Echo Creator David Mack on Seeing Character in Live-Action

Echo is now available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu, and it's rumored that Marvel Studios is already making plans for Echo/Maya Lopez's (Alaqua Cox) next MCU appearance. Echo first debuted in the comics in 1999 in Daredevil #9 and was created by David Mack and Joe Quesada. Mack has been vocal about the new series on social media and recently spoke to ComicBook.com in honor of the show. During the chat, Mack shared how it feels to see his character brought to life in live-action. 

"So, you know, there's other characters I've created in comics and I've been involved in, for instance, a creator in a series called Kabuki, which is what got me the invite to start writing Daredevil at Marvel ... This is the 30th anniversary of Kabuki, and it's been optioned by someone the entire last 30 years. So I know what it's like to be working on something for film and TV, and developing it, and then it to be at one place and go to another place, and all the variety of challenges that you face in that process," Mack explained. 

"So Echo has turned out to be the first character that I've created that I've got to see inhabited by an actor on TV," he continued. "There have been some stage plays of Kabuki, but to see on the screen, on this level of production, obviously very surreal, very amazing. And, you know, this level of talent involves ... [I'm] really grateful for all of the effort and the heart and the soul that all of the actors had put into it; and all the thoughtfulness that the writers, that the directors, that everybody has put into this character and the series."

"You know, when you adapt something from one medium to the other, there's naturally going to be a certain amount of changes ... that's not a bad thing," Mack added when asked if there was anything about the show he wasn't happy with. "I learned this when I was working on adapting Kabuki for a very long time. A lot of the solutions that you found for one medium are specific to that medium because you're leaning into the strengths. You're leaning into the strengths of the comic book medium and all that entails. And so, a lot of those things that happen are because of the nature of that medium, the problem-solving. It doesn't necessarily make sense to apply every one of those same solutions when you're doing something in a different medium."

"And you also have to leave a certain amount of room for something to organically reveal itself in the process of the other medium," Mack added. "And also, it's been 25 years since I've created this character. I have experienced this with Kabuki, too. If I were to do it now with a different set of perspectives, there are things I would do differently as well. So the fact that there are a certain amount of differences is to be expected."

"But I'm amazed by the amount of consistency and continuity and congruence of the character," Mack explained. "So you have to be grateful for that and you have to appreciate that, and the authenticity of the character still shines through these actors, through the story ... This is an unusual character. The character is deaf. She's Indigenous. It's a crime story, it's a family story. There are a lot of interesting things about it, but there are a lot of ways this could have went wrong, and when I say wrong, I mean, having just slightly the wrong tone in certain parts. Tone is kind of everything when you're dealing with the subtleties of a character, and I'm so grateful for how right they did it."

You can watch our interview with David Mack and Vincent D'Onofrio at the top of the page. 

Echo is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. The show will leave Hulu on April 9th.