Rico Renzi, color-artist for The Radioactive Spider-Gwen and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, answers some questions.
Imagine a universe in which the Spider-Man we all know and love, Peter Parker, never put on the costume. Imagine a universe in which Gwen Stacy is still alive; a universe where she was never thrown off a bridge by the Green Goblin (Oops…spoiler alert). Such is the case in Earth-65. In this universe, Gwen was the victim of a radioactive spider bite and became Spider-Woman; while her friend, Peter Parker, became the lizard and died soon after. This amazing spin on Spider-Man is put together by writer Jason Latour, artist Robbi Rodriguez, and color-artist Rico Renzi. Below is a Q & A with the man, the legend, the color-artist of great comics, Rico Renzi.
Q: At what age did you get into comic books?
A: I remember drawing Superman in 1st grade so very early!
Q: How long have you been a color artist? What made you choose this career?
A: I’ve been working in comics since 1999.
Q: What is your favorite comic book series?
A: Love and Rockets
Q: Who is your favorite comic book character?
A: Maggie Chascarillo from Love and Rockets
Q: Will we see a Squirrel Girl/Spider-Gwen crossover?
A: Maybe, I hope so!
Q: Did you help design Gwen’s costume? (Love the colors, by the way)
A: No, it was designed by Robbi Rodriguez, Jason Latour and I helped a little but all the credit should go to Robbi.
Q: What’s in store for Gwen?
A: I can’t tell you that! Adventure?
Q: What are your plans for the future? Will you be working on any other series?
A: I’m coloring issue #3 of Superman: American Alien right now and I recently colored a Jessica Jones preview comic for her new Netflix series.
Q: Will there be more issues for the upcoming Jessica Jones show? If so, will you be coloring for those too?
A: There will probably be a new Jessica Jones book, I haven’t heard for sure though.
Q: In the newest Spider-Gwen series, the word “Radioactive” was added. Do you have any clue why that is?
A: Gwen was bitten by a radioactive spider. Radioactive is a cool adjective to differentiate the new series from the first one. I have to say it’s cool because it was my idea.
Q: What plans do you have to expand Gwen’s universe? Are there any connections to the primary Marvel Universe?
A: In the new series we’ll see that Gwen visits the 616 sometimes and Jessica Jones has become somewhat of a mentor to Gwen. There is a crossover with Jessica Jones and Silk coming up. We’ll be introducing a few new twists on familiar Marvel characters too, Captain America and Falcon are just the beginning.
Q: What did you think of Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy in the Amazing Spider-Man films? Would you like to see a Spider-Gwen movie with her reprising her role?
A: Emma Stone as Spider-Woman would be great!
Look for more Spider-Woman in the new series Web Warriors and her current series The Radioactive Spider-Gwen. You can find more Squirrel Girl in her series The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
