Prime time for comic movies

Stacie Freudenberg/Chronicle Columbia Journalism instructor Len Strazewski poses with his ‘Prime’ comic books. Universal Studios and Marvel will soon bring Strazewski’s Prime character to the big screen.

By John Meyers
Contributing Writer

With Marvel Studios and Universal Studios recently announcing plans to bring two Marvel comic book characters to the screen, Columbia instructor Len Strazewski stands to see some of the profits.

In anticipation of the June 2003 release of the feature The Hulk, Marvel and Universal launched plans for characters Prime and Sub-Mariner. Prime’s story is a new direction for Marvel Studios in what they have called their "first superhero action-comedy."

The deal slated Don Calame and Chris Conroy as the scriptwriters for Prime and named Avi Arad and Chuck Gordon as the film’s producers. Sub-Mariner was Marvel’s first superhero, and the development of the feature film is underway.

First published by Malibu Comics Entertainment in 1993, Prime featured 13-year-old Kevin Green who morphs into an outrageously buff superhero famed as the strongest in the comic company’s Ultraverse line. Strazewski, an instructor in the college’s Journalism Department, was co-creator of the original comic book. If Universal produces the film, Strazewski will receive less than 10 percent of the profits.

Ultraverse was an innovative effort by Malibu, creating a complete comic universe from scratch. Strazewski said that Malibu brought some of the most experienced writers in comics together to imagine Ultraverse, including Steve Englehart, Mike W. Barr, Steve Gerber, George Perez and James Robinson.

Together with co-writer Gerard Jones and illustrator Norm Breyfogle, Strazewski developed Prime into one of the most successful Ultraverse characters.

Launched in 1986 by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Malibu carried only one title: The ExMutants. The label soon published multiple titles, including Men in Black, a series created by first-time comic book writer Lowell Cunningham. Rosenberg worked with Columbia Pictures and Amblin Entertainment to develop the comic book into a box-office smash.

Malibu was a communal place to work with progressive policies toward artists, Strazewski said. He managed to work out the legal rights for his character, ensuring "long-term financial participation in the character," he said.

Perhaps Malibu’s most marketable invention was its use of computer coloring for comics. In 1994, Rosenberg sold Malibu to Marvel Enterprises, Inc. The sale launched a sour era for some of the original founders of Malibu.

Marvel made use of the coloring technology, but "creatively gutted the Malibu characters," Strazewski said.

Marvel ran into economic trouble soon after the sale and was forced to cut staff. They filed for bankruptcy in 1997. Rosenberg said they never fully realized everything Malibu had to offer because of these problems.

Strazewski no longer writes comics commercially because of a "lack of opportunities," he said.

Assuming his secret identity, Strazewski covers the insurance, business and technology beats as a free-lance journalist, author and consultant. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and, later, master’s degrees in writing and industrial relations from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola University Chicago, respectively.

He joined Columbia’s Journalism Department in 1996.

A life-long comic book fan, Strazewski started writing comics to help his friend Brian Augustyn produce a comic for a fund-raising event. Augustyn landed a job at Now Comics and later DC Comics. He recruited Strazewski as a writer at both companies.

"I’m too old and unhip for comics," Strazewski said. "I’m too old and arrogant to call a 22- or 23-year-old editor and pitch my ideas."

"Working with [Strazewski on Prime] was a lot of fun," Breyfogle said. "I always thought it would be a hit movie because the whole concept resonates on a lot of different levels. [The film’s success] depends on how the comedic elements are handled."