Interview: Christos Gage on FEAR ITSELF: HOME FRONT

Some might not see a superhero whose chief ability could best be described as "bouncing around crazily" as a natural fit for a storyline like Fear Itself, which deals with what most inspires anxiety and terror within us. Yet Speedball (AKA The Masked Marvel) has had his own share of terrifying experiences in recent years. As a member of the New Warriors, he found himself blamed when a superheroic battle gone wrong ended in the deaths of thousands in Stamford, Connecticut. Blamed not only by the public, but by himself, he externalized his torturous guilt by taking up the sadomasochistic identity of Penance for a time. Gradually, with help, he has started on the road to recovery, and returned to his Speedball identity, but he's never come face to face with the fallout from Stamford… until now. In Fear Itself: The Home Front, writer Christos Gage explores what happens when Speedball is forced to confront the site of his most traumatic failure… amidst a supernatural crisis that only heightens the peril. I spoke with Christos to get a picture of where Speedball is, and what he's up against. 

Matt Adler: How did you wind up working on Fear Itself: The Home Front?
 
Christos Gage: I was approached by editor Lauren Sankovitch, who is putting together the awesome package that is Home Front!
 
MA: What led you to make Speedball the focus of this series?
 
CG: It was actually something Lauren and Tom Brevoort had in mind from the beginning. Speedball was one of the stars of the spiritual predecessor of Home Front, Civil War: Front Line. That series dealt with the aftermath of the destruction of Stamford, Speedball’s responsibility relating to that, and what happened after. We all thought it would be interesting to not only focus on Speedball again during Fear Itself, but kind of bring things full circle by having him go back to Stamford.
 
MA: What role does fear play in this story?
 
CG: Well, fear will be pervading the entire world during Fear Itself. But specifically in Speedball’s case, his worst fear is that something like Stamford will happen again. Now that the entire world is at risk of that, he has to face his fear and fight his hardest to make sure it doesn’t become reality.
 
MA: Speedball's had a wide range of portrayals over the years, from the happy-go-lucky Ditko days, all the way to the Penance identity. Where is he at on that spectrum as this story opens?
 
CG: He’s the sum total of his experiences to date, like all of us. In Avengers Academy, he’s gone back to the identity of Speedball, trying to train young superhumans to avoid the same kinds of mistakes that led to the Stamford disaster. He’s not as damaged as he was when he wore the Penance costume, perhaps realizing that heaping that kind of abuse on himself was a bit selfish…he wasn’t really helping anyone. As we saw him begin to do during the Warren Ellis run on Thunderbolts, he’s realizing that he can atone as well – or even better – as Speedball. So he’s very conscious of what’s at stake and under a lot of pressure to do the right thing…but he can still be the funny, jokey guy he was as a kid. All he’s been in the past is a part of him today.
 
MA: What sorts of challenges is Robbie going to be facing here?
 
CG: The first major challenge is Stamford itself. He’s been going back there in disguise, in civilian garb, involving himself in charitable activities as a way of trying to help the community he hurt. In our first issue, Stamford – and Miriam Sharpe, the woman who lost her son in the explosion and became an anti-super-hero activist as a result – finds out who he really is, at the worst possible moment. Of course, Speedball won’t only be facing normal people. He’ll have to take on super-criminals and more than one of the Serpent’s Hammer-Wielders, alone!
 
MA: Does the Penance persona play a role at all in this?
 
CG: I don’t really see Penance as a separate persona…he was an outward representation of a stage Robbie was going through, and though Robbie has grown since then, those feelings are still in him. And yes, he will be facing up to the guilt that made him Penance. As for Penance’s powers – the more offensive kinetic energy blasts – he can still do that, and he will.
 
MA: Your artist is Mike Mayhew, who is known for his ultra-realistic painted style. How does he handle a guy who's known for bouncing around with brightly-colored bubbles surrounding him?
 
CG: Incredibly well! I think there’s some preview out there already, so readers can see for themselves. Mike and I have wanted to work together for a while…his art is amazing. The realism he brings to his depictions of people is key to making an emotional story like this work…and making the destruction of a superhuman battle really hit home. I think people will be blown away by his work!
 
MA: Speedball is also a part of your ongoing series, Avengers Academy. How will the team factor into this event?
 
CG: We’ll see some of the students in our first issue, and Jocasta is part of the Home Front story as well, but Avengers Academy has its own Fear Itself tie-in story, so for the most part the two will stand on their own. Readers can follow one or both with no problem. Of course, we’d love for them to pick up both, and those who do will see the larger tapestry we’re weaving here…but we know times are tough and we don’t want anyone to feel “forced” to buy anything they don’t want to.
 
MA: The kids of Avengers Academy will also be featured in your upcoming two-parter in Amazing Spider-Man. Is that purely a standalone story, or does it tie into larger goings-on within the worlds of Spider-Man and Avengers Academy?
 
CG: It’s part of the continuing growth of the kids, but again, the story is constructed to stand on its own for people who may follow one book and not the other. I’d love it if some Amazing Spider-Man readers were intrigued enough to buy Avengers Academy after reading the story, but that’s secondary to telling a good Spidey story.
 
MA: Although the above is certainly plenty, do you other have any other irons in the fire at the moment?
 
CG: Yes, I have a three-part arc coming up in Astonishing X-Men, featuring the Brood and the reunion of Kitty and Lockheed…I wrote the story for the Captain America: Super-Soldier video game being released in July…a chapter of the Iron Age miniseries featuring Iron Man meeting the Avengers of the 1980’s…and at Wondercon I was announced as the writer of the upcoming Angel & Faith series that is part of the Joss Whedon line at Dark Horse. So I’m keeping busy!

Matt Adler hopes for at least one scene of Speedball being smacked with one of those huge fear-hammers.