single one of the things we've done, because at the end of the day, the only way you can get better is by making those mistakes. So each, you know, each success, each failure is something that you add to the learning process. So no, wouldn't change a thing.

What has been a dream project for you to work on and have you been able to complete that dream?

So I've had a lot of dream projects I've been lucky enough to be a part of. I am working on one right now that will hopefully be completed sometime this year. So yeah, you know, I literally every, every new project that I take take on is a dream project for me. That's why I'm doing it. I've been fortunate enough my career to get to a point where I could sort of pick what I want to do and call my shots. Hopefully that continues. But yeah, I've done a lot of them and this next one is really the next one, so I hope you dig it. I can't tell you a thing about it though, so I'm being cryptic on purpose.

I am sure you get this all the time... but when are we getting more Ash?

For those of you who aren't familiar, Ash is a project that I created back in 1994. There are currently no plans to do anything with Ash at the moment, but I never say never.

As a person who wants to become a comic book artist, what steps did you take in order to get that position?

Literally, the steps I took are probably the steps that everyone has to take, right? Everybody breaks in a different way, right? You meet somebody, you show portfolio, but the steps to get there are the same steps you take If you want to be a success at anything, you just got to work your butt off. Want to be a writer? You've got to write. You've got to write every day. You cannot skip a day. There's no there's no off days like in the gym. You want to write or draw? You get to draw every single day, even if it's just a doodle. Having talent is only a portion of it. It's having the desire and the initiative to keep going. That is really the biggest part to anybody being successful in any medium.

Out of every comic book cover ever produced, which is your favorite?

You know, I'm going to go to probably the cover of I want to say was Spider-Man 97, was it 97 or 98?  That was the first issue of the of the the, the Spider-Man drug issues were Harry Osborn got high and only because I was the very first comic my dad bought me. So I remember those covers fondly, I believe was Gil Kane and John Robbie to Senior on those covers. So I'm going to go with that because that's left an indelible mark clearly in my mind.

What was the driving factor behind you spearheading the Marvel Knights movement?

First of all, we didn't know it's a movement. Actually, I still don't know that it's a movement. Marvel Knights, we just we wanted to do some books. Marvel gave us the ability to do four titles that we picked, and it turned out to be pretty successful, and I guess people are calling it a movement, or at least Adam, you're calling it a movement, so I'm good with that. But the impetus was really we just wanted to tell some good stories, we wanted to make a living and we had the opportunity. When it came up, we took it. So that was it, man.

As a writer & illustrator, what do you enjoy more?

Oh, man, it's a great question. It's funny because it changes day to day. There's some days where I just love writing and some days where I just like, I don't want to see the keyboard. I just want to draw. I do a little bit of both every day, regardless just because you've got to keep sharp and you got to get keep building those muscles. I guess it depends what I'm writing, what I'm drawing. So let's say I want to write a story where 100,000 aliens come over a hilltop to battle the superhero team. I'd rather be writing that. I don't want to draw that for the obvious reasons.

What are some of the accomplishments during your time as Editor-In-Chief and CCO at Marvel that you are most proud of?

Can I say that I'm in Philadelphia today? I'm at FAN EXPO Philadelphia. I've been asked this question I think five times today for different interviews and just fans in general. And the answer is really it's cumulative. It's the entire time that I was at Marvel, which is 22 years, where again as CCO and Editor in Chief, I got to work with the most brilliant creative minds, just incredible people in business and in the creative world. And in that time, I learned a lot. We did a lot of great stuff, whether it was comics, TV shows, movies, you name it. So to me, you know, I look at it all as a whole and hopefully, you know, when my tenure was done last year that I left the characters in better shape than when I found them when we were in Chapter 11. I think I can say that actually. I think we definitely left it in better shape than they were in Chapter 11.

Do you forsee a day where DC and Marvel are one company?

 No. Well, maybe. I don't know. Let me put it this way. I never say never, but I have no empirical knowledge, right, as to whether that would ever happen. But you would have to consider that the only way that would probably happen is if either Warner Brothers bought Disney or Disney brought Warner Brothers and I just don't see that happening. Plus, you know, I'm sure the government may have some antitrust things to say about that. So I think it's farfetched to believe that that would happen. But stranger things have happened. But that would be really, really strange. Oh, by the way, also let me say, I don't think would be good for comics for that to happen. I think it's good that the companies are separate and there's competition.

What was it like getting to direct the first episode of Slingshot & what was it like getting to work with those incredible actors?

Guys, I didn't write this question, really. So, Barrett, I thank you for bringing that up. Slingshot actually won a Webby, right? When I heard that we won a Webby, I was like, "Hell's a Webby?" Since then, Webbys are like a thing, right? It was awesome. It was awesome. And it came at a time where, you know, as Chief Creative Officer at that time, I'm working on a lot of people's projects. I'm sort of the person behind the scenes. So it came at a time where, you know, I didn't have any books out. I started to feel a little bit more like an auteur where even though it wasn't written by me in any way and I'm not performing it on screen, but I storyboarded the whole thing and I felt this level of control over a product that I hadn't had in a long time, even though it is a team effort, it's not like I have total control. And so it was really exciting. It really, really was. And when it was over, I wanted more of it. And that's why I did a short film during COVID just to see if I could do it on my own. It's called Fly. Actually, if you go to my Substack, you could actually see the trailer for Fly. It's hit the festival  scene. It's got to do a bunch of festivals, won a few awards here and there. So thank you for allowing to make this incredibly long and shameless plug.

Favorite hero/villain to draw?

Hero to draw has to be Daredevil or Batman. You know, they're just really cool to draw. Favorite villain to draw? Mephisto. I really enjoyed drawing Mephisto. Yeah, I loved drawing him just like tearing Spider-Man's heart out and childhoods everywhere were destroyed. I'm kidding, of course, but he is fun to draw. 

What advice would you give to creators out there, unsure of where or how to break into the industry?

My advice is simple. Anyone who's broken in has broken in because they just have an undying and an unbreakable will to make it. It surpasses talent. It really is just desire. Desire and having talent helps. But desire will put you in the place that you need to be, and you will eventually break in and not everybody breaks in the same way. Actually, you know, I've gotten into debates with some some folks that no one breaks in the same way. Once you've gone through a certain path, that path is taken and closed. Everybody takes a different path. It might just be a variance of it. But they're all very, very different. If you happen to break in at some point, Alex, you know, your path will be nothing like mine, but it will be your path. Your path only. So you just have to keep at it. It's really that simple.