[MUSIC PLAYING]
San Diego Comic-Con 2022, we are deep in the middle of it.
Make some noise.
Keep that noise going.
Make-- have a big round of applause for Humberto
Ramos and Skottie Young.
Oh, welcome, welcome.
Have a seat.
Have a seat, my friends.
Welcome.
How are you?
Oh, we have mics right there.
I want to know.
But we all want to know.
- Hi. - Hello.
Hello. [INTERPOSING VOICES]
Thank you.
How are we doing, my friends? How are you?
- Hello, San Diego. - Yes.
Hello, San Diego. There you go.
All your fans are here.
They're all here to see y'all.
How is the convention treating you all so far?
- Pretty good. - Oh Yeah.
- So happy to be here again. - It's fantastic.
The energy is amazing. - Yes.
Yeah.
So please tell us a little bit about the art
that you're going to be signing today.
I'm going to-- I'm going to show it off for you.
All right.
That's the cover for issue 18, right?
18, yes.
Yes.
Yeah, the last issue of the run, right?
The end of some-- the end of the first year.
The end of--
yeah.
We got a-- what's the other?
The other side's the first issue cover that we-- that came out.
It's the beginning and the end.
The beginning and the end right here.
The alpha and the omega.
- Oh, very good. - Yeah, so that's what it is.
Yeah.
So, Skottie, many people know your incredible Marvel Babies
artwork and some of the incredible
pins that I'm seeing everybody wearing here.
I have that incredible Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom pins.
My favorite thing.
Oh, thank you.
And, Humberto, so many people have fallen with your luck--
with your work on Spider-Man.
Yes, sir.
So it-- both of you being artists,
what was it like to collaborate on a book
together and, like, kind of meld your artistic mind,
so to speak?
So it was always cool to work with a fellow creator that--
but it's even better when the creator alongside with you
is your friend.
So to me, it's been a thrill.
It's a-- It's a dream come true because Skottie and I,
we've been friends for so many years.
And we always, you know, wonder and talk about sometimes
doing something together.
And doing it with Marvel is even better.
Yeah, it's-- you know, we've been kicking it around,
talking art and look at-- trading art
books and talking about stuff for 16,
17 years, something like that.
Yeah. We're that old.
Yeah.
So for us to finally be able to get together
and do a book like this--
for me as an artist/writer, it's just amazing.
But like he said, most of all, it just feels like-- we
don't feel like we're working.
We're just two buddies playing pretend.
Well, I'm sure we have some Strange Academy fans out here.
Yes? - Yes.
- Absolutely. - Woo.
But for those who don't know, please,
tell us about Strange Academy.
Tell us how this came together.
And tell us what excites you about this book.
Strange Academy is a school for--
where Doctor Strange, and Doctor Voodoo and Zelma put together
to teach the next generation of sorcerers
the craft of the mystic arts and magic in the Marvel Universe.
And it really just came about from sitting
around, brainstorming different pitches.
And I thought, man, it would--
Marvel has such a huge--
they have so many realms in the Marvel Universe.
We have the mutants, and we have Asgard, and you have Limbo.
And you have all these places that we
can grab characters from that each one would
have magic users, you know?
So I was like, what a cool idea it would be to build a school
and grab some of these kids.
And it was a real great opportunity for Humberto
and I to create a brand new cast.
You know, we thought we were creating
a book for five characters.
And then Humberto and I came up with, I don't know--
Yeah.
--seven other ones that we would
rotate through the background.
And by the end of issue one, we had 12 main characters.
My goodness.
Yeah, so, Humberto, so we're talking about creating
this new corner of the Marvel Universe, a new school
and where, like you said, where you have so many, like,
academies and schools and places to train.
Right.
So what was it like visually now
creating a brand new place for characters in this universe?
Like, it's probably-- it's going to be iconic.
It's going to be the place to go to learn
magic in the Marvel Universe.
That's the cool thing about it.
When you play-- when you play God a little bit
and you create universes because that's pretty much what we do,
right?
And but one of the first ideas that we were truly sure about
was that we wanted to have New Orleans as-- as one
of the main characters to the book,
not only our background but the main character.
So even we did a field trip to New Orleans.
It was quite a trip.
Yeah.
We-- I'm not going to say that we set it in New Orleans
to get the trip.
But I'm not going to not say it either.
So-- but yeah, it was amazing to actually spend
a week in New Orleans with the editors and Humberto and I.
And we brought my wife along, who's the photographer.
And she took so many photos of that city.
So brought it all-- so Humberto really
put authenticity into, still, every single page
from New Orleans to the comic.
That's awesome.
And now you also talk about this incredible
diverse cast of characters that you came-- is there--
I know it's going to be tough.
I hate to put you on the spot.
Respectively, Skottie, is there a favorite character for you
to write and, Humberto, is there a favorite character for you
to illustrate?
To write-- I mean, I'm absolutely in love with
the struggle of Doyle Dormammu.
I think he's really great.
But my favorite thing to-- to build and really nurture
is Zoe and Dessy's relationship.
Yeah.
I just think they're such an interesting couple and two
separate individuals that make such
an interesting combination when they start to kind of fall
in love with each other.
So that's my-- so those are my favorite ones to write.
Well, I really think my strong point is to draw teenagers.
So, you know-- and I try to make them
look different from each other.
Most artists, it's hard to portray
teenagers because they--
this awkwardness at that age that the body
is not full built in that.
So it's always a good challenge to try to come up
with a new look for characters.
And I like every other issue, I kind of change a little bit
of either the costume or the hairdo or whatever, you know.
And-- and that's the fun of it.
So I like drawing Doyle because everybody loves Doyle,
you know.
But I like Todd a lot, actually, because he's funny.
He's always-- he's mute, or he doesn't
speak the way we do at least.
And-- and he has this-- this thing
that it's kind of cute but--
but mysterious at the same time because we don't
know a lot about his story yet.
So it's a lot of fun to draw him, yeah.
Awesome.
Well, I don't want to take any more time.
I want to start this signing.
So please, y'all, give it up again for Humberto
Ramos and Skottie Young. - Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you guys.
Everybody, line up.
Let's get this signing started.
Gentlemen, all yours.