Hot on the heels of her recent solo title, Dazzler is joining forces with some of the most famous musicians in the Marvel Universe, including Luna Snow of Marvel Rivals fame and many more for Concert of Champions, a massive superhero music festival.
Music and Marvel Comics have gone hand-in-hand since the earliest days of the Marvel Universe in the '60s, when Stan Lee wrangled as many Marvel creators and staffers as he could get to record a theme song for the Mighty Marvel Marching Society fan club. Now, writer Jason Loo and artists Rafael Loureiro and Ruairí Coleman are bringing that musical tradition forward for Concert of Champions, which explores the in-universe side of Marvel's music connection.
Newsarama caught up with Loo ahead of the April 2 release of Concert of Champions, digging into his soundtrack for writing the one-shot, what it's like writing songs for the Marvel Universe, and of course, what kind of complications the hero-musicians will face as they put on their big show. Along the way, we've also got some previously unseen unlettered pages from Concert of Champions.
Newsarama: Jason, you're picking up the adventures of Dazzler as she's about to do a huge concert with Luna Snow and Lila Cheney, and others. What's it been like combining music with comics in this way?
Jason Loo: It's been exciting and challenging at the same time. It's like another level of storytelling. When I'm songwriting (air quotes), I'm turning characters' narratives into top 40 pop songs or heavy metal tracks, on top of the actual plot of the book. It's an added experience to being at the first Marvel-centric music festival!
What are the challenges of conveying the music at the heart of a story like this in a medium that has no audio?
It's been quite the experiment for me, with lots of trial and error. I know following the limerick pattern can be a safe bet when writing bars, but not every song is written like that. So I approach songwriting like poetry, while counting syllables in each verse, then adding some vocal embellishments, and hoping it comes across with some artistic flair. At the very least, readers will get a glimpse of a story within a story through each song. And artists Rafael Loureiro and Ruairí Coleman really help capture the right emotions for each performance.
Luna Snow is a big part of this story. She's got a higher profile than ever thanks to Marvel Rivals. What have you learned about her since you started writing her?
I came in late to the Luna Snow party, only knowing her entire story while I was halfway through writing the Dazzler mini-series. I spent an entire weekend reading through Greg Pak's run of Agents of Atlas, as well as Luna's origin story by Alyssa Wong. I also added Luna's K-Pop tracks on my Spotify rotation. She seems like a very confident character who knows how to balance the pressures of being a super hero and a famous K-Pop singer so well in a short amount of time. And dare I say, she handles it better than Dazzler! *takes cover*
How has it been continuing your working relationship with artist Rafael Loureiro following the Dazzler title you did with him? What makes him the perfect artist for a story like this?
Working with Rafael has been amazing. His style is so tight and polished, which is perfect for a Dazzler book. A Dazzler series needs to look STUH-NNING. And when things need to get messy, he really delivers and still makes it look SO COOL! Rafael also has a music background, so he really knows how to set-up a concert stage or fill-up the backstage area with the right instruments and the tech equipment. We also have Ruairí Coleman helping us out and his work goes hand in hand with Rafael's, making this book look so beautiful throughout.
We know Dazzler, Lila Cheney, and Luna Snow are involved in Concert of Champions. What can you tell us about who else is taking the stage, and what they'll be up against?
We have a bunch of cameos in this book! Shark Girl has her own side project with DJ. Doop is spinning tunes. We also have Sugar Kane, Lou-Ann Savannah, and a few others in the festival line-up. But stealing the spotlight is DEEP VOID, a mysterious death metal band made-up of some familiar faces. And they really know how to RAWK! I'll let the readers guess who they are.
OH! And I can't forget that Ghost-Spider swings by! I hear that she plays the drums.
I have to ask, when it comes to real world music, who has been on your soundtrack as you've been working on Concert of Champions?
Well, all of Luna Snow's tracks are on my playlist. As well as Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, and Daft Punk. And when I was writing songs for Deep Void, I took some influence from Ghost and System of a Down.
What makes the idea of focusing on the music of the Marvel Universe so special?
It adds another dimension to the medium. Sure, it may be tricky to translate without any audio, but it's a clever way to celebrate all the musically talented characters in the Marvel 616 all in one book. We have our own soundtrack just waiting to be produced and we don't have to rely on music licenses when we're building our own music catalogue in the 616.
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