Angela, Asgard’s favorite assassin, is about to get a second solo book, this time set in Neil Gaiman’s 1602. Marguerite Bennett and Sana Amanat talk about 1602: Witch Hunter Angela, bringing fresh voices to a diverse fandom and why that fandom is getting a seat at the table.
Marvel
Tell us a little about Angela's second solo book.
Marguerite Bennett (co-writer): It's Secret Wars/War Zones series, and we're going back to Neill Gaiman, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove's 1602. Queen Elizabeth has been recently murdered, King James has ascended the throne, and throughout the entire country there's a persecution of those who are considered witchbreed, which is the 1602 equivalent of mutants. We're combining this history and this flourishing time of Western literature with the mythology of the Marvel universe.
I'm co-writing the series with Kieron Gillen, and we're gonna have a similar structure to our current book, a 15-page overstory that focuses on Angela and Sera and a five-page substory that is a tale that Sera is telling. The art is being done by Stephanie Hans, who did the painted five-pagers in the first Angela arc, and her style is just so gorgeous and I could not hope for anyone better to help me bring this to life. The five-pagers in 1602, they'll each be drawn by a different artist.
Of all the characters to to throw into 1602, why Angela?
MB: Angela's got those lofty and mythic proportions already; there's definitely this sense of grandeur in getting to see her and Sera both through this wandering, holy mission lens.
Marvel
Because Sera is going to journey with Angela again, does that mean that they have a similar backstory in 1602 as they do in the current run? Does that mean we're going to see Asgardians and other familiar faces?
MB: Yes, they have a similar backstory! Asgardians I can't confirm, but we will definitely see a lot of familiar 1602 characters. We want to make the series our own; I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaiman and the original run, but we really didn't want to just retread something that was already very beloved, we wanted to go out and explore the furthest corners of that universe. So you're going to see people who never appeared in the original series. We've got a 1602 Bucky Barnes, and we've got 1602 Guardians of the Galaxy, which has never been done before! So yeah, we're very excited to have fun with it and tear off full speed ahead.
I'm so excited to see 1602 Bucky Barnes and all his glorious eyeliner.
MB: (laughs) I mean this isn't a spoiler, but I basically needed literally the most handsome man in the Marvel universe for this character, sooooo that meant Bucky Barnes.
Sana Amanat (editor): Uhhhhh, that's Gambit, personally I think it's Gambit.
Jaimie McKelvie's Commander Rogers, that's my personal pick but...
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