“Most of the biggest-name New Warriors characters existed before and beyond they were formed into that team, which is true of the Avengers as well,” says Kibblesmith, showing off his newfound knowledge of the canon. The classic NEW WARRIORS volume helmed by Nicieza for its first 50 issues-first with Bagley, later alongside Darick Robertson and others-holds a hallowed place in the memories of many fans for the way it tackled salient social issues while also evolving core characters such as Namorita and Justice into full-fledged stars. This also required the writer to hit the books himself. But other than Nova being out in space doing Nova stuff, I wanted to rope in the classic fans with a platonic ideal roster that they'd recognize.” “It meant that a lot of more recent NW members that I have a soft-spot for might not make it into the book, even as a cameo.

“I knew we wanted the core cast from the earliest issues, but there's been so many deaths and resurrections and new line-ups over the years,” he explains. Teaming with artist Luciano Vecchio of IRONHEART fame, Daniel drops several new recruits into action with founders like Firestar, Night Thrasher, Speedball, and Rage in the wake of OUTLAWED altering the landscape for teenage heroes. Jump ahead to 2020 and Kibblesmith has finally scored a spot among the in crowd as architect of a NEW WARRIORS limited series reuniting many of the original volume’s key players.

The most comparable title to suck me in was SLEEPWALKER, whose weird Muppety-scarecrow vibe clicked with me more than the aggressive overt NOW-ness of NEW WARRIORS.” During that period, I was still getting the lay of Marvel's land, so I was blowing my allowance on anything with Spider-Man on the cover. When I started reading comics, it was mostly X-Men reprints and my dad's Silver Age collection, so the New Warriors were intimidating as hell to my seven-year-old brain. No, really, that's the main thing I knew. “I think, at the time, I thought was a title for someone hipper than me, kids who could take and throw punches and maybe even swear,” recalls the former Late Show with Stephen Colbert writer, who made his biggest mark on Marvel to date with the launch of last year’s LOKI.

The cool kids growing up in the '90s had Doc Martens, Starter jackets, Nirvana queued on their Discman, and, most importantly, copies of Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley's NEW WARRIORS.ĭaniel Kibblesmith was not one of these cool kids. In each installment of this series, he utilizes that insider knowledge-plus his lifelong fandom-to connect with comics professionals as they spin stories about the Marvel Universe and its inhabitants! Take a guided tour of Marvel's mightiest creators with Marvel Tales! Ben Morse, currently a visiting lecturer at UNLV, previously spent a decade working within the House of Ideas.

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