As promised here's more of Marv Wolfman and Barbara Kesel from MegaCon 2005. Marv and Barbara simply took questions from the audience. I will give you some of the better questions (so these are NOT all of the questions that were asked, only some of the better ones). As I have done in the past, if the words are in brackets, I am paraphrasing what the person said, while where I write, I am recreating what I heard and wrote down from them.
Please see my last article for introductions for Barbara Kesel and Marv Wolfman.
Question - How do you create a memorable villain?
Marv - [I prefer to] create a memorable character. Villains want some [of the] same things as the hero, but go about it in the wrong way of for the wrong reason. An example is [the movie] "It's a Wonderful Life" [Both George Bailey and Potter want to help people in their town, but go about it differently]. It's like Reed Richards and Dr. Doom.
Barbara - [I think back to] Greek theatre tragedy. [Often it's] good versus good. If the villain is sympathetic enough, [people will care for him.
Marv - I like Stan [Lee's] line [from Fantastic Four]. Dr Doom says I give them everything, why don't they love me?
Question - How deep do you get into a character?
Barbara - It depends on the character. Some I get into, some I just can't.
Marv - [I think to myself] What are they about? What do they think? What do they need? You need to know the character inside and out. Just put down what is necessary for the story; what you nee4d to flesh out the character
Barbara - [I] structure the character.
Marv - Here are two examples, Teen Titan and the Raven storyline. [Our] goal was to create a family. Everyone thought we were doing DC's version of X-Men, but I wanted to do DC's version of Fantastic Four. I wanted to do characters that were similar in a lot of ways. Starfire was a warrior who could be sympathetic with Wonder Girl. I wanted emotions and conflicting emotions. [I achieve this partly though using astrology]. What I am interested in a character is growth from issue to issue. If it doesn't advance the character or if it doesn't advance the plot, get rid of it. Everything has to be advancing the plot and the character at the same time.
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