Freak Comics

Fresh-faced writer and filmmaker Zeb Wells is a happy guy. He’s recently accepted an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics and is looking towards a bright and creative future with the industry giant.

“Axel took a chance on me and has always looked out for me. Joe has always believed in me as a writer. They’ve both pushed me to do my best work, and have put up with a lot of the growing pains of working with an inexperienced writer,” says Wells of his tutelage under Marvel professors and senior editors Axel Alonso and Joe Quesada. “On top of that, the Marvel Universe just feels like home. In many ways the DC Universe is a place for mythic stories, where the Marvel Universe is a place to explore the sloppy imperfection of being human. As someone with glaring imperfections and almost crippling flaws, I feel this is the place to tell my stories.”

“I didn’t see it coming at all, so it was very exciting, obviously.”

Wells, two-time winner of Wizard Magazine’s “Direct to Video” Contest, has been getting his feet wet in the Marvel Universe with work on SPIDER-MAN’S TANGLED WEBS, PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-MAN: DOCTOR OCTOPUS-YEAR ONE, and NEW WARRIORS. He’s even dipped into the kid-friendly side of Marvel with MARVEL ADVENTURES: SPIDER-MAN and can currently be found putting words in the mouth of DOC SAMSON.

“Axel and I have been thinking of never allowing Zeb near Spider-Man ever again, just to see him cry!” chuckles Quesada, Marvel Editor-in-Chief. “But seeing how were just not that mean here at ol’ Marvel, we might consider letting him play with the webs again…maybe. If his adoring public demands!”

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird that I’m still fairly green and have already gotten Spider-Man ‘out of the way’,” says Wells of his spider-obsession. “If I hadn’t worked on him already,

I’d definitely be chomping at the bit to write him. Axel once said that I have a tendency to write humorous stories with a heart of gold, and I think Spidey really let me indulge that compulsion. I guess with Spidey well spoken for I’ll have to develop some new tricks…”

There’s another recent project that Wells is also proud of. “FANTASTIC FOUR/IRON MAN: BIG IN JAPAN with Seth Fisher is unlike anything I’ve done, or seen done before. It feels like an artistic success, as pretentious as that sounds. And I’m immensely proud of the work Skottie Young and I did on NEW WARRIORS.”

“I feel like Skottie and I have just begun to tap what we’re capable of as a duo. We both feel that there is so much more to discover and accomplish, and our plan is to work together as much as possible and shame whatever we’ve done together in the past. I’d also like to do more stories geared toward the darker aesthetic I played around with in

SPIDER-MAN: DOCTOR OCTOPUS-YEAR ONE.”

Fans of that “darker aesthetic” may also be interested in a project or two that Wells would simply “die” for. “I have an idea for a Blade story I would literally give ANYTHING to write, and I think there’s something in Venom’s new status quo that could make great stories as well.”