Interview: Caleb Monroe Discusses STEED AND MRS. PEEL

Caleb Monroe is ready to bring you the original Avengers…no Thor or Iron Man here, but rather Steed And Mrs. Peel, from the original  Avengers series. BOOM! Studios is bringing one of the greatest spy duos back to print and Caleb Monroe took time from his schedule to tell us what readers can expect from this rendition of Steed & Mrs. Peel.

Aaron Long: Steed and Mrs. Peel are the ‘original Avengers’ and we’ve seen these characters in many different forms of media. Is there any particular medium that you are drawing inspiration from for the series?

Caleb Monroe: We’re drawing straight from the source: the two seasons of the original show in which Emma Peel acted as John Steed’s companion. It’s all there: neatly self-contained stories, a dynamic relationship, great dialogue, bizarre villains. Everything in our series is new, but you can trace the roots of it back to the rich, rich soil of those original episodes. No one will need to be familiar with The Avengers to enjoy our comic, but it really is a fantastic show and I hope we can entice some readers who haven’t been exposed to it before to check it out for themselves. They won’t be disappointed.

Specifically, our early stories draw most heavily from the infamous “A Touch of Brimstone” episode, which was originally censored in the U.S. for its S&M imagery. The Hellfire Club in that episode inspired the later X-Men villains of the same name, but we’re returning to the originals, which I find much more interesting.

AL: In your mind, who are Steed & Mrs. Peel? What traits best define the duo?

CM: They’re both incredibly clever, but in their own ways. Peel’s definitely smarter than Steed, with a genius-level IQ, but Steed has a genius all his own, which is an innate understanding of people’s capabilities and motivations. It’s that genius that led him to conscript Peel in the first place. And he was right: they’re amazing together. Technically, he’s the “professional” spy, she’s the “amateur” consultant, but she’s a CEO and known scientist in her own right. In a delightful turn (for the 60s expecially, though it’s still rather uncommon today), she’s a much better fighter than he is.

To sum it up, I think Steed and Mrs. Peel are a pair of lateral thinkers who see the world differently than anyone around them. This common “extraordinary outsider”-ness is both why they’re such good friends and why they do what they do: there’s very few other people who could regularly face and outsmart such unconventional threats to the crown, and maybe no one who could do it as often.

AL: Can you discuss what Steed and Mrs. Peel will be up against in the series?

CM: I don’t want to give too much away, but don’t be surprised if future stories involve a black and white ball, the space race, a suicide town and the return of not just one, but two classic villains from the TV show.

AL: You have been co-writing with Mark Waid, what has that process been like?

CM: In three words: dream come true. Mark is an amazing writer (like I really need to tell anyone that!) and has been producing some of the best and most innovative work of his entire career this year, from DAREDEVIL to IRREDEEMABLE to Thrillbent. He has this amazing ability to look at a concept and immediately parse out how to approach it. My understanding of our craft is improved just by watching him do his thing. At the same time, Mark is very generous as a collaborator. He brings all this killer material and skills to the table, but does it in such a way that I have all the elbowroom I could wish for to step in and make what we’re doing my own as well.

AL: Any final words for Comcosity’s readers regarding Steed & Mrs. Peel?

CM: This is a book about two best friends saving the world and having fun doing it. They can hurt you with their fists, but devastate you with their wits. I think we all wish we were Steed and Mrs. Peel.

We’re all creating exactly the sort of book we’d want to read, and I think when you read it you’ll be able to sense just how much fun we’re having doing it!

Authors

Related posts

Top