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A tough as nails New York City detective. A grizzly string of murders on the streets of the South Bronx. Victims torn to shreds by nature’s perfect killing machine. Edward James Olmos. Put these elements together and you’ve got 1981’s Wolfen which has nothing whatsoever to do with the truly hilarious new release from Boom! Studios: Aliens Vs. Parker written by Paul Scheer and Nick Giovannetti. The duo known more for their work on the small screen shifts gears to bring a tale about slackers, soldiers, huge-penised space monsters and friendship to comic book store shelves. True fans of the medium and members of “nerd” culture Scheer and Giovannetti pen a tale that is both a great read and funny as hell. Recently ComicAttack.net got to ask Scheer and Giovannetti the tough questions and here’s what they said:

ComicAttack: So this book contains neither Richard Stark’s iconic Anti-hero nor Ridley Scott’s Xenomorphs yet somehow manages to be funnier than both Jason Statham and Sigourney Weaver combined. Where did the idea for the comic come from?

PAUL SCHEER: Finally someone who gets it! This idea came from the same place where all great ideas are born, a deal with the Devil. He’s a really cool guy and he likes trading human souls for good ideas. We figured what good is our soul going to do us, it’s way better to have a comic in the after life, so it was a no brainer.

NICK GIOVANNETTI: Originally it was about Mary Louise Parker fighting foreigners, but we were told that wasn’t commercially viable so we kept the title and built a new story around it.

CA: The story of AvP is a bit like if you were to let the frittatas of The League crew the Serenity from Joss Whedon’s Firefly. Were you at all worried that the comedy would undercut the swashbuckling suspense that is the hallmark of the space adventure genre?

PAUL: No one wants to read a swashbuckling tale from two dudes who have over a decade of dick jokes under their belts so we figured give people what they want, which is a dude with no legs yelling profanities.

NICK: It’s tricky but I think we did okay.

CA: Coming from a world of sketch comedy and television writing (Human Giant, The League, NTSF:SD:SUV::), how have you found writing for comics to be different?

PAUL: Sketch Comedy is written in Courier 12 and Comics is Sans Serif 14.

CA: Who was your favorite Character to write for in AvP? Who was the hardest?

PAUL: I think I liked the characters of Grandpa Joe, the old man that does flawless re-enactments of Godfather 3, unfortunately, this character was cut from the book.

NICK: It was sad to see Grandpa Joe go. I know this sounds lame, but I love them all. I think it’s situations that can be challenging rather than any particular characters. I’m probably best at writing Hauser and Lawrence.  

CA: What are some of your favorite comic books of all time? What are you reading now?

NICK: I loved Waid and Johns’ runs on The Flash. [Ben Edlund’s] The Tick.  Pretty much adore everything Bendis and Brubaker have done or are currently doing. Deadpool and New Avengers are also great right now.

PAUL: Right now,  I’m really enjoying Saga, I love Scott Synder’s Batman, Gail Simone’s Batgirl, Brubaker’s Velvet and Fraction’s Hawkeye, Duggan’s and Poeshn’s Deadpool, also the new Guardians of the Galaxy is pretty great. All Time?  Winter Soldier, Criminal, Y: The Last Man, Ultimates, X-Men Days of Future Past, Gotham Central, Blankets, Sweet Tooth, and a shitload of ones I’m forgetting. Oh and I guess I have to say, Watchmen!

CA: If you could write for any existing character in comics who would it be?

NICK: Spider-Man, Deadpool, Hawkeye. Really any funny Marvel character. Snowflame, aka the supervillain that gets his powers from cocaine. He’s ready for a comeback.

PAUL: Hmm, That’s a great question, Damage Control is a book I’d really like to re-launch.

NICK: Yes, Damage Control, please!

CA: Who do you think is a great writer for humor in the comic book world?

PAUL: Love Bendis, Brian K Vaughn, also I think Gerry Duggan and Poeshn have been killing it with Deadpool.  

NICK: Bendis. Nobody has made me laugh more than him.

CA: Why didn’t they let you draw a giant penis?

NICK: Well, technically they let Paul and I draw a bunch. Which we did. They just wouldn’t publish the book with one.  I believe it was because they were afraid of upsetting retailers. Which is stupid, because any retailer that carried this book was a smart handsome man or woman with a penis so large they wouldn’t be threatened by a fictional alien one. 

PAUL: I agree but also I’ll add that we didn’t think it was fair to release a Giant Alien penis until it could be viewed properly in 3-D!

CA: What did you think of Bryan Singer’s Quicksilver (from the upcoming “X-Men: Days of Future Past” as seen on the cover of Empire Magazine)?

PAUL: Let’s not judge anything until we see it but that being said anything is an improvement over X-Men 3.

NICK: It makes me think that I can’t wait for Joss Whedon’s [non-mutant Quicksilver who will be featured with The Scarlet Witch in “Avengers 2: Age of Ultron”].

CA: Mary Jane or Gwen Stacy?

NICK: This is too tough/nerdy to call. Let’s go with Betty Brant.

PAUL: Gwen Stacy, she just seems like more fun.

CA: Which superhero would you most like to portray on film?

PAUL: Black Canary, I have the bustier.

NICK: I probably wouldn’t be allowed to play a superhero on film unless it was for a porn parody so let’s go with the Incredible Hulk XXX.

CA: Any more plans for upcoming works featuring The “Parker” character?

NICK: We love the characters, so it’s possible.

PAUL: Nope. Never gone to happen. We are going to cash out and get Zac Efron to play him and be done with it.

CA: Where there any “deleted scenes” from the book that you particularly liked? Great joke that wound up on the cutting room floor?

PAUL: I think we had a bunch of funny scenes in the ship that got into the character’s back story a bit more, especially one of the character’s fascination with military weapons as porn.

NICK: Sure, that happens anytime you edit, but the end result is usually a tighter better narrative so we don’t sweat it too much.

CA: So to wrap things up; Spider-Man 3 “Great Movie” or “The Greatest Movie”?

NICK: Haha! I can’t even joke about it. In a way, I’m happy it sucked because now we have Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man and he’s perfect.

PAUL: Disco Dancing Spidey. No Thank you!

“Aliens Versus Parker” is already on the shelves right now. Pick up your copy today.

– Cameron Crump Jr.