SPOTLIGHT
December 2009
Marvel Omega is home to some of the best writers in fanfic. And with Spotlight, readers will get the chance to learn more about their favorite writers here at the site, through an interview where they answer questions about their craft as well as pick some of the best stories they've turned out for the site.
Who is Derrick Ferguson? I'm from Brooklyn, New York where I've lived most of my life. Married for 25 years to the wonderful Patricia Cabbagestalk-Ferguson who lets me get away with far more than is good for me. My interests include old radio shows, classic pulps from the 30's/40's, comic books, fan fiction, Star Trek, pop culture, science fiction, animation, television and movies...oh yeah...movies. I'm currently the co-host of the podcast BETTER IN THE DARK where my partner Thomas Deja and I rant and rave about movies on a bi-weekly basis. My primary love is reading and writing and I've written five books to date: Dillon And The Voice of Odin, my love letter to classic pulp action/adventure with a modern flavor. The sequel Dillon And The Legend of The Golden Bell will be published in January 2010 from Pulpwork Press. Derrick Ferguson's Movie Review Notebook and its sequel The Return of Derrick Ferguson's Movie Review Notebook are collections of the 200 or so movie reviews I've done the past couple of years and are also available through Pulpwork Press Diamondback Vol I: It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, is a spaghetti western disguised as a modern day gangster/crime thriller. Anything else you'd like to know about me, check out my Live Journal: http://dferguson.livejournal.com/ The Pulpwork Press website: http://www.freewebs.com/pulpworkpress/ or Better In The Dark at Earth-2.net: http://www.earth-2.net/podcasts/betterinthedark/betterinthedark I’m also on Facebook so you can hit me up there. What are the biggest influences on your work? Lester Dent. Alexandre Dumas. Robert R. McCammon. Clive Cussler. Ishmael Reed. James Steranko. Robert E. Howard. George C. Chesbro. Michael Moorcock. Chester Himes. And the sad thing is that a sizable number of people reading this will say: 'I've never heard of some of those writers" and there will be an equal number that will say; "What about Stephen King?" As if you can’t be influenced by anybody except Stephen King. But I draw upon influences from a lot of things...books, movies, comics, music. I've always had the mindset that if I want to consider myself a creative artist and make writing my career I had to open myself up and expose myself to anything (within reason) that would feed my creativity. It never fails to gobsmack me when I talk to other fan fiction writers and they tell me they don't read. But that's another question. Let’s continue. Give us a quick rundown on your current and upcoming projects both at Marvel Omega and other sites. For MO I'm still hammering away at The Incredible Hulk. For Altered Visions I'm writing Avengers, Champions and The Prowler. My Superman series at JLU 2001 has been stalled for an unforgivably long time and there’s really no excuse for that. I know where I want to take that series and how to get there. I just have to sit my lazy ass down and write it. A lot of people ask me why I like writing characters like The Prowler, Ka-Zar, Mon-El, The Human Torch, etc. The only three A-List series I’ve ever written have been AVENGERS which I’ve written at three different sites SUPERMAN and HULK. I get asked all the time: “Why don’t you write Spider-Man, Iron Man or Daredevil?” The answer is simple: there’s plenty of Spider Man, Iron Man and Daredevil fan fiction available written by some amazing writers. And there’s not much I can do with those characters that haven’t already been done. But The Prowler or Ka-Zar are practically blank slates when it comes to fan fiction. I can do just about anything I want with them. The Incredible Hulk was originally hosted at Marvel2000. Why did you decide to bring the series over to Marvel Omega and continue it there? Since I’m not getting paid for it the only reason I write fan fiction at the sites I write for is because I have a relationship with the EiCs of those sites. I really didn’t have a relationship with anybody at M2K at the time I was writing The Incredible Hulk. I didn’t feel comfortable writing there or with my work being housed there. Simple as that. I brought it over to Marvel Omega because I felt there it would be given the respect it deserved. And it was. Seeing as how The Incredible Hulk was transported from another site, did you have any difficulty fitting it in with the continuity at MO? Any significant changes you had to make to your plots, either past or future? Not really. Oh, there was some re-writing that had to be done to remove references that were specific to M2K but overall it wasn’t as hard as one might expect. Even though The Incredible Hulk has been pretty self-contained thus far, you've branched out into titles with more ties to continuity, such as your run on Avengers. Did you find it difficult transitioning into something that had more ties to the site or was it pretty seamless? Writing Avengers was a lot of fun mainly because it was a nice change of pace not having to come up with any plots…LMAO…Dino Pollard gave me the plots and turned me loose. I also got to write characters I’d never written before such as The Sub-Mariner and Cannonball. And writing Cannonball turned out to be so much fun that I really had to resist him taking over the series otherwise it would have soon turned into “Cannonball and The Avengers.” You've worked with Dino Pollard on Avengers and you co-wrote an issue of Fantastic Four with Curt Fernlund, both of which received very positive reactions. Would you like to do more collaboration or at this point are you more comfortable flying solo? I would love to do more collaborations! There’s nothing like running your own railroad but I learned a lot from working with Dino Pollard on Avengers and doing that issue of Fantastic Four where The Thing and The Hulk went at it was a blast to write with Curt. I find it absolutely fascinating to work with other writers and see how they go about putting a story together. I’m hoping to do an Avengers/Hulk crossover with Curt for the summer of 2010. I think it would be a total blast. As well as giving the overall site a summer event as I can’t see a major Avengers/Hulkclash not having a site wide effect. With your first major overarching story in The Incredible Hulk now coming to a close, you've mentioned a few times that you're interested in tying the book more into the rest of the site. Could you give us some teases on what you plan to do to accomplish that? I’ve already talked to Erik Fromme about a Daredevil/Hulk story One of the things I’ve been dissatisfied about the Hulk series is that he’s been off doing his own thing and there’s really not a lot of him interacting with other heroes/villains of the MO Universe. I’m going to bring the current storyline to a close and send Bruce Banner/Hulk on a road tour across the world. First stop: New York. I really want to do the Daredevil/Hulk as Erik Fromme and I have wanted to work together for the longest and I hope to be able to get together with Curt and dovetail that into the Avengers/Hulk throwdown and have all three of us co-ordinate on this. In both your Amazing Fantasy two-parter and your run on The Incredible Hulk, you've given quite a bit of screentime to Jim Hammond, the Original Human Torch. Why such affection for that character in particular? Because it kinda gives me the giggles that fans are desperate for Marvel Comics to have a “Superman”. Which lead to Marvel having to turn a joke character, *cough*SENTRY*cough into a *hysterical laughter*real character*hysterical laughter* When Marvel has always had a “Superman” character in Jim Hammond, The Original Human Torch. To me, he’s the Superman of The Marvel Universe. He’s a product of technology that has been accepted as a hero, an icon of heroism. He’s a WWII legend. He’s an artificial being accepted by American culture. And I think he’s cool as hell. And I needed a character with Jim Hammond’s basic Midwestern values and ideals since every other character in The Incredible Hulk are so amoral and out for self. Even Bruce Banner who has apparently undergone some sort of moral skewing due to his closer relationship with his alter ego. He’s a harder Bruce Banner, more interested in pursuing his own agenda and more willing to let The Hulk out and do his thing. Then there’s Hardbottle who’s an extraordinarily competent soldier but he’s a mean drunk and a backstabbing bastard. And let’s not even talk about Hardbottle’s Hulkbusters. There’s not a good guy in the bunch. Except for Jim Hammond who is the closest thing to a traditional good guy in the series. What drew you to chronicle the (mis)adventures of Banner and the Hulk in the first place? Blame Russ Anderson. He was writing for M2K at the time. I believe he was working on Scarlet Spider as well as sharing editorial duties with somebody. I really don’t remember who. It might have been Chris Munn at that time. He persuaded me to send in a proposal for Captain America. I was so pumped I wrote an entire issue, not just a proposal. For reasons I never quite understood completely I didn’t get Captain America which was given to another writer. Russ then turned around and suggested I write Hulk. The rest is history. Given your affection for Hammond, would you ever like to write him as a main headlining character, either in a Human Torch series or Invaders? Oh, no doubt! If I could find time I’d love to write a HUMAN TORCH series. One of the things I love about Jim Hammond is that he was created to blend in with humanity and he’s still learning how to do that. And I also love how he’s continually underestimated by not only the villains but the heroes of the MO Universe. Jim Hammond is a badass with 60 years of combat experience and he’s actually more powerful than Johnny Storm and I wanted to bring that out in the two-parter. Both at MO and at other sites, you've touched on many different areas of the Marvel Universe, although you haven't dabbled much in the mutant arena. Would you ever have a desire to write a mutant-centric book, either solo or team? If you only know how close I’ve been to writing X-MEN at various sites over the years. But it’s never worked out for one reason or another. Erik Fromme and I have laid the groundwork for a mutant series for Marvel Anthology we think is going to give readers a truly different take on what it means to be a mutant in the Marvel Universe. I’ve also been talking with another writer about us co-writing a BISHOP series but that’s still very much in the planning stages so I’m not going to talk about that too much. I know I’ve gotten this reputation that I don’t like The X-Men which simply isn’t true. I was reading X-Men back when comic books cost 15 cents and I have a great deal of love and affection for the characters. But I feel that the whole mutant prejudice thing just doesn’t work in a world where mutants co-exist with Inhumans, superheroes, gamma-ray powered monsters, wizards, Atlanteans, sentient robots, androids, Asgardian and Olympian gods and what-all-else. I wouldn’t mind writing an X-MEN series but the way I would want to do it would be a lot like the movie version of X-MEN. Where it’s set on an earth with just humans and mutants. The whole mutant prejudice angle is just much more believable to me when it’s only humans and mutants. No superheroes or offshoots of humanity cluttering up the show. Who would win in a fight, Felton Hardbottle from The Incredible Hulk or Dillon from your original novels? Depends on the circumstances as both of them are dirty fighters and both of them are willing to kill if it comes down to it. In a straight-up face to face throwdown then Dillon whoops Hardbottle’s ass. But Hardbottle is smart enough to research Dillon and know who he’s up against. Hardbottle would arraign a meeting spot then cap Dillon’s ass with a high-powered rifle from half a mile away. Are there any titles not currently occupied at MO which you'd like to tackle? And if so, which ones and why? I always get into trouble with a question like this because when I start talking about the titles I would like to write I get emails from EiCs wanting that title for their site and readers wanting to know when the series is going to start. But here goes: I’ve got what I think is a novel idea for a HEROES FOR HIRE series: Danny Rand and Luke Cage franchise the “Heroes For Hire” name and concept, allowing two man teams of heroes to open branch offices. Danny and Luke run the company from NY and occasionally go out into the field to supervise and check up on the branch offices. This would allow me to do Power Man and Iron Fist stories and when I get bored do a story about the Las Vegas Heroes For Hire who could be Stuntmaster and Dazzler. Or Heroes For Hire in San Francisco who could be Rocket Racer and Night Thrasher. You get the idea. SHANG-CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU is a series I’ve wanted to do for years for obvious reasons: I’m good at writing spy/espionage/action stories and Fu Manchu is one of the most iconic pulp characters of all time. I’d have a blast writing this. I’d like to take a crack at writing X-MEN just to say I did it. And RAWHIDE KID because I love westerns and it would be a challenge to see if I could make a western fan fiction series popular. Oh, and SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS set in WWII and invoking the spirit of how the Marvel series was done back in the 60’s when it was nothing but total fun. If the Hulk smashed you into submission, who would you want to take over the book? Curt Fernlund would be my first choice. Curt is one of the most underrated writers in the community. I love reading his stuff because it has weight to it. There’s a solidity to his writing that most fan fiction writers just don’t have. I read their work and it’s the equivalent of eating cotton candy. Not Curt’s work. You can chew on his prose and savor it like an excellent meal. Jeff Melton would be a good choice to take over as he could give the series that classic 60’s Marvel feel, much like what he’s doing over at M2K with Thor which is one of the best fan fiction series being written right now. Josh Reynolds would be my third choice because I honestly believe there’s nothing Josh can’t write. Which books at MO make you giddy as a schoolgirl? AVENGERS by Curt Fernlund and Dino Pollard: AVENGERS has always been a consistently well written book at MO. It’s one of those books that I never know what’s going to happen next and I enjoy that immensely. BROTHER VOODOO by Meriades Rai: Why does it make me giddy? Because it’s Meriades Rai, of course. And if his writing doesn’t make you giddy then there’s something wrong with you. DAREDEVIL by Erik Fromme: A series that is so hard-boiled and grim that I actually question if a fan fiction series needs to be this hard. But Erik is determined to push the subject matter, violence and language as far as he can go and it’s interesting as hell seeing how far he can go with this before somebody calls; “whoa!” I like Scott Redmond’s writing a lot but I’m just not feeling him on CHAMPIONS. I faithfully read every new issue and I think Scott has a great series in him. He just hasn’t written it yet. MUTANT UNDERGROUND is always a great read. But then this is Mike Franzoni who’s writing it. Franz is incapable of writing a bad word. There’s about a half dozen other series that turn my crank but those are the ones just off the top of my head. And finally, pick the best five stories at the site you've either wrote or co-wrote, they can either be story-arcs or single issues. AMAZING FANTASY #4 & #5 which is one story. This is one of the few stories in which I know for a fact I hit all the beats, crossed all the T’s, dotted all the I’s and told a complete and satisfying story. AVENGERS #19: There’s the beginning where Doctor Doom is stepping over the bodies of his defeated foes and we get an insight into how he sees them. I greatly enjoyed writing that. Maybe it’s because I can relate to Doctor Doom more than a lot of other Marvel characters…LMAO… HULK#2: Just for that fight between The Hulk and The Sentinels. One of the best fight scenes I’ve ever written. HULK#4: The Hulk/Human Torch throwdown where I think I credibly showed how powerful Jim Hammond is. And that issue has one of the best cliffhangers I’ve ever written. FANTASTIC FOUR #13: Any opportunity to co-write with Curt Fernlund is one I cherish and relish. We both had a great time writing this issue. And the scene with Bruce Banner/Hulk and Speedball at the beginning is one of the few times I’ve set out to write comedy and I felt it worked. For more works by Derrick Ferguson at the site, check out his listing on the Staff page.
PREVIOUS SPOTLIGHTS #1 - Ryan Krupienski (March 2006)
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There isn't a writer in this community who doesn't know the name Derrick Ferguson. A veteran of the community, Derrick's professionalism, skill, and willingness to stick to his principles no matter what have earned him a great deal of respect. For the sixth spotlight, we could think of no one better to interview.