‘Avengers’ #675 is going to kick off the “Avengers: No Surrender” event which spans that title, ‘Uncanny Avengers’, ‘U.S. Avengers’, and ‘Occupy Avengers’ where the Earth is stolen. It is a 16-part crossover event that will of course “change everything,” and even though they haven’t claimed it, that always seems to be the goal. Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub have their hands full when writing the event but today artist Pepe Larraz has details on what we can expect from the series.
The artist shares that he knows a lot is at stake:
“Well, it is probably the biggest thing I’ve ever done at Marvel so far, in terms of characters involved, team size, and work done in advance. The main challenge for me ended up being how to handle all these characters on stage, trying to get the hang of all their personalities—the way they act, talk, and interact with each other. Also, having three or four scenes of epic action happening in different parts of the globe at the same time, and making that easy and clear for the reader. It can be difficult when you have to make two or three big, eye-catching panels on the same page and you have to avoid the panels competing between themselves to win the reader’s attention.”
You’ve got that right! With all of the various current incarnations of The Avengers working on this, there will be a lot at stake as well as a lot of overlap. However, it isn’t just our heroes which he’ll be working on as the villains also have come to some fame in recent years working for Thanos:
“I had a blast drawing the Black Order because Jerome Opeña‘s designs look really fantastic. I also had the privilege of redesigning the existing members of the Lethal Legion and to also create a few new ones. Yes, as you can expect, this series is cramped with characters!”
Clearly, the Black Order is a recent thorn in everyone’s side, but the Lethal Legion is a group of villains who have been a bit more fluid and it is hard to guess how they’ll factor into the upcoming story arc or even who will be on this team.
Motivations of these two factions aside, it is cosmic objects raining down on our planet that will not only factor heavily into the story but was a group project to create:
“It was quite simple, to be honest. The script calls them “piramoids,” so the shape their shape seemed quite obvious. Then I tried not to add anything superfluous—the main idea was to keep the alien technology as simple as possible. You’ll see the signs Jim Zub designed on them later on. We all provided ideas for the designs, so all of them ended up being more or less the result of teamwork.”
Not only are the current heroes a challenge for Larraz but he also has to bring to life an Avenger who no one remembers named Voyager. Hopefully, her introduction will be a little more believable than when we got Sentry.
“The Voyager design is a joy, with that classic Jack Kirby-ish look to it. I wanted to transmit the feeling of a mystery being unfolded with every new issue of the script. Okay, you don’t remember her, but all of the Avengers trust her, so what could possibly go wrong? She feels so self-assured—she has such authority—that you get convinced immediately.”
Oh, and as a bonus, we have three new shots from the first issue to share with you right here!
Are you looking forward to ‘Avengers: No Surrender’ or are you sick of Marvel’s constant multi-book events? Do you think this will change the face of the Avengers forever or will things look pretty much the same when everything is said and done? Share your thoughts below True Believers!
‘Avengers’ #675 will kick things off on January 10th, 2018!
Source: Marvel
