Meet The Skrulls Newsarama Interview

[DragonsChi]

Still effy on the series but at least it has me curious!

Newsarama: Robbie, we actually haven’t met the Skrulls of Meet the Skrulls yet. What can you tell us about the Warner family?

Robbie Thompson: The Warner Family are a loving, tight-knit family living in Stamford, Connecticut. They just want to excel at their jobs, work hard in school, do their part in the community... and crush mankind/help the Skrulls take over Earth.

Carl and Gloria are the parents. They're both ruthless, lethally trained warriors that have raised and trained lethal and deadly children. Their oldest is named Madison and youngest Alice.

All of them have a part to play in their dangerous mission in... the 'burbs.

Nrama: Speaking of which, what is their mission here – what you can divulge of it?

Thompson: Post-Secret Invasion, life has not been great for the Skrulls. That event left everyone on high alert, and Stark developed a better way to spot and track Skrulls. Now, everywhere Skrulls go on Earth, they can be spotted, especially when they use their abilities. The Warners have to be extremely careful how and when they use their shape-shifting power. They've been tasked with finding out the truth about how this technology came into existence, and to figure out what, if anything, can be done about circumventing it so they can get back to the larger mission at hand: putting Earth in the hands of the Skrull Empire.

Nrama: Niko, you’ve got a unique task with this book, portraying aliens pretending to be humans. How does that duality inform your approach to drawing Meet the Skrulls?

Niko Henrichon: Yes, there's a bit of a challenge there. For the human versions of our characters, I tried to make them as generic as possible, as I suppose undercover agents would do, while avoiding the trap of them being kind of boring. The tricky part is all the morphings the Skrulls are capable of. In order to make that work smoothly and not lose the reader along the way, I focused on making the transformations very simple and easy to follow.

Nrama: And on that note, Robbie, what’s the dynamic for this “family"? How do their dual relationships function?

Thompson: Every family has static, and the Warners are no different. Carl and Gloria are from different planets in the Skrull Empire. Their kids were raised on Earth. Each member of the family believes in the Skrull Empire, of course, but how to achieve the Empire's goals can be a cause of friction.

Madison is ambitious, wants to prove herself and be a larger part of the Skrull Empire. She has spent her life studying humans and knows how to exploit them. Being raised on Earth had a negative impact on Alice, though. She's having mixed emotions about her place in all this. And her parents are worried that Alice is vulnerable to feeling the biggest and worst of human weaknesses: empathy.

Nrama: How do you make alien invaders who are ultimately here to conquer Earth sympathetic to readers?

Thompson: There's a great quote from Kurt Vonnegut, from his book Mother Night, "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

Everyone wears a mask in some form or another. A work face, a social face, or what have you. There are times when we play a part. The Warners are here to play a part in destroying mankind. But the longer they stay among us, the more they pretend to be like us, the more they become like us.

I think the Warners are also relatable because they're a family. They're a unit of spies, but it's a family unit. And they have all the trappings of a family; parenting disagreements, sibling rivalry, etc.

Obviously, The Americans on FX was an inspiration for the book, but so was the Fantastic Four. I love the adventures Marvel's First Family go on, and all the amazing characters they interact with, but to me, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben are timeless and relatable because they're a family -- with all the good and bad that comes with that. The Warners are a family, too, and our hope is that dynamic reveals that maybe Skrulls aren't so bad after all.

Maybe they're just like us.

Nrama: Niko, without being too spoilery, what’s the last thing you were drawing for Meet the Skrulls?

Henrichon: I just drew a whole living room. And I can tell you I'm becoming pretty good at drawing furniture, dishes and all kind of decorative elements. Seriously, that's a story that has a lot of normal, intimate scenes, which works well when contrasted with heavy action scenes more typical of superhero comics.

Robbie did a fantastic job in articulating the two kinds of rhythms. Because I'm more accustomed to draw science fiction and crazy fantasy universes, I first thought it could become less interesting for me to draw a lot these "real life" backgrounds. But I realized it is, in fact, pretty fun. And even more challenging sometimes.

Nrama: Robbie, what’s your favorite thing Niko’s drawn for Meet the Skrulls so far?

Thompson: Honestly, every image from Niko is a treasure! I can't pick just one favorite!

We've never met in real life, but I've been a big fan of his throughout the years and I was thrilled that editors Nick Lowe and Kathleen Wisnewski teamed us up to tell this story. I think one of the tricky parts of putting together a book about shape-shifters is tracking their different forms. The Warners appear human, as Skrulls, as other humans, as some recognizable Marvel characters. And we have to track them all emotionally.

But right from the jump, Niko had a firm grasp on who these characters are and how to dramatize them in any form they take. In fact, he designed the look and feel of the characters before I wrote the first issue - and he imprinted a sense of history and life to each member of the Warner family in the process. I printed out those early sketches and posted them above my laptop. They've been a constant source of inspiration and story every step of the way.

Niko's sense of pacing is impeccable and his layouts constantly surprise. I love how he introduces the characters and really cements each of them in #1. I'm looking at his final colors on #2 right now, and there's a flashback sequence that is just incredible. It's a moment from Marvel history that we've seen before, but taken from our character's point of view and done in a style and manner only Niko can render. Then, a few pages later, there's a sequence of panels where Niko absolutely nails a fantastic character moment - one that wasn't scripted - in a very subtle way. It's the smallest of facial movements between two panels, but it conveys everything about the character's head space. And the last page of #2 is a stunner.

So, yeah, it's hard for me to pick just one favorite thing of Niko's drawn - I love them all! And I can't wait for readers to see his interior art and colors.

Nrama: The Skrulls are a key part of Marvel Comics history. How does that legacy inform the way each of you approach this story?

Thompson: From their first appearance, the Skrulls really popped in the Marvel Universe. I loved how devious and single-minded they were in their first appearance back in the pages of Fantastic Four.

But then there was that John Byrne annual, "Legacy" (from 1983's Fantastic Four Annual #17) that explained what happened to the Skrulls that they'd turned into cows that just blew my mind. It was so creepy and played on the established history. Brian Michael Bendis really took the Skrulls to the next level with Secret Invasion. And now, of course, they're about to be seen on the big screen in Captain Marvel. So, when it comes to the Skrull legacy, we're trying to honor what's come before, and hoping to add to the legacy that's been built thus far.

Henrichon: My main Skrull takeaway is Jack Kirby’s original depiction of them. While I have eternal admiration for everything Kirby has done, I think my version of the Skrulls is probably less cartoonish and closer to what has been done more recently on Secret Invasion and such.

Nrama: Skrulls always have secrets – what’s something readers don’t know about Meet the Skrulls?

Thompson: Possibly not secret, as the solicits are out, but Marcos Martin is drawing the covers for the book and they are absolutely incredible! He can take the smallest kernel from the book and expand it into something evocative and emotional. The cover for #3 is gold, and #4 is a stunner. Marcos is the best!

Nrama: Bottom line, what makes Meet The Skrulls a must-read Marvel story?

Thompson: Meet the Skrulls is a story about aliens, but ultimately it's a story about what makes us human, and what binds us together no matter who or what we are: family.

Henrichon: I think it's interesting to have stories dealing with the unexpected challenges of the "bad guys." Plus, if you want to see how good I am with furniture design, Meet the Skrulls is an absolute must!
https://www.newsarama.com/43759-meet...enrichson.html

[DragonsChi]

[Michael Watkins]

even with the movie coming out, i'm not sure why they did this.

[XPac]

Honestly, I think this could be a tv show. Its a pretty fun premise.

[your_name_here]

Strangely looking forward to this and I’m not even sure why.

[The Kid]

Honestly, I think this could be a tv show. Its a pretty fun premise.

Isn't this basically The Americans?

[Drops Of Venus]

Ooh, this keeps getting cooler. I really dig the art and I like what I've read about the story so far. It's interesting that their daughters were raised on Earth; that means they've been playing the long game here. They probably were on Earth when Secret Invasion went down and all. I'm interested to see how their role in all of that will be explained.

It really looks like Alice will be the most relatable, human character. I specially love this second image, where you can FEEL her rolling her eyes when she has to take on Skrull form at the table (also notice how there's a family portrait that seems to imply there was a third child... I smell tragic backstory). I am very much looking forward to this!

[Anthony W]

Isn't this basically The Americans?

Yeah, hopefully The Skrull Kill Krew shows up to break up the suburban angst. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skrull_Kill_Krew

[Frontier]

The other girls look like teen versions of Felicia Hardy and Mary Jane Watson. Huh.

[DragonsChi]

I want to be really excited for this book but... everything I have read so far seems very predictable. I hope thats not the case since it's really my only hang up. I like the art... the characters seem ok for now...I don't know guess I will just wait for more info. However, if this turns our to be another teenage daughter who doesn't mesh with her family or her place as a teen in society story, then I'm out. Would rather read about the exploit's of Mr. and Mrs. Warren's espionage to take over earth or either of which reforming and trying to save it.

[Snoop Dogg]

madison skrull please beat me up

[Anthony W]

I want to be really excited for this book but... everything I have read so far seems very predictable. I hope thats not the case since it's really my only hang up. I like the art... the characters seem ok for now...I don't know guess I will just wait for more info. However, if this turns our to be another teenage daughter who doesn't mesh with her family or her place as a teen in society story, then I'm out. Would rather read about the exploit's of Mr. and Mrs. Warren's espionage to take over earth or either of which reforming and trying to save it.

Why do the agents even have kids? Couldn't the Skrulls just send four agents and have two pose as teens? They are a race of shapeshifters. One of the kids wasnt even born on Homeworld. So not only are they spying they have to train the new kid from scratch?

[DragonsChi]

Why do the agents even have kids? Couldn't the Skrulls just send four agents and have two pose as teens? They are a race of shapeshifters. One of the kids wasnt even born on Homeworld. So not only are they spying they have to train the new kid from scratch?

My thoughts exactly.

The after school specials are past worn out at Marvel. Besides that if that past 5-10 years have proven anything ...current Marvel iso not very good at them. I want a high octane Skrull spy epic. If the kids can deliver that in this book I won't care and I will happily ignore my initial pessimism.

[XPac]

Isn't this basically The Americans?

Yeah, it's sort of the,Americans crossed with 3rd Rock From the Sun. It's not an entirely unique premise, but it is a fun one.

Cruasade from Avengers Initiative had similar issues. I almost think Skrulls need to stop sending spies. Otherwise they are going to start running out of spies.

[SuperiorIronman]

Why do the agents even have kids? Couldn't the Skrulls just send four agents and have two pose as teens? They are a race of shapeshifters. One of the kids wasnt even born on Homeworld. So not only are they spying they have to train the new kid from scratch?

Put it to you like this; how long have they been there?
Working with someone on a long enough timeline can result in feelings for that coworker to begin developing. This also works in the Skrull's benefit because if the female does start expecting that's not only useful to produce more potential sleeper agents and fighters, but also keeps cover. Nobody is going to find it weird that the wife is expecting kids and has to be away to raise them. Also if she has to leave at some point for something Skrull related she can use the cover of it being for the kids. This also works in their benefit because as impressionable as children are, you can just tell them **** and they'd believe it for a lack of anything different. You could tell them to spy on people and they'd do it without trouble because mommy or daddy said so. Simply having them go to school or interacting with their peers at the right age makes the whole thing more believable, especially if they grew up there and would be naturally intimate with the social structure and technology.

There is a gap in knowledge of social interactions and technology between age groups, and that would be all the more problematic for someone from another country let alone another planet.
Also consider that Skrulls normally do have to take the time to blend in. Secret Invasion was so devious not only because of the brainwashed sleeper agents but they had been doing it for so long. But those had been as established people.

Just being a regular person means you have to forge quite a bit of information like birth certificates, social security, online presence, credit card data, schooling, down to simple things like genealogy. People do indeed look for things like that in background checks. Now they could use an established family sure, but the Skrulls have to account for extended family, the ins and outs of social life among the area, work, etc

It's just easier to go long term and raise an agent or two because you only have to get two identity's instead of four of varying ages.