Ken Marcus has Super Human Resources

Ken Marcus is one-half of the creative team on Super Human Resources—with the other half being artist Justin Bleep. You should be able to find Super Human Resources #1 in shops now. Check out what creator Ken Marcus has to say below.

Tell me about your new book and how you came up with the idea for it?

I’m pretty lucky in that our name is the high concept. Super Human Resources is about the HR department of the world’s greatest super team. We follow Tim, an accounts receivable temp, during his brief time at the corporate headquarters of Super Crises International. It’s certainly the weirdest and most dysfunctional temp placement he’s ever had.

I guess the idea just popped in my head, along with the name. I had never seen super heroes mixed heavily with corporate culture before. Although I’ve been told after the fact it’s been done with Kirkman’s Capes and Marvel’s Damage Control. Doh! Although, I don’t think those books were strictly humor books like ours.

What is your con/signing schedule for this year?

Super Human Resources should make its con debut at NYCC in February. And Justin and myself plan to be it Chicago, San Diego, Charlotte, and/or Baltimore.

What is the diamond code for your book and how else can the book be ordered?

Going straight to hard sell. I like, I like. #1 was in the Dec Previews (Codes: DEC083752 DEC083753 Joey Mason Alt Cover.) If you haven’t ordered, you can probably still put in a reorder for #1. And you can still order #2 in the Jan Previews right now. (JAN093975) Look, it’s a tough time for indies. Retailers are cutting back. (Stupid recession.) So if you want to read a title that’s not from the Big Two, you really have to ask and ask and ask your LCS to order. It’s the way of the world these days.

What was the hardest thing you had to encounter while writing this book?  Concept or content?

The concept kinda wrote itself, to be honest. It’s a lot better writer than I am. Hah. Being funny on every page was the tough part. I gotta think SHR is a little harder to write than most titles. It’s hard to be funny on cue. There were a ton of revisions. There’s a reason most comedy shows have a staff of like ten writers. What’s the saying? “Death is easy. Comedy is hard.”

What is you best comic related memory from your childhood?

Good question. I would sneak away from soccer practice in elementary school and walk a block down to the 7-11. I think I picked up an issue of Secret Wars and that blew my mind. All the heroes in one place, in one comic, fighting each other? I couldn’t get over it. That 7-11 and my complete lack of any athletic ability probably started my long love affair with comics.

What is your best idea of a perfect geek day?

I tell all my non-comic reading friends that they are really missing out. Us comic geeks? We get Christmas once a week. Who else has something to look forward to every Wednesday beside comic book geeks? I’ll buy a pile of comics, find a really fattening place to eat, sit down in a corner and get my geek on. Often during work hours. Life is good for about an hour or so every week.

Star Wars or Star Trek? Explain.

Star Wars. It just hit me at that perfect time growing up. Especially Empire. I had all the figures, ships, t-shirts and bed sheets. Star Wars had the one thing that Star Trek never did, in my mind. Cool. Harrison Ford was just the shit. I’m sure plenty of people disagree, but that’s just me. Kirk was nowhere in Han’s league. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 really needed a Han. And a lot of other things.

These days, I’m a big Battlestar fan. Best science fiction, pound for pound, ever put to screen. I’d take it over SW or ST. Yeah, I said it. Okay, I’m really digging a hole.

What made you decide to become a indie comic book creator?

A compete lack of financial common sense, apparently. I don’t know. I guess everyone has had those moments of reading a comic, Wizard, Newsarma or whatever and thought “I can do this.” So I did. Awhile back, Kirkman had an article on CBR I believe and it basically said, “Most indies out there suck. So don’t suck.” It think he was trying talk people out of doing their own comics. It had the opposite effect on me. With all the stuff online about how to write and publish comics, it was one thing I could understand. Don’t suck. It’s that simple and it’s that complicated.

If you were stuck on a desert island, what would you take with you that is geek related?

The complete BSG. The complete Ghost in the Shell tv show. The Invisibles. Morrison’s X-Men. Whedon’s too. Preacher. Okay, a lot of stuff. Was there a limit? Is there even a tv there? Air conditioning? I wouldn’t last three hours.

If you could have lunch with one of the greats of comics i.e Lee, Kirby and such who would it be and why?

Don’t get me wrong. Kirby’s the best. He’s the King. But I gotta say Grant Morrison. I don’t know if he qualifies as a “great” yet. But I really just follow writers these days. And Morrison just does it for me. His crazy, ass shit…it’s the bee’s knees. I know he’s not in the league of a Lee, Kirby or Eisner, of course. But I’d have a lot more questions for him. It would make for a more interesting and probably confusing lunch.