Matt Fraction is one of the hottest writers in comics these days, just recently winning the Eisner award for "Best New Series" for "The Invincible Iron Man." So who better to guide the voice and story for Sega's forthcoming Iron Man 2 game? According to Marvel, the videogame draws on the movie setting as inspiration, but tells its own unique story. I briefly spoke to Matt Fraction, who commented on twittering, writing for the videogame, and his time on WEF, the original Warren Ellis forums.



GameSpy: You're a big twitter user. What's your relationship with the twitter audience?
Matt Fraction, Writer, Iron Man 2: I don't really have one. I just use it to follow people that I know and stuff. I'm the world's laziest blogger, so I use it in the place of actual blogging. 140 characters is about the duration of my attention span.
GameSpy: Do you miss the original WEF boards?
Matt Fraction: Hmm, I miss the community. I don't really have the time to contribute anymore like I did back then.
GameSpy: I remember you being a huge contributor to those boards back in the day.
Matt Fraction: Yeah, it was really responsible for my first steps into comics. So I miss the community. You know, I met my wife there. So I've got that going for me.
GameSpy: You've been writing "The Invincible Iron Man," and now you're working on writing for the Iron Man 2 videogame. Did you play the first Iron Man game, and if so, what did you think?
Matt Fraction: I played the demo, not the full game. I didn't buy the game, so I didn't think much of it.
GameSpy: What are your primary goals with Iron Man 2?
Matt Fraction: I just wanted to write something that would keep my thumb off of X to jump through cut-scenes. I would love it if Iron Man 2 was a game that I would want to play. Whether it's a book or something else, whatever product I'm producing, I want it to be something that I would enjoy, that's the base threshold.
GameSpy: Being a writer, do you find that an action game like Iron Man 2 is the proper medium for conveying your stories?
Matt Fraction: Well, comics are ultimately action set pieces anyways, so that wasn't so difficult. There's a way to condense an awful lot into cut-scenes, and lay an awful lot of pipe, and make everything sound right and feel right. It's a little bit like cross-training, you know what I mean? You're exercising a different muscle group on your way to total fitness. [laughs]
GameSpy: What aspects of the Iron Man character did you want to make sure were in the game?
Matt Fraction: The tone, the spirit, the chi, the soul of it all. It's almost been two years since I've started writing him, I've become sort of proprietary with the guy. I want him to feel the way Tony feels when I write the book.
GameSpy: Were there any videogame stories that you felt were very well-executed that you drew inspiration from?
Matt Fraction: Not really. There are games that I like and games that I admire, but I sort of contributed to the story. It was Kyle and Michael that did the heavy lifting on it. The tone, making it feel like Iron Man, that was really my concern. I just wanted it all to make sense and for everything to be true to the character.