The House of Ideas' brainiest writer discusses his plans to redefine superhero cosmology alongside artist Valerio Schiti.
Few modern superhero comic writers have ideas as big asJonathan Hickman.
As a result, anticipation is high forhis next Marvel comic, which launches this week.
The cover of ‘G.O.D.S.’ #1, by Phil Noto.Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti for Marvel
But EW just had to catch up with Hickman and pick his brain about his big plans.
Check out our conversation below, and look forG.O.D.S.#1 in stores this week.
tool, my mind immediately goes to that story’s villains, Nimrod and Orchis.
Agents of The-Powers-That-Be work to avert disaster in ‘G.O.D.S.’ #1.Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti for Marvel
and “What’s a bad human?”
What are we doing?
A book calledG.O.D.S.is definitely a platform to write about some of that.
Heroes assemble in ‘G.O.D.S.’ #1.Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti for Marvel
One of the ways you do that is you narratively empower both sides of an argument.
I don’t mean that everything has two sides.
I just mean you double-check your antagonist and your protagonist have very, very relatable and strong conceits.
Cosmic things happening in ‘G.O.D.S.’ #1.Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti for Marvel
It feels like a pretty strong theme in regards to current society?
Ultimately, this is a very personal story about these characters.
But there is that questioning of, “What is chaos, what is order?
The heroes of ‘G.O.D.S.’ visit the Collector.Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti for Marvel
What is eternity, what is infinity?”
All of that stuff is definitely there in each of the issues.
And frankly, just like withHouse of X, it’s fun to play with.
The heroes of ‘G.O.D.S.’ visit the Collector.Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti for Marvel
It’s very easy to lose yourself inside of the story.
The tagline forG.O.D.S.is that it’s the Powers-That-Be vs. The-Natural-Order-of-Things.
How do you think about different factions forming at this cosmic level of existence?
The heroes of ‘G.O.D.S.’ visit the Collector.Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti for Marvel
This is such a ridiculously me answer: I made a graph.
it’s possible for you to do really good stuff and it fails.
you’ve got the option to do stuff that’s not as good and it succeeds.
Sometimes it comes down to just the right moment, the right time.
And I think I’ve landed on doing it in a way that does.
You’ve said that the characters inG.O.D.S.each have their down-to-earth Peter Parker version, and their larger-than-life Spider-Man incarnation.
Given that conceit, what was it like working with Valerio on this story?
Well, Valerio’s brilliant.
I really want to give them the canvas to really show off what they’re good at.
I worked with Valerio years ago onNew Avengers, and he was brilliant on that, just absolutely brilliant.
When it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
But when it does work, it’s magic.
There’s a page with Doctor Strange and a bunch of panels and heads at the bottom.
I wrote it as a nine-panel page, and it’s hard to make a dynamic nine-panel page.
Of course youcando it, and it’s been done many times.
But generally speaking, that’s a very difficult ask.
He’s done that page after page after page.
He has to be applauded for that.
He’s crushed it.
I’m super happy.
Were you trying to accomplish something similar withG.O.D.S.?
How do you balance that when you’re planning a story?
I am guilty of writing for the trade.
I think about the collection from day one.
And those eight issues, as you may have heard, are about 12 issues' worth of pages.
So it’ll beHouse of X-size.
So it’ll actually be a completely different experience than the monthly book.
So that could happen, that could not happen.
That’s going to be a case-by-case issue.
But the object is always to make a beautiful book.
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