Stuart Immonen Interview

From Spiders to Avengers
By Jason Marsh Larouche

From Patsy Walker to a teenage Peter Parker and now “Bucky-Cap,” artist Stuart Immonen has had an amazing run these past few years. Hot off the heels of his run on Ultimate Spider-Man, Stuart continues his streak with another book penned by Brian Michael Bendis…with an entirely different take on a certain red-and-blue-clad wall-crawler.
“The character has the same costume,” Stuart explains, while signing autographs at the Fan Expo 2009,“but completely different physically, has a completely different emotional background. It’s the same in name only. So, obviously the look of the character has to be different… The physicality is different; other details in the costume are also variable.”
The Toronto-based artist, with a background in independent comics from the late 80s with his writer wife, Kathryn, was the second penciler to take over the reins of USM from originator Mark Bagley after a 110-issue run. Before that, he and Kathryn – who met at Ryerson University – collaborated on independent comics together before doing so on a Marvel superheroine they both enjoy, Hellcat. As to future collaborations, he digresses “Oh, that’s interesting. Well we’d both be enthusiastic about working together, whether that be on independent projects or more mainstream work for Marvel or DC. Either would be ideal. As far as character goes, y’know she enjoys writing the female characters and I enjoy drawing them, so I can’t think off the top of my head who’d be more ideal than Patsy Walker, but that’s something to consider in the future.”
In regards to his replacement, David Lafuente, on the newly-named Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, he has nothing but praise for his work. “In fact, I’m a big fan of David’s and I think his work suits the character very well. And, from the reaction I’ve seen, I think the fans of the book agree with me in general. But as far as what I was trying to do with the book, too, even though my art is different, I tried to land a cartoonish quality, a youthful quality to the book. And I think David brings that too.”
However, in regards to the possibility of doing a tie-in book for Brian’s new storyline, The List, Stuart refuses to comment. Look for more of Stuart’s work in the pages of New Avengers.