Off the Record...

Writer Daniel Way has found his niche. If there is a Marvel character a little on the violent side, he's taken a stab at him. Now, in addition to being bestowed with the daunting task of revealing Wolverine's Origins, he is charged with bringing back Ghost Rider to his first on-going series in a decade - just in time for a major Hollywood movie. We recently chatted with Way on his affinity toward the rougher characters, how he came up with "Planet Hulk," and which character he could write for life.

CBEtc: Wolverine. Ghost Rider. Punisher. Bullseye. Nighthawk. Hulk. Sabretooth. Venom. When Marvel needs a story about one of their more violent and vicious characters, do they have your number on speed dial?

WAY: It would seem that way, doesn't it? I think [Axel] Alonso, my editor, knows how I work and he knows what kinds of stories I am best suited for. At this point, I am the go-to guy for the morally ambiguous, overly violent characters, and that's cool. It's nice to be good at something.

CBEtc: Considering your experience at one point or another working with Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Hulk, and a little bit of Spider-Man, are you proposing a story to Marvel to bring back the replacement Fantastic Four [as seen in the classic FF #346-347]?

WAY: [Laughs] That hadn't even occurred to me. That's funny, only if I can- I want Spiderman to have the bag on his head. That's really got to be it.

CBEtc: You wrote the final three issues of the original Wolverine series in 2003. Now, three years later, you came back to write the “House of M” story which led to “Origins and Endings” and currently your Wolverine Origins series. Did you have a feeling you would come back to Wolverine someday?

WAY: Well, yeah. When I did the fill in issues [at the end of the first volume], it was one of those things where Greg Rucca and Derrick Robertson were [launching a new Wolverine series] but they didn't quite have their ducks in a row yet.

So Axel called me and he asked me,' well how do you feel about doing a fill-in issue?' I said, 'I feel pretty @#$%-ing good about it.' And I had an idea for a short story. It was a short story called 'Down the Road.

I turned it around real quick. I wrote it in just a few days and then I got a call from Axel again and he says, 'Since you turned this around so quickly, we can actually use more lead time. So do you have any other ideas? I had only been doing this a couple of years and I was not going to pass up an opportunity to write Wolverine.

I was sitting there watching 'Law and Order' and I was like, 'I will have something immediately.' I came up with what was basically my 'Law and Order' story with Wolverine kind of shoehorned into a story called 'Good Cop, Bad Cop.'

I banged that one out and I think I turned in those three issues inside of two weeks. The whole time we were working together, Axel and I had always talked about doing the Wolverine book together. That is just a character that I liked. And Ghost Rider was on that list as well.

When it was time to pick the new writer for the Wolverine books -Mark Millar's run was ending - I knew that I was Axel's choice for the book, even though it was not quite a majority. What really pushed it over the top I think was Mark Millar had been reading the stuff that I was doing with Steve [Dillon]. He was reading Bullseye’s Greatest Hits. And he read [Supreme Power] Nighthawk and he mentioned to the people that he works with Marvel, 'you know who would be good on this book is Daniel Way.'

CBEtc: Had you met him before at this point?

WAY: No. He is just a standup guy like that. And I think that between Axel’s recommendation and Mark Millar’s - I think I have enough credit in the bank at Marvel, just enough for them to kind of give me the shot. When I came on it was through the 'House of M' stuff. Immediately, they were like, 'Where would you take Wolverine?'

I thought, 'Well, I might not get another chance to do this, so if I am going to do this I am going to absolutely make the most of it. So, I pitched them this story which is essentially 'Origins' and I knew it was a whopper. It was one of those things where they were going to love it or they were going to hate it.

There was no “Plan B.” I didn't have a fallback plan. It wasn't like, 'If you don't like that idea I have another idea.' I had no other idea. So, I pitched it to them and I spent a long time doing the research on it.

CBEtc: You were down to mapping out the Wolverine entry in the Marvel Handbook, looking for patterns in his history. You obviously did a lot of research. You asked Marvel if you could put a suggested reading list in the back of each issue.

WAY: It kind of made sense. And I'll tell you what, I liked it when that used to be in the books [when editor’s would make reference notes throughout comic stories]. Now, I like it better at the end of the book. When it's right there on the panel is kind of knocks you out of the scene, you know what I mean? But when you put in these footnotes, it makes the Marvel Universe seem more cohesive. If you want to know about this, then go read this book. You open it up and there it is.

CBEtc: Do you think if fans actually went and checked out the reference they could see how your stories are coming together by reading the materials?

WAY: I think that it just adds more to the story, both the back issue and the current issue, you know? As we get deeper into this… I know that there is one thing that you can't find in the back issues but really the pattern is going to emerge very soon, this pattern of control. I just think that it is satisfying as a reader and everybody tells me that they love that, retailers, fans. They all go, 'Man, that was a good idea.'

As much as I would love to take credit for it, it is not exactly an original idea. I just remember, because [Wolverine Origins] is just so steeped in continuity I just mentioned a suggested reading list to Axel.

CBEtc: In Wolverine Origins #4, where did you get the idea for Captain America to crush Wolverine’s tendons in his forearms so that his claws wouldn't work?

WAY: I wanted to have a fight between those two guys that had some realism to it and that was respectful of both characters. You've got two master technicians. You always try to think from a character's point of view - if you are going to fight, if you are going to go toe-to-toe with Wolverine, it is good to have a plan. So you just kind of think, 'What would that plan be? What would be the one thing to worry about when you are fighting this guy?'

It is the claws. You have to get those out of the picture. The same thing when he and Winter Soldier fought [in Wolverine (Vol.2) #39]. Winter Soldier snuck up behind him and handcuffed him, effectively taking the claws out of the picture.

With Captain America, he went a different route. I guess it just occurred to me. I think with 'Origins' you get the benefit of the best of both worlds. Because we are doing more of a real world kind of grown up version, story here. It hits pretty hard. But then the thing with Captain America taking out Logan's claws, crushing the tendons in his arms, I mean the book has only been out today and I have already gotten- I don't know, 18 or 19 e-mails about it, and three phone calls.

CBEtc: The "Origins and Endings" story arc and now "Born in Blood" have been building toward something huge for Wolverine. Is Wolverine Origins #5, the final part to "Born in Blood," the big revelation?

WAY: This is one of many to come, but this is a big one. This one is going to sell out. And, frankly, I am stunned that no one got wind of what we are doing in that fifth issue. But I guess I shouldn't be. They got away with the unmasking of Spider-Man and nobody saw that coming. Or at least nobody spilled the beans on it.

So, yeah, I mean we have some big stuff happening in that fifth issue. And this is really going to tee up - this is something that Logan is going to be dealing with for the rest of the series. Yeah, it is big. It is hard to talk about without kind of spilling it, but it is going to be interesting to hear the chatter about that one. [Laughs]

CBEtc: Marvel said they wanted you for the new Ghost Rider series because your proposal created just a wicked twist to Ghost Rider's mythology. 'It will generate years of stories,' is what they said. When will we get to see what they were referring to?

WAY: Well, it all comes into focus in the fourth issue, which is when we kind of lay the groundwork for the stories to come, at least in the meantime. Obviously there is a movie coming out so we have to kind of avoid it. We don't want to have any major contradictions.

But once the movie comes and goes, I have planned to really shake things up for Ghost Rider.

CBEtc: Is this twist that they are referring to, that has nothing to do with the movie?

WAY: It does not have anything to do with the movie. It probably completely contradicts the movie. [Laughs] It is a two-stage thing -the book is going to be set up to tell Ghost Rider stories from the get-go. And when I say Ghost Rider stories, I mean we want to see Ghost Rider on the bike, on fire, kicking ass, right? We don't want Johnny Blaze stories. We want Ghost Rider stories.

So the book will be tuned up for that with the first arc, completely set. But as we go along that path we will - and again this will happen after the film - just when things start to get kind of comfortable we have got this built in swerve where we are going to really throw everything for a loop.

I can't wait. I think is going to be one of those moments where - it is one of those big 'oh crap' moments.

CBEtc: Is this twist going to be a shocker for longtime fans that didn't see it coming, or will it be more of a logical evolution of the character?

WAY: I think it is going to be shocking to everyone, especially long-term fans. I think they are going to be shocked that they didn't see this coming sooner.

CBEtc: Is it something more of, 'Gee, why didn't someone write this years ago? It makes sense.' Or is it totally 180 degrees?

WAY: It was one of the first things that I thought of when I started cooking up ideas for the character, so it is one of the first things that occurred to me. But, then again, I am not a guy who has been a comic fan for 20 or 30 years.

CBEtc: Will we be seeing Danny Ketch or any of the supporting cast from the previous Ghost Rider series in this one?

WAY: Yeah. One of the big things that I wanted to do with this series is to address a lot of the stuff that happened with the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider because it got extremely convoluted and confusing there toward the end of that series. So we will be addressing the Danny Ketch situation.

I don't know if we will actually be seeing Danny Ketch because his ending seems to have been already written. They had written him out of the series. I don't want to make it more confusing. I am looking to streamline it.

So we will take care of all of that stuff. At the end of the day, the book is called “Ghost Rider.” So it is not as hard as it would seem to reconcile everything.

CBEtc: You never really read comics as a kid. Did you ever see the Ghost Rider series from the 1990s?

WAY: Oh yeah. When I first started reading comics I was a junior or senior in high school. It was the early ‘90s. And so the Ghost Rider book was really big, and I had started reading books like Hellblazer, books like that. But once I had, through those books, gotten used to the medium, I just started looking around at what else was out there and immediately kind of latched on to [Javier] Saltares and [Mark] Texeira’s artwork. It was just bad ass. It looked like concert T-shirts, you know, like tattoos.

CBEtc: Is it strange to be working with Saltares and Texeira now?

WAY: It's great. Is it strange? Yeah. I mean, [when I first started reading Marvel comics] I didn't read it for the stories, I just liked the art. And it was Ghost Rider, and it was Saltares and Texeira.

I kind of got hooked on comics from reading Steve Dillon's work and I have worked with him several times. So, yeah. It is very strange.

CBEtc: You have teamed up with Steve Dillon frequently with 'Origins' being your fourth collaboration in the last three years. Yet, I have seen you joke you can't stand the guy. Are there explicit photos that someone is holding over the other's head?

WAY: [Laughs] No, but there should be. Everybody asks me, 'What is it like to work with Steve?' He has been doing this 30 years. He is a bit of a legend, and working with Steve is exactly how you would think it would be. He is a complete Pro.

Every once in a while my phone will ring and I will look down and I will see that phone number is like 22 digits long, and he’ll say, "Hello, mate.” He's always calling from the pub and he is always extre mely British about it. He is always just Steve, you know [Laughs]- Guinness drinking, joke telling Steve.

CBEtc: You and Steve first did Bullseye's Greatest Hits together and then you did Punisher vs Bullseye. Have you guys tossed around a guest visit from Bullseye in Wolverine Origins? I am sure that is a fight fans would love to see.

WAY: The earlier is better as far as I'm concerned. But as far as Origins goes, we have so many big stories to get through. Every story has big stuff and where do we fit Bullseye in? Because you want it to be for a reason. The opportunity has yet to present itself for Bullseye to kind of work himself in there.

I mean, I could always just kind of drop him in their because it would be interesting and it would be a lot of fun for me and for everybody else, but he has just got to kind of wait in line. He has got bigger fish to fry at the moment.
I have told people this before, Bullseye is probably my favorite character to write, simply because he is the perfect character for the stories that I love to write and the stories that I love to read.

CBEtc: Have you read the Frank Miller Bullsye stories, when he was in Daredevil?

WAY: Oh yeah. When I was writing Greatest Hits - there is quite a bit of revisionist history, you know - and I remember reading the character and he was always fairly vicious, but it was that confidence I think that really was the coolest part about the character.

It was like,'why is he so confident?' And then, you start to think about it - the guy can do the impossible. He's got a right to be confident. But it is taken extremely too far. He is an egomaniac, and he is a sociopath. And it would seem that he just keeps getting worse, you know?

CBEtc: How did you think Colin Ferrell played him (in the DAREDEVIL movie)?

WAY: He played him very Irish. I don't understand why that had to happen. [Laughs] I think Colin Ferrell's Bullseye character was not exactly the way Frank Miller wrote him. His Bullseye was furious, you know what I mean? He was just way too angry and the anger kept him unbalanced. That is why he always loses. That is the way the character has been in the past.

I preferred the Bullseye character to keep that in check a bit longer - just be more confident- and I don't understand why... I have watched that Daredevil movie quite a few times because my son likes it, and at one point Bullseye looks at Kingpin and says 'I need a costume.' And he never wears one. I mean, he is wearing the same clothes. Where was the costume? The costume is the best part. I love that costume.

CBEtc: It's classic. Simple.

WAY: In Greatest Hits, when he first has his costume made, you know, he puts it on and the guy who made it is kind of like 'oh no. It looks ridiculous. This guy is going to kill me.' No, no. It looks perfect. It is so... it is just so wrong.

CBEtc: We talked a little bit before about your Incredible Hulk story 'Peace in Our Time', and it was originally intended to be a stand-alone miniseries. Can you elaborate on how you turned it into a big set up for the, pardon the pun, “smash hit” Planet Hulk story?

WAY: Axel [Alonso] approached me about doing a Hulk mini series, something that was evergreen, something that was always timely.

Axel had been the Hulk editor for a while - and we would talk about how the character was frustrating because you could only let him go so far and then you had to scale him down. As a writer, at least in my case, I would love to just see Hulk completely go to the edge. I want to see Hulk smash, go completely berserk. Because of the way his whole setup is, the more you throw at Hulk the more he throws back at you. He is always going to meet you with superior and opposite force.

I always told [Axel Alonso] 'it would be great to put him in a bigger sandbox.' And so, when I was approached to write a Hulk story I said I am going to put him in space. You know, take away all of those constraints. Put him up against something that would just keep pouring it on and have him in a place where he could just keep getting bigger and more powerful - just kind of let it ride.

In the original outline, [after Hulk goes to space to fight a renegade satellite per the request of Nick Fury] he comes back to Earth. It was nice, cyclical, it kind of ends where it begins, the way a miniseries is kind of built.

I had gone past the outline stage and I was writing it and I started thinking about the ending and it didn't make sense. The more I thought of it, I thought Nick Fury would not bring Hulk back. He is cold enough and pragmatic enough to realize that Hulk is way at the top of his list of problems.

If you think about it, if you are Nick Fury, you are policing this whole situation, and you've got the Hulk, who is literally a time bomb. If you got him off the planet, why bring him back? It would be kind of counterproductive, wouldn't it?

So, I basically ended the story with Nick Fury saying “screw you” and leaving the Hulk out there with the Hulk floating in space screaming 'Fuuuuurrrry!'

So I called up Axel and told him about the ending, the new idea. He thought about it, paused, and then said he liked it. But, he added it is the absolute worst ending for a miniseries ever. So he said he would talk to everyone about it. So I don't know if it was the next day or a couple of days later, he called back and said we’re going to do it.
I said ‘Are you serious?'

They told me they didn’t want to do it as a miniseries. It just wouldn’t work that way. They wanted to put it in the ongoing series. We just started talking about how cool it would be - we were talking about Conan in space and how fun it would be.

And that was how “Planet Hulk” started.

CBEtc: So, when are the royalty checks coming in?

WAY: I'm still waiting. It takes a while but it's working out quite well, I must say.

CBEtc: In 2003 you started a series called Gun Theory, published through Marvel's Epic line and unfortunately stopped after issue two came out. Rumor has it you and artist John Proctor want to finally finish the story. Is this a labor of love?

WAY: Oh yeah. I mean, it always was. It's a story that Proctor and I had been working on when I first started doing the Marvel stuff. And then, we did like a 12 page preview issue and took it to San Diego. It was my very first San Diego convention. We were out there flogging it and got a lot of great feedback and then Axel, my editor, comes up toward the end of the show and says, 'are you going to give me one of these or not?'

A couple of days later, after the show, he calls me up and he says, 'we are reviving this Epic line to create our own book. Marvel would be interested in publishing this book.'

So we got it together, we made some adjustments to the story and we got the first two issues out. But, it was a bumpy road. So we came to the decision- it was a mutual thing- to kind of pull back because everybody seemed to not be getting what they wanted out of it. So we just kind of amicably parted ways.

CBEtc: And now?

WAY: And now we are back and we are doing it. This is the, for lack of a better term, director's cut of the story. This is like the raw feed. We are doing it as it was originally intended to be presented and we are just getting it together. I will self publish it and we will put it out there for everybody to read. If they like it before, I think they will love it now.

CBEtc: You've attended a few shows this year as a guest. Have you had any odd experiences?

WAY: A comic book convention is an odd experience, you know what I mean? I have not had anything completely off the chart happen but it is always strange to sit there in an uncomfortable plastic chair while people just walk up and ask you to scribble all over their perfectly good comic books. It's just unreal. I love writing and I will talk about writing with anybody so I dig meeting fans. I owe them a lot.

CBEtc: Are you exclusive with Marvel?

WAY: Yeah. I am actually working through my second exclusive right now. This is my second two-year deal. I am with Marvel for another year and a half or something like that. But Marvel has been - and this isn't ass kissing either - Marvel has been really, really great. Ever since I did Bullsye’s Greatest Hits, Marvel has really kind of let me go to do my thing. If you look at some of the stuff I have gotten away with in Wolverine Origins, it's just a very cool situation and they allowed me to tell this huge story with Wolverine and I'm very honored for that. They'd entrusted me with Ghost Rider and it's just been a really cool situation.

CBEtc: We are going to finish up our conversation with the "2099" portion of our interview. This is where I ask you 20 questions and 99 seconds. So it is basically an either or type of response but you can answer whatever first pops into your head.

Suspense or Adventure: Adventure.

Late night or early day: Late-night.

Big screen or rent: Rent.

Plot or script: Plot.

Claws or motorcycle chain: [Laughs] Gosh. Man, that's tough. Claws.

Play with the toy or keep in the box: Play with the toy.

Crossovers or one shots: Oh gosh, one shots.

Star Wars or Star Trek: Neither.

Fly or drive: Drive.

More untrustworthy – S.H.I.E.L.D. or Lucifer: S.H.I.E.L.D.

First print or trade: Let me think. I guess trade really. I think most writers say that.

South Park or The Simpsons: It's been awhile since I've seen either one of them. I'd have to say the Simpsons.

Cell phone or e-mail: Oh God, cell phone.

Penance stare or Berserker glare: Penance stare.

Sleep in or make deadline: Make the deadline.

Squeeze in the middle or at the end: [Laughs] The end.

Register like Iron Man or revolt like Captain America: Revolt.

World Series or Super Bowl: Oh gosh. World Series.

Trapped in a room with nitpicking fan boys or riding on the back of Ghost Riders bike: Well, I think both of them means you are in Hell. So, either or.

Buffy or Vampirella: I don't know about either one of them.

Credits (From Most Recent)

Ghost Rider #1-current
Wolverine Origins #1-current
Wolverine (Vol.2) #33-40 (House of M World of M TPB and Origins and Endings TPB)
Punisher vs. Bullseye #1-5 (TPB)
Supreme Power Nighthawk #1-6 (TPB)
I Heart Marvel My Mutant Heart
Incredible Hulk #88-91 "Peace in Our Time" (Planet Hulk Prelude TPB)
What If? Wolverine (What If Mirror Mirror TPB)
Amazing Fantasy 15
Bullseye Greatest Hits #1-5 (TPB)
Sabretooth: Open Season #1-4 (TPB)
Venom #1-18 (Shiver TPB, Run TPB, Twist TPB)
Gun Theory #1-2
Agent X #12
Wolverine (Vol.1) #187-189
Spider-Man's Tangled Web #16-17 "Heartbreaker" (TPB)