A “new” company? A dream book? Which? When? How? Why? It’s been hard to remain coy in answering your many e-mails, but now finally I can say it openly: I’m going to Marvel and I’ll be drawing the Fantastic Four! Here’s the scoop.

I’ve spent the past decade working at DC and very simply and naturally, the need for change was what motivated my decision to come back to Marvel. The DCU is amazing and I’ve felt at home working with its characters, but Marvel is where my career began back in 1985 and the Marvel universe is still very much alive in my creative blood. I felt it was time to revitalize my creative energies, and a return to my roots seemed right for that. Since Geoff and I were ending our run on JSA, the timing was right too – I wouldn’t have wanted to leave in the middle of a project.

I initially made my choice independently of any project proposals or work relationships. I actually didn’t have anything specific in mind and I was pretty much up for anything. The one requirement I had was that I wasn’t ready to tackle another large team book, not for a while anyway! If I had my pick of any Marvel book, though, the Fantastic Four was at the top of my list and nothing else was even close. With the top talent they currently have on the book, I pretty much dismissed my chances of landing the title… I can’t believe my luck that there was a change of team coming up!

My mother bought me my first Marvel comics at the grocery store check-out counter when I was six. Most of those were 12-cent Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four comics that I still have. That first exposure to comics showed me a whole new way to express my boundless imagination, which was desperately seeking outlets at the time, by telling a story with pictures.

These issues were the genesis of my own artistic expression, so for me, working on this title is like meeting the real Santa Claus. I started reading the FF 40 years ago and to be working on it now, on the same book that Jack Kirby founded and worked on, is humbling and just a little mind-boggling. It’s an honor to add my own chapter to the history of this amazing title. The characters are already talking to me loudly and I can’t wait to get started!

I’m most excited about Reed – I want to bring back the Reed Richards that Kirby introduced to us, a more imposing and heroic Reed than we’ve gotten used to in recent years. I want villains to be afraid of him. I want to edge him a little bit away from the nerdy professor, although I don’t want to wash all the humor or goofiness out of him or his relationships, far from it. I want to keep that while adding the imposing presence of a brilliant scientist and powerful superhero.

Another major attraction for me working on FF is that they can go anywhere; this opens up the book to science fantasy, science fiction and adventure and I am a big proponent of that in comics. I live for that kind of material, so I thoroughly enjoy transporting readers to new and incredible realities.

At Marvel, I am seeking a little more artistic elbow-room to work on more dynamic panel and compositional approaches, two-page-wide panoramic panels, and a stronger, more potent contrast in the art. One of the main attractions for me was also being able to shoot from the pencils, getting a rawer feel to the art and letting readers see the living, breathing original line-work. This first FF piece you see here was shot from the pencils and beautifully enhanced by the amazing Dave McCaig.

My fans know that my art evolves with every project, so they won’t be surprised to see new techniques being used. However, I will take the same approach to character and character interaction that they have come to enjoy from H.E.R.O, Villains United and the JSofA. That won’t change; it will only be enhanced and brought to a higher level.

It’s all very exciting, and I’m glad to have you along for the ride!