Marat Mychaels
15 years ago Marat Mychaels debuted his own creation Blindside! Although Marat wasn’t quite a household name he did break Diamond’s top 100 with the fist issue of his mini-series. However, fate would work against him as Extreme Studios left Image comics and the second issue was delayed, and eventually became part of Asylum at Maximum Press. When Maximum Press closed it’s doors it seemed like fans of Blindside may never see the end of the first mini-series. Then fire at Marat’s home destroyed all the original art from the mini-series guaranteeing no one would ever see the completion of the mini-series. However this has been a big week for our friend Marat Mychaels . First his creation Blindside did return to comics, this time from Contraband Comics and then Rob Liefeld announced he quit Grifter and that Marat Mychaels would be the new artist.Marat was nice enough to find time to stop by First Comics News and catch our readers up.
First Comics News: How is Richard Kemp chosen for the Medusa Helmet?
Marat Mychaels: The Medusa Helmet actually put’s everyone into a vegetative state hence the name “Meausa” Helmet…Rick survived it he didn’t get chosen for it. This week I plan on making a free PDF available of the original origin issue from 1996 to give people a little more background on the character.
1st: Blindside came out 15 years ago, Do fans need to have read the first series to understand the new comics?
Marat: No… Even thou we will reference a lot of the first series we will be walking the reader through everything
1st: What lead you to return to Blindside?
Marat: I always loved Blindside. I created him to have all the elements that I enjoy drawing. I always intended to bring him back a lot sooner… but 2 years turned into 5 and 5 into 8 and so on till whoa 15 years later! A friend of mine Mat Nastos kinda nudged me to do it with the Image Comics 20 year anniversary coming up he pointed out this would be the perfect time to reluanch the character. THings didn’t work out at Image Comics but I think everything worked out for the best with Contraband Comics.
1st: Geo Aria describe the first issue at “Did you ever wonder what would happen if Jason Bourne was Spider-Man?” Do you think that is a fair assessment of the comic?
Marat: Thats myHollywood pitch. It’s exactley what I was going for except in 1996 I had no idea who Bourne was so it was a younger, hipper Bond in my mind.
1st: How frequently can we expect Blindside to come out?
Marat: Bi-Monthly…that way the book won’t be late…we will announce release dates and hit them.
1st: Are all four issues finished?
Marat: NO, but it’s not an issue, the book is bi-monthly and I am working on pages from #3 now with #2 not due till October 24th.
1st: Will there be a print edition at some point?
Marat: Print editions are available through thecargohold.com or through me via Twitter, Facebook or my website maratmychaels.com
1st: Rob Liefeld announced on Twitter that you were taking over as the new artist on Grifter. Was that supposed to be with Rob as writer?
Marat: No that was actually the result of Rob leaving DC…they shifted around talent at that point. I had done a few fill ins which my editor ws very happy with so he asked me to come on board as the regular penciler. Frank Teri who is killing with Space Punisher is going to move from scripting to full writing chores on Grifter…should be fun.
1st: Does anything change for you with Rob quitting?
Marat: No, Rob and I are great friends but we always know frindship and business are seperate..plus Rob has always petioned DC to give me work, even after he quit.
1st: How exciting is it to be working on your first monthly from DC?
Marat: Pretty cool! Just because for the first time in my career I really want to be on a monthly from one of the big 2. I hope there is more in the future after my Grifter run.
1st: What issue will be your first issue?
Marat: #13 was supposed to be a fill in but now it’s the first issue of my run.
