Heroes and villains rarely pick up after themselves. That's where Damage Control steps in to clean up the mess that supes leave behind. Adam F. Goldberg and Hans Rodionoff, the writers of The Goldbergs, have teamed up with Charlotte Fullerton, Will Robson, Nathan Stockman, and Jay Fosgitt, for a brand-new five-issue miniseries that celebrates Marvel's most underrated and underappreciated group.
CBR caught up with Rodionoff to discuss how this project and its team came together. Additionally, he revealed more about Damage Control's newest employee Gus and which characters from The Office he most resembles. Rodionoff also detailed how he'd love to see a Damage Control television show enter production.
CBR: First off, how did the creative team for this book get together?
Hans Rodionoff: When I was growing up, my favorite comics were from the darker side of the Marvel Universe: Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, Tomb of Dracula, and Ghost Rider. When I met Adam, we got along right away because he's just as much of a horror fan as I am -- actually, he might even be a bigger horror fan than me -- but he had chosen to focus on writing comedy. We would trade scripts, he'd read my horror scripts, and I'd read his comedies -- and pretty soon, I started to feel like the pacing was almost identical -- and he gave me great scary set pieces, and I'd pitch him jokes. Eventually, we started writing together and talked about how we'd both read and loved the original run of Damage Control and every limited series that followed. We started to think it would be fun to explore Damage Control in a deeper way than had been done previously. And then when we saw Spider-Man: Homecoming and Anne Marie Hoag showed up, we looked at each other and said, "It's time."
We came up with a story and pitched it to Tom Brevoort. Tom really got what we were trying to do, to the point that he gave us a really great little detail on Gus's character. Tom brought the supremely talented Will Robson on board, and we all got into creative synch very quickly.
What does a book like Damage Control allow you to do differently from other superhero comics?
Damage Control is different from other comics because most of the characters are humans without any superpowers. It's a comic book for the rest of us who didn't get bitten by a radioactive spider, injected with super soldier serum, and aren't billionaire inventors in high-tech armor. All the Damage Control employees are just ordinary earthlings who work in an extraordinary place. I think Damage Control is the only super-powered element in the book. The comedy and the adventure come from watching Damage Control employees deal with these larger-than-life problems and challenges in very grounded, pragmatic ways.
Tell us a bit more about Gus. What can readers expect from this new character?
Gus is our way into the world of Damage Control, and he's going to be our guide into sections of the company that we've never seen before. What's really exciting about this series is that it's going to introduce a whole new generation to the wonders of Damage Control. We've seen the high-level tactical agents that interact with Peter Parker and Kamala Khan, but that's only 1% of the workforce. Most of the people at Damage Control don't wear tactical gear or carry weapons. They fill out forms in triplicate and go hard on the weekends.
To compare Damage Control with The Office, who does Gus most resemble and why?
I think he's probably most like Tim from the British version crossed with Andy from the American version. He means well, but [he's] kind of a natural trouble magnet.
The series promises cameos. How did you go about selecting which characters would appear here?
Oh, have we got cameos! Doing guest appearances with our favorite characters is one of the many things that made this book an absolute joy to write -- but every character is specific to the issue that they appear in. Nobody just shows up for a quick smile at the camera and then dips. We chose the characters that would appear in each issue by the kind of challenge that the Damage Control team was going to face and then brought in the characters that made the most sense for that story.
There is also a whole crew of heroes and villains who have been part of the Damage Control family in the past, series regulars, if you will -- like She-Hulk, who returns in this new Damage Control series in a big way. I'm so excited for the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law show because Jennifer Walters has always had a close relationship with Damage Control in the comics, and that makes me feel like a Damage Control TV show might become a reality.
There are so many great Marvel shows and movies that blend action and comedy perfectly; Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy, Loki, and Hawkeye all have such strong comedic elements. I think the world is absolutely ready for a Damage Control show. Not only that, I think the fans will demand it after they read this latest series!
Who is the hero or villain that causes the most headaches for Damage Control? And what do they really think of them?
That's a tricky question to answer without giving away any spoilers, but I will say that Gus is one of those people that can't really get out of his own way. His natural curiosity, combined with a slightly gullible nature, ends up getting him into some tough spots as he tries to find his place at Damage Control.
When all is said and done, what do you want fans to take away from this five-issue series?
That there's more to Damage Control than the task force and the S.H.I.E.L.D.-like commandos that we saw in Ms. Marvel. Most of the people that work at Damage Control are just like you and me and my buddy Greg who sells insurance. The best part of Damage Control is that it's a place where magic is mundane. Everyone that works there has seen it all, and they are not impressed or excited easily. There's always something great about characters that have every reason to be afraid or overwhelmed, and they choose to stand their ground -- even though the odds are totally against them.
Damage Control #1 is due out on Wednesday, Aug. 24.