About that part of having seen Grevioux before – seriously, you probably have. He’s appeared in various roles in Men in Black II, Planet of the Apes, Charlie’s Angels, Bowfinger, Steel, Batman Forever, Congo, and The Mask, and has done stunt work in Hulk. His roles are not starring roles by any means, but they’re just enough to get his face stored in your memory banks somewhere.

Underworld is his first credit as a writer and producer. He’s also the big guy named Raze in there as well.

NRAMA: Let’s go back to the start of your comics fandom - when did it start, and how much were you into it early on in your life?

Kevin Grevioux: I finally got into comics when I was about eleven. I say finally because earlier I had several failed attempts at trying to get into comics at first. For some reason, where I grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota and later Boston, there wasn’t a place in my neighborhood where they were available. So I would only see one on the rare occasion that a friend down the street or something would have one and I’d read that. Later when we moved to New Jersey, a guy I grew up with, Bob Monroe, an amazing artist, got me into it for good. He had this huge stack of comics he bought from some guy for just a dollar and I remember just pouring through those books. And then my brother Steven found what was probably one of the first comic book shops in New Jersey near where he used to take guitar lessons. That got me immediate access to back issues and I’ve been collecting ever since.

NRAMA: Any first comic book memories? What clicked for you back then?

KG: I think my first actual comic book memory was Justice League #92. I must’ve been about six or so. It was about this alien kid who single handedly beat the JLA. I remember as a kid I couldn’t understand why there were two Supermen, two Batmen in the same book. It wasn’t until I was older I realized there was a concept called Earth-1 with the JLA and Earth-2 with the JSA.

I was always a science fiction fan even before I got into comics, but it was through some of the Marvel Comics adaptations that I found out about some of the great science fiction authors. Marvel did Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Princess of Mars with a comic called John Carter of Mars. They did Philip Wylie’s Gladiator in the form of a black and white magazine called Man-God. And of course there was their Conan comic. It was comics all the way for me.

NRAMA: Did comics play a role in your early career ambitions?

KG: Getting into entertainment was not even a passing notion. I loved sci-fi and horror movies and all, but that’s about the extent of it. Comics didn’t play a role because I couldn’t get to them until I was eleven. And also, you have to understand that my parents were strict academicians. Both of them graduated from Harvard, so they, like a lot of other parents during that time, thought that anything other than what was considered “normal” in terms of a career path was off limits. It was just understood that kids at that time were just going to get real jobs like their parents and grandparents had before them and that was that.

But, in all fairness, let me say that was because my parent showed my brothers and sisters and I a lot of love. They wanted to make sure we were going to go into something viable in which one could sustain a living. Well, the world’s changed a lot since then and you can make a living doing almost anything now if you’re smart enough.

I ultimately got my degree in microbiology from Howard University and studied genetic engineering in grad school. Science was something that I actually got into because of my love for science fiction. And this predates my foray into collecting comics. Paleontology and astronomy were my favorites.

NRAMA: So then what started the shift towards entertainment?

KG: The shift actually occurred when I was still in undergrad. I wanted to be a doctor at first. But organic chemistry basically cornered me in the locker room, beat me up and took my lunch money. I got through it, but still it wasn’t easy. My brother Mark, could handle it, and now he’s a plastic surgeon. But it just wasn’t for me. I went into research at NIH instead.

I was still collecting comics as this time and I remember I was under the hood harvesting cells or feeding them or something and thought, “What if I’m actually working on a small part of some huge government experiment in cellular regeneration? And what if this is some type of weird super-soldier program like Captain America and the Pentagon is watching my every move?” Stupid, right?

NRAMA: You were a nerd among nerds…

KG: But, as most writers know, that's how your mind works. You can pull a story from almost anything. Well, that was just the beginning. Once I got into grad school I started to get more into writing and took television and film courses along side my graduate studies. But real problems started to arise when I began writing scripts in my bacterio physiology class. That was a no no, so I left grad school and now I’m in Hollywood making movies.

Just to tell another funny story, believe it or not, I actually thought about changing my major from microbiology to electrical engineering at one time because of a picture of the character “Box” is John Byrne’s Alpha Flight comic. That was by far the coolest looking robot I had ever seen. But I came to my senses about a week later and stayed the course in micro.

NRAMA: So, once out of grad school and over to the left coast, when you started writing scripts and pitching ideas, were what you were writing and looking to produce influenced by your affection for comics?

KG: Science fiction and action-adventure pieces. I wanted to push the envelope and see how crazy I could get with certain concepts and types of action sequences. Thank God for The Matrix. That allowed producers to finally see what genre guys have been trying to tell them for years. The Wachowski Brothers are amazing.

NRAMA: Do you think you would be writing the stories you write now had you found comics later in life, say, coming to them in your late teens or so, and taking the route more towards indy comics rather than superheroes?

KG: That’s hard to say. I still liked high-concept stuff. But comics dealt with character. Cool characters that you want to see over and over again. Some independent comics are cool, but for me, superheroes hold a more of a sense of wonder for me. I think I would have always gravitated towards them.

NRAMA: So, you’ve remained a comic fan through the present day. How big’s the collection, and what are some of its gems?

KG: I have almost ten thousand issues last time I counted. I have some good silver age issues like, Avengers #1, Fantastic Four #4, Amazing Spider-Man #4. Fantastic Four #25 and #26. I also have almost a full run of the Avengers, Hulk, Fantastic Four and Thor.

NRAMA: What hooks you in a comic?

KG: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby will always be the ultimate writer/artist tag team tandem in my book. Creating what became the Marvel Universe was sheer genius. I’ve always thought Roy Thomas was good. In our modern era, in terms of sheer story, I’d have to say Brian Michael Bendis, Christopher Priest, Alan Moore and Grant Morrison are at the top of the food chain.

I also have an affinity for cats who can do it all. I mean, write and draw. I have been and always will be a huge John Byrne fan. He’s the total package. He’s the one who brought me back to buying Superman after a long absence. I buy everything that man does. Frank Miller is another one of these guys I love to follow.

As far as artists are concerned, the list is almost endless. Like I said I’ve always been a Kirby fan, but there was also John Buscema and Neal Adams being like the “fathers” of the silver age. Nowadays, Jim Lee, Leinil Francis Yu and Brian Stelfreeze top the list. But I also enjoy the work of guys like Ron Garney on Captain America, John Romita, Jr. and last but not least, Alex Ross.

NRAMA: Characters?

KG: As far as characters, I’ve always been a huge Fantastic Four fan. I still have a run from issue #33 to the present. With respect to others, I’d say the Silver Surfer, Batman, and Thor. I used to be a huge Superman fan, but not so much anymore. I’ll always buy the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the Avengers no matter what. Also, like Nic Cage, I’m a huge Luke Cage fan!

What initially hooks me in a comic the artwork. People don’t like to hear this, but comics are still a visual medium. If I don’t like the way it looks it doesn’t matter if it’s the greatest story on earth, I won’t buy it. Now, that’s not to say the story isn’t important. It is. But story’s not the first thing you see when a comic sitting on the shelf. But as far as real resonance, I’d have to say allegory is the most important aspect to me in a comic. What is the deeper meaning behind the story that the writer is trying to tell. That’s what gets me excited. Stories like Alan Moore’s Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns or Kingdom Come were allegories about the society in which we live or what real heroism is about. I love that stuff.