Meet The Team: B. Earl, Graphic Novel Lead

We have quite a treat for you all today! We got an apex storyteller for this edition of Meet The Team, B. Earl, the mind behind Daredevil & Echo, Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and, of course, the upcoming PlanetQuest Graphic Novel. A veteran of both comics and film, Ben has had an incredible career and life. And, as he describes it, he’s only in his second act!

Without further ado, let’s begin!

Introduce yourself to all the nice folks out there.

Hello, nice folks out there. I’m B. Earl. I write comics. I work in movies, video games, AI, cartoons, everything! You name it, I’ve probably done it.

Very succinct!

I’ve got this introduction stuff down. It’s a skill that comes in handy when you’re at an industry party, for example. It’s easy to start with “I write comics for Marvel” because, at first, everybody wants to put you in a box, right? Once that’s out of the way, you can then go deeper and deeper — I’ve done films, documentaries, everything! Mainly, I just love telling stories. I don’t care where I’m telling them so long as I get to do it.

Well, let’s dig into where that love of storytelling came from! What’s your background?

My goodness, that’s a long story.

I loved comic books as a kid. I had many dreams growing up, and one of them was to make a Marvel comic. The other was to be an alchemist. My youthful desires were all over the place — alchemy, comic books. At one point, I wanted to be the Pope! Would’ve settled for a cardinal, but such is life.

But yes, I was raised in a Jewish-Catholic household, so I was very much into the mysticism of it all. My dad was really into studying mythology, shamanism, East Asian culture, and anthropology. My mom was very much into spiritualism, ghosts, and things of that nature. Those influences really left a lasting impact.

Then there’s my love of music. I started playing bass when I was 14. I was constantly experimenting with sound, recording things, and making all kinds of music. I wanted to marry my love of music with my love of comics since, back then, bringing an audio aspect to a comic wasn’t really a thing. Ultimately, this led me to filmmaking, specifically documentary filmmaking, to start.

At around age 20, I worked on a documentary about comic books called Sex, Lies & Superheroes. I vividly remember filming Frank Miller for it. We were in the basement of this bar in Hell’s Kitchen interviewing him, the smell of beer and other, less drinkable liquids leaking through my nostrils as I was buried in my headphones, watching Frank through this tiny little screen talking about Superman. It was a really amazing experience. I mean, I got to meet all my heroes, and they were all awesome! I lucked out in that regard. I met John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman. It was really cool.

That incredible experience led to me living in New York and working in television there. I then moved to Los Angeles after having met Larry Cohen, this really well-regarded indie filmmaker. He loved the fact that I was just this kid running around with my camera, flying by the seat of my pants. He gave me an opportunity; I moved to LA and have been here going on 20-plus years now. It’s been an interesting ride.

I’m fast-forwarding through a lot of stuff but in around 2014–2015, I was introduced to will.i.am through a mutual friend, and that’s how I got to do Masters of the Sun. Initially, we were looking to do it as a graphic novel, but then that project became something much more. So, I delivered the project. I didn’t really hear anything for a minute. Then, the next thing I know, Will’s calling me up and saying that Marvel’s gonna publish it, which blew my mind. Turns out that Taboo, also from the Black Eyed Peas, who is now my creative partner, had a relationship with Marvel, so that’s how that came to pass.

That leads nicely into Spider-Man. After doing a couple of projects for Marvel with Taboo, including a page in Marvel 1000, Spirit Rider, and Werewolf By Night, we got an email from Marvel leadership asking if we wanted to do a bigger character. Now, I love the Hulk, but come on — it’s gotta be Spider-Man! That’s how Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man came to be. It was an amazing opportunity, especially considering I got the freedom to inject a lot of what I love into the story — mystic elements blending with technology to create this amazing, esoteric, mind-bending journey. Amazing stuff. To top all that off, we followed that up with Daredevil & Echo, which was also a privilege and a joy to write.

Anyway, around this time, I got very active on LinkedIn, talking about creativity, technology, storytelling, and the blockchain. That’s how I came into the fold here at PlanetQuest — I got contacted by you fine folks and given the low-down on what the project is all about. I actually knew Justin Sloan from before; we had done a podcast together. All the pieces clicked, and here we are!

You mentioned being a filmmaker. What are your biggest movie inspirations?

The Crow is definitely up there. I love that film. I mentioned my love of music, right? I think The Crow is an incredible audio-visual experience, blending contemporary music with this incredible visual palette on top of being an amazing comic book adaptation.

The one that really set me off on my journey, not only in filmmaking but in a philosophical sense, is The Matrix. It pushed the whole medium forward in terms of technology and storytelling. Also, who doesn’t love the ending? Rage Against the Machine blasting as Neo takes off? Pure cinema.

Fight Club is another one. There are so many ways to interpret it; it’s crazy. Like, I recently read a review that posits that Ed Norton’s character is imagining almost everything as a way to come to terms with potentially losing his masculinity because of cancer. It’s exactly my kind of storytelling, densely packed with symbols, layers, and inspirations from all walks of life.

That’s what I strive for when I create something. You read it once, skim over it, and you get an enjoyable story. But if you unpack the layers, you get more and more out of it. Fight Club and movies of its ilk are amazing sources of inspiration if you’re aiming for that.

I’m a big believer in using art and symbolism as keys to understanding yourself better, and I think these movies reflect that.

Very well said! Circling back to our neck of the woods — what do you enjoy the most about working with us?

The thing I love about PlanetQuest is that it’s story first. To me, it’s really important to have a strong narrative, a strong story, strong characters, and characterization of the world in a given piece of fiction. If you don’t, then it becomes really challenging to maintain this sort of glue that brings the people, the fans together in a way that nurtures their passion. With PQ, the fans are put first, and I think that’s such a crucial element of the whole equation. By extension of that train of thought, I also love what goes on in the Discord server. What the narrative team has managed to accomplish is astounding.

The vision the founders have is another aspect of PQ I really enjoy. Jon is a massive fan of sci-fi. We’ve had many conversations on the politics and inner workings of the universe. Man really knows his stuff! Then there’s Loren. Early on in the development of the graphic novel, we had some great feedback sessions. I presented a couple of versions of the story to him, and he really latched on to the one that we ended up going with, owing to his love for classic sci-fi tales. I really enjoy this type of collaborative process, where I bring something to the table, and instead of being told, “No, this doesn’t fit,” we work on a solution together. I feel like that’s true for the whole company. There’s this creative flow and cohesion to the world-building and storytelling at all levels of the project, which ultimately leads to the best story rising to the top.

Well, that’s quite flattering. Thank you, we try! Those were all of the PQ-related questions, so let’s do a couple of quick questions to establish your nerd cred. What’s your favorite comic book of all time?

X-Men #1 by Jim Lee and Chris Claremont. I have a sealed copy of it right above my computer! It’s my favorite because it’s the first comic I ever bought, and it’s what got me into collecting Marvel Comics. I remember getting it when it came out in 1991. It was one of the very first comics I ever purchased as a kid. I think I got the Magneto variant cover, and I was just blown away by Jim Lee’s art. It being a number one was also special, because I felt like I was able to start the journey. I know there were many comics before it, but this was my jumping on point, my own number one. And it still is.

What about your favorite comic book event?

Man, it’s got to be The Infinity Gauntlet saga. It once again ties to my childhood. As a kid reading this series, I fell in love with the story of Thanos falling in love with Lady Death. Don’t get me wrong, I think the movies did a great job of telling the story, but in those, Thanos is much more logical. In the comic, he was following his heart.

It’s a sign of the times, I think. The movies were this intellectual, logic fueled story mirroring how we’re so focused on technology. Everything is brain first. The flip side is we’re not being led by compassion, empathy, and emotion, but those can have their own pitfalls. It’s what undoes Thanos in the comic — his love for Lady Death. It’s doomed from the start because she’s a universal constant, the forever mistress. No one can have her, and it’s such a tragedy born out of such a positive emotion. That’s why I love it; it’s beautifully macabre.

Amazing answer! So, what about your favorite comic book movie of all time?

Oh man. You know what? I’m gonna pick two. The Crow and Blade. It’s, once again, sentimental. The new movies are amazing, of course. But I fondly remember being in the theater and seeing Blade and just going, “Holy s#*t! What did I just see?”—the blood scene, the soundtrack, oh my god.

And then there’s The Crow, which is just perfect. The protagonist is this dope-as-hell goth metal emo rockstar. I adore this soundtrack as well — Rage Against the Machine, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails. Doesn’t get any better.

Oh, I got another one — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the very first one. Amazing film. Steve Barron, the director, is actually a family friend! I remember talking to him at Comic Con, just hanging out and having coffee. I was like: “Man, you made something special; it changed so many kids’ lives!”.

Those are my three. The ranking changes depending on my mood, but yes. They all have so many good moments. And that’s the thing, right? A great movie, to me, is something that resonates with you and sticks with you for a long while. Time is our most precious resource, so when I watch something, I want it to freaking do something for me. That’s how I approach writing as well. I want to give you something that’s worth your time and that affects you on many levels. You get out of it what you put into it.

I love that. Effort begets effort. Quite poetic! To round out our discussion, what’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?

I love playing music, but that’s kinda the selfish answer. Sure, jamming at The Rainbow is wonderful, but really, I love spending time with my son. Right now, he’s 12 and super into basketball. I try to keep up with his fandom, but he’s like an encyclopedia of basketball knowledge. We play one-on-one, and he’s starting to beat me more and more often. He’s actually really damn good at it. He just started playing in a league, and I love going to his practices and his games.

It comes back to this concept of time for me. I feel like he was 3 years old just yesterday, and now he’s incredible at basketball. Soon, he’ll be in college and get married. It all just flies by. I really want to spend as much time as possible with him and with my loved ones in general. I try not to take them for granted because, again, time seems to accelerate as we get older. I treasure the time I devote to them.

I also study Tarot incessantly. That goes back to my childhood and all the esoteric things my family was into. I love reading books on the matter, delving into the intricacies of it. It’s such a deep rabbit hole, but it’s beyond interesting to me.

So yes, it’s another trifecta — music, family and tarot. And so much more, but we only have so much time!

Way to land the proverbial plane! That is, indeed, all the time we had. Thank you for the sit-down, Ben!

Quite an individual, right? Once again, a heartfelt thank you to Ben for taking the time to give us a glimpse into his amazing life story. For more of him, you can follow his Instagram account and, of course, stay tuned to our socials. His work is close to taking center stage…