A: A small bit of history -- Roger Stern was originally supposed to be the writer and, because of a disagreement, opted out of the book. However, he recommended me to the editor, Mark Bernardo. So by the time I came on board, a LOT of things were already in place, including the fact that it was a team and the make-up of the team for the first issue. I started adding others and my thing was that we should keep the make-up of the team fluid -- give it a core but then keep bringing people in and out. White Tiger was one of my creations. I also brought the Black knight in and made sure he was the Black
Knight again -- gave him a flying horse and a sword and shield.
Question #2 "Was it difficult to choose who appeared regularly in the title? Did Pascual Ferry get any of his favorite characters in or was it, mainly, your decision?"
A: I'm not sure what input Pascual had into the initial make-up of the team. Pascual, by the way, was GREAT and a joy to work with. His enthusiasm for the book spilled over into every page. I was told that Hulk and Hercules could be there at start but not beyond the first storyline as they were going to be elsewhere. For the most part, I chose offbeat characters that I really liked; I wanted this team book to be different not only from every other Marvel team book but every other team book out there.
Question #3 "Jessica Drew, the original Spiderwoman, appeared in the last two issues of your series. Were there plans to keep her around; had the title not been canceled?"
A: Yeah, I liked her a lot.
Question #4 "In issue #5, Jim Hammond and Ant-Man are having a conversation about the latter's role on the team and his discomfort with being Hammond's "secret weapon." Seeing as Ant-Man didn't fully appear to the team until #6, which prior mission did he take part in?"
A: All of them. He was always back-up and actually went on the missions. You just never saw him.<laughs>
Question #5 "Which character, if any, did you enjoy writing the most? least enjoy? And which story did you have the most fun with?"
A: I really did enjoy all the characters. This may sound goofy as heck but I especially enjoyed the loopy Narrator who got fired at one point. He started off being your standard narrator and just gradually got more and more out of control until She-Hulk fired him. I also REALLY like the Black Knight. I think there's a lot more to be done with that character. Deadpool was a great guest star and that was a fun storyline. The most IDFFICULT was where we crossed over with QUICKSILVER, although I was co-writing that book as well. Although I think they story worked out just fine, in retrospect I
think it would be a good rule that, when you're doing a crossover, do it with a book that sells BETTER than yours. That said, perhaps my fave single issue was the Thunderbolts crossover. We put a LOT of story into 22 pages.
Question #6 "In Heroes For Hire #7 (one of my favorites), the heroes encountered the Thunderbolts. At that time, the Thunderbolts were still villains pretending to be heroes. By the time that the Thunderbolts scheme was exposed, the Heroes For Hire were busy elsewhere. Do you regret not having shown a reaction to that exposure?"
A: I didn't realize they were going to be revealing themselves so soon after the crossover. If I had known, I would've tried to use part of an issue to react to it. By the time I learned about it, we were already beyond where it
made any sense to deal with it at length. I would like to say, however, that Kurt Busiek was terrifically generous in allowing that crossover issue to take place in the first place. T-Bolts were red hot at that time. Kurt's a true pro and a helluva writer.
Question #7 "Were you ever going to elaborate on the relationship between the Master and Cage's father? How about third woman in Dane's future, from the Lady of the Lake's predicition in #8?"
A: If we had brought the Master back, we might have gone into it. I was planning on eventually bringing the master back but it wouldn't have been for another year. At some point, we would've also dealt with the third woman in Dane's future as well. Something I'd still like to address.
Question #8 "A great aspect of the series was the inclusion of off-the-wall guest-stars. Had the series not been cancelled, were there plans for any other guest stars (villains or non-villains)?"
A: Spider-man was one of the ones I really wanted to show up. Hercules as well. I loved having Brother Voodoo in there and Dr. Strange would've been a great guest-star as well. I would have loved to see the H4H take on Modok and/or AIM and/or Hydra or maybe all at once. I could go back and write this book some more tomorrow if I was allowed.
Question #9 "Were you sad to wrap up the White Tiger storyline? Who's idea was it to create White Tiger?"
A; As I recall, it was mine. I was interested in a character who could change shape between human and animal and then I thought -- what if she isn't a woman who can turn into a tiger but a tiger who turns into a woman? That seemed cool and interesting to me.
Question #10 "This might be a better question for Ferry but, around issue #10, Iron Fist began wearing a cool variation on his classic costume. Pointy shoulders were later added. Whose idea was it to add the shoulders?"
A: Had to be Pascual. That was a terrific looking costume, IMO. But you probably should track Pascual down and ask him.
Bonus Question(s): "What was up with all those cats?" and, "Was Hammond's beard a H4H creative team inside joke?"
A1: Pascual liked drawing cats.
A2: Not really. Just another way of helping to differentiate him from the other Human Torch. Again, it was a given when I got on the book and one of my questions was "How does an android grow hair?" so we did a gag answer in his exchange with Namor (one of my fave scenes in the series -- just Namor and Hammond talking).
I have to say that I really LOVED doing H4H and it's like nothing else I've done. One story just tumbled into the next and you never knew where we would be off to next. That was by design although I also just liked shaking the dice and seeing what happened. I'm amazed that there is a message board for it and very pleased. I really miss doing it.
All the best
John Ostrander
