Comic book writer-artist Jim Zub on 'most challenging' work in 'Avengers' and impact of AI

Canadian comic book writer-artist Jim Zub (full name Jim Zubkavich) was at the Mumbai Comic Con recently, and when asked which comicbook characters he found most challenging to write, he mentioned 'Avengers', given how and his team had to work on building a complex story along with multiple characters with their own unique traits.

 

"I love the complexity of what we were able to put together, but you are managing a whole team. It's not just one character. At that point, we had like 18 different characters that we were juggling. That's the kind of challenge that tests you. You're trying to keep track of everyone's stories. You're trying to make sure everyone has their own big dramatic moments. That's one of the most complicated things I've ever worked on," said Zub in an interaction with PTI.

 

Zub, who was involved in Marvel and DC comicbook properties and various kinds of superhero characters in multiple versions, also touched upon the intrusion of AI and whether it can impact the work of artists like him. But he is not too concerned about it. "Well, here's the way I look at it, tens and thousands of people didn't come to Mumbai Comic Con to meet a computer. They didn't come here to celebrate content. They are celebrating specific art and specific stories and specific interactions. They want to meet me and they want to meet other artists, storytellers, voice actors, musicians or cosplayers because those are people and those are real things that they have seen. The mistake that companies have made is they think that an audience just wants to waste their time with content." 

 

Zub, who has also worked on 'Skullkickers', 'Wayward', 'Dungeons & Dragons' and 'Conan the Barbarian', added that AI is "regurgitating" and "recycling" ideas without necessarily telling us something fresh. "It's just mashing together existing kind of ingredients. So I don't think that AI alone is your competition. It's a tool and some people are going to use it well and some are going to use it poorly. But at the end of the day, you still need a person to make selections, filter, think and build. Not just bulldoze material." 

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