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It will be Hel on Earth this summer in the new Marvel Comics Queen in Black event as Hela and Knull’s conflict comes to a head and Earth is the final prize in this war. With the stakes this high, it’s going to take a lot of heroes to save the day. Enter whole new group of Defenders. Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark is a three-part tie-in series that will see two teams—Dark and Light—serve as a first line of defense for Earth and the stakes are higher than ever.
Written by Knull’s Tom Waltz with art by Ze Carlos, Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #1 hits comic shops on July 8th and not only does have an exclusive first look at the issue, but we had a chance to chat with Waltz about this unlikely heroic lineup, which is poised to be a big story taking place over just a few issues as well as one that promises to be a difficult journey for two fan favorites.
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Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark Has a Unique Hero Lineup (And It Won’t Be Easy on Cloak and Dagger)
: Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark has a hero lineup that I never would have even thought about as a team. What did you find to be the most interesting or surprising thing about this particularly unique Defenders lineup?
Tom Waltz: Honestly, the most fun part of this lineup was the leeway I was given by the good folks at Marvel (and overall Queen in Black architect, the mighty Al Ewing) to pick my own team (or in this case, teams) with a few exceptions. Iron Man, Beta Ray Bill, and Cloak and Dagger were already slated for the series when we started (all of whom I absolutely dig, by the way). Otherwise, the only guideline I was given was to create a mixed roster of Darkforce (Team Dark) and Lightforce (Team Light) users to face the dual threat of Knull and Hela. So, I started looking at characters that I thought would fit the bill…but also characters I personally and creatively connect with and have been pining to write.
I’ve been a longtime fan of Sunfire, and I felt his nuclear powers would fit nicely on Team Light (and no way I was going to pass up the chance to write him given the opportunity). Photon is another hero I’ve always found intriguing — she’s cosmically powerful while somehow always remaining down-to-earth and accessible with a fun personality — I was excited to explore her on Team Light. Darkstar is one of those classic international super heroes I’ve always been drawn to (like Sunfire), and she came back on my radar during the Blood Hunt event…as well as a bit of a heel turn she took most recently in the pages of X-Factor. She’s tough yet elegant and worthy of redemption, which I felt made her a perfect fit for serving with Team Dark on this critical mission. And the old Marine in me couldn’t resist recruiting old soldiers like Cable and Agent Anti-Venom (Rick Remender made me into a Flash Thompson stan!) to the Team Dark roster (including some cool Darkforce enhanced weaponry for my man Cable).
Ultimately, it became a disparate group for a desperate mission — and I wasn’t certain how Al and the editorial team would receive it when I submitted my initial story proposal. Happily, I received two thumbs up from all involved and we were off to the races!
You recently did the Knull limited series that this new Queen in Black crossover event is connected to. What has it been like to sort of keep the chaos going by being part of this new chapter?
The fact that we ended the Knull series on a bit of a chaotic note made for a natural transition to even more chaos right from the get-go in Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark. We’ve got Knull and Hela streaking towards Planet Earth, both harboring their own domination agenda — dual adversaries for our heroes to face off against with literally little to no warning. So, I approached the Defenders’ objective as a cosmic guerilla warfare component to the overall mission to protect Earth from these dangerous attackers. The foundational elements of asymmetric warfare are chaos and confusion…and our Defenders our delivering plenty of both (and more!) in the pages of Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark
What are you most excited for readers to experience when it comes to Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark — and what do you think will most surprise them?
Three things immediately jump to mind.
1. Series artist Ze Carlos’ artwork is OUT OF THIS WORLD! I can’t wait for readers to see what he and amazing colorist Fer Sifuentes are rendering for this mini-series. Every page — every panel — is hyper detailed and brimming with kinetic energy. We had A LOT to pack into only three issues, and Ze is making sure not one iota of visual space is wasted.
2. As mentioned above, we only have three issues to tell a big story, but I’m happy to report we’ve found a way to give each character a spotlight moment, which I hope gives our overall plot a nice sprinkling of character growth that will follow these characters into their future Marvel adventures.
3. Getting a bit more specific, this series has huge ramifications for Cloak and Dagger (two characters I absolutely adore). As I explained above, Cloak and Dagger were already set to be a part of the action when I came onboard as writer — and I couldn’t have been more ecstatic with the directives I was given for their story arc…as well as the creative freedoms I was given to bring it all about. Ty and Tandy really shine (and shadow) in Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark, but their journey will not be an easy one…not by a long shot.
Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #1 goes on sale July 8th.
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