LORRAINE CINK: Marvel is nothing without its community,
and community is nothing without their good neighbor.
That's why we teamed up with our friends at State Farm
to get the scoop from legendary creator Joe Quesada
about how his community affects his storytelling,
in this episode of Inside Marvel Storyboards,
presented by State Farm.
When it comes to storytelling, community is everything.
And no one knows that better than Marvel SVP and Creative
Director, Joe Quesada.
Throughout his extensive career as editor-in-chief
of Marvel Comics, artist, writer, director, and now host
of Marvel Storyboards, presented by State Farm,
Joe Q has harnessed the power of engaging in and celebrating
different communities, in order to tell
a powerful, memorable stories.
And I caught up with Joe to find out
his secrets to storytelling.
Well, you've gotten to tell so many great stories,
and I'm curious, who is your community,
and how have they inspired you as a creator at Marvel Comics
and beyond?
With community, I have to start off my family, right?
My family would constantly tell me stories about what
it was like to grow up in Cuba.
It's really what led me to the creative world,
is that I love to tell stories--
I loved to originally tell stories with my drawings.
So I went to an art school to become
a professional illustrator, a magazine illustrator, because I
wanted to tell a story.
Very much like Norman Rockwell, he was my storytelling idol,
in a visual sense.
I wanted to be able to tell a story in one image.
And then I sort of got into the world of comics,
where you were given more than just one image.
You were given, you know-- it's basically
telling a story like a movie would, but you do it on paper.
And as I joined that community, I
started to learn more and more about the art of storytelling.
There's stories to be found everywhere.
It's just a matter of, you know, knowing where to look.
Joe, I love that you said that, because, you know,
at Marvel, we always do say Marvel is
the world outside your window.
I wonder why is it, do you think,
that being an engaged member of your community
is so important to storytelling?
I can't begin to tell you how many times I've written
stories, or I've been in groups, helping
other writers write stories, and say, you know what?
This is-- What you're writing is very reminiscent of something
that happened to my father, or to my wife, or to my daughter.
And I'll throw their stories in as suggestions.
And that happens to me all the time,
when I'm writing stories and drawing stories,
is I'm pulling from life-- not just from my immediate family,
but from people that I've run into who
told me something that's happened to them in their life.
And then, when I don't know, you do the research, right?
You read up on history, you immerse yourself
into other communities.
Those things inevitably inspire your story,
and actually add a sense of believability to your story.
But community plays a part in everything that we write,
because we write and we know.
And what we don't know, we look it up.
So I don't want to spoil anything from season two,
but I do want to know, was there a moment
with any one of your guests, where
they really draw inspiration from their community that
inspired you?
You know, there was there was so much to the Taboo episode.
He went really, really deep into a lot of his history-- trials,
tribulations, successes-- but really
the trials and tribulations.
It's that moment, you know, when you're writing a story,
in a classical sense, it's that moment when the hero, just
before the beginning of that third act,
or at the beginning of that third act,
when the hero has their back up against the wall.
And they either pull their bootstraps up,
or they don't, right?
And they walk away.
And it's those moments in people's lives
that are really interesting, because it's like, well,
how did you get here, to this table across from me,
talking about it now?
Surviving it?
And Taboo's was very much like that.
I was just fascinated by his tale,
and how he came out the other end,
and came out better in the other end.
[PAGE RUSTLING]
I can't wait to see more of Joe's adventures in season two.
There are so many amazing Marvel fans
out there who are making a real difference in people's lives.
Make sure to check out season two of Marvel Storyboards,
presented by State Farm, coming soon
to the Marvel YouTube page.
From our friends at State Farm, a big
thank you to all of you good neighbors
out there, who are meaningfully impacting your communities.
How has someone in your community shown up for you?
Tell us down in the comments, and, hey,
I'll see you next time.
I'm Lorraine for Marvel, your universe.