[MUSIC PLAYING]
Fellow Marvelites!
I'm Ryan Penagos, AKA Agent M, and I'm
super excited because I'm chatting with the writers
of the brand new Werewolf By Night, series Taboo and Ben
Jackendoff: AKA B. Earl.
All right guys, Werewolf By Night
has been around for almost 40 years,
and it's got so much cool history.
But what you guys are doing is really cool,
because it's brand new lore, a refresh on the character.
Tell me a little about who Werewolf By Night
is, what the book's about, and some of the threats
he's going to face.
Yeah, I mean, jumping into that,
obviously we always wanted to pay
an homage to the original Werewolf
By Night, Jack Russell.
I mean, the original Werewolf By Night
always had such deep mythology, and it always
had, like, these really kind of amazing
supernatural connections.
And it was always about a family.
There was always a family element,
and that's a big thing that both of us, being parents,
we want to tell stories that can be inspiring to kids
and show family.
This character is very--
derives from a lot of, you know, taboos,
you know, his own backstory, his own origins.
You know, I'm Mexican--
I'm half Hopi and half Mexican--
so we pulled a lot from my personal experience
to implement that in our storytelling.
The cool thing about this story is
that although there's a Native perspective to it,
it's not a Native story.
This kid is dealing with becoming a werewolf,
and it's inclusive to everyone.
And there's bits and pieces for everyone to take away
their own personal motivation.
Then you have you have the amazing revamping
of Red Wolf, a man out of time.
You know, we wanted to approach Red Wolf with a different,
you know, perspective.
We didn't want to make him look too stereotypical,
you know, muscular, and just like a dude that--
that has, like, these tactical cool accessories.
And then, of course, it's not just the two of you.
You have a wonderful collaborator in Scott Eaton.
Scott Eaton!
RYAN PENAGOS: Just a veteran amazing artist.
Tell me a little bit about working with him, and, like,
getting to see your ideas come out onto the page.
The first thing I always do is story, like, I do thumbs.
So I draw every-- so I know the pacing of each page.
These are, you know, thumbs here,
[LAUGHS] if you can see that.
And giving them to Scott and then, like, getting it back,
we're just like-- me and Tab are like, whoa!
I mean, he sees the vision, like--
and Scott just amplifies it and takes it to the next level.
Tab, for you, you know, thinking about, like, your--
the multiple disciplines, right?
Songwriter, rapper, singer, deejay, actor, now
comic writer, do you find that the process of writing a comic,
building this universe, telling all these stories--
how does that, you know, compare to the other, you know,
to all your other projects, or even just to writing music?
What's that like?
Well, it's so new, man.
And working with this amazing talent, this genius B. Earl,
is--
it's a great honor, because I learn from him too.
Because he's had his foot in the door as far as, like,
storytelling, and being part of the film world,
and knowing about storyboarding, and mood boarding,
and thumbnailing, like, those are
things that I'm learning about.
You know, we know about song structure, arrangement,
frequencies in the music world, but now I'm
learning these-- these terminologies,
and learning the amazing world of storytelling.
It's been like a crash course, and I'm
enjoying every minute of it.
You guys are so excited.
There's so much joy in everything you're doing,
and everything you're talking about here.
And I think part of that is because you're
getting to carve out a whole new part of the Marvel universe.
Tell me a little bit about what that feels like.
We get to give back to what the culture is,
and what's made us who we are.
I mean, honestly, without comic books,
I don't think I would be the storyteller that I am today.
I've been a fan of Comic Con for years.
I've been going there as a toy collector, and then
a cosplayer, and just being in the culture--
and me and Benny would just, every time we were to get
on a call, it'd be like, yo!
Can you believe how amazing, how this journey has-- has turned
into just a dream come true?
Taboo, Ben, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Much love.
I'm very excited for fans to get their hands on copies
of Werewolf By Night, number one,
which will be out in October.
Until then, keep watching all the Marvel channels
for all kinds of news.
I'm Ryan, and this is Marvel--
Your Universe.