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We spoke with the comic writer known for bringing to life some of the most famous heroes and personalities, including Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Superman. We also discuss the upcoming Marvel's Deadpool VR and his involvement in the game.
"Hi Gamereactor friends, we just had Pepe Larraz and we've been talking about the new Spider-Man, mostly about art and visuals, but now we have the pleasure to have Joe, and this is very ad hoc because we didn't have you booked, and this is super interesting and super nice to have you."
"What can you tell me about the reception of the new Spider-Man, which you guys released in April in the US?
We didn't get our hands on it, so I'm going to ask you to tell me pretty much all the story.
No, but before the reception.
It's been wonderful. I think Spider-Man fans are very passionate, which I love."
"They have very strong opinions, which I love.
But when we came on, we really wanted to try to do something that felt familiar, but was doing some new things, breaking some new ground.
And I think the fans have really responded to that."
"So, so far it's been very positive.
And, you know, how do you go wrong with Pepe?
I mean, Pepe Larraz is just unbelievable.
So that first arc really helped solidify like, OK, we're doing some great stuff."
"And then obviously I work with John Romita Jr. as well, and he's a classic.
So it's just, it's been really wonderful.
Let me tell you, he said the same about you.
So this is love on both directions."
"What can you tell me about the story?
Is it different, you know, structure-wise compared to previous Spider-Man books?
Did you try something wild and crazy?
Can you give me a little bit of a glimpse or something that happens on a specific sequence?
Oh, yeah, we got away with a lot of wild and crazy, which I'm very excited about."
"You know, I really wanted to explore not just Spider-Man and his new status quo, but also why Peter is the way he is.
You know, we always just think about Uncle Ben and great power and great responsibility.
But we never look at his life when he was younger."
"And, you know, he's an orphan, right?
I mean, he's an orphan who was adopted.
And so part of this first arc is we get to see what middle school Peter was like and where he was a little bit angry and why he was angry and kind of a rebel, you know, not the nerdy high school kid that we know."
"That was very exciting for me.
And then to have that directly linked to the story in the present.
So we also have, I mean, Pepe does an incredible...
The villains in the first arc, I don't want to spoil them in case people haven't seen."
"Just tease.
There's a classic and there's one that is classic for me, but it's still relatively new.
And Pepe does incredible stuff."
"We got to... I had to get very special permission from Marvel to do some of the scenes that we did with Peter because of his history.
It's really special, even though it seems like a small thing, especially in Europe, but it was a big thing for me to get to do."
"So that was... You'll have to look for that one.
And Aunt May, I mean, it's just Pepe's Aunt May.
And that relationship with Peter is unbelievable.
And then after we have our first arc and Jr comes on, everything gets crazy. Things get really crazy."
"So we set this stage...
About around where?
Seven and eight.
When Hellgate is introduced, things get pretty wild.
And I think people will be shocked."
"How do you go about presenting the younger Peter?
With flashbacks or is it structured as in every chapter you go and dedicate a part to this young character?
Yeah, there have been flashbacks within the story triggered by events that happened in the present."
"But now I love it so much I've started to just use them because I love seeing young Peter.
So it's a device that I would like to reference a lot.
It's funny, as I'm looking around at the T-shirts here, I'm very into manga and they're unapologetic about using flashbacks."
"And I think sometimes we're a little precious about it.
Like, oh, it's got to be so perfect. And I love it.
So we get to see a little bit more young Peter in this stuff and what that means and what made him the person that we all love today."
"Fantastic. And closing one.
I'm very, very interested. We are Gamereactor after all.
I'm very interested in your video game background.
And this is Comic-Con. This is no longer about comics."
"This is transmedia. This is video games, movies, animation, and of course comics and manga.
So what can you tell me about that?
How did it shape you?
And if you can share a couple of games that people know and love that you worked on."
"Yeah, I mean, I've played games my whole life. I love games.
It's how I decompress after all this stuff.
But I started with Man of Action.
All four of us wrote X-Men Legends, which was a while ago."
"But we all wrote that.
And I also wrote the Darksiders franchise.
I co-wrote the first one with Joe Madureira.
And then I wrote number three."
"And I just finished working on the Deadpool VR game.
And that's coming out pretty soon for MetaQuest.
Neil Patrick Harris' Deadpool. It's crazy.
There's a lot of really fun stuff in it."
"I'm very excited about that.
It's a VR game, so it's not for everybody.
I was about to ask about that.
It is also interesting to tell a story through VR."
"It's different.
You're coming from linear 2D, and also 3D video games.
But this is completely different.
So the narrative comes via dialogue mostly?
Yeah, I would say so."
"It's definitely a [narrative] driven game.
We have to carry you through the story.
Like Vader [Immortal]?
Yeah, exactly. It's not like an open world."
"An open world with Deadpool would be quite spectacular.
But it's an incredible game.
Twisted Pixel are the developers.
They're amazing."
"Great director.
A lot of dialogue.
A lot of replayability.
I think it's going to be really fun.
Looking forward to that one."
"Looking forward to The Amazing Spider-Man.
Which is coming out in Spain in October.
The rest of Europe as well?
I believe so."
"Fantastic, thank you so much for your time, Joe. Enjoy the Comic-Con.
Thank you very much."
