The following is an interview with writer Ellie Pyle, Pan-Universal Galactic Worldwide Editor-in-Chief John Barber, and editor Mason Rabinowitz regarding the launch of the Kickstarter campaign for the Behind the Panels of Secret Wars deluxe art book in collaboration with Pan-Universal Galactic Worldwide. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with the team about their shared creative process in bringing the collected edition to fruition, the exciting backer rewards available to supporters of the campaign, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Pan-Universal Galactic Worldwide recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for the first-ever Behind the Panels of Secret Wars deluxe art book. In collecting the groundbreaking 2015 crossover event, what has been your experience in revisiting these stories and capturing their impact in Marvel’s history?
Ellie Pyle: Secret Wars remains such a unique event in Marvel History. It was years in the making and holds up both as a standalone series and a culmination of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Ultimates runs. The tie-ins, encompassing the entire line, created an opportunity new talent, rarely seen genres, and a wide range of visual styles Marvel. Changes that were made to the Marvel universe coming out of this event, like Miles Morales’ arrival on Earth 616 continue to carry weight in Marvel comics today.
BD: In uncovering the shared creative processes that brought Secret Wars to life, was there anything new or intriguing that you took away from the material that you hadn’t noted upon its initial release?
EP: Pulling off an event of this size was a massive undertaking. There were logistical gymnastics like needing to write and draw the second issue first so that all the other offices had it for reference. There were fun ideas for tie-ins that changed or were shelved. Very cool design decisions were made at every step of the process.
BD: This book will mark the first installment of Behind the Panels books. What can you tell readers about the production process for each of these hardcover art books, as well as the special features to be included within their pages?
John Barber: Each Behind the Panels book is going to have a little bit of a different process, because every comic’s different—even at a basic level, here we’re able to talk to the major players who wrote, drew, edited, or where elseways working on Secret Wars, but if we were to do a Behind the Panels book on an older event…well, maybe not everybody is still with us, and we’d have to comb archival interviews and articles from the time the comic was produced. But here—we had the idea of what we wanted to tackle (meaning Secret Wars!) and Ellie was up for writing it, and she reached out to every creator she could, conducted interviews and follow-ups; we dug through the Marvel archives for art that went through changes during the course of making the comic…we also had some really cool pictures of the Marvel editorial retreat that spawned Secret Wars, and I think getting a peek inside that process is really exciting. That sort of got things going, and the research and digging went on from there!
BD: In light of the Kickstarter campaign, are there any particular backer rewards that you would like to highlight for our readers?
Mason Rabinowitz: There are incredible prints, cool stickers, and even a puzzle printed in 3D complete with 3D glasses, but we’re most excited to be launching our first ever sets of Bite-Sized Covers with this campaign. Each cover is 3.5 inches tall by 2.25 inches wide, the perfect dimensions to capture the amazing cover art, and thick enough (.1 inch) to feel like you’re holding a mini comic. Plus, they come with their own mini-short boxes!
JB: We’ve got a cool 3D puzzle, stickers, great art prints…but I’m most excited about the Bite-Sized Covers. They’re the size of bridge cards, but super-thick, and each one reproduces a Secret Wars cover in miniature. You can file them in the special mini short boxes that come with them, you can display them…it’s hard to get across how cool these feel unless you’re actually holding the prototypes, but it’s like you’re Giant-Man looking at comic book covers. It made me feel like a kid, when I’d have my original Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars comics spread out on my grandma’s living room floor, and I knew the comics so well I could put them in order just using the back-cover ads. It’s fun, and we have some cool future plans for the Bite-Sized Cover line.
BD: Lastly, what is the best way for readers to lend their support to the Kickstarter campaign?
MR: The best way to support the campaign is to go to Kickstarter and pledge. Also we want to make sure as many people as possible know about the project, so please share this campaign with your friends!
JB: Two ways—one is to follow this link or go to Kickstarter and search for “Secret Wars” and it’ll pop right up. If you’re super-rich, like a billionaire, maybe throw in a couple extra million because you enjoyed reading this interview, you know? Everybody else, check out the different rewards tiers and something’ll have what you need! The second way is to tell all your friends! I guess a third would be to tell your enemies, but I think we should stick to the first two. If you’re into the MCU, Marvel Comics, creators like Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic, or just interested in seeing how a big event comic comes together, Behind the Panels of Marvel’s Secret Wars is for you!
