KAXE interviewed Minnesota comics and novel writer Benjamin Percy, who’s writings include Wolverine, X-Force and Ghost Rider at Marvel, and predictably, they sugarcoat his resume:
Percy was excited to write two X-Men-related books during a big paradigm shift in the mutants’ world. For decades, the mutants and X-Men have represented marginalized groups in society. In this new storyline called the “Krakoan Age,” the mutants decide to start their own nation on the island of Krakoa. Percy was put in charge of X-Force and Wolverine to help kick off the new era.
“It would be awesome to write the X-Men at any point in history, but to be able to write it then was really exciting and really special,” he said.
The X-Force series was supposed to be the Black Ops team of Krakoa, or their version of the CIA. Wolverine was the head of their field operations, so the two series were constantly interacting with each other.
Percy credits comic writer Jonathan Hickman, who came up with the Krakoan Age idea, for being so generous to other writers in the X-books.
Going into the series, Percy would have more leeway than you would typically get in comics. Usually, writers are given the okay for five issues, and if they do well, they’ll get 10 issues, and if those do well, they get 15 issues, and so on. Hickman told Percy he would probably get 20 issues right away. Percy ended up doing 50 issues each for X-Force and Wolverine, and that’s not counting the crossover event books he worked on as well.
“So, it became a very novelistic endeavor,” he said. “And it’s one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever done.”
It sounds like Mr. Percy’s glossing over how overrated the run actually was, right down to how Hickman later admitted he wasn’t impressed with the finished product. But clearly, Percy saw nothing wrong with the retcons forced upon Kitty Pryde and Moira MacTaggart, if he’s got nothing to say about such directions. It’s not too surprising he could get to write as many issues as he wanted either; there’s surely only so many overrated scribes who get that much, based on how accepted they are by the PC establishment.
Percy found camaraderie in writing the X-Men books. He said the writers were in constant contact with a weekly Zoom meeting to discuss storylines. At one point, there were 16 different X-Men titles in process.
“Being part of a team of artists, being able to work with these incredibly talented people and the colorists and the letters, and you’re all just trying to make the best story possible together,” he said.
“Which counteracts my tendencies as a novelist, where I’m just alone in the dark, playing with my imaginary friends. It’s nice to be part of a team.”
Unfortunately, that “team” he was part of was little more than a bunch of yes-men, seeing where they really went, which was nowhere. A point can be made that, much like with Batman, there were too many X-Men titles in publication, and no doubt, all within the pamphlet format that’s long become outmoded. Not much talented about today’s writers, who were hardly trying to develop the best possible stories when they refuse to draw from today’s most challenging issues.
He was hearing “no” from comic publishers up until 2014. His comic writing debut arrived in two issues of Detective Comics, starring Batman.
“I put everything I had into those two issues, and things blew up from there. I was able to get Green Arrow. I was able to write Teen Titans,” Percy said.
“Then I jumped over to Marvel, and I’ve been writing Wolverine for Marvel since 2017. It’s gone from being sort of a twinkle in my eye and then a bit of a side hustle to dominating a lot of my time at the desk.”
If he had anything to do with the tedious storyline in which Wolverine was sent into the afterlife, what’s so special about that? I hesitate to think what his Batman, Green Arrow and Titans stories could’ve been like. What a surprise his 1st assignment would be on the Masked Manhunter’s titles. It’s a hint at the angle his storytelling could take, which has also been a sad staple of modern writing. To get into the business, I’d want to debut with Superman, and have it all start from a point where it left off in the early 2000s, since what came after in the wake of the repellent Identity Crisis was a disaster, it’s long gone without saying.
Also, a comic writer wants to put their unique stamp on the character and not do what’s been done before. There’s an elasticity to the story, but it can only go so far.
“I can’t suddenly have Wolverine pop his claws and start burrowing underneath the ground and become the ‘Mole-verine,'”
Percy explained. “I have to think about ‘What are the acceptable parameters? How far can I take this in one direction or another and not betray what’s come before me?’”If that’s what he thinks, does he find it ludicrous that Brian Bendis was able to write a story 2 decades ago where Wolverine was seemingly reduced to a skeleton from burning, then suddenly his whole flesh torso reintegrated? (I think it was in the 6th New Avengers issue.) If Percy’s not willing to take issue with Bendis for writing something that exaggerated and silly, he’ll never convince he understands what’s gone wrong in the years since. What Bendis did also made a joke out of Days of Future Past. There’s also something problematic with wanting to leave a “unique stamp” on a character, rather than offer the best possible writing/art efforts, because without convincing talent and a coherent point to begin at, what’s to be accomplished with what can be considered more a rubber stamp technique?
I think what’s wrong with Percy’s statements is that he didn’t take the job so he could mend the damage that’s become so commonplace with mainstream comics even before the early 2000s, but rather, just so he could have the pleasure of having his name credited to what’s considered a prominent title and franchise. In which case, he didn’t take up the career for altruistic reasons, one more reason why writers like him are so uninspiring.
Originally published here
English (US) · 