JAMES STOKOE TALKS ‘AVENGERS 100TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL’ AND THE NEXT 50 YEARS OF COMICS [INTERVIEW + EXCLUSIVE ART]
By Chris Sims
As you may have noticed from all our recent Batman ’89 content, comic books are pretty big on celebrating anniversaries. There’s only one problem: You sort of need to wait for those anniversaries to actually happen, and we as readers have never been all that great with the concept of patience. I mean, does anyone really want to wait around until the 2060s to celebrate the centennial of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Marvel Age of Comics?
Marvel Comics certainly doesn’t, which is why they’re gearing up for a series of 100th Anniversary Specials, set to be released next month — 50 years before those anniversaries actually happen. For the Avengers, Marvel’s tapped Orc Stain and Wonton Soup cartoonist James Stokoe to reveal the future of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Today, we’ve got an exclusive look at Stokoe’s characteristically frenzied, hyper-detailed pages from the upcoming one-shot special, which includes such compellingly weird concepts as an Avengers team made up of Beta Ray Bill, Rogue and Doctor Strange; a sentient Stark Tower; an America lost to the Negative Zone; and the Mole Man — because the Mole Man has always been weird enough. We spoke to Stokoe about why he chose the heroes and villains to populate the Avengers of 2061, and what he sees for comics as a business in the next 50 years.
JS: I’m a bit farther removed from it than I was in the past, but I’ve always been optimistic about the community and where it’s heading, and all these amazing young artists coming up are making that optimism all the more easier. There’s been a real surplus of talent these last few years that I haven’t ever seen before. 50 years is a long time to speculate on, but I think the community has stepped up their game so I’m not so worried.
Oh wowwwwwwww James Stokoe holy wow