Two young boys walk up to him inside Meltdown. They see the
Punisher and Black Widow on comic covers by artist Mitch Gerads. One of them,
the younger brother, reads his name, almost sounding it out, "So you're
Nathan Ed-mond-son?, " he asks. "Yes, " he goes, "that's
me."
Nathan Edmondson looks like Ryan Gosling, at
least he tells people that. I see it. With that and some quick thinking and
some friends he'll be coasting that idea into a bit part on Rizzoli
& Isles, one of the most popular drams on television as Chip, some
character he made up at a party. Right now he has a gun on him provided to him
by the store, just a toy gun, but still fun to twirl and fake fire off at fans.
He's busy the week he's in LA, where the Punisher now roams
in his current arc with the character. The Punisher like Ryan Gosling-looking
Nathan is not a LA native, though Nathan is living the LA dream with projects in development around at Fox and other studios including his previous work "Who
is Jake Ellis?" an Image title about American espionage and remote viewing.
Back at Comic-Con 2012, Holly Interland, editor for Famous
Monsters of Film land and Meltdown employee interviewed Edmondson briefly.
"He was signing at Image's booth, he was just nominated for an Eisner
Award for Who is Jake Ellis?, " she said. On Nathan stopping by for the
signing, "It's fun to enjoy the book and be able to tell the
author." She continued, "It's always New York, New York, New York and
we have a hero in LA again."
In LA for only two signings was Mr. Edmondson, the night of
March 12 he was at Meltdown, but the night before he was hanging out at the
Nickel Diner eating Maple Bacon donuts and meeting fans. Why the Nickel Diner
and those specific donuts? The Nickel Diner is a venue that the Punisher hangs
out in Edmondson's run on the title and those donuts are favorite of the diner.
One fan who attended both events told me he got an entire box of the favored
donut to take home at the previous get together.
Edmondson has never tried it before, "Y'know I don't know if I ever felt a great urge in my life to seek out a maple bacon donut, but I did try it and as far as I can tell I haven't had any heart attacks. It was something really interesting and a very good gourmet donut, " he told me.
Why the Nickel Diner was chosen was not only due to asking
friends but as Nathan put it, "... in part because of the gentrification
of skid row and downtown was emblematic of what the Punisher's trying to do,
which is chase away the criminal elements and bring some order. So, it's a
place that had a history of violence and
criminal behavior seemed apropos."
Nathan was setting up and getting his books in order while signing
and handing out special "I Punish LA" posters and stickers for fans.
Before I could start the formal interview, fans asked questions that I was going
to pose to Nathan. "Will Kate Bishop be meeting the Punisher, since they're
both in LA?," one fan asked. "No, we sort of put up a China Wall
between them, " answered Edmondson as he signed the fan's books.
"What about Loot?, " the Punisher's coyote friend
in the current arc. Nathan merely went, "Loot will play a larger role."
Another fan brought up how he was getting books signed for
his wife and how she loved his pacing of the story.
"Who's the Punisher?," that little boy continued
from earlier." He's the coolest Marvel character ever," Nathan
answered him.
Nathan and I discussed much of the Punisher's progress in LA
and how he operates with the character in our interview.
I started by asking him if he stole any baguettes before the
interview. He replied, " Did I still any baguettes before the signing? No,
I did not still any baguettes before the signing." A few days ago an LA
Weekly article revealed that at his first job in France, while staying and working
at a castle, he stole a baguette
when he was hungry one night due to no other place being open to get food. The
next morning one of the chefs was outraged one was missing. I just had to rub
it in. "But, before coming here I ate with my pal Rob Ginny at the Pearl.
Let me see, we had a flat bread with lobster and some appetizers and drinks."
With the Nickel Diner, a local well known eatery being apart of Punisher's current arc I asked about similar LA
spots being used for the Punisher's LA outings. "Well, there's going to be
more scenes at the Nickel Diner, but we're going to throw the Punisher all over
the LA area as well as outside of the LA area, we'll see a large scope..."
I interrupt and ask if he'll visit Pomona, the death toll would be so high.
Nathan continues after a small laugh, "... all I can say is he's going to
play all over his new playground."
I asked Nathan about a prediction of mine about the Hollywood Bowl
being the showstopper with a big explosion. He reveals that it's not part of
the story so far; Nathan's written the story up to issue #9 so far.
After being asked what he would rather blow up after being
told the Hollywood Sign is to cliché, he says no to a few places I list and
settles on the Nakatomi Tower out of Die Hard. A real building used on the Fox
lot, where he's been working on his own projects for a few days.
"What about a new West Coast Avengers that's a lot more
bloody?"; off of an earlier question from a fan, I ask. "No, we have no plans for
linking or assembling any of the characters right now, " Nathan answered.
"Would you want to though?," I
asked. "I don't think I'm really interested in writing those stories. We
have the stories in mind we want to tell and things want to do... that's my
focus," Nathan answered.
"You based the Dos Soles Cartel off of the real world
MS-13?," I asked Nathan. "Only in as much that they're both of a sort of
massive and unconquerable criminal force and they both have similar South
American origins and have infiltrated the US, but I think the similarities end
there," he told me.
Were interrupted by Mitch Regard's brother-in-law. Mitch
Regard's is the artist for the current Punisher series. He's just one of many friends
stopping by, some who didn't even know Nathan was signing.
Back into our interview I ask if he'll be up for the free
screening of The Raid 2 at The
Cinefamily nearby the following night for the love of violence.
"I don't love violence and I honestly think our version
of the Punisher is a lot more restrained and tactical and a precise version,
that's less about slinging blood on the walls and more about using as few
bullets as are required to accomplish a task."
On that task, I bring up the Howling Commandos, a team of
elite soldiers that uses the latest tech of the Marvel universe in the fight
between them and Frank that's building up. Nathan said, "Yeah, they're watching
him and plotting around him right now. They have the resources of the military;
they have Stark tech; they have all kinds of things and he has, y'know recycled
M4's and whatever he can piece together from stolen armory goods and used military
weaponry. We've specially set up that
confrontation because the Punisher is going up against everything that he
lacks." Adding, "They're also a
team and he's just one man."
One man with a new look. I asked about the new hood. Nathan explained details about the Punisher's whole armor, "Well,
first of it's a gas mask. He [Punisher] puts it on first when he fires tear gas
and then when he goes against the Dos Soles when he knows they have chemical
weapons. Additionally, it's a visual element that works really well. And tactically
it works very well for additional protection and it gives a fear element with his
face with a skull on it. In the same reason, why would he paint a skull on his
chest? He wears Crye precision modular tactical body armor that was just
released this year. We were given an advance look at that so that we could integrate
it into our designs for the character and everything else is real commando utility
elements."
On asking about the Punisher moving to LA from New York,
Nathan told me, "His home is where his hunt is and his hunt has led him to
the west coast."
Edmondson is currently writing Marvel's The Punisher and
Black Widow and has a one-shot story titled Genesis coming out this April.
