Man of Action interview on Ben 10
Man of Action Entertainment is a writer collective and creative studio, best known for its animated action shows. Its first TV work was the megahit Ben 10. Related comics stories appeared in DC Comics’ Cartoon Network Action Pack, with a writer’s credit reading “Man of Action,” so that’s who I was assigned to interview.
CB: Why do they call you “Man of Action?”
MOA: Because we are always at the center of adventure! Adventures in storytelling that is! And nothing says "action" like writing all day!
CB: What is your job on the Ben 10 cartoon?
MOA: MAN OF ACTION made it all up. We have the best job in the world! We get to come up with cool characters and worlds for them to live in. Then other people have to do all the really hard work of actually putting the TV show together! MAN OF ACTION does write some of the scripts for the cartoons, though, and that's hard work too!
CB: For sure! What isn’t your job on the Ben 10 cartoon?
MOA: Drawing! It takes a huge amount of drawings to get a cartoon to move. And it takes tons of great artists to do all those drawings.
CB: Did you start making comic books or cartoons first? How did you start out?
MOA: All the men in MAN OF ACTION started out as comic book guys. We were lucky enough to make our dreams realities, and now we not only do comics, but TV, film, music, video games and theater too! We're all used to seeing our characters in the panels of a comic book. It's totally different to see those drawings in motion. That is the coolest!
CB: Will you write any of the Ben 10 stories in Cartoon Network Action Pack?
MOA: MAN OF ACTION is writing the first four Ben 10 stories for Action Pack! We'll run Ben, Gwen, and Max from the Mexican border to the snowy slopes!
CB: How did you come up with the ten aliens?
MOA: The aliens are all representative of the powers most every kid wishes he or she could have, even if only for a little while -- to get small; to be really strong, to fly -- who wouldn't want to be able to pass through a wall now and then like a ghost or have a couple of extra hands to keep hold of everything?!
CB: Will Gwen ever get powers?
MOA: Gwen turned into the coolest heroine ever -- LUCKY GIRL -- with the help of an enchanted stone taken from the clutches of the evil HEX in an episode from Season One. And Lucky Girl makes her triumphant return in another episode in Season Two!
CB: Is Grandpa Max based on anyone you know?
MOA: There is no way Grandpa Max could be based on anyone we or anyone else knows because Grandpa Max is waaaaaay more than anyone realizes right now. He's a man with an incredible past (that's been hinted at in the cartoons) and as time goes by, we'll find out what that past is and what it has to do with "plumbers."
CB: In the new cartoons, like Ben 10 and Juniper Lee, grandparents give help and advice. Why grandparents?
MOA: Parents know best, and it's true that kids should listen to them, but it's a lot easier to hear stuff from people who are a little more removed from your daily life. A word from a friend, a cousin (like Gwen), or a grandparent is more likely to make it through Ben's sometimes pig-headed head!
CB: Who would win in a fight -- Ben 10 or Beast Boy?
MOA: Beast Boy can turn into any animal under the sun, but come on! Ben can be any one of ten super-powered aliens! I'd go with Ben 10 all the way! Of course, they'd never actually fight. They'd go get a pizza, then play pranks on the Titans together for the rest of the day!
CB: Point taken! Thanks, Man of Action! (Or is it Men of Action? I’m so confused!)
Ben 10 is still going strong. The latest version had a three-day premiere event in April, 2021 on Cartoon Network. Ben 10 plus Generator Rex equals BenGen10!