The World Wrestling Superstar know on television as Raven has been a lifelong fan of comic books, going back to the days when he was just plain old Scott Levy. That's partly why he recently jumped at the opportunity to collaborate on writing a comic book for the industry's leading company, Marvel Comics. He had long wanted to do something in the comics' field, particularly after seeing how far it had come since his childhood.
"Sometime in the last 10 years," said Raven, "people my age started writing comic books. But they didn't want to write for kids, they wanted to write for themselves. So you had all these people who, if they were writing works literature, would be considered very good writers, but they love the comic-book medium. That elevated comic books from a children's pastime to a literary art form. It's kind of like our organization. If you look back at the '80's, it was geared more towards kids. Later, it became geared more for adults. That's what comics did. They grew up."
Raven's involvement with Marvel dates back to an encounter several years ago at the Chicago Comic Convention with comics' writer Brian Azzarello- known for his work on DC Comics' edgy "Vertigo" line of books, including 100 Bullets and The Dreaming. Raven happened to be walking by Azzarello and his wife wearing a T-shirt of the comic character Sandman, which was coincidentally illustrated, by Azzarello's wife. The pair stopped Raven, who they recognized from ECW, and the trio expressed admiration for each other's work.
Over time, the two became friends and would often discuss the possibility of one-day collaborating on a comic book. They originally planned to work together on the limited series called The Darkness, published by Image Comics' Top Cow division, but that project never materialized. The opportunity would not present itself until recently.
Azzarello, now working for Marvel, was approached by his editor Axel Alonso for ideas for the monthly Spider-Man's Tangled Web series. One of the most acclaimed titles, Spider-Man's Tangled Web features stories about the numerous supporting characters in the life of Marvel's celebrated wall-crawling superhero. Azzarello immediately suggested doing a story about the wrestler Crusher Hogan, a character who first appeared back in 1962 in Amazing Fantasy #15, the same issue that featured the first appearance of Spider-Man. In that original tale the young Peter Parker, having just discovered his spider-powers, steps into the ring with Crusher Hogan as a way to exploit his new abilities fir cash before he takes the high road as the crime-fighting Spider-Man.
Obviously, this provided the perfect opportunity for Azzarello to finally work with Raven, whose inside knowledge if the sports-entertainment business would be invaluable. The project got the okay, and Azzarello and Raven got to work.
"Breaking into comics is a very difficult thing to do, especially as a writer," said Axel Alonso in reference to Raven's debut. "As an editor who likes working with new talent, I usually look for a voice, someone with an attitude or swagger that translates on to the comic book page. With any writer that I'm breaking in, what I try to do is make sure that they're on comfortable ground. In this case, Raven's role was to make sure that the story read like a ground's eye view of the game."
For the most part, Raven laid out the storyline foe this issue, while the more experienced writer Azzarello concentrated on the scripting the actual dialogue. That was the level of collaboration that Raven felt most comfortable with.
"I'm more of a plotter than a scripter," he said. "I'm not one to sit there and write out dialogue. I can do it, but I'm very lazy when it comes to that aspect. That's what Brian does for a living. He has no problem doing that. He's a phenomenal writer. And frankly, I'm quite content to be just a plotter anyway."
The finished script, entitled "The Last Shoot" deals with the events leading up to the match between Crusher Hogan and the as yet unnamed Spider-Man. It give a depth to the Crusher character that's never been seen before, explaining his motives behind issuing the infamous challenge that lures the wallcrawler into the ring in the first place.
"The Last Shoot" appears in Spider-Man's Tangled Web #14, on newsstands and comic book shops now. The cover artist Dave Johnson is known for his work on DC's "Vertigo" and superhero comics. The interior artist, Giuseppe Camuncoli, has also worked on DC's more sophisticated titles, most notably Swamp Thing. Axel Alonso seems quite pleased with the results.
"My goal is to put together a good story," he said. "For me, the story's about loyalty, trust and honor in a corrupt game. There is redemptive value in the story. Crusher Hogan, who is the first person to ever fight Spider-Man, looks to do a good thing for everyone in his circle and unfortunately gets screwed as a result. I liken the story to a slowly unfolding car crash."
As comics fans already know the formerly unbeatable Crusher is embarrassed in the ring by the super powered Peter Parker. But in the starting action before the events depicted in Amazing Fantasy #15, the story illustrates the ramifications of what seemed originally to be a humorous side-note in Spidey's origin story. But according to Alonso, no serious knowledge Spider-Man's history is required to appreciate this unique tale.
"Tangled Web is geared at a different audience [than the other Spider-Man comics]," Alonso commented. "The main audience are readers who I can't assume read Spider-Man or care about Spider- Man. I joke about Tangled Web as being the book for people who don't give a s*** about Spider-Man and as such most of the stories are genre studies, whether it's romance, crime or slice-of-life. The bottom-line for me is a good story, and I need to know that people reading this Crusher Hogan story aren't going to be in the dark if they don't know who the guy was or they never read Amazing Fantasy #15. I think the story accomplishes that goal."
So what's the chance of Raven becoming a long-term member of the Might Marvel bullpen? Much of that depends on the success of Spider-Man's Tangled Web #14, but Raven (or Scott Levy, as he is credited in the issue) has stated that he would enjoy working with Brian Azzarello again in the future. Alonso also seemed confident that further Raven collaborations would be possible.
"I would want Raven to be writing about something that he knows," Alonso said. "That doesn't specifically mean that he would have to write a story about sports-entertainment or wrestling per se, but I'd want to know that he was bringing some expertise or deep love to the story he was writing."
Well there you have it, true-believers: An ongoing partnership between Raven and Marvel Comics? Sounds like the ultimate superhero team up.