The Stories that Stick w/ Marvel Editor-in-Chief Stephen Wacker

On this episode, Margaret sits down with long-time collaborator and friend, newly-crowned Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Stephen Wacker. He shares his experience developing Stone Kite, editing the One Zero One graphic novel (which can be found at stonekite.com), and journeying through the industry of comics. During their conversation, we learn about the “project-that-got-away” during Stephen’s first tenure at Marvel, the changes that have shaped the way comics are written today, and the Atari game that inspired Stephen to make stories in the first place. Comics and artists mentioned in this episode! Some of Margie's comics credits: -The Life of Captain Marvel -Ms. Grinch (from the Gwenpool Holiday Special) -Spider-Man Noir -Black Widow Prose Novels -Super Visible: The Story of the Women of Marvel Comics Stephen's childhood favorite comic and White Whale: -Shogun Warriors Stephen’s comic recommendations: -Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona -Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja -Daredevil by Mark Waid, Chris Sanmee, Javier Rodriguez, Paolo Rivera -Love and Rockets by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez -FML by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David Lopez -Ghost World by Dan Clowes -Marvel Two-in-One #50: The Thing Battles The Thing -Anything by Walt Simonson, legendary artist and writer (he’s in Stephen’s Comics Mount Rushmore) ONE ZERO ONE #1 is the first issue of a massive 4-part graphic novel series written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer (Arrival, Bird Box, Shadow & Bone), and illustrated by industry superstar and fan-favorite artists, including Dan Panosian (Batman), Ramón Pérez (Hawkeye), Alitha Martinez (Wonder Woman), Raúl Allén (Dune: the Graphic Novel), Hyeonjin Kim (Power Rangers). Includes never-before-seen excerpts from the original novel by Jason Jones! https://www.stonekite.com/ Stephen’s Hype Corner One Zero One #1 from Stone Kite New Avengers #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto Midnight editions of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men CHAPTERS 00:00 Stephen Wacker, EIC of Marvel Comics 01:30 How Stone Kite collaborates to build worlds with writers, comics editors, filmmakers 3:25 Origin Story (Stephen’s books at Marvel + Margie’s Spider-runs) 5:15 When Stephen left Marvel 6:07 The one that got away: project Stephen has never had a chance to make at Marvel 6:50 Giant Robots! 7:54 The best idea Stephen ever cut 8:56 Obama on the cover of Spider-Man 9:31 Spidey teams up with Abe Lincoln 9:56 Margie’s one that got away: Deadpool 10:30 The Gateway Drug 11:00 Margie’s research for Super Visible, the Story of the Woman of Marvel Comics 11:26 Jumping-on points vs. jumping right into comics 12:15 “It is the responsibility of any single Marvel comic to have enough in there that will make you want to come back” - Stephen 13:10 Highlights of Stephen’s Marvel runs 13:25 Ms. Marvel (G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona) is how Margie taught herself to write comics 13:56 Writing comics vs. writing novels 14:16 Stephen’s comic recommendations 14:52 What actually got Stephen into comics - the Thing battling the Thing 15:20 Jack Kirby drawing the Thing was an artist who drew like a writer 15:44 Here’s a secret - an unfinished Frank Miller / Walt Simonson story 16:45 One Zero One - Stone Kite’s new comic 17:25 This was Stephen’s baby, how it happened 18:16 Eric Heisserer wrote the comic based on the world of Jason Jones’s unpublished novel 21:18 Thunderbolt: what made Stephen think he could have a career in comics 24:20 The big lesson Stephen learned from Stone Kite: “de-siloed development” 26:07 Stephen’s hype corner - One Zero One, new Avengers, Midnight editions 28:10 Subscribe to the podcast! Credits: Host & CEO of Stone Kite: Margaret Stohl Producer: Gina Delvac Editor: Anastasiia Volynska Stone Kite Team: Matt Johnson Sumayyah Daud Danika Lyle Chelsea Brown