Victor Von Doom spent decades clashing with the heroes of the Marvel Universe. After remaking said universe during Secret Wars, though, he decided to turn over a new leaf and help fill in for Tony Stark following Civil War II. But that doesn’t mean his former enemies will so easily flip the script and welcome him with open arms. In AVENGERS #8, writers Mark Waid and Jeremy Whitley along with guest artist Phil Noto explore what happens when the Infamous Iron Man shows up and not only demands a place amongst the world’s greatest super heroes, but also to lead them.

With the June 7 issue hitting soon, we talked with Noto about jumping in on such a big-deal team book, working with new costumes, and how he achieves his unique style.

Marvel.com: Can you talk a little bit about your general process? From the pencils we see here, you start with traditional line work, but end up with these amazingly textured images at the end. How do you do it?

Phil Noto: Well, to begin with, it’s all digital. That makes the process much easier for me. I rough out the story in Photoshop, then do tight ink work in Clip Studio. After the inks are done, I use Clip Studio once again to flat the colors then I take it back to Photoshop to do the final rendering. I use a lot of Kyle Webster’s watercolor brushes to give it that natural texture.

Marvel.com: Is it any more difficult hopping in on a team book like this than a solo one?

Phil Noto: Yes, there’s definitely quite a difference. When I was working on BLACK WIDOW, most pages would be Nat and another character or two at the most. [POE DAMERON] got a little busier with his squadron and the droids. AVENGERS often has multiple characters in the scene. Other than just taking longer to draw, the trickiest thing is setting them in a correct way so the letterer can clearly place the word balloons.

Marvel.com: Infamous Iron Man makes his presence felt by the team in this issue. How was it working with that new look?

Phil Noto: It was very cool. I’m a giant fan of Alex Maleev’s work on [INFAMOUS IRON MAN] and it was fun getting to draw a “simple” Iron Man.

Marvel.com: Speaking of new looks, many of these characters are rocking relatively new costumes. Was there any difficulty making them work together on the page?

Phil Noto: Not really. There’s a lot of red and blue of course. I tried to differentiate the hues a bit. I generally balance out a page or a panel with a certain color to tie it all together to begin with. It’s similar to working on a cover illustration where you’re just trying to put together a cohesive palette on the page.

Marvel.com: How was it working with Mark and Jeremy on this story?

Phil Noto: It was wonderful! I’ve known Mark for quite a while and we’ve always wanted to work together on something and this was a great chance. I’ve never actually met Jeremy but he’s done such a great job with Nadia in [UNSTOPPABLE WASP]. She came across so clearly in the script, it was no trouble at all to picture her body language and expressions.

To see how the team takes to Victor’s desire to join the group, check out AVENGERS #8 by Mark Waid, Jeremy Whitley, and Phil Noto on June 7!