At a SEGA showcase last week, we were able to get our hands on a gang of upcoming games, from Obsidian's Alpha Protocol to Yakuza 3 to another Wii exclusive from Conduit developer High Voltage, Tournament of Legends. And then there was Iron Man 2, which might not get a lot of people excited but boasts a script by one of the best comic-book writers in the game (including Marvel's award-winning Invincible Iron Man title), Matt Fraction.
We've linked with Matt before, but it's been a minute, so we sat down with and chopped it up about his gaming habits, why movie games generally suck, and of course what to expect from Iron Man 2. Watch the video above to see him playing (and mouthing off at) Iron Man 2, or keep reading below for the entire interview. If Tony Stark had a catchphrase, we'd yell it here, but...*shrug*
Complex: We know about the comics, but what sort of gaming background are you coming from?
Matt Fraction: A very lazy one. I've never been particularly gifted at games—then couldn't afford them for a long time, and sort of came back to it when I got my first real job. Part of it was because I was working in film, and animation, and music videos, and for my money, the dirty secret of bleeding edge visual culture is that a lot of it is in video games right now. Inventive camera work and lighting scenarios. There's a lot of great cinematic stuff happening in games, even aside from the ability of punching my friends in the face and talking shit.
Complex: What were the formative games early on?
Matt Fraction: Pitfall 2 was the first game I ever beat. Like balls-out, undisputed, pause-the-TV-take-the-picture beat. I think I still have the Polaroid somewhere of Pitfall Harry doing the 8-bit dance. I was a big Nintendo kid, Mario and Zelda and stuff. But the thing is, as I became a writer, what I'm really drawn to is quest game—but I can't play them because I've got to write. I spent three days not sleeping playing Myst when it came out. That was the last quest game I ever played; I was like, "I have rent! I can't do this anymore." I just don't have the hours that I want to spend. So the games I play are almost all multiplayer, almost all online. Or button-mashers. Not engrossing, puzzle-solving, hour-eating stuff, because I would never leave my house. I would be like Ben Stiller at the end of Dodgeball.
Complex: So when you say online, you mean in the sense of teabagging the bodies of those you've TOTALLY PWN3D?
Matt Fraction: Yeah, but only with pals. I have no interest in 15-year-olds calling me "faggot." I have no idea why that stuff isn't policed. It's embarrassing, and it's one of the things that stops games from being taken seriously. But I only play with people know—we'll go and get murdered, I'm not competitive enough to care about doing it well. Modern Warfare 2 right now is really the current jam. But I've also been getting into Darksiders and Bayonetta, which button-mashers but a lot of fun. Bayonetta multiplayer would be the greatest thing of all time.
Complex: So the game Iron Man 2 is being touted as an "original concept." How far does it digress from the movie?
Matt Fraction: It's a parallel narrative experience. Much like the comic and the film are parallel narratives. Nobody wants to make E.T., and movies make shitty games. What they call cut scenes in video games, movies just call scenes. Writing the comic book got me a consultancy on the second film, so I was kind uniquely positioned between the comic and the film universes with a familiarity and working grammar for each. So when they were really moving the ball on Iron Man 2 the game, I sort of was a steward of Tony [Stark].
Complex: What was the extent of your consultancy on the film?
Matt Fraction: I was there for a like week just giving notes, talking, and workshopping it with [director] Jon Favreau, [screenwriter] Justin Theroux, and Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios. Jon and Justin already knew what the project was, they had it in their minds. We were just bouncing ideas. The bummer was that "RDJ." as he's called, had just departed to shoot Sherlock Holmes. Literally the day before. He left the day Carlos Zambrano threw his no-hitter. So two great things I missed: meeting the finest actor of our generation and seeing Zambrano pitch a no-hitter.
Complex: You mentioned that movies make shitty games. Comic book games don't have the strongest track record either. What kind of anxieties did you have going into this project about crossing those streams?
Matt Fraction: I just wanted to make sure I'm not going to pour the glass of water on my head. I came in like, "It should be like Need For Speed where you can customize the armor! And slap wings on it and color it whatever way you want! And big feet and a crazy head!" And they're like, "Nah, that's not going to happen." That's not how games work. I was apparently writing for the Playstation 8. Playstation Ocho. [Laughs.]
Complex: From your experience writing The Invincible Iron Man, what villains did you find are uniquely ill-suited for video games?
Matt Fraction: Tony's alcoholism makes for a bad video game; you can't button-mash alcoholism away.
Complex: "Denial, denial!"
Matt Fraction: Exactly. The thing though is, with a parallel narrative you can invent whoever you need to be whatever you need. You've seen the trailer with Mickey Rourke being a Whiplash kind of character. But he's not like any Whiplash we've seen before; he's a hybrid. You can reinvent these guys, you can update them. Ultimately, you have a way with the game because the game isn't considered fixed canonical continuity. And that's a ridiculous thing to cater to.
Complex: Strong word.
Matt Fraction: I don't want to say that it's ridiculous. It's crippling. The idea of, "You had Tony eating eggs, yet in Iron Man #187 he declared; 'I hate eggs!'" You're going to drive yourself crazy with the history. It's just alienating. Your roommate whose never read an Iron Man comic, never played the video game, never saw the film, it would be alienating and restrictive. This is a big-tent Marvel universe; there's room for everybody here.
Complex: Now that you have experience bringing one medium to another, please pitch me your book Casanova as a game.
Matt Fraction: People have pitched me on that. I don't know. Casanova remains ahead of what video games can do. The comic that couldn't be filmed became the game that cannot be played.
Complex: Maybe for the Ocho?
Matt Fraction: Truly, if there was a game for the Ocho, it's Casanova.
Complex: What game outside the comic world would you like to have had a hand in on the writing side?
Matt Fraction: No More Heroes, I loved. I know the sequel just came out, and I can't wait. That just killed me. It's all Japanese stuff, it's all crazy weird. If I could craft something as berserk as God Hand or Bayonetta, but with the austerity and scope of Shadow of Colossus, that's my sweet spot. Fuck, I think that's Thor. [Laughs.] I think that's going to be my Thor comic.
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