5 Quick Questions with Ron Marz

Ron Marz is an American comic book writer. He is well known for his work on Silver Surfer and Green Lantern, as well as the Marvel vs DC crossover and Batman/Aliens.

While being chiefly responsible for bringing popularity back to Green Lantern and introducing a new generation (and boost in sales) to the series, Marz received criticism from factions of the fandom for his part in turning the character of Hal Jordan into a mass murderer in order to make way for a new Green Lantern character, Kyle Rayner. He returned to the Green Lantern series after an absence to pen the final arc of the book's third volume, then the 12-issue "Ion" maxi-series.

Having been a lifelong fan of the character, Ron was the brain behind Moonstone Books' 2006 Annual featuring The Phantom, and was responsible for getting writers Chuck Dixon, Mike Bullock, Tony Bedard, and Rafael Nieves participate with chapters for the book. Marz has also signed on to write a short story with the character for one of Moonstone's upcoming Phantom prose collections.

At Top Cow he is writing Broken Trinity about Witchblade, The Darkness and Angelus. This led to the announcement at the 2008 Baltimore Comic-Con that he had signed an exclusive contract with Top Cow which will entail three comics a month - two "Top Cow Universe" titles and a creator-owned project.



He agreed to answer 5 Quick Questions

1) What would you say is your greatest achievement in comics?

I've come to realize just being in comics for two decades is something of an achievement. But beyond that, if I had to hang my hat on something, it's that I've been able to do a range of work: super-heroes, fantasy, science-fiction, supernatural police drama, historical fiction. I'm pleased that I've been able to work in so many different genres, and not be type-cast.

2) Who was your favorite writer or artist that you worked with & why?

Narrowing it down to just one person is almost impossible. I got my start in the business collaborating with Jim Starlin. I have a career because Jim started me on this path, so he's at the top of the list. I was lucky enough to work with Jim as both writer and artist in various jobs.

3) What character you have never worked on ... would you like to do & why?

I've been able to write most all of the DC and Marvel characters at one point or another, at least in guest-starring roles, and even non-Big Two choices like Tarzan, Hellboy and the Star Wars characters. I'm really drawn to the archetype characters more than any others -- Batman, Superman, Spider-man.

4) Who are your influences?

Starlin, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Stephen King, Charles Dickens.

5) What hero or villain would you like to change if you could and why?

I don't really have any interest in changing existing heroes or villains, which probably sounds ironic considering my history with Green Lantern. But those kinds of drastic changes are much more likely to be editorial decisions than those of creators. I'd personally rather find a way to work with what makes a particular character interesting, or just make up a completely new character.