Marcelo Ferreira

Marcelo Ferreira [00:10:07]: Ironically, not really. I’ll tell you this, here’s why. Well, comics have been a part of my life since forever. The first thing that I remember reading was a comic book. It was actually a Scrooge comic book, and I was 6 years old. Yeah, I was reading Disney back then, and having some Marvel comics in my house — but before I learned to read, I remembered the covers and all that.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:10:38]: But with Disney, and then I quickly migrated to superheroes. And that was when I was 8 years old. At that time, we had here Crisis on Infinite Earths from DC coming out here. Back then we had a 2-year delay — 2 years after the comic was published in the US, they published it here. I don’t know why, it’s just a thing of the past. So anyway, it was 1987 or something like that, and I started Crisis. It was pretty much a new beginning for DC, right? Everybody starting over.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:11:24]: So it was a perfect moment for me to jump in. I noticed everything was brand new. New Superman — John Byrne Superman. Wonder Woman and all that. So I was like, okay, I’ll start reading these characters because I’m catching everything at the very beginning. So I started reading and collecting the books, and next thing I learned — I learned that this was one universe of characters and there was another called Marvel that had other types of characters. So I stuck with the DC ones. That’s why I have all this collection.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:11:58]: And then I learned that both publishers were kind of rivals. So I was like, okay, so I’m on DC team and I don’t want to read all the other characters. I came to read Marvel characters much later. I got really acquainted with Spider-Man and X-Men, all the others, probably in the ’90s. We’re talking about the ’90s, after the X-Men animated series.

Jar Jar Jeremy [00:15:21]: When did you first pick up the pencil and start drawing these things? Was it with McDuck, or did DC characters jump at you first? When did you start saying, oh, I’m gonna do comic books?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:15:40]: Well, with those first comics from DC — I remember buying Superman, and immediately John Byrne’s lines just struck me. I was just looking at the art, and I was like, what is this? This is fucking awesome. So I needed to start drawing those, so I started copying covers. Later we had Legends — that saga. Yeah, Legends was awesome. And then Man of Steel. Pretty much everything John Byrne caught my attention and I started drawing everything he drew. And I also — Justice League with Kevin Maguire. Kevin Maguire also drew. I was trying to ink my first lines, I remember.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:16:35]: So I got so much interested in that. And — which is another fun fact — I somehow, I thought: okay, so I want to do this when I grow up. I’m gonna grow up and draw these comics. I had no idea what I was talking about, or how to do it, which way to go, if I needed to study or not. I just knew I wanted to do this for a living. So decades later, I kind of started doing that.

Drew Malow [00:17:16] [Castmagic: MJ]: You’re doing great, man. Keep up.

Jar Jar Jeremy [00:17:22]: What was your first professional work?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:17:31]: Meaning comics? Yeah, because before I started in comics, I was already an illustrator here locally. I had 10 years of experience as an illustrator and an art teacher as well. But coming into the American comic book industry was always one of — I set this goal early on in life, so I never forgot about it. I was just waiting for the right moment. And that thing happened in 2011, actually. I went to New York Comic-Con in 2010. I did the basics — showing my portfolio around to everybody I could meet, all editors, all publishers. And a couple months, 3 months later in early 2011 — it’s what, 15 years now — I got my first gig.

Jar Jar Jeremy [00:18:24]: Sweet. Yeah, that was a dream for some artists — to go around, show your portfolio, and like 6 months later get the gig.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:18:37]: Yeah, well, I showed everybody I could, but this one small independent publisher really liked my stuff and picked me for this project, which was Richie Rich. No kidding, from back in the day. They were releasing, re-releasing the character with a new visual — everything was new about Richie Rich, made him more modern. Back in 2011 I was heavy on drawing all-ages stuff — a lot of kids’ stuff. So they picked me for that task. And well, that was a good match, and I started. And since then it’s been pretty much a non-stop work, working for the industry.

Drew Malow [00:19:36] [Castmagic: MJ]: One of my favorites of your work is — I’m a huge Ghostbusters fan, so collecting all the IDW Eric Burnham stuff was great. And then when they had the 35th anniversary, they did all these one-shots, and you got to do The Real Ghostbusters, which as a Ghostbusters fan was always one of my favorites. You and your collaborator — I think it’s Damon Stott. You guys just did such a great job capturing the nostalgia of the cartoon and everything. So I would love to know how that came up. Were you a fan of that? Was it like touching a nerd goal? And any favorite moments working on IDW?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:20:37]: I did Back to the Future. You know, the other day I was introducing my daughter, my 10-year-old daughter, to Back to the Future, the first movie. She never watched it. And I said, did you know that Dad drew — I explained my story with the movie, because I think I watched Back to the Future like two dozen times, probably. Yeah, I watched the first one upon its release in the ’80s. I kind of know all the lines, right?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:21:19]: So when I was offered the gig, I was like, of course, man. And I actually had to trade a couple of emails with the producer of the movie, the original movie — and I was like, oh man, I believe I’m talking to the producer. You know, from the team who put together this movie that I was glued to the TV to when I was like, I don’t know, 8, 9 years old, right?

Mahana Jade Longwalker [00:21:47] [Castmagic: Drew]: Yes, absolutely.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:21:49]: It’s crazy, the stuff you get to do when you enter the industry.

Leo Pond [00:21:53]: Well, yeah, since you’re a big Back to the Future fan — just real quick, since you’re in Brazil. Over the last several months, somebody found an original 35mm print and scanned it into 4K, and it’s like full frame. You can’t believe how much they actually cut out of the movie. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I watched it myself.

Drew Malow [00:22:37] [Castmagic: MJ]: Well, especially Marcelo — touching on Back to the Future, you did two stories in the original series, which was just supposed to be a miniseries. You did The Doc That Never Was, which was Emmett confronting this alternate reality where his time travel stuff came in a lot sooner and kind of ended up being the cause of World War III. And then Clara’s backstory, which filled in who she was before she ever made it to Hill Valley. And then you get to do the next story, which was Continuum Conundrum — kind of the sequel to Back to the Future 3. You know, it’s what happened after Doc was in the past and Marty was still in 1986. So you’re working on that, and on top of it you’re working with Bob Gale, who’s one of the producers and writers of it. What was that like? Any fun stories there?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:23:50]: Wow, it’s hard to pick a favorite moment because everything was so great. Just — exactly because of what you just said — Bob Gale. And for those who don’t know, this comic series that IDW put out is like — it’s official — it’s canon. Yeah, it officially fills the blanks between the movies and after the third one. So everybody who’s a Back to the Future nerd or fan, you should pick up this book. You have the official canon story of what — oh yeah. You know, we always wondered about Marty McFly’s uncle, you know, when he came out of prison. Yeah, a lot of great stuff. So since I was already a fan, I was — the script coming in, I was like, oh, this is so cool. This is what happened, this is what happens. It was great to contribute. I actually got to contribute to this ongoing franchise.

Jar Jar Jeremy [00:25:01]: Did they have you under like a no-disclosure clause — you’re not allowed to say anything about what you’re seeing and drawing until it comes out?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:25:12]: Yeah, there was something. I remember, yes, a couple of emails about that.

Drew Malow [00:25:21] [Castmagic: MJ]: Wow. Did you listen to any of the Alan Silvestri scores while you were drawing it?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:25:31]: Well, not just the score, but I remember watching the movies — the 3 movies — while I was drawing. Not all the time because I stayed on the book for what, a couple of years probably? It’s hard to remember now. But yeah. A few times I put on the movie. Sometimes I had to, because I was searching for reference, actually.

(The host’s Ghostbusters question at 00:19:36 actually shifted into Back to the Future discussion first; Ghostbusters was circled back to implicitly through the IDW conversation.)

Drew Malow [00:26:17] [Castmagic: MJ]: I mean, just like I said — you hit two of the best ’80s franchises that there ever were. You’re drawing — and not just that — for Ghostbusters, the Real Ghostbusters, which is just a pinnacle ’80s cartoon. And then you’re doing Back to the Future, which is the movie. This is every ’80s kid’s dream.

Kari Sanders [00:27:58]: I’ve been waiting on this question since we were talking about your origins story. When you start off when you’re a little kid, you’re doing everything — you’re drawing, you’re coloring, doing all the different parts. What sets up — because you’ve done that, you know what it’s like to set things up for people, that this person eventually is going to come in and ink me, this person’s going to color. But what does it feel like to be pulled all the way back to doing just the pencils for something? How does that work in your brain?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:29:00]: Yeah, well — let’s say I started in 2011 in the industry. Half of this time until 2018 when I got hired by Marvel, I did pencils and inks. I inked myself all the time, right? Because normally smaller publishers will pick you up, and if you do both stages it’s better — that’s kind of the norm these days. You pencil and ink yourself. So I did that for 7 years. But when I went to Marvel, they actually require me just to do the pencils. It’s their view on my work — they prefer me to be inked by somebody.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:29:58]: It’s their artistic choice. And I tried to ink myself once, but I was not very successful because I tend to spend too much time over one page because of that. So we have to be careful — superhero comics is more intricate. I tend to render a lot sometimes. So they’d rather have somebody inking my stuff. And that doesn’t worry me because they have these amazing inkers, all very professional. I’ve worked with great guys in the past. I’m working with a great guy right now — Jay Leisten, which you had on the show before.

Drew Malow [00:31:06] [Castmagic: MJ]: Yes, we did.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:31:08]: So it’s all good. But I like doing everything. And I really miss coloring. So when you do these books, you don’t get to color a lot. I really miss messing with my markers more often. So I get to do that when I do basically commissions.

Kari Sanders [00:31:32]: And you still do some of the shading and cross-hatching and stuff, at least enough to show the inkers where to be and the spacing and stuff, correct?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:31:42]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, still do that.

Leo Pond [00:31:59]: On a similar vein — now you’ve recently moved to exclusively be with Marvel. Now how does that work? Do they say, okay, since you’re going to be just with us, we’re going to give you so much work within a certain time frame? How does it work?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:32:21]: Yeah, well, actually there was not — there was not recently. Actually, just — I started working for Marvel in October 2018, and one year after that’s when they offered me the exclusive. So I’ve been exclusive since 2019, actually. You know, it’s already been — yeah, that’s a nice run. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was actually surprised when only one year after I was working with them I got offered the exclusive. And to me, that was of course a no-brainer. I was like, yeah, of course. I was very honored and to be — to get that offer. So I said yes immediately.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:33:06]: And well, Leo — they keep me busy all the time. Basically, if you’re exclusive, they keep you busy all the time, and of course you’re forbidden to work for anybody else in the industry. You can’t do any other stuff. And of course there’s always a compensation for that — I’m always busy. And of course there is also a financial compensation for that as well. Every artist has that going on, because since you’re hired to work only for one publisher, there’s got to be a compensation for that, of course.

Mahana Jade Longwalker [00:33:56] [Castmagic: Drew]: So following Kari’s question — I know you’re quite busy, working from home. But is there anyone or anything you enjoy drawing on your own free time, just doodling, passively, just for enjoyment?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:34:17]: You know what — I’m not a typical artist, because sometimes I see other guys and gals who draw professionally. I see their Instagram, even in person when we talk — everybody has this, every day I do some warm-ups, like half an hour before I dive into the work of the day. Or in between jobs, I always doodle something in my sketchbook, I carry it around. And I’m like — I never do any of that. I mean, what’s wrong with me? I’m so task-oriented that I really don’t do that.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:35:18]: You know, I really don’t want to draw when I’m not drawing, you know, when I’m not working. So when I’m not working as a job, I want to sit here and play the drums. I want to sit back. I want to go to the pool. I don’t want to sit my ass in a chair and draw even more. So yeah, I guess I’m a little different when it comes to that.

Drew Malow [00:37:42] [Castmagic: MJ]: Back to Marvel. Another thing we read, which I have to say I kind of wanted there to be one or two more issues of — it was fantastic. The little miniseries you did with Gerry Duggan on Punisher: War of the Realms. Rereading it kind of hurt to keep going. It kind of reminded me of that Sylvester Stallone movie Daylight — he’s like trapped in a tunnel with the prisoners, trying to get out. A splash of Con Air, but Punisher was your Stallone or Kari’s favorite actor, Nic Cage. You’re drawing humans, you’re drawing mystical creatures — your Punisher is just badass. What was that like working with Gerry? Was there anything you particularly liked? Anything you would have loved to draw more of?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:38:52]: Oh dude, you know, I always like the over-the-top stuff. I always like that. Like in this miniseries, you have a lot of over-the-top scenes — these big hounds, these ice giants. The Punisher just shooting everything that moves. A lot of gory stuff. And maybe because I like the gory stuff — I think people tend to like when I draw that, because a lot of my assignments have to do with that. If you see the Predator stuff, yeah, lots of decapitations. Lots of disembowelment.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:39:37]: Yeah, bloody stuff combined with Spider-Man, which is so amazing — like, Spider-Man with really gory shit going on. Is this going to work? But in the end, Ben Percy made it work very well. So when I did the Punisher that you guys are seeing right now — to me it was so much fun. First, the Punisher — I know drawing the character is so much fun because he’s big, he’s bulky, all the guns. These monsters going on. Like you said, the tunnel scene was so fun to do. Everything about it was amazing. The action combined with over-the-top stuff — I love that.

Drew Malow [00:40:45] [Castmagic: MJ]: Well, especially because the premise of War of the Realms was this big war — Malekith the Dark Elf and all of his forces invading Midgard, and Thor and all the heroes are locked in battle with just a variety of impressive mystical foes. And then again — this is Frank Castle. He has no superpowers. He just has a shitload of guns and probably the greatest resolve ever — to literally punch this evil in the face. It was 3 issues, and I was like, man, if there had been another 2, I wouldn’t have said no to it.

Kari Sanders [00:42:02]: Actually, this page switch in particular — I thought it was great, going from like the color change and the slight artistic change of everything going from so dark and horrible and then being in the exact same spot and being so whimsical. Kind of — everything’s cute and the color palette is completely different. Everything’s like, oh, this is great. Did you go for a definite artistic change somewhat in the character design there?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:42:44]: Yeah, the colors were pretty much a decision of the colorist. But I remember — I chose not to use heavy shadows on the flashback scene, right? Normally I try to do something different — even if it’s just the panel borders being round instead of square. Something different on my part. Because you can pretty much say, hey guys, this is a flashback, only using the colors. But when it comes to flashbacks and change scenes — change of moods — I always try to change something around, to visually inform the reader that we changed from place A to place B, that the mood now is heavier or lighter, maybe.

Drew Malow [00:43:42] [Castmagic: MJ]: Okay, but it was fantastic. Sometimes tie-in books are kind of forgettable — they just tell this little story in the grand scheme of a story. But this was — I was like, wow. This is 3 issues where every moment counted.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:44:00]: Yeah. And after that one, I remember I did a Deadpool mini after this one. And after the Deadpool, I jumped to more of you. [NOTE: probable transcript error — likely means “more Predator” or a specific title] That was the — right.

Drew Malow [00:44:12] [Castmagic: MJ]: Yeah. Oh yeah. And then bringing up your more recent work — you did two Punisher, Predator-related books back to back, all with the great scripts of Ben Percy, who we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing and is an impressive, very intimidating, deep baritone of a comic book writer.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:44:35]: Voice, right?

Kari Sanders [00:44:37]: He of the booming voice is what I refer to.

Kari Sanders [00:44:49]: I have one of his books on Audible — Blood Red Moon, something like that. It’s his werewolf novel that he wrote, and he narrates it. And like going to sleep to Benjamin Percy speaking is an experience.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:45:07]: And he’s a great guy. We hung a little bit in New York last year. He’s a great guy. He’s so much fun. And I really hope we do something else together this year. Oh yeah, we’re trying. I think this will happen — just wait for the news later in the year.

Leo Pond [00:45:24]: Yeah, but well I do have to say — style-changing, going from Ghostbusters to Back to the Future, and now Punisher. I read Punisher last. To go from those two to this — oh my God. Such a change. Extremely gory.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:46:06]: Ben came up with this Predator — his name is Skinner, his nickname. Nicknamed Skinner because he skins his victims, and he wears the skins on himself — the faces. Yeah, his face with the skins from his victims.

Jar Jar Jeremy [00:46:28]: So just when you thought a Predator couldn’t get more twisted.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:46:33]: Yeah, I know. But that’s a lot.

Kari Sanders [00:46:54]: (Detailed page-by-page walkthrough of Predator vs. Spider-Man #1, noting fisheye shots, chaos panels, gutters, widescreen panels narrowing in)

Kari Sanders [00:48:30]: I love how you did the gutters with the oohs and stuff around them. But you have this — closing in and closing in on something. On the right-hand page you start off with a widescreen panel, and you have the next panel that gets narrower, and it shrinks in on a subject, and gets narrow and goes directly to the kids, and gets narrower and goes directly to where the kids are about to get run over as you’re seeing Spidey’s focus go in.

Kari Sanders [00:49:58]: I know that Benjamin Percy writes a full script — he’s telling you what’s going on in each panel. But A — how hard is it for you when you get a lot of those things going on? Because you have to come up with which views you’re taking and where exactly what you’re doing. How much of that is you and how much is Benjamin? And how do you keep it in your head when you’re going through all these different sides? You’re everywhere — going from all different perspectives — and I love that. But how hard is it to do and how do you do it?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:50:07]: So — thanks for this question. Because while you were pointing out everything on these pages, explaining what you’re seeing, I was slowly revisiting my own work. Observing with these fresh eyes my own stuff, and really trying to capture everything you were pointing out. And yes, it is hard, actually. For me personally, this is the hardest part. This is probably where I spend most of my time — putting together the layout of the page, how it is going to look. The whole engineering of the thing.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:51:19]: And while you were speaking, you know, it really strikes me — it’s easy to take for granted comic books, but this is a fucking great medium. I’m sorry. Isn’t it? Like, dude — you have this 11 by 17 paper, this sheet of paper, and you can literally put into it anything you want. So it’s no wonder that the movie industry has paid attention to us 20-odd years ago and started coming to us for inspiration. Comic books are fucking great. These are fantastic.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:51:58]: It is hard to answer a question because I myself try not to be obvious in what I do. So every time I come up with a page, even if it’s just dialogue, I always look at the script and say: how can I make this special and/or different? At least not obvious, at least not what everybody’s expecting. Because I want the reader to have a new experience every time. Like you said — the size of the panel matters, why it is horizontal and not vertical matters. Everything has — most, okay not 100%, but close to that — has a reason to be the way it is on the page.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:52:31]: So I really appreciate you making these observations about these pages, because every time you have these 20 pages in your hand to read, there was a lot of thought spent into these pages — from the writer to the colorist — because all of us have our time to look at this artistic piece and give our contribution. So it is very hard. It is the stage of my work in which I spend more of my brains and more of my efforts.

Jar Jar Jeremy [00:53:09]: Do you get to keep all the originals of this stuff? Because God, it’s just gorgeous work.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:53:18]: You know, I have this agent who sells my originals. And so I am such a doofus — I have to remember to keep at least one of my pages to myself. Because I send them all to my agent and he sells these pages, the original. Yeah, I hardly have one here with me.

Kari Sanders [00:53:42]: I was looking on your site actually for the original artwork and you’re nearly sold out, bro.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:53:49]: Yeah, well. Thank God.

Kari Sanders [00:53:53]: Yeah, there are very few pieces of your original art still available based on your body of work.

Leo Pond [00:54:43]: Before we move on from this page here — the blood on the floor here, is this foreshadowing of the mark later on, or is it just random?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:55:04]: That is a foreshadowing of the mark for sure.

Drew Malow [00:55:07] [Castmagic: MJ]: Nicely done. Nice catch, Leo.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:55:10]: Yeah, yeah. But that was challenging because, like you said Kari, Ben describes most of what’s going on but he’s not too anal about every detail. He lets a lot of room for me to contribute. So he said, okay, these 3 bodies are hanging from the ceiling, and there’s this mark on the floor made with blood. And I was like, oh man, what angle will I use to make all this work all at once? So I tested an angle from the ceiling — bird’s eye view. I tested this view and decided to stick with it.

Drew Malow [00:56:02] [Castmagic: MJ]: And then kind of piggybacking on something we talked about earlier — you’re again working on another iconic ’80s property: The Predator. Rereading this, I didn’t realize it has kind of Predator 2 vibes — you have a predator in the city hunting down murderers and drug dealers. But again, it was just so intense. And I just loved how cinematic it felt. And you guys had, in my mind, one of the best uses of Kraven ever.

Drew Malow [00:56:49] [Castmagic: MJ]: To be quite honest, Kraven has kind of become a joke villain in Spider-Man. He had his stories, but you’re like — what use is someone like — okay, like this was impressive in the ’60s.

Kari Sanders [00:57:04]: Now I’m like, okay, yeah — I like Kraven in this.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:57:10]: Yeah, look — normally when I get this assignment, I get to read the script like everybody else. I pick the script for the first time. I don’t know the development of the script — that’s between the editor and the writer. So when I read it, it’s always a surprise. So I didn’t know at first when I got the gig that Kraven was going to show up at the end of the first issue and be a key character in the whole thing — and a key character in the other miniseries as well. Right.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:58:02]: So when I read the last few pages of Number 1, I was like — of course, Kraven. Yeah, this makes sense. And then it really does sound perfect. Yeah, at the end of the series, he became this badass kind of guy — not a joke villain. Like you said — he should be a badass hunter. He should be this guy that you should fear, not laugh at. And Ben did a great job coming up with such an important story for him.

Kari Sanders [00:58:43]: So we’ve been talking to people about the different references that they use — was it Aaron Campbell who was saying that he has a full cast of people that he has show up, they talk about the script, they pose, he takes pictures, and then draws from it? Like, it’s elaborate. What do you use for your references? I’ve always wondered this for anybody with Spider-Man — like, do you just look up contortionists? Because he’s always flying with these weird poses where his legs are flying in the air one way — it looks real but it looks exceptionally painful for anyone but him to try it. What do you choose to use for reference on someone like Spider-Man when he’s in these weird poses?

Marcelo Ferreira [00:59:48]: Well, for Spidey — just my imagination, believe it or not.

Drew Malow [00:59:53] [Castmagic: MJ]: What an imagination, sir.

Marcelo Ferreira [00:59:56]: Thank you. No, just — you know, actually it’s not quite a reference but I do use as reference — I always have in mind Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man. Back in the day when Todd did Spider-Man, his contortionism is too over the top — sometimes he brings his leg up here, so these are impossible poses. So my frame of mind is: okay, how far can I go into realism until I touch the barrier between realism and Todd’s Spider-Man? Because Todd was so cartoony he had a license to do whatever he wanted with Spider-Man. It was so new back in the day — so he had these poses that you have to have a suspension of…

Kari Sanders [01:01:06]: Disbelief.

Mahana Jade Longwalker [01:01:07] [Castmagic: Drew]: Yeah, suspension of disbelief.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:01:09]: Yes, thank you. You have to have a suspension of disbelief to read Todd’s Spider-Man. So I don’t want to go there — I want to go right to the limit of that. So that’s what I do. But I don’t use any visual reference for Spider-Man. It’s just really what’s right here in my head.

Jar Jar Jeremy [01:01:36]: When Christopher Priest was with us, he told us that Marvel had a very certain way of drawing Spider-Man’s face. Did somebody have to tell you: this is exactly how Spider-Man’s face goes?

Marcelo Ferreira [01:01:56]: Yeah, well, not really. I never heard nothing from any —

Jar Jar Jeremy [01:01:59]: Yeah, maybe that was something from like the ’80s or ’70s.

Drew Malow [01:02:03] [Castmagic: MJ]: Well, yeah, because remember — Junior was the one who had him learn that. [NOTE: likely referring to Ron Frenz / a Marvel editor from an older era —] So that’s a very particular kind of Spider-Man.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:02:16]: Yeah, it makes sense. These days I think the editors want to respect more the personal style of each artist. You have a minimum of lines, of course. You have to draw on his face. You can’t draw only 2 lines of web. You have to have 4 or 5 coming from the center. But it varies from artist to artist — if you look closely, you see guys who draw 4 lines, some other guys draw like 5. There is a kind of a standard and you can go both sides from the standard, not too far.

Drew Malow [01:03:00] [Castmagic: MJ]: Yeah, but I will say — your more recent work, Predator Kills the Marvel Universe — which in my mind feels like a reference to The Punisher Kills. It feels to me like such an event book. This is the culmination of stories that Ben had been doing since Wolverine versus Predator. And the scope is insane — literally seeing the Predators take down some of the most popular, biggest characters. Issue 3 fucking slaps. The second Wolverine shows up and is just slaying Predators like it is his job.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:04:28]: Hold on — shout out to Daniel Picciotto, I think is his last name. These pages are from him because this miniseries — we split the pencil job. So it was half me, half Daniel, who did this great Hulk sequence, for example. So the Wolverine one — yeah, for sure, that was me. And I would not allow anybody else to draw that, of course. When I started doing Kills the Marvel Universe, I was so much looking forward to Wolverine, of course. I was curious — I was like, okay, when is Wolverine coming and how is he going to slay these Predators? So that was part of my fun doing this one assignment.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:05:36]: Yeah, that’s the Thor sequence. Man, they killed Thor.

Drew Malow [01:05:56] [Castmagic: MJ]: That was insane.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:05:58]: I got to kill a lot of these characters. That was fun.

Drew Malow [01:06:01] [Castmagic: MJ]: Yeah, words so few have only thought but actually said out loud.

Jar Jar Jeremy [01:06:10]: Was there any kill that was just — this is too much?

Marcelo Ferreira [01:06:54]: Not really. I mean, they were kind of easy because again the fun factor counts a lot for me. I mean, I felt a little bit for the characters in issue number 1. Yeah, Star-Lord — it felt a little bit — but he got this big shot in the chest. And the Fantastic Four sequence in which they slice Reed’s arm.

Drew Malow [01:07:34] [Castmagic: MJ]: Oh my God, yeah.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:07:38]: Oh yeah, I felt for Mr. Fantastic on that one. I love that idea — he has this mug, I’m gonna fill this one for you. And then he stretches his arm out of the scene and then screams. We never see this slice — we just see his arm coming back in half.

Drew Malow [01:08:09] [Castmagic: MJ]: Yeah, and on top of it, you guys have like the greatest reference to Wolverine — the Weapon X with Predator X. God damn. What beautiful early Marvel nostalgia in just a terrifying way.

Leo Pond [01:13:04]: Speaking of Thanos, with the trophy room here.

Drew Malow [01:13:10] [Castmagic: MJ]: What classic Predator lore was that, man? That was such a great throw.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:13:22]: I don’t remember really. I don’t think so. I think it’s somebody else.

Drew Malow [01:13:26] [Castmagic: MJ]: I think that’s the Hulk, Leo. (On the trophy-room page) I remember there was a Predator comic during the Dark Horse era where they showed the trophy room and in it there was actually a pair of Wolverine claws. Yeah, so I saw that and was like, man, I don’t know if that’s a throwback to that or if it’s just Predators and their love of trophies. But I said — whether that was an intentional throwback from you, Ben, whatnot — that was just so in line with the Predator lore.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:11:17]: Yeah, I have a real idea that I would like Marvel to do, but I can’t say that one because I really want to submit to the editor. So if you guys see something very different coming from Marvel one day, maybe that was me. And if this happens one day, I’ll let you know — okay, that was me and it’s coming out. I’ll let you know firsthand.

Kari Sanders [01:10:34]: How do you think people should keep killing or stop killing the Marvel Universe?

Marcelo Ferreira [01:10:40]: My God, that’s a great question. While you were speaking, DC’s KO came to mind. But if Marvel did something like that, I think they should do it with the fatality factor — the fight ends when somebody dies. And there can only be one, as in Highlander. So let’s see who has the last man or woman standing in the Marvel Universe. It’s gonna be Squirrel Girl. Probably actually. She surely would win that.

Jar Jar Jeremy [01:16:49]: Angry Birds vs. Transformers — when they came to you with that, it was IDW, right? Another ’80s genre. Were you familiar with Angry Birds? Bring it to it.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:17:25]: I was familiar with Angry Birds. Of course, Transformers. Yeah, another checkbox that I did. I can’t show you guys, but I see from where I am sitting — I see my Transformers collection. I have like maybe 100 Transformer figures.

Jar Jar Jeremy [01:17:48]: We’re talking figures. Oh nice, man.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:17:51]: I bought the entire Combiner Wars line. Oh, and Hasbro released — yeah, when I was a child they were very expensive and you couldn’t find a lot of them. I remember, hey Dad, I want a robot. And I was like, hey, you can’t because we can’t spend that money. So I grew up, had the money, and said, okay, those are mine now.

Marcelo Ferreira [01:28:49]: I was familiar with Angry Birds, of course Transformers. And back when they released that book, the hot stuff was the Angry Birds game — yeah, I got to play it at the time because I had to. I played with my son a little bit. And that book was very fun because it was a fun script. The combination of both character lines worked very well. Still like a very cartoon style that I was using back in the day before I migrated to superheroes. I was still drawing the all-ages stuff. And it was very fun. I loved drawing the combination of robots and Angry Birds. It was very cool.

Leo Pond [01:42:05]: So where do you like people to follow you on social media, Marcelo?

Marcelo Ferreira [01:42:11]: Oh, basically my Instagram. It’s @marcelofejerahq. Basically where I try to show my work, and I have my online gallery for my original art for sale. The website is ComicOnArt — together. And if you enter the website and search my name, you’ll find the gallery with the available art for sale. So I show up, I showcase my stuff on Instagram, and then for collectors interested in some original art, you can hit the website.

Leo Pond [01:43:04]: Yeah. Well, I want to thank everybody for watching. I do have all the links for Marcelo in the show notes up above or down below depending on where you’re watching or listening.

Drew Malow [01:44:29] [Castmagic: MJ]: Hello everybody, thank you so much for joining us. It was wonderful. If you need to get in touch with me, you can look at me, Drew Malow, on Facebook. The same thing on Blue Sky. Ghostbusters1984 on Instagram. I do love Ectotron. Thank you, Leo. I’m generally extremely busy, so I promise I will get back to your message at least by 2029.

Drew Malow [01:44:56] [Castmagic: MJ]: If you like what you saw here, please like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We have so many great guests coming up — especially next week when we have the awesome, horror-adjacent but still rising star Adam Gorham, who will be coming on. We’re going to be talking to him about a bunch of his stuff ranging from New Moon’s Dead Souls to his recent work on Tiny Onion’s Exquisite Corpses. A lot of great stuff there — and that’s just the end of January. February is going to be just as great, so stay tuned.

Leo Pond [01:45:31]: Awesome. With that, we’ll catch you later.

Jar Jar Jeremy [01:45:34]: It’s great.

Mahana Jade Longwalker [01:45:35] [Castmagic: Drew]: Good night, everyone.

End of transcript — EP149 | Marcelo Ferreira | January 20, 2026