Coming in June, from Dynamite comics, is JUSTICE INC.: THE AVENGER, written by Mark Waid and drawn by Ronilson Freire. Byron Brewer talked to Waid about this book and how it all came together.
BYRON BREWER: Mark, congratulations on this new book. How did Justice Inc. come about?
MARK WAID: I’d called dibs years ago with Dynamite on this. It was really that simple. Take the job from me, you die -- a pretty straightforward statement.
BB: I am really excited about this book because I know what a great character the Avenger is and yet he is one of the lesser known pulp age heroes. Although he has starred in a handful of Dynamite titles, what steps will you take to introduce this hero to modern audiences?
MW: Honestly, even though I know the character and his mythology backward and forward, I sat down and made a concrete list for issue one of all the things readers needed to know who’d never read about Richard Benson before and I wove it into the story. The format of this series is a little different than usual -- it’s very heavy with captions and light with dialogue because that’s the old pulp style. Made it easier to get a lot of information in too!
BB: Were you a fan of this particular character, Mark? How does this iteration differ from those of past Avenger tales?
MW: I was always a fan, have been since I was twelve and read The Green Death on vacation. Honestly, it doesn’t break with previous iterations -- if anything, it’s the most faithful-to-the-pulps version yet.
BB: Will you be picking up any continuity from previous Dynamite Avenger adventures?
MW: Yes, but without making a point of it. I don’t want any new readers to feel like they can’t jump right in. The one tweak I made to Michael Uslan’s Justice, Inc. series was reintroducing Benson’s gun and knife, Mike and Ike.
BB: Justice Inc. usually refers to the “team” assembled around the Avenger’s crime fighting adventures. Who do we have in #1?
MW: Fergus McMurdie, the sarcastic chemist. Smitty the giant and Nellie Gray, the martial arts expert that Smitty swears he doesn’t have a crush on. And my favorites, Josh and Rosabel Newton, the African-American members of the team, polymath geniuses who, because of the pre-Civil Rights era in which the story is told, are always mistaken by outsiders as “the help” and soldier on nobly nonetheless, enjoying the looks on people’s faces as they realize just how bigoted they’re being.
BB: Why is Ronilson Freire the right artist for this exciting new book?
MW: He captures the period beautifully without losing the energy of the action. What a gift, this artist!
Check out JUSTICE INC.: THE AVENGER when it hits stores in June, 2015.
JUSTICE INC.: THE AVENGER #1
Writer: Mark Waid
Art: Ronilson Freire
Genre: Crime Noir, Superhero
Publication Date: June 2015
Format: Comic Book
Page Count: 32 pages
UPC: 725130233585 01011
ON SALE DATE: 6/3
Meet Richard Henry Benson--the Avenger! His pallid features forever deadened by a criminal act, he is the ultimate master of disguise and uses his skills to mete out retribution to those who would prey on the innocent! But can even Benson triumph over an Invisible Man...? Fan-favorite writer Mark Waid - who is hotter than ever thanks to his work on Daredevil and Star Wars: Princess Leia - brings his personal favorite pulp hero back to comics with all-new, explosive adventures!
"Having the opportunity to dive into the psyche of a crimefighter as unique as Benson has been a lifelong dream," says Waid. "I've been thinking about what his life and mind would be like ever since I read my first Avenger paperback back in the day. How does a man live his life when he has nothing to live for but justice? How does he navigate in a world of life and love and joy when his own features are frozen and stiff like putty, mirroring his cold, dead insides? I've been aching to write this story!
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