Write Now! #9 by TwoMorrows Publishing

INSIDE: GEOFF JOHNS TALKS WRITING!

$ 95

In the USA

M AG A ZI N E

Feb 2005 200 5

The Magazine About Writing For Comics, Animation, and SCI-FI

M AG A ZI N E Issue #9

February 2005

Read Now! Message from the Editor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 2

On Writing and Life: Interview with Neal Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 3

Master of the Universes Interview with Geoff Johns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 26

Counselor of the Macabre Interview with Batton Lash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 41

A Decent Proposal Christos N. Gage, writer of Deadshot, tells the tale of how his proposal became a series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 57

Feedback Letters from Write Now!’s Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 65

Nuts & Bolts Department: Script to Finished Art: TEEN TITANS #17 Pages from “Big Brothers and Sisters,” by Geoff Johns, Mike McKone and Marlo Alquiza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 30

Script to Finished Art: GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH #1 Pages from “Blackest Night,” by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 36

Notes to Thumbnails to Layouts to Script to Finished Art: SUPERNATURAL LAW #40 “13 Court Street,” by Batton Lash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 50

Script to Pencils to Finished Art: DEADSHOT #1 Pages from “Urban Renewal: Strings” by Christos N. Gage, Steven Cummings and Jimmy Palmiotti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 62

Script to Art: STORMBREAKER: THE SAGA OF BETA RAY BILL #1 Pages from “Fallout” by Michael Avon Oeming, Dan Berman and Andrea DiVito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 66

Danny Fingeroth’s Write Now! is published 4 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614 USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Fax: (919) 449-0327. Danny Fingeroth, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Write Now! E-mail address: WriteNowDF@aol.com. Single issues: $8 Postpaid in the US ($10 Canada, $11 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $20 US ($40 Canada, $44 elsewhere). Order online at: www.twomorrows.com or e-mail to: twomorrow@aol.com All characters are TM & © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter c the respective authors. Neal Adams interview © 2005 Neal Adams. Editorial package is ©2005 Danny Fingeroth and TwoMorrows Publishing. All rights reserved. Write Now! is a shared trademark of Danny Fingeroth and TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Conceived by DANNY FINGEROTH Editor-in-Chief Designer JOHN McCARTHY Transcriber STEVEN TICE Publisher JOHN MORROW COVER by NEAL ADAMS Cover coloring by J. DAVID SPURLOCK and CORY ADAMS [Neal Adams Monsters ©2005 Neal Adams] Special Thanks To CORY ADAMS KRIS ADAMS NEAL ADAMS ZEEA ADAMS DAN BERMAN ALISON BLAIRE TOM BREVOORT CONTINUITY STUDIOS JOHN DOKES JACKIE ESTRADA CHRISTOS N. GAGE LIZ GEHRLEIN GEOFF JOHNS BATTON LASH ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON MICHAEL AVON OEMING ADAM PHILIPS CHRIS POWELL BEN REILLY ANDY SCHMIDT J. DAVID SPURLOCK VARDA STEINHARDT WRITE NOW | 1

READ Now!

Message from Danny Fingeroth, Editor-in-Chief

elcome back, everbody. After the awesome response we had to the Write Now-Draw crossover (and the incredible sales and word-of-mouth on the How to Draw A Comic From Script to Print DVD), we weren’t sure we’d be able to meet our own high standards. But we may come close with the issue you’re holding in your hand. Here, in Write Now! #9, is the long-awaited Neal Adams interview. In it, we see a side of Neal that isn’t often focused on. It’s Neal as writer or co-writer. While the interview is every bit as subjective and opinionated as you’d expect, it’s also chock-full of practical tips about the comics business, the creative life, writing and art (hey—did you think he wouldn’t talk about art?), and even the creation of the very planet we live on. And Neal was kind enough to provide us with amazing samples of his art from the time he was a teenager to today. Speaking of which, his all-new cover for this issue, featuring his versions of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf-Man—stars of Neal Adams’ Monsters— is rather amazing, don’t you think? But, as always, there’re even more information, instruction, and insights awaiting in the issue. There are few comics writers hotter than Green Lantern: Rebirth’s Geoff Johns right now. So, naturally, we had to get Geoff to tell us how he does what he does. And, boy, does he tell us. If you want a blueprint for a writer’s life, it’s in this interview. Want to get some idea of what it’s like to write, draw and self-publish your own creation for more than ten years? Then the Batton Lash interview is for you! Batton has been putting out Supernatural Law for over a decade and the series’ freshness shows no signs of abating. How does he do it? Read all about it here! Then, acclaimed screenwriter Christos N. Gage tells how he made the leap into the world of comics and got DC to buy and publish his Deadshot proposal. Chris’s insightful article tells you how he got the powers-that-be to take a chance on him and his ideas.

Benjamin, Brian Pullido, Robert Tinnell, Neal Vokes, Gerry Conway and Steve Englehart, among other folks with information you just have to know!

SHAMELESS PLUG DEPARTMENT: The How To Draw Comics From Script to Print DVD is still available at comics shops or from the TwoMorrows website, and selling like hotcakes. While it focuses mostly on art, coloring, and lettering, a large section of it is devoted to teaching the tricks of the comics writers’ trade. We’ve had nothing but enthusiastic feedback on it from folks who have seen it. Once again in the spring, I’ll be teaching three courses at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. I’ll be teaching Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels, as well as a Level Two Intensive: Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels. In the latter course, over a period of one week—four nights and two full weekend days—you will write a comics script. In addition, I’ll again be organizing and moderating a lecture series (through NYU, but given at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art—MoCCA—in Soho), called Inside The Comics Creators’ Studio, in which eclectic combinations of writers and artists discuss their work. The spring semester’s guest list includes Tom DeFalco, Joe Quesada, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Mike Oeming. (Last semester we had Dennis O’Neil, Mike Mignola, R. Sikoryak, J.M. DeMatteis, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Charlie Kochman, Jim Salicrup, and Stefan Petrucha.) You can go to NYU’s website (www.scps.nyu.edu) for more details about the courses and the seminar. (And special guests always show up in my writing classes, too.) Also, my book Superman On the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society is still exciting a lot of attention! You might want to check it out.

That’s it from me for now. Go forth and enjoy the issue! As far as Nuts & Bolts this issue, we’ve got scripts and art from Green Lantern: Rebirth, Teen Titans, Deadshot, and Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill. Creative lights including Geoff, Chris, Batton, as well as Michael Avon Oeming, Daniel Berman and Andrea DiVito show you how they ply their trades. In coming issues, be on the lookout for interviews with and/or how-to’s by Dwayne McDuffie, James Robinson, Paul 2 | WRITE NOW

Write Away!

Danny Fingeroth

THE END

On Writing and Life:

The Neal Adams Interview Conducted 9/03/04 and 9/10/04 at Continuity Studios by Danny Fingeroth Transcribed by Steven Tice/Edited by Danny Fingeroth Copy-edited by Danny Fingeroth and Neal Adams

DANNY FINGEROTH: You were a professional from a very young age. The impression that most people have is that you didn’t spend a lot of time looking in as an aspiring professional writer and artist. How accurate is that impression? NEAL ADAMS: Well, it seems like that. But it’s sort of like asking an actor, “It seems like you just showed up one day, and you were acting.” And then you’ll see that look on their face that says, “Noooo, I was pounding on the door for a very long time.” Well, first of all, one of the things you don’t know about me is that I come from a very—I don’t like to say “poor” background, but I didn’t go to college because I couldn’t afford to go to college. DF: You’re a New York native, right? NA: Sort of. I was an Army brat, so I got to move around a lot. And my father wasn’t that good to the family, so things weren’t that good. I couldn’t really go to college. I was interested in engineering, science, and art. I thought, if I’m going to study art, I have to be able to make a living, so I studied art from the point of view of learning to draw really, really, really well and trying to get into comics, which was totally stupid. Now, you have to remember, I graduated high school in 1959. A long time ago, but the important thing about 1959 is that in 1953 comic books died, and they didn’t revive until 1963 or later. Which meant that I was really in the wrong place at the wrong time. DF: They weren’t hiring? NA: No, they didn’t hire anybody new for years, and they didn’t hire anybody new after that for years. There’s nobody that I know in comics who’s within five years of my age on either end. It may be seven years. I don’t really know for sure, but my guess would be seven years.

DF: Maybe Archie Goodwin? NA: Well, the thing you have to remember about Archie Goodwin and Denny O’Neil and even Jim Steranko is that none of these guys was aiming for comics. Roy Thomas, for example, was an English teacher. Denny O’Neil was a reporter and a writer. He wasn’t intending to get into comics at all—he fell into it. Anybody

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eal Adams is legendary as a comics creator, artist, writer and activist. From Green Lantern/Green Arrow to Batman to Superman/Muhammed Ali and his current Monsters graphic novel, he’s known for the boldness of his drawings and his opinions. But Neal thinks of himself as a storyteller more than as simply an illustrator of other people’s stories. As such, writing and art are inseparable for him. As creative force behind Continuity Studios, including their Continuity Comics line, Neal’s sensibilities and ideas mold the entire operation. When the opportunity to talk with him about his thoughts on writing in general and as they apply to his past, present and upcoming projects presented itself, I leaped at it. What resulted is this interview that documents Neal’s very personal reflections on the state of comics storytelling, comics writing, and various and sundry related topics. Hang on tight and enjoy the ride! --DF

who’s my age is essentially a writer, and they did something else, and then they came to comics. So I’m making that small distinction. And all of them are writers except Jim Steranko, who was a magician, and I don’t think he intended to get into comics, either. He was a magician for a while, and then, in the Sixties, suddenly he veered into comics. So he may have had intentions. And whatever his instincts were at the time, they were probably right. Do magic, not comics. So I don’t have contemporaries. I have Steranko as a contemporary, but he got in in a different way. When I got out of high school, my intention was to do comic books. And I went up to DC Comics and tried to show my portfolio to this older man—I believe his name was Bill Perry—who was nice enough to come out into the lobby and tell me why he wasn’t going to take me inside, even though my artwork was quite excellent. If I saw that portfolio today, I’d hire the artist. DF: You went to the High School of Art and Design? NA: But it was called The School of Industrial Arts at the time. Probably created during the Depression to make art valid as a tool for an economy coming out of the depression. “Industrial art.” I tried to get work at Archie Comics working for Jack Kirby and Joe Simon on The Fly and those various characters. And Joe Simon was nice enough to tell me, in a classic phone call, that he thought my work was good, and he otherwise would hire me, but he knew it would be doing me a disservice, so he would do me the biggest favor anybody could do me at that time, and that was to turn me down. So he did. Which I thanked him for, stunned. The Archie guys felt so sorry for me that they let me bring in samples of Archie pages. So I brought in samples for three weeks, and they kept on picking at them and saying it was wrong.

In the end, I copied the great Dan DeCarlo and they gave me Archie’s Joke Book pages to do. I wrote, penciled, inked and lettered pages for $32.50 a page and I was glad to get the work. Howard Nostrand, who was doing a comic strip, needed a “kid” to do backgrounds. It was a Western comic strip based on the Bat Masterson TV series. Somehow I heard that he needed somebody. So I went to visit him, and I worked on Bat Masterson. After a while, he let me do things he probably shouldn’t have let me do. I did backgrounds and penciled and laid out strips. Did whole towns in one panel. Wonderful stuff. I got to work really hard, which was fine for me. Also, I got to do some of his advertising work. DF: Was that your first advertising work? NA: Yes. And I learned things I’d never learned anyplace else. I must have worked there all of three months, but I got three years’ worth of education, because there were other artists in the studio apartment, really good artists doing illustration, retouching and advertising comic strips in the Fifties. I learned a lot of stuff from Howard “Red” Sudik and “Red” Wexler. I learned a lot of discipline. Discipline from Red Wexler—just incredible. He came in at eight o’clock in the morning and left at four, didn’t draw anymore the rest of the day. There’s something very important about that. Of course, I didn’t learn that. But I respected it. DF: He worked the whole time he was at the desk? NA: He worked the whole time. So if I went over and talked to him, he’d look at his work and say, “You’re talking to me.” And I’d go, “Yeah.” He’d say, “But I’m working.” “Oh. Sorry.” And I’d walk away. And I got that. That was good. And I would go and talk to Howard, and Howard would have some music on. “Neal, this is the Newport Jazz Concert in ’57! It’s the greatest! Sit down! Listen to this!” I’d say: “I gotta do backgrounds.” “No, sit down! Don’t go in the next room! Listen to this! Do you want a beer?” “No, I don’t want a beer, Howard.” DF: So that was a different style. NA: A different style, that probably wasn’t good, but still, I’d work around the clock. DF: What kind of jobs were you doing with these guys? These were advertising jobs? NA: Industrial slide films, stuff like that. An incredible variety of jobs. Around the clock, and I’m watching Wexler in the next room. Four o’clock, and he’s out. And he makes more money than Howard, y’know? Wexler told me a story one time on one of the few breaks. “I’m making coffee, so I’ll tell you a story. When I finish the coffee, that’s the end of the story.” He said, “I have this friend I take the train with every day, and we read the paper, and we talk. And he lives not too far from me, and every once in a while we get together. Not a lot, but I consider him a friend. So he got on the train one day, and he said, ‘I think I have a job that’s perfect for you. I think I have good money for it. It’s just a wonderful job. Everything you’ve told me, I can’t imagine that this wouldn’t be the greatest job in the world for you, so I’d like to shove it your way.’” And Wexler said no. The guy said, “Why? I don’t believe it. I talk to you every day. This is a good job, I’m telling you!” And Wexler said, “You and I are friends. We know each other; we socialize together. When you work for somebody, you’re not friends anymore. Something will happen—could be anything—and suddenly we won’t be friends. I’d rather have you as a friend.”

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DF: That’s a valuable story. NA: A valuable story. And then I go into the next room, and the Newport Jazz Festival’s on, and Howard’s smoking and drinking beer. DF: So you had the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other. NA: Exactly. So I learned from Wexler, and I learned from Howard. The things I learned from Howard are, yeah, you can work around the clock, but at some point you have to sleep, and the world has to make sense. You have to be healthy; you have to go to the gym. You can’t smoke them cigarettes and drink that beer. DF: So from there you somehow ended up on Ben Casey, where you did your first writing? NA: No. The first comics writing I did was in high school. Now, when I was in high school, and even in junior high school, I wanted to write and draw comics. And the question was, how do you do it? How do you learn, and how do you do it? DF: Did you have friends who were into it, too, or it was just you? NA: In the world I knew there weren’t people who wanted to do comic books the way I did. Maybe on another planet, but— DF: But none of your high school buddies. NA: No, not the same. So I was by myself. I’d go out and buy my oaktag. I would steal oaktag from the local supermarket dumpster, where in-between the egg cartons they’d have oaktag. So I found out about the size of comics art pages. I learned they were twice as big as they’re printed, so I just ruled them twice as big. Then I started to write my own stories. The only good comic books around in those days were war stories, and I hate to say that to anybody else who reads comic books. Those people who are fans of comic books from those days—I’m sure they think there were other good books. But in the war stories— you had Joe Kubert, you had Russ Heath. DF: Who was writing them, Bob Kanigher? NA: Kanigher. His short stories were dynamic. I would study the editors. I would study Julie Schwartz, and I would study Bob Kanigher, because they were, as far as I was concerned, the best editors. And I figured

out how they worked. So I would write a story like a Julie Schwartz story, or I’d write a Bob Kanigher story. Bob Kanigher’s stories were easier. I figured out the key to Julie Schwartz when I was about seventeen, and it was that Julie Schwartz was in love with a new idea. In other words, all you had to do was find the new idea. DF: Hence, as he famously used to say: “Be original”? NA: Hence “be original.” If you found a new idea—something he didn’t know or something that intrigued him—then you could wrap any story around it. He’d buy the rest of the story just for that one new idea. So what you would do is, feed him ideas and then feed him this one idea that he would like, and then you’d wrap a story around it. That’s how you got past Julie. Julie asked me one time when he was my editor, “How come you get stories past me so easy?” I said, “Because, Julie, I’ve got you figured out.” Julie said, “Nobody’s got me figured out.” And I said, “No, I’ve got you figured out. You buy that little idea. It’s a little scientific thing.” At times I would write my own Kanigher-type stories but then I would take a Bob Kanigher story that was, say, drawn by Jerry Grandenetti, and I would draw it in another style—my style, or an imitation of Joe Kubert’s style, or whatever I happened to be into at the time. I would draw the same story to see how I would interpret that story that somebody else did. And then I would come back to it, after I had gotten recognizably better, so that I could see that I had gotten better, and I would take the same story, and draw it again in the “new, improved” Neal Adams style to see whatever my improvement was. There was one Bob Kanigher story, I believe, that I did two and a half times, just to see what the improvement was. DF: Would you change the number of panels or the dialogue or anything? NA: No, I would avoid doing that, because I didn’t want to make the change arbitrary. I’d try to think out solutions in a better way. DF: So you taught yourself storytelling, essentially. NA: All of this was experimental and part of a process. And it was a heavy process because I was trying to jam ten years of education into two or three years of high school, which is not easy to do.

me. If you’re real with yourself, first you have to admit that you’re not the smartest person in the world. Then you have to admit that you’re not the most talented person in the world. But there is one thing you can control, and that’s the amount of work you do.” So everybody else came in with their portfolio with their ten pieces. I came in with my portfolio with 110 pieces. I was better than anybody in my class, not because I was a better artist, but because I had done 110 pieces. Mr. Allen gave me a B+. “Mr. Allen, why a B+?” He said, “Well, not all of these are on assignment. You can do better than that.”

DF: Were your teachers at all encouraging, or did they tell you that you were wasting your time? NA: They all thought I was crazy. To give you an example, in my next-to-last year in this cartooning class, a group of us had forced the school to teach comic books. They didn’t want to teach. We didn’t hit them or anything, but we really kind of leaned on them, and the teachers got behind it, and they even hired a new teacher to teach us cartooning—a comic book–related thing. Anyway, the ringleader was Charles Allen. Charles Allen is one of the heroes of my life. He’s the guy who told me that I was crazy to do comics. Mr. Allen knew I was serious. He got it. So he would try to talk me out of it. I remember one day I had a conversation with him, and he said, “Look, Neal, you can’t do this. It’s not going to happen.” I said, “Mr. Allen, you did a syndicated strip.” He had taken it over from the guy who originally created it. I had read it when I was a kid, and then he took it over, and his style was slightly different, but he got to do it. And I said, “Mr. Allen, I’ve never really seen an article, a news article or anything in the Cartoonists Society newsletter on you.” And he said, “Yeah.” And I said, “Because you’re black.” And he said, “Yeah.” And I said, “And you’re telling me it’s impossible?” And he said, “No. Nothing’s impossible.” So I said, “Okay, I’m going to do it.” So we were supposed to hand in ten assignments at the end of the school year—either a comic strip, a comic book page, or a cartoon if you were taking cartooning. I brought my portfolio in at the end of the year, and it was 110 pages. Now, people ask me how I got good, and I try to tell them, “Look, it has nothing to do with intelligence, it has nothing to do with ability, because when I was in school, there were people who were better than

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DF: So you taught yourself storytelling and writing. You wrote dialogue for your comics? NA: Yeah. People think that dialogue is writing. DF: No, dialogue is dialogue. NA: You have to separate writing into prose, dialogue, and storytelling. Prose isn’t always storytelling. It is when you talk about books, but when you talk about film, or you talk about comic books, the way you tell the story is storytelling, and it’s a kind of writing. If you’re smart enough to put good dialogue in there, well, that’s all the better. But it’s very, very hard to create a story if you don’t have a good storyteller. Sort of like a movie writer who gives their script to a bad director, and it just turns into crap.

DF: Comics is a collaborative medium. NA: No, it’s not a collaborative medium. It would be nice if it were a collaborative medium. It’s hard to make it a collaborative medium. When I was a teenager, I was invited to the Cartoonists Society a number of times, and I went a number of times. One of the things that I observed, almost consistently, is that every comic strip artist I talked to privately hated their writer, thought he was an assh*le, resented how much money he’d make, because he’d make 50% of the money. And then they would tell you they could do the same thing, they could do it the same way, no problem, so why is this guy getting all this money? These were the strip guys. Well, there weren’t Neal’s creative process in plotting, scripting, thumbmany comic nailing, and drawing the Ben Casey strip. book guys to [© 2005 NEA – Bing Crosby Productions.] talk to. I’m sure that the comic book guys felt the same way, but they were like prisoners in jail. “Don’t open your mouth, whatever the problem is. Shut. Up. You’ve got a job, pal, that’s all that matters.” DF: So the writers would bitch about the artists, and the artists would bitch about the writers? NA: No, the writers never bitched, they lived in this rosecolored world. They wrote comic strips, and they made tremendously good money. They made half the money. So what did they have to complain about? DF: You often get the impression with strips that the same person is doing the writing and the art. NA: At least half, but the “little foot” stuff—the realistic stuff—got written and drawn by two different guys. The cartoony stuff, you know, it’s guys making up gags. Gag writers are gag writers. You don’t have a guy writing gags and a guy drawing gags. But realistic stuff went the other way, except in certain cases like Milton Caniff and Hal Foster and people like that who did the writing and the art. The lesson that I learned from those guys was that the

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worst thing that you could possibly do is hate your writer. You would only become bitter. I learned this when I was a teenager: no matter who my writer was, if I made an agreement to work with that writer, that’s my partner. And I wouldn’t complain about it, and I don’t bitch about it, and I didn’t have anything bad to say about it. That became my philosophy. Of course, it came around and bit me in the ass, because my syndicate didn’t really like my writer on Ben Casey. They felt that he wrote in clichés. And I had a big battle with my syndicate, and I said, “I’m going to quit the strip. You guys are being assh*les. You can’t attack my writer.

syndicate was happy with. And I became, in effect, the de facto rewriter-editor. I would take the scripts and turn them into little packages of stories that made sense and didn’t dawdle. DF: So was that how you became the strip’s writer, as well? NA: I got to be the writer at the end only because I took it upon myself. I received some stories that I couldn’t take, and I just wrote new stories, and then we realized that this was going to be the end of it. I couldn’t write it, because I would be taking the reins too strongly on myself, nor could I only receive half the money but do all the work. I became what I feared the most.

Neal’s early samples for commercial comics strips. The one on the right got him a gig. [© 2005 Neal Adams.] My writer is my partner.” And they were saying, “We have to DF: Could a strip like that go on past the popularity of the Ben replace him. We have to find somebody else.” And the head of Casey TV show, though? my syndicate took me aside at a cocktail party, and he said, NA: Oh, the syndicate was very happy. The TV show ended while “Look, I appreciate your loyalty to the writer. What I don’t I was doing the strip. They were very happy with the syndicated understand is this: I’ve seen you edit the strip, including our strip. It was a good strip all by itself. new writer, and you do a really good editing job. You shorten up the stories, and we can’t fault any of it. Your editing is DF: So that’s sort of the beginning of your writing. really excellent. What we don’t understand is how then you NA: The beginning of the writing was in high school on a dozen could turn around and defend the writer.” I said, “Well, stories, then I did the rewriting on the strip. But you have to because he’s my partner. There’s nothing wrong with his remember that I wasn’t just doing a comic strip. I also did writing.” And he said, “Neal. Have you ever really read the advertising comics for a place called Johnstone and Cushing. writing?” And I said, “Of course, yes, I have…” He said, “Look, why don’t you take the weekend. Contact me on Monday. Read DF: Talk a little about that. it.” “Okay, fine.” I went home and out of respect for my editor, NA: Well, the thing about it is that when I finished with Howard a famous newspaper reporter and editor Ernest Lynn, the Nostrand, I tried to get some commercial clients. I went to famous “East” Lynn, I pulled the strips out and read them. I Elmer Wexler, and I asked him if it would be possible for me to was stunned. They were awful. get work at Johnstone and Cushing, where Elmer did some work and made pretty good money. He advised me to do samples. So DF: Now, how could you have not read them, if you were drawing I did a sample. I worked really hard on the sample and showed them? it to Wexler. Wexler told me, “Neal, this is so bad that there’s no NA: Because I had resolved not to be upset with my writer as a place for me to start, so I can’t tell you how to fix it.” philosophy. I had tricked my own mind to be non-critical.

DF: And you just followed the art instructions? NA: I made the deal in my head that I was not going to be like all those other guys, I was not going to criticize my writer. I was not going to dislike my writer in any way. I was just going to do my job. He’d do his job, I’d do my job, I’d get the scripts, and I’d do them. Anyway, I called East Lynn up and admitted, chagrined, he was tragically right. So we agreed that they would alternate writers and I would edit both to get the strips into a shape the

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DF: The writing or the art? NA: The art. He didn’t have anything to say about the writing. The writing was fine. But the art—he said, “There’s no starting place. It’s so bad that I can’t start to criticize it.” DF: But you were working professionally as a strip artist at this point? NA: No, this was four months out of high school. Wexler had taught me another one of those lessons in life, and I realized

everything that he said was true. So I got serious, and I did a strip that I put everything into. I did a lot of research, and I busted my ass, and the art was good. So I took it to Wexler again, terrified. And he said, “This is pretty good. Let me call Johnstone and Cushing for you.” (Compare the two strips on the previous page.) So he called them up, and I brought the stuff in, and I showed it. And they hired me freelance. I did every kind of job for Johnstone and Cushing. Apparently I couldn’t get into DC Comics to get $35 a page, but I could get into Johnstone and Cushing for $200 a page. DF: Is that still an industry? Are there still people doing commercial comic strips? NA: We do, here at Continuity. DF: Anybody else? NA: Here and there, it’s quite spotty. It’s not a business. It’s not a good business. But we do it periodically. I do it. I pretend I do it. I just ask for a lot of money. “Yes, I’m sorry, it’s going to take me the weekend—I need $20,000.” They say, “Okay.” DF: And you wrote the advertising stuff, too? NA: I ended up writing quite a lot, because ad agencies had some writers, but the truth is that these writers were not sufficiently educable in a short period of time. For example, how do you learn about the National Guard in a very short period? So what would happen is that we had a book called I am the Guard. They had these big scripts that they wanted to get jammed into some comic book. Somebody has to take that volume and turn it into a script and then make the script read like a comic book. Try not to get more than 37 words per balloon, and make it a thing that you can read. So who can do that? You could hire a writer, but you can get Neal, cheap. “He’ll do the writing and the art for page rate, and he’ll get it done. He’ll lay it out, and we can hand it out to other people.” So I was this terrible machine. I took work away from people. And I got very good very fast. It was annoying to everybody, but it was good for Johnstone and Cushing, and it made more work, so other people got jobs, so it really wasn’t that bad.

Murphy Anderson. “Who is this idiot Adams?” Then I did a second story, and I guess people fell back a little bit and said, “Maybe he’s all right.” After that I asked if I could write The Spectre, and the thing about Julie, he was willing to listen to the stories. So I got to do my own stories. DF: And why did you want to write? Because you wanted to be in control of the whole thing? NA: Well, look at my experience. I had written, when I was in high school, nearly everything I drew. Then I was forced to fix two writers’ work on the Ben Casey strip. And I’m really a storyteller, I’m not really an artist. I mean, people think that I’m an artist. People in advertising think I’m an advertising artist. If I write a film script, and somebody reads it, then I’m a script writer. If I do a book, then I’m a book writer. You are whatever you are doing. People only see that. When people come to Continuity, to some of them I’m just a commercial director. DF: You’re a storyteller in all those guises. NA: Right. In all those I’m a storyteller. So I didn’t think that I was going to actually work with a writer at DC. I thought, well, I’d rather make the whole nut: pencil, ink, and write. DF: Was anybody doing that at that time?

DF: So from there you went back to DC, and this time they were ready to give you some work? NA: Hardly. At first I worked for Warren Publishing, where Archie Goodwin was writing my stories. And this time I read the stories, and they were good. DF: Well, it was Archie. He was great. NA: It was Archie. So that was a very happy circumstance. I got to experiment a lot. Then I went to DC. I guess the first job I got was an Elongated Man story for Julie. I don’t know why he gave it to me. I wanted war stories. I wanted to work with Kanigher. DF: They were sharing an office then, right, Julie and Kanigher? NA: They faced each other. Oil and water. They shared an office where they faced each other. I came in to see Kanigher, and Julie managed to slip me an Elongated Man story, which I did a terrible job on, just an atrocious job. But I started to work for Kanigher. After that, I don’t know what I did first. I don’t know if I did The Spectre first or if I did Jerry Lewis first. But at some point I went to Julie, and he gave me a Spectre story, so I did a Spectre story. And I had followed Murphy Anderson, and everybody sent in letters saying I was terrible. They loved

NA: Well, I didn’t think about that. But there was a grumpy open door with Julie Schwartz. It was a gruff, angry door, but Julie Schwartz would give you a shot. And he’d make it hard. Julie was not easy. But, of course, you know from my previous words that I figured Julie out, which really annoyed him. But I was able to tell him a story, and I was able to get the story past him. So the first story I wrote was “Stop That Kid Before He Wrecks the World.” I’ve since seen the idea of that story in different forms in a lot of comic books by other people, somehow moderated, but it’s the same story. It’s about the hero being unable or unwilling to commit a negative act in order to even save the world, and that’s the thing that defeats the bad guy. Well, it’s a pretty good story premise. And I didn’t even have to go to Shakespeare to find it. DF: Not the Bible, either? NA: Not the Bible, either! Rooted in philosophy, I guess. And then I did a Psycho-Pirate story. I never really got to do the second half, because I got dragged into “Deadman”. But I had a good Psycho-Pirate story going. I was dragged into doing “Deadman” at the same time I was doing Jerry Lewis. Jerry Lewis, by the way, was the best money I ever made in comic books. I could pencil ten pages of Jerry Lewis in a day. Pretty good. For thirty-five bucks a page, that’s not bad. And I could ink ten in a day. That’s good money. You don’t want to give that up real easy. DF: But not as creatively fulfilling as The Spectre? NA: Oh, it was not bad. Jerry Lewis, monsters, a little kid with funny hair, aliens coming down—it’s not bad. Anyway, I was asked to do “Deadman” after Carmine Infantino did the first issue and had to leave because of his art director duties. I was given George Roussos to ink, and I got Jack Miller to write the story. Jack did a pretty good story rooted in reality. He did a lot of soap opera romance stories, so it had a certain amount of grit, not a lot of fancy stuff. But he had found himself misaligned up at DC, for some reason, as far as the thenPowers That Be were concerned. And they found a way to get him out of there. It wasn’t a good thing. DF: He was a staff guy, too? NA: He was a staff editor, and they got rid of him. And so Dick Giordano was coming in. Now, “Deadman” had received tremendous attention. First of all, you have the origin story Carmine drew, a good story. Then I did it, then I did another story, and pretty soon everybody’s reading “Deadman”. Cool!

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And now I’m doing stuff that’s kind of revolutionary. Doublepage spreads, things like that. Everybody was using zip-a-tone again, like the old EC. Nothing that wasn’t done before, but somehow it became a big deal. But the scripts and the outlines would be just something having nothing to do with the “Deadman” basic story, which is that somebody killed him and he has to figure out who! So Dick said to me: “I don’t know what to do.” I said, “How about letting me write it?” He said, “Okay, fine. Just do good stories.” I said, “Well, okay. I’ll give you an outline. Here’s an outline.” He said, “Yeah, this is what I want.” So I started writing “Deadman”, and it got pretty intense. “Deadman” got to be pretty good. Then Carmine cancelled it.

from the comic book stuff. Not dramatically, but I kind of drifted. I was doing some stuff for Marvel and I was doing some stuff for DC, some covers. DF: Eventually, you had the Continuity line of comics. Now, did you create and write those characters? NA: I created and wrote some of the characters. I got people to help me with the writing. And all of them are, in my opinion, good characters. There was too much writing for me to do, so I got help. I wrote certain issues, like I wrote the Michael Golden Toyboy issue. DF: Who’d you have writing and drawing the books? NA: First there was Elliot Maggin, and then Peter Stone. They were always my outlines and basic stories, essentially, but Peter would embellish. When you’re blocking out a loose story, it needs filling. So he would fill it in, he would check the outline with me, I would say “okay” or “no, let’s do this,” and then he would get it to write as a script. Because we learned fairly quickly that there just aren’t that many artists who are good storytellers. Or essentially, they would rather have the script as a script. So we basically were giving full scripts after a while. If it wasn’t a full script, at least it was a script that was outlined page by page. I handwrote my work. My writing consists of tons of writing in handwritten form, and I’ll give it to somebody else, and they’ll type it.

Sales fell off. Actually, sales were never any good, he said. On the other hand, I sign mint copies of “Deadman”, from the old printing, at every convention I go to. Mint condition. There was all sorts of funny business going on with the distributors back then, so there are lots more copies out there than official sales figures would indicate. It’s a big story in comics that no one’s ever written. DF: When did Continuity get started? Were you just, despite the acclaim, not able to make enough money with the rates at the time? NA: I would say I made twice as much on advertising as I made in comic books in those days. So I kind of drifted away

DF: So that would be a traditional “full script” with each panel described and all the dialogue written? NA: For our comic books at Continuity, we would give outlines of the pages and indications of script. For example, you’d say, “Page Four, come into the panel, the bad guy steps in and says something like blah blah blah,” so we could then dialogue it later, sticking close to our original indicated copy when it suited. Others, like the Michael Golden one that I did, I did a full script for so there would be no question. Because there’re certain people that are reasonably precise, and, on the high skill level of somebody like Michael Golden, you want him to know how much space he has to take up with the balloons. So we did it different ways, often a pageby-page breakdown, but not always a panel-by-panel breakdown. DF: Sounds kind of like what has evolved to be called the “Marvel style.” I think a lot of people who work in that style now think of it as a page-by-page description without panel breaks or pre-written captions and dialogue. NEAL ADAMS | 11

NA: I can work in pretty much any scripting style. Right now, I’m now doing a thing called Blood. DF: Okay, I want to talk about Blood. I want to talk about the Neal Adams’ Monsters book and about Blood. NA: Well, the Monsters book actually started off as a project I’d outlined for myself and I adapted it in short form twenty years ago for Power Records. They wanted us to do covers of the records, and they wanted to do comic books, but they also needed stories. DF: What was Power Records? NA: Power Records were children’s records that were like radio shows. They needed a lot of comic book–related stuff, and they

hired Continuity to do it. We did Batmans, and we did new stories. One thing I did was a short story that was essentially a teaming of Dracula/Werewolf/Frankenstein. We provided them with material for licensed properties like Batman, Conan, and others, and so the question was, how could they get a comic book or an album done cheaply? Who could provide it for them? In the Star Trek stuff, I wrote half the scripts, and people associated with the show wrote the other half. I wrote practically all of the stuff from our side, except there were certain albums that came to us already as scripts. I did Conan scripts, I did Star Trek scripts, I did Batman and Robin, Swamp Child, and this Dracula/Werewolf/Frankenstein, which was done as a six-page story. DF: And from that came the Monsters book? NA: Essentially. One of the things that I did for them was different genre stories. They would ask me, “Well, what’s another genre we can do that we don’t have to buy a license for?” I said, “Well, you have the Swamp Thing. Marvel has a Man-Thing and DC has a Swamp Thing. “Can we do a Swamp Thing?” “No, not unless you pay for it—unless I create you a new one and not charge you to license it but let you license it by simply paying for the work. So I wrote Swamp Child.” I did a Swamp Child album. Then they said, “Monsters, we want to do monsters.” “Okay. I’ll do monsters. I’ll combine Dracula, Werewolf, and Frankenstein into one ‘monsters’ thing.” In Monsters I did a fuller, blownout version, adding pages to it and doing it with computer color, which is the Monsters book. But it’s all part of my original idea of putting Dracula, Werewolf, and Frankenstein into one story, which seems to have been done again in the Van Helsing movie. I felt it was necessary to take the graphic novel that we had done and put it out, just so nobody would think that Van Helsing came first.

DF: And then Blood is the next big project? NA: Blood is the next big project. Essentially it’s a science fiction/fantasy film, a very long story that takes place over two thousand years—but it really only centers around what’s happened today—about this character who has stuck around on Earth for two thousand years, and now the bad sh*t’s about to happen.

and all of this stuff comes together and forms planets and suns and asteroids and things, and that’s how you get the universe.” That’s a 150-year-old concept. And it’s still the same concept that we have today. 150 years later, and yet we still believe the same simplistic thing. It’s not even a belief—it’s all we’ve got. We’ve got space, there’s a whole lot of sh*t in it, it all comes together and becomes planets and suns, and that’s the end of it. Now, this guy named Hubble makes this telescope, and he looks at galaxies far away, and he notices that—contrary to Einstein—there’s a red shift and a blue shift, and that means that galaxies are moving away from us. So he said, well, this is like an expanding universe. Then some idiot said, “Well, maybe everything was all compacted into one little bunch the size of an acorn and then blew up.” It’s called the Big Bang. Well, I have a whole different theory that’s the subject of the graphic novel. And I didn’t ever want to deal with it. But 35 years ago, science said that all the continents on Earth were once gathered together in one giant island on one side of the Earth… which meant that the rest of the Earth, three quarters of it, was covered with water five Two interior pages from Neal Adams Monsters. [™ & © 2005 Neal Adams.]

DF: How many pages is Blood going to be? NA: Probably about 125. I’ve got about twenty done. DF: Are you going to try to sell it as a movie? Is that one of your aims? NA: Sure. It sounds like a good movie, a good action/adventure movie. Another thing I’m finishing is a graphic novel and two-hour video. I don’t know how much you’ve heard about it, and I wouldn’t want to bore your readers with it too much, but it’s essentially about boogieboogie science. It really is my first love. DF: I was going to ask you about that. That’s the thing about the theory of the formation of the universe? Two Guys in a Bar? NA: Well, Two Guys in a Bar or Our New Model of the Universe. People don’t want to talk about science. You can clear a room real easy if you talk about physics or talk about religion. Because, first of all, most people don’t understand it, and second of all, they don’t really give a sh*t. I do. We’d gotten over the theory that Earth was the “center of the universe.” The new philosophy was begun about 150 years ago, and it said, “You have space. And then you have a whole lot of stuff floating around. Then gravity takes over,

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miles deep. In my mind’s eye, I looked at this strange, lopsided planet… and the more I looked, the more stupid it looked. It didn’t make and sense, and so began a 35-year quest. DF: Do you have a publisher lined up? NA: Yeah, it’s called Continuity. DF: Switching gears now, Neal, what advice would you give anybody trying to break into comics today? NA: Oh, avoid it. Avoid it like the plague. Because we’re overburdened with artists, we don’t know how secure the future is, we have no right to believe that it will go on, and comic book stores are shutting down, as I understand it, left and right. DF: Do you think the renaissance in sales is an illusion? NA: I think the renaissance in sales is not an illusion. I think that movies are driving comic book sales, but we haven’t figured out a way to hump over between the movies and comic books. You get millions and millions of people to see movies that Some of Neal’s sketches for Neal are about comic books, but we Adams Monsters. can’t seem to get those people [™ & © 2005 Neal Adams.] to buy comic books. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the idea that if you read a novel, your brain makes pictures, and that’s good for most people, while the enjoyment of a creative graphic artist at the same time that you’re reading a story is not a mainstream enjoyment. We have to consider the possibility that comic books have become elitist. DF: Which is a weird turn of events. NA: Well, not really, because they always sort of were elitist, because kids are hobbyists, and hobbyists read comic books. Who normally reads comic books? “Normal” people? A doctor? Not unless they’re elitist. They’re the same as people, when I was a kid, who used to build airplanes and who did kite-flying or collected butterflies or stamps. They’re people who are dedicated to a kind of thing. If you’re not dedicated to comic books, why would you buy comic books? DF: There was a point where every kid, for a year or two, would read comics, and that seems to have gone away. 14 | WRITE NOW

NA: I don’t really think that’s true. That would assume that there were about fourteen million kids reading comic books during that rite of passage. That never happened. The most you could get would be, like, 400,000 people. If you got 400,000 people reading a given comic book, that was a big deal. And if you got that, then there would be people putting comic books in their closet, so maybe you’d sell a million comic books. But you wouldn’t do better than that. You’d have to kill Superman to sell a million copies. DF: [laughs] Who would ever do that? NA: Who’d be stupid enough to do that? Or change Robin’s costume, or whatever the hell. There’s a part of me that’s a fan and a geek just like everybody else who’s involved in comics. There’s also a part of me that’s in the real world. I talk to real people every day. And you see the expression on people’s faces when you say, “I do

comics;” they have this embarrassed look on their face where they tell you they never read comics, their parents never let them read comics. And those people are more common than the ones who read comics. If you go into a given office, and you start talking about comics, there are one or two people that will talk to you about it, but the vast majority of them make up this outside audience that looks at you like you’re crazy. You are the freaks who talk about comics. DF: But even as a hobby, it’s a smaller hobby now. NA: I don’t know that it’s a smaller hobby. Look, if I knew anything, I would be glad to say it, but I don’t really know anything. But I will say this: the same people that used to read comic books now play computer games. This is how it seems to break down to me: A kid goes to school. He spends seven or eight hours in school. Then he’s got homework. Okay. You have to do two or three hours of homework. Then, of course, you have to spend that obligatory terrible time with your parents over dinner. And then you can watch television for whatever shows that you want to watch. And after all those things are done, you have maybe two or three hours of free time to do whatever you want to do. As a kid, what are you going to do for those two hours? You have the Internet and you have your friends, to whom you can talk endlessly, because Dad won’t come in and say, “Get off the phone.” Then, when you stop doing that, you can play computer games, some of which are very exciting, very interesting, and you participate in and control them. Are we in a position to go to that kid and say, “Listen, kid. You really should read a comic book instead of doing that stuff that you have.” He only has those two hours. He can’t expand it and get three hours or whatever. He can’t find new time to read the comic books. So it’s the same kid doing the thing he chooses to do. Incidentally, it doesn’t happen to be comic books. DF: Unless it’s manga. To what do you attribute the appeal of that? NA: I think because they’re easy to read, and you can read vast amounts of them and they’re easy to understand. It’s like chugging a Coke. DF: So can American creators learn anything from that? NA: Well, you sort of hope that they do, but at the same time, I like American comic books, and there are people reading American comic books. A manga is a sloppy comic book. Really, this is not meant as a criticism, but rappers don’t sing, and manga isn’t as good as American comic books. Am I lying here? Is this an opinion? Maybe it is. DF: If someone was foolish enough to want to get into comics— any courses, books, training you recommend?

NA: There’s the Joe Kubert School, which I highly recommend, and I’m on the board of advisors. You can also go to the School of Visual Arts, and you can go to Pratt. I don’t think that the people who are the best people in comic books now are people who were trained as comic book artists. The problem is that we need better people. If we survive, I would prefer that comics be done by more broadly educated, better artists, better writers, people who are less insular, who can communicate on a broader level. I have the suspicion that history may view this as an art form. DF: Writing-wise, any courses or books you’d suggest? NA: You know, I think writing is so individual, I really don’t know—I’m sure there are things that you can go to. I have two

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granddaughters. One of them, Kelly, is a gymnast, and she’s a gymnastics teacher, as well. And she’s an excellent gymnastics teacher. My other granddaughter, Courtney, writes a lot. If you were to ask her to teach gymnastics, of course, she couldn’t. She has no interest. Kelly would have an interest in writing about gymnastics, but she would not have an interest in writing, per se. Courtney has an interest in writing, and she has an interest in writing to the point that she wants to shock you. And she wants people to recognize that she writes, so her stories and her subject matter drive you to the edge and you say, “This is a writer.” She’s only sixteen years old. A very powerful writer. Why did this happen? What did she study? Well, whatever she studied, whatever she went for, she didn’t do any more reading than her sister. She didn’t meet any more influential people or powerful people. The same influences were there. One of them went for gymnastics, and the other one went for writing. Does that mean she’s going to be a writer? Does that mean she’s going to be a great writer? I don’t know. Is there a place to go that teaches somebody like this that vital way of writing? I think there are people who have classes, and I think there are people who try to teach it. But I think if a person’s not going to be a writer, it’s like pounding a nail into rock. It’s not going to happen. DF: That’s taken for granted, yeah. NA: I don’t have the same motivations as the next guy to write.

I have a lot of stories to tell. A lot of stories. If it’s on my mind, that’s what I write. And I can extend that out to writing fantasy/science fiction comic books. And that’s the way I approach it. I don’t think that, if I sat down with any other writer, we would approach it the same way. And I don’t know that you can teach that in a school. And I think it’s done all the time, I just don’t know what those places are that would be successful in doing it and who they would be. It’s so individual that I couldn’t imagine it. DF: Well, the student has to bring talent and passion to the table, and then a teacher can refine it or direct it or help the student become disciplined. There are things relating to structure that can be helpful. NA: That’s true, but how long does it take to learn the structure of a novel? A movie script structure is different from a novel. You can do that in a week. I don’t really see it. And any time I see somebody’s writing that I really liked, it usually has to do somehow with that connection between me and the writer. DF: The individual voice. NA: Right—it’s the voice. And I’m hearing the voice, and maybe there’s a process that you can go through that may make the voice clearer or better—or by the same token could ruin it.

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DF: Which shouldn’t stop anybody from taking my comics writing courses at NYU. [laughs] NA: Exactly, that’s true. DF: Sorry, I couldn’t resist getting that in. NA: Look, there are an awful lot of elementary things that have to be dealt with. You really have to try to give a different voice to each one of your characters. Everybody can’t talk the same. But how many times do you read a comic book, for example, and everybody has exactly the same intelligence, they speak exactly the same way, they have exactly the same snotty attitude? It’s like a roomful of snotty people, and each one is just as snotty as the other. I’m never in a room like that. DF: Well, that’s not a goal to shoot for in writing. That’s something to avoid. NA: If you can do that in your classroom, then God bless you. DF: Now, let’s switch gears again and talk a bit about some of the best known stories you were involved with. For instance, what were your goals on X-Men? NA: Well, the first thing that I was told about the XMen was that the book was going to be cancelled in two issues. I was also told that Professor X was dead. I guess I was sort of aware of it as a reader because he was dying for about ten issues, and then finally he died, and then he was buried, and the X-Men stood around his grave while he was buried. So I thought, that’s an interesting problem to deal with, because these guys are called the X-Men, which I believe was named after Xavier. DF: Xavier, and extra power, and extraordinary. NA: Well I kind of think Xavier, X-Men. Somehow if he’s not there, call them the Y-Men. So I thought, “Gee, he ought to come back.” Also, we had lost Magneto, he was gone. So, for me, that was the initial question, because that was what was presented to me by Stan. “We’re going to cancel it in two issues.” Essentially I felt he was saying, “And we’re on our way to canceling it, because we’ve already killed Professor X, so how many more steps do you have to take?” As a comic book fan, I didn’t like that. I wanted Professor X to come back to life, but I knew that he couldn’t come back to life easily. So I had to find a way to bring Professor X back. It wasn’t going to be easy. DF: Where, in your memory, was the book’s writer, Roy Thomas, in this process? NA: Well, Roy had killed Professor X, so I don’t know if he initially had any sympathy for bringing Professor X back. Perhaps, as we got into doing the books, his sympathy might have changed, because we seemed to be having a good time. So when I mentioned to him that I’d like to bring him back, he reminded me that, no, he was pretty dead. This wasn’t going to be easy. But, actually, I thought I came up with a pretty good idea. Maybe it wasn’t Professor X that died. Maybe it was somebody else. So I planted a clue in an issue leading up to the last issue that I did. It turns out that when Professor X came back, it was Denny O’Neil that was handling the dialoguing.

Anyway, the idea was that the Changeling, the character called the Changeling, was not so much a bad guy. I felt he was sort of sympathetic. Not incredibly sympathetic, but you know how comic books were in those days—you could read sympathy into the character. What if he came to Professor X, and he basically said, “Look, I’ve been diagnosed with cancer; I am going to die. I’ve done nothing in my life that’s worth anything. And now I regret everything that I’ve ever done, but I can’t now think of anything that I could possibly do to redeem myself.” So if Professor X had a real problem, which he at that point did—we didn’t exactly know what the problem would be, but it turned out to be a threat to the Earth—the idea would be that Professor X would need to disappear for a period of time to deal with this problem, to create a device or a series of devices to fight off this thing that wasn’t going to come necessarily next week, but may take a year to get here. So he needed to disappear. He needed to be replaced. And perhaps his replacement couldn’t last forever, but, on the other hand, the Changeling couldn’t last forever, and since he was the Changeling, he could become Professor X.

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DF: And he could die and nobody would really notice. NA: He could die. He wouldn’t have the mental abilities that Professor X would have, but if he let Jean Grey in on the secret, Jean Grey could augment him in that she has mental abilities, and she could make it seem as though Professor X was losing his mental abilities on his way to death. There’s a portion of me that’s a true, dedicated comic book fan. And I always watched group comics, just as everybody else did, and I always saw failings in the group comics. The one big one—and it’s not a Marvel group, it’s the Justice League over at DC Comics—and the way they did things the was that some evil would arise, and it would be some kind of a multiple evil, and the writer would split up the characters. Two characters would go off this way, two characters would go off this way, and then they get together at the end. It almost seemed as though the writer couldn’t deal with it. “I can’t deal with six people.” So he would split them up, and then you would see individual stories. Although that didn’t necessarily happen with the Avengers at Marvel, or even the X-Men, it seemed as though, to me, dealing with a group was too hard for a lot of people to do. And at the same time, it seemed to me even in movies that dealing with six people was very hard to do. But I did notice in the movie The Magnificent Seven that, even though there were seven characters, somehow the director and the writer made a story that inculcated and integrated those characters into a story together. So it must be possible to do. But if you think of

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all the things that you’ve seen in literature, you never have six or seven equal characters all moving forward at the same time. And of course Magnificent Seven came from the Kurosawa movie The Seven Samurai. So I thought, “You know, there’s a way to do this. You just have to have an interweaving story, where, as long as you keep track of your characters, they can interweave with one another, and they can act as a group. And you can do it in a way that is reasonably simple, that you don’t get too confused, and you know what’s going on. They can stay together for periods of time, they can separate out for periods of time, and they, in effect, make their own story.” So I felt this was the challenge of the X-Men. Now, when I finished with that series, when that was done, I felt I had, for the first time, to my satisfaction, done a group comic book. And then, of course, they killed the comic book. [laughs] DF: And how did that then evolve for your Avengers work? NA: Well, since I knew how to do it then, I could head for a different goal. So the new question was, what is the next logical step? Well, the next logical step was, how do you take a typical Marvel story that moves very rapidly, goes from this place to that, very rapidly, and slow it down to really tell a story, to really tell a massive story? So as I did the Avengers, if you read those few that I was able to do, what happens is, the story starts to slow down, you start to identify the people a little bit more, you start to identify the story a little bit

more, you’re not jacking around going back and forth as had been done before, and you actually are moving toward a real story. That story would have been the Kree-Skrull War. And we were focusing on Rick Jones, we’re putting the Avengers in their position where they’re moving out and facing the aliens, and now the story is ready to open up. Well, just when the story was ready to open up, my writer and I came to an impasse. I couldn’t move on, and Roy, with John Buscema, finished it all in one book, and that was the end of it. But I felt I was moving toward a slower, more epic comic book. Now, we hadn’t really seen that in comic books. I had to find other ways to do it, which I did with my own Deathwatch 2000, and I sort of did with the Superman/Muhammad Ali book. I opened the story up and made it a broader story. During those days, any time a story was continued to a number of issues, it was really a bunch of little stories. It was never one story. Like, the Kree-Skrull War potentially could have been ten or fifteen issues long, because it was starting to be structured, things were starting to take place, whole civilizations were gearing up for war. So you had the potential to tell a massive story, which really, if you think about it, hadn’t been done in comics. But that was the next step. Now we’ve done it a little bit more, other people have done it. Since the Kree-Skrull War, people have kind of looked at comic books and said, “Gee, maybe we can do these broader, bigger stories.”

change it back if you want me to.” And he looked at it and said, “Nah, that’s okay.” He contemplated what it would take to remove that title, and he let it go. I feel that at times you have an instinct for things, and I hope that my instinct was right. I can tell you that, even now, people come up to me at conventions, and they’ll say, “‘But Bork can Hurt You’—I remember that title.” The other thing is that people also think that I had conflicts with Denny O’Neil and that I might have changed some of his writing, and I didn’t, because Julie Schwartz was the editor. And if you want to change something, you have to go through the editor, and Julie was a tough editor. He didn’t put up with stuff. But we had done the Green Lantern/Green Arrow drug stories, Denny and I, the one where Speedy becomes a drug addict. And in the middle of the story Green Arrow backhands Speedy in the kitchen of their apartment. Just backhands him, knocks him across the room, out of his own ignorance. Green Arrow has a ward who’s really got a problem with drugs, and his answer is to backhand him across the room, which I think was a very dramatic moment.

DF: Although that can make each individual issue less satisfying if it’s just a piece of a whole. NA: That’s the problem. And it’s like solving the problem of a group comic book. You can’t make an epic without making the individual issues whole issues. How do you solve that problem? Since I had done syndicated strips, I was used to dealing with those kinds of problems. Each individual story has to be satisfying in itself. It’s like doing chapters in a book. I felt, and I continue to feel, that if you make the individual book interesting by finding the theme for the book, that theme can integrate into the overall theme. That’s the thing to do. If you don’t do that, you fail. DF: Did you ever rewrite Bob Haney or Denny O’Neil on the Batman work? NA: Well, my qualified answer is no. People think that I rewrote Bob Haney, for some reason. I don’t know why. All I did on Bob Haney’s stuff when I did The Brave and the Bold was, I would take stories that took place in the daytime and have them take place at night. The stories were so solid that I didn’t have to do anything. There was only one thing that I changed with a Bob Haney story. There was a story that had to do with Batman and the Flash, and the villain was this guy named Bork. And I cannot for the life of me remember the original title of the story. But Bob Haney had written this line for this character, Bork, and the line was, “You can’t hurt Bork, but Bork can hurt you.” And I thought, “That’s a great title. I want to make that the title of the story, but I don’t think my editor is going to understand why I’m doing it.” So what I did was, I drew the title “But Bork Can Hurt You” on top of the drawing on the first page so that it would appear over the art, so that you couldn’t take it off. It would be impossible to remove it. It would be in this pyramid shape and you’d see the art in between all the letters. And so when I handed it in, editor Murray Boltinoff said, “Neal, you changed the title.” I said, “Well, I think this is a really good title, but I’ll be glad to

don’t worry, I’ll do that.” Well, I don’t think he did it. Either way, it was a little annoying to Denny. But on the other hand, I did get the two pages added. I’ve had people comment on the end of the story and how the story ends and it’s a very powerful ending for this type of thing. So of all the work that I’ve ever done with Denny, that’s the only thing that I’ve ever physically either added to or changed. I mean, I didn’t really change it, I just added to it. DF: You’ve written several short stories for DC and Marvel. Did they have significance for you? NA: I did a story called “The Game,” because DC was looking for horror stories, and one of the things that they had sort of instituted at DC Comics—because DC Comics was under the Comics Code at that time—is they couldn’t do horror stories, they couldn’t do monster stories. And editor Joe Orlando was given the impossible problem, under the Comics Code, of doing horror stories, which you couldn’t do. So how do you make a comic book scary if you can’t make it scary? It’s ridiculous.

Left: Cover to Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76. Art by Neal Adams. [™ & © 2005 DC Comics.] Below: Splash page to GL/GA #85. Written by Denny O’Neil, art by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. [™ & ©2005 DC Comics.]

But then we get to the end of the story, and, the way Denny had it written, Speedy has recovered from his drug addiction all by himself. Green Arrow asks him what’s going on, and the kid says, “I’m over it.” And I thought when I read it, “Gee, there ought to be more. That’s just not enough.” So I went to Denny, and I said, “Denny, I’ll be glad to draw extra pages, but really, we ought to do something here. Speedy needs to tell Green Arrow off for being so insensitive.” Denny felt that the story was fine. I felt we really needed something more. So I went to Julie and I asked him whether or not I could add two pages to the story. He said, “What two pages would you want to add?” I went off and I wrote them, I gave them to him, and he said, “Okay, you can go ahead and do it.” And I said, “Well, wait a second. I’m not just going to go ahead and do it. You’re going to promise me that you’re going to check this with Denny, because I already talked to him and he didn’t want to add anything. I’m going to you as the final arbiter, but I don’t want any trouble with Denny.” He told me, “Okay,

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DF: So—how do you do it? NA: One of the things you can do, which now we see in literature all the time, is to ramp down the story so that your horror is horror to a kid, which is different than horror is to an adult. To an adult, you have to rip guts out of people’s bodies and leave their hearts as first base. For a kid, a stone gargoyle starting to move is a horror, because to a kid that’s mysterious and weird and wonderful. To an adult it’s a thing made out of rock moving. Big deal, what’s it going to do? So what I did was, I started to do covers for Joe’s books that simply had to do with kids in the middle of situations that for adults, perhaps, might not be quite so scary, but for kids, ooooh, spooky, spooky, spooky. So that the stories for the kids—because people care about kids—became that much scarier, yet they never approached being really scary. So I did this series of covers that really were very successful. They were like EC Comics for kids. Well, there’s actually a whole range of literature, including Harry Potter, which is essentially horror stories for kids—it’s become a genre. And then I did a story that I wrote called “The Game” about a little boy who gets lost and goes into this house, and there’s this creature in a bed who wants to play this game with the little boy, and he’s not going to let the little boy go until they finish playing the game. And they play this game, and they’re in this bed that’s a covered bed, a fourposter bed. And they play the game, and the game is so interesting the kid doesn’t want to leave. So they go through the night, playing this game. The kid falls asleep, and he wakes up, pulls the curtain back, and there’s been a flood. The whole area’s been wiped out. There’s no house, there’s just this four-poster bed standing there, and also there’re people looking for this kid, including his father, and there he is, safe and sound in the four-poster bed, because he played the game. As the father and the kid hug, you see in the mud these footprints of a hooved creature walking away from the four-poster bed. To me, that’s a kid’s story, and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to do a kid horror story where you didn’t have to have monsters and people ripping things up and pulling people’s guts out for it to be interesting. It was interesting because of the nature of the story. As you tracked the story through and you got to the end of the story, you were satisfied all along the way that you were getting new answers for things that you didn’t know before, right up to the end, and then you see the tracks in the mud. To me, that’s good structure, good story, for a short story that’s not really a monster story. That story was very satisfying for me. There was a short story that I did for Marvel, it really was an experiment in ways of talking. A creature that lived from the days of cavemen and was buried underground came to the surface. It was a creature of energy that didn’t refer to himself except as “one.” “One Hungers.” So we’re finding his communication in a form that we understand, but it really isn’t a form that’s real, it’s a fake form. Like, the alien isn’t really saying this, we’re just running it through the Intergalactic Translator and this is what it sort of comes out to be. We’re running it through that, so that we make it sufficiently alien that when we see this creature, and we see that he’s just a thing of energy and came from a place there was no language, this is the way we’ve chosen to tell his story. Which is a silly story. What’s interesting about it is that I don’t know how many times that

has been done in comic books before that story, but I have seen it done a number of times after that story. “One Hungers” seems to have started a certain form of literature within the comic book form. DF: More recently, you’ve got your own created characters that are all quite different from each other. This is the Continuity line of comics. What was your thinking behind those characters? NA: I’ve felt that superheroes, for example, always fall into the same kind of category. Usually they’re bitten by a radioactive spider or something, they get these powers, and they become whatever it is they become. My Megalith character, for example, is a character who believed in bodybuilding, trained for the Olympics, and discovered something along the way that may have been once discovered by different people around the world, which is that you can connect your mind and body together for the improvement of both. If you can do that, you become a better person. Not a better person morally—a better physical specimen. So he is a

NEAL ADAMS | 21

shiny teeth. Whatever the reason. At Marvel, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created monsters and said, “Why don’t we take these monsters and turn them into heroes?” And that’s how we got the Marvel line of heroes. Every one of Marvel’s heroes was a monster. Ant-Man appeared in a number of stories as a guy that was reduced to ant size. The Hulk was a monster. The Fantastic Four were a group of monsters. Spider-Man was a monster. They’re all monsters. That’s the derivation of the Marvel characters. They have a horror basis. With the Continuity line, I wanted to create a world where each character was an individual with a unique origin. If you go to other companies, you see costumed characters. You don’t see a line like this. That’s why I’m constantly getting people interested in my characters, coming to me and saying, “When is this going to happen? What’s going to happen with this? Why aren’t you doing this?” DF: What’s the status on those characters? Are they optioned for anything? Are you going to do more comics? NA: One of the things that you find about Continuity is we don’t go bankrupt when everybody else does—all those companies that you’ve seen that have come up like rockets. Let’s talk about CrossGen for a second. They started with, I don’t know, 25 million dollars? Some large amount of Pages from CyberRad, one of the Continuity line of comics. [™ & © 2005 Neal Adams.]

bodybuilder. To bodybuilders, I’m practically giving a religious mantra, because that’s what they—we—believe. And in a good way, in the best possible way. We don’t want to use steroids; we want to do it with our minds and our bodies. Then you have Toyboy. He’s a boy, nine or ten years old. He plays with very sophisticated toys, and he’s brilliant, and he can invent his own toys. There’s no other character in comic books that’s anything like Toyboy. Samuree was raised on an island where only the belief in the martial arts as a way of life was true, and then she’s brought into this civilization like Tarzan landed from the jungle. There’s no other character in comic books like that. She’s somebody who lives a philosophy and now has entered into our world, and now has to deal with our world. Really unique and interesting character. Armor was taken off into space and trained as a warrior. Each one of these characters—Crazyman. He’s crazy! What’s the unique power that Crazyman has? He has no power. He’s crazy. He’s certifiable. He’s not the kind of guy you want to have hanging around your kids. Really, you can’t say anything good about Crazyman. Can you use him for anything? Not really, because you can’t depend on what he’s going to do. My goal in creating these characters, because I was so sick of working at DC and Marvel—the philosophy was, you put on a costume, you get these powers, you become a hero because you choose to. Why? I don’t know. Because you have

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money. And for every comic book that they printed, as I understand it, they lost money. Now, we watched them take the dive. Valiant went out of business. Continuity stopped simply, without getting into financial difficulty. In a bad time for comics we simply ceased publishing, and we will come back when it is right for us to come back. I don’t have a big corporation paying my bills, so I can’t just easily go, “Oh, yeah, tomorrow I’m going to start publishing again.” On the other hand, we’re working on The Rise of Magic project, so that we have it in our back pockets, ready to do it when the time comes. DF: What is The Rise of Magic? NA: Rise of Magic is a concept that we started. The idea is that, 3500 years B.C., we were associated with another dimension next to ours. In that dimension is what would be called the Realm of Magic. Realm of Magic had invaded our world through the “four corners of the world.” The four corners of the world actually existed. They were four corners. One of them exists in Egypt right now, and it’s a pyramid. And at the top of that pyramid, there was an eye. And there were four of them around the world. And through those eyes came the denizens of this other dimension, the Magic Dimension. And they came and they did good things for us. They also did bad things for us. Our world was made and advanced through the magic, and we made certain trade-offs, as we know the creatures in the Magic Dimension might like. So this dimension essentially sustained us as human beings. An intelligence or a natural event happened within the human psyche that made it necessary to relieve us, after ten thousand years of living off of magic, to no longer live off of magic. So how do you get rid of it? You create something. What was created was this guy named Shaman. There were two of them in this case, one in Africa and one in Europe. A black one in Africa, a white one in Europe. They existed with linked minds, so they could communicate mentally, and their goal in life from the moment they were born was to destroy magic and to drive it off of this planet. Why? Because it was up to mankind itself to deal with the world. DF: In CyberRad, you seem to have repeated a story, yet the two are significantly different. Was this some kind of experiment you were trying? NA: CyberRad is a young guy who presumably disappeared, because when we first see him, he reappears. And at the end of a couple of issues, we discover that his body parts have been replaced by cybernetics, which is not very good for him, because he thinks he’s a human being. And apparently the cybernetics are an advanced form of cybernetics that don’t interfere with his nervous system or his brain, but they integrate with his brain, and he can control them. And the cybernetics are actually sort of a like a little factory, a mini-factory. They can reassemble inside his body. So he’s not a “cybernaut” that just does stuff, he’s a cybernaut that can change the stuff that he does. And the problem is that he’s too advanced, and the guy who did the job to make him the way he is really shouldn’t have done it. So they’ve got to get him back, and the problem is, they’ve left him too independent. He’s too much himself. So one of the things that happens in one of the stories is that he’s been replaced by another cybernaut. And because he’s been replaced, and he’s a singer in a rock band, there’s this other guy who’s him that’s in this rock band, and he now knows that he is cybernetic underneath this sh*t, and he’s now been told that he’s just a copy of the guy that’s going to be on stage tonight singing. Now he has the problem—what does he do about it? So we have

a story that tells what he does about it. We watch the story take place. And the thing that he does is he sneaks backstage, and he pops a rocket out of his arm and blows the guy away. Then, in the next issue, we go back and we say, “Okay, wait a second. Let’s think for a minute what just happened. This robot, who has been told that he’s a copy of the guy on stage, could easily be a robot. The guy on stage could easily be the real him. He has to make the choice of whether he’s going to kill the real him and try to replace it with what he knows to be a fake. He has to believe that he is himself enough to commit murder, potentially. He has to somehow find that thing inside of him that makes him convinced that he is doing the right thing, because if it turns out that he blows that guy’s chest out, and blood and guts come out, he’s done the wrong thing. And that’s the real one, and he’s just the machine.” DF: And you wrote and drew this? This is complete Neal? NA: I laid it out, although I didn’t do finishes on it. I essentially did what they call blocking it out, but mine’s pretty tight. Of all the books that we have, that’s the one I was closest to. DF: Besides comics, you do a lot of commercial work. Have you ever written any of the commercials that come out of Continuity? NA: I don’t often write commercials, but one series of commercials that I wrote for my wife when she used to work for Young and Rubican was a series of Bill Cosby commercials. DF: For which product? NA: Pudding Pops. And the reason it happened was that a new group of writers had taken over the Bill Cosby commercials and they were doing a new series of commercials. So when Marilyn came home, and said, they’re doing these Bill Cosby commercials, I said, “You’ve got to let me read them!” I love Bill Cosby and I love his humor, and he’s a dad and I’m a dad, and I can relate to it. So she started to bring the scripts home, and they were terrible. And I said, “Well, how are these being received?” She said, “The bosses think they’re terrible. Nobody’s liking them.” I said, “Look. Why don’t I write some scripts for you and you give them to your writer and let her submit them? Do you think she’d do that?” So I started writing scripts. And I had just a great time. I ended up doing, like, twelve scripts. DF: Did you get paid for any of these? NA: No, no. In the end they produced four of mine. I had a good time. It was just a gas for me. DF: Well, we’ve certainly covered a lot of territory. Thanks for your time and your thoughts, Neal. NA: My pleasure, Danny. Hope the Write Now! readers got something out of it. I had a fine ol’ time. Important message from Vanguard publisher J. David Spurlock: “The material for Neal Adams Monsters has been digitally remastered with new color and digital special effects, has been expanded with new pages, and produced with the highest production quality ever afforded a graphic novel. It is also available in a deluxe, blood-red foil stamped slipcased edition which is autographed by Neal and features a 16-page bonus portfolio of previously unpublished monster-related Neal Adams art, including never-before-seen Adams art for Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula film.”

THE END

NEAL ADAMS | 23

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Master of the Universes

The Geoff Johns Interview Interview conducted via e-mail by Danny Fingeroth, November, 2004

eoff Johns was born in Detroit, Michigan January 25th, 1973. He now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Anissa, as a writer for both comic books and television. He’s currently working on Green Lantern: Rebirth, Teen Titans, The Flash and JSA for DC Comics, where he’s happily under contract and able to work with, in his words, “the best people and characters in the business.”

5 DC Comics.] ff Johns’ Teen Titans [© 200 Cover to the first issue of Geo

DANNY FINGEROTH: Talk about your background, Geoff. Where’d you grow up? Where’d you go to school? GEOFF JOHNS: I was born in Detroit, proud of it. Some of the most real and hard-working people in America. And passionate about their sports. The Red Wings, the Pistons, the Tigers and now the Lions are turning it around. When I turned 12 we moved up towards Pontiac, where the Lions used to play, to a city called Clarkston. I graduated from Clarkston High in ‘91, went to Michigan State University. There I majored in Media Arts and Film. Michigan State is a huge school, over

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35,000 students, and the largest nonmilitary cafeteria in the country. Unfortunately, I had the pleasure of working a morning shift in the cafeteria in school. I once made over 1,000 silver dollar pancakes in one morning and my other fun fact was when I burned my arm to a 3rd degree on an oven door. Ah, those were the days. MSU is massive, there’s even a vast empty field about a third of a mile long called “the tundra” in the winter. Walking across it, wind chill once got to like 40 below. They cancelled class for the first time in something like 60 years, but I had to work anyway. MSU does have a great screenwriting program, media arts program, and an undying spirit.

DF: How old were you when you started reading comics? What were your favorites at different stages in your life? GJ: I read comics, mostly my uncle’s old ones, in my grandmother’s attic, but I didn’t really get into them until late in 1984 when I was about 11 or so. The first comic I really remember picking up was Batman and the Outsiders #13. It was a great stand-alone story, to me at least, focusing on all these weird characters helping Batman by acting out his origin. I knew who Batman was, had no idea who anyone else was, but that was part of the fun—discovering these other characters Batman shared his world with. Metamorpho, Black Lightning, and Katana? No idea who they were, but I liked them. After that, believe it or not, the next book I remember buying was Crisis On Infinite Earths #3. That’s what hooked me. A huge universe of super-heroes, massive events, twists and turns and shocks as Crisis went on. The death of my favorite hero from the cartoons, Flash. The death of Supergirl. And the realignment of history. I had no clue what the real story was, but I followed it enough to start getting into different books. Justice League, Green Lantern, Superman, Titans. I also got into Hulk, Captain America and The Avengers. And I bought back issues of The Flash. He died, but he died a hero, and I was just interested in reading more about him. Those were some of my favorite comics. I didn’t really follow writers until I was in high school. I remember Animal Man coming out and really loving that. And Mark Waid took over The Flash soon after. DF: Aside from the uncle who gave you the comics, were there

family members or friends who were involved in creative endeavors and/or who encouraged you in that direction? GJ: My grandmother on my Mom’s side was always making things and writing, as was my Mom. She actually wrote a book. I guess that’s where I got my interest from. My brother, Jeremy, was into comics like I was and we’d play War for comics, trade them, talk about them and beg our Mom to drive us to the only comic shop in the area. I used to visit my best friend, Paul, in Detroit every summer and he was really into Marvel and I was into DC, though he got me into X-Men during the Mutant Massacre. There was a store literally across the street where we’d buy old comics. The guy that ran it told us to just look up the prices in the guide and tell him. Talk about the honor system. DF: What movies, TV shows, books did you love and influenced you? GJ: From television and film I grew up on Hulk, Greatest American Hero, Back to the Future, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars. With books, I was fortunate enough to have an amazing teacher in junior high that introduced me to Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Mark Twain and dozens of others I’d never heard of previously. DF: Were you writing from an early age? If so, what kinds of stuff? GJ: I started writing in junior high, just stories for class and creating comic books for school projects. Typical teenage stuff,

though I’ve used a lot of my characters in comics: Plunder, Tar Pit, Girder and a bunch of others. DF: You made that famous “lucky” phone call to director Richard Donner’s office that resulted in your becoming his assistant. But in most cases, “luck” has to do with being prepared for opportunity. What do you think you did to prepare you for the opportunities that presented themselves to you? GJ: I work hard. I always have. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t that made it. You’ve got to want it bad enough that when you do get the chance, when it comes along, you work your ass off and you don’t even question it. When Donner asked me to be his assistant, it wasn’t like “Hey, I made it.” It was like “NOW the work starts.” And it did. I worked 90-plus hours a week, from the set to watching dailies and everything in between. It was never easy. I got more comfortable with my duties, but it was still work. And I did that for two years, then wrote Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and co-wrote Justice Society of America for another year at the same time. That took up my nights and weekends. Then Flash came along and David Goyer took time off of JSA. It was getting busy. When some other opportunities, both in and out of comics came up, it was time to move on. But I did it with confidence, and left Donner on a high note. We still talk a lot, I see him a lot and I’m working with him on some projects. The thing is, when you get that chance you have to take the

Teen Titans/Legion of Super Heroes crossover. Geoff wrote the Titans half and shared scripting duties on the Legion half with Mark Waid. Art on the left by Mike McKone and Marlo Alqiza, on the right by Ivan Reis and Marc Campos. [© 2005 DC Comics.] GEOFF JOHNS | 27

DF: Do you have any screenplays that have been optioned or are in production? GJ: Yes, but I can’t get into them. DF: What about TV work? GJ: Again, I’m working on something right now, and have in the past, but I’d rather not talk about it. Getting a television show or a screenplay going is like buying a ticket to the lottery. Just because you’re writing it doesn’t mean it’s going to get on the screen or even shot. When things materialize so something will make it on the screen, that’s when I’ll talk about it. Until then, it’s all hype. DF: Have you ever done any animation work? GJ: Yes, in development. DF: Does your comics work gain you entrée into film the way the film work bought you credibility in comics? GJ: In a way, but the reality is although optioning comics is a common occurrence in Hollywood, sometimes being a comic writer is a detriment. There can be preconceived notions already in place. Sometimes it can help. I have met fans in the business and that always helps. It’s a strange cycle. DF: You’re really committed to comics as opposed to using it as a stepping-stone to other media. What do comics give you that other media don’t? GJ: I have a passion for comic books, for American mythology. I love comics, love the freedom and especially the characters. I love film and television as well, but I was already involved in that world before I got into comics.

Cover to JLA/JSA Virtue and Vice, co-written by Johns with David S. Goyer, pencils by Carlos Pacheco, inks by Jésus Merino with Guy Major. [© 2005 DC Comics.] baton and run with it. You might fall occasionally, but you just have to get back up and keep running. DF: Tell us a little about that call, in the sense of what someone could learn from it. Was it one of a hundred calls to a hundred people and that was the one that took, or did you just hit paydirt with the first call? GJ: I called because he directed my favorite film, Superman. I was transferred six times before someone answered and said they had an intern quit that morning and they needed someone right away. DF: Any other reflections on that experience? DF: There’s no set way to get into anything like this: film or comics or television. There is no set path for these kinds of jobs. So preparing can be difficult. And, yeah, luck is involved too. It takes a little bit of everything. You can’t go in with the attitude “I deserve this,” you go in with “I can do this.” Luck can get you in the door, but it can’t keep you in.

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DF: You have an amazingly disciplined work style. I’ve read that you have stuff plotted literally years in advance. How did you get to be so disciplined? GJ: Bottom line, I work with the best people. Peter Tomasi is my editor on JSA and Green Lantern, and we just have a really good time throwing ideas around. I can talk to him for an hour and pitch him a year’s worth of stories and we shape them and reorganize them and we move on to the next year. We know where we want the characters to go, and it’s always organic so things can evolve and change, but we have goals to hit, and hitting them with the right storyline is what we’re aiming for. We talked JSA up through issue #92, and roughly #100. Green Lantern is the same way, as we talk through ideas. There’s a synergy there, and Pete’s a helluva writer, so his notes and thoughts are spot on perfect. The same goes for Eddie Berganza on Teen Titans. Add to that, keeping artist Mike McKone involved. Mike brings ideas to the table and he’s got great story instinct. Don Kramer, the artist on JSA, is always throwing his thoughts in. Same with Howard Porter on Flash and Ethan Van Sciver on Green Lantern: Rebirth. And I can’t wait to really get into everything with Carlos Pacheco on Green Lantern. Donner once told me, “If someone has good input it’s stupid not to listen.” If a production assistant came up and had an idea for something and it helps the end product, you do it. Don’t let your ego get in the way of the project. Creative freedom is working with good creative people, not working in a cavern cut off from everyone and just turning in a script.

DF: If you lose the discipline, get distracted, how do you get back on track? GJ: I take a walk, grab lunch, or I stop and return calls. Then I get back to work. Sometimes the day just isn’t the day for me. Sometimes you have to be productive a different way, start plotting the next script or something. But if that happens, I spring back in place the next day. I just have to stay organized and keep thinking about the books, details and cool scenes come to me at the weirdest times. Not just when I’m in front of the computer.

DF: Do you find other people your age who have a similar love of superhero continuity? GJ: Sure. Same generation and all that. You can say, “Remember ‘Under Siege’?” and they know what you’re talking about.

DF: Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do about it? GJ: Nothing major. See above.

DF: How do you keep long-established characters fresh while staying true to their roots and origins? GJ: It’s tricky, but it’s not impossible. Our main mission is to give these characters life and show people why they’re worth their time and investment. Superboy, for example, is a character I love and have loved since he was introduced in the mid-’90s. Adding the Lex Luthor twist to his DNA, in my mind, gave him a whole new avenue of stories waiting to be told. In that case, we are tweaking his origin, but for the sake

DF: What’s the appeal of superheroes for you? GJ: When I was a kid, no matter how horrible the week was going or if I was dreading that next test or whatever, I always knew that at least I had Wednesday. My friends and I would head to the store and buy comics. Entering a world of super-heroes, there’s nothing like it to me. I like the largerthan-life figures, the subplots, the villains and the artwork. It’s fun and involving. My job is to get people to say, “At least it’s Wednesday,” and “I can’t wait to read the new Teen Titans.”

DF: Do you have a similar affinity for old TV shows, movies, books? GJ: Some, but mostly books in that category or classic films, In the Heat of the Night or Touch of Evil. I’m not a big fan of older television beyond Twilight Zone and Phil Silvers.

[JOHNS continues on page 34]

DF: Have you ever worked on more “personal” comics, or do you leave that for your screenplay work? GJ: The comics work I do is personal. The JSA is personal to me, as are the Teen Titans. If you’re talking about subject matter, I tend to do more grounded material outside of comics. Drama, action, suspense, whatever. DF: Do you think there’ll always be an interest in superheroes? In other words, would you advise young writers to try to work that territory? GJ: Only if you like it. Write what you’re into and chances are, it’ll be at least decent. Passion goes a long way, and so does disinterest. There are all types of comics out there, that’s the beautiful thing. If you’re not into super-heroes there are literally hundreds of other books available. Eightball, Human Target, Y: the Last Man, Stray Bullets. I advise any writer to write what they like. DF: You’re a young guy who loves superhero continuity. What’s the appeal to you (and your readers) of characters whose origins are 40 or 60 years in the past? GJ: There’s a reason Spider-Man is still around forty years later. And that Batman is still popular almost 70 years later. There’s something at the base core of these characters that works, that touches that nerve. I don’t like old characters, I like classic characters. I think people made a huge deal out of accessibility because they think comics got too convoluted, and some did, but I also think you can go too far the other way and dumb them down. It’s a hard balance and we’re constantly working on it. JSA is one of those books that has history, some of it pretty extensive, and really trying to present it in an accessible manner without throwing it all away or streamlining it too much, is difficult. But it’s worth the effort. Besides, one of my first books was Batman and the Outsiders #13. I didn’t know who anyone was, but that was part of the fun that kept me reading.

Teen Titans #17 – Geoff Johns (CONTINUED) PAGE ONE CONTINUED. 5. GORDON: Save it, Montoya. 6. GORDON: I heard what this lunatic did to ALLEN and JOSIE last week. 7. GORDON: She’s JUST like her father. PANEL THREE. Tight on Montoya.

TEEN TITANS #17 Titans Tomorrow Part I of III “Big Brothers and Sisters” Geoff Johns REVISED 8/18/04

8. MONTOYA: She’s WORSE. PANEL FOUR. On the group of uniformed cops, a tall and lanky cop with black hair bends down, examining a package wrapped up in a bow. Montoya cries out to them. 9. IVES: Hey, Commish. Think she left another one of her RIDDLE-ME-THIS notes. Just like her Dad. The LOON.

REFERENCE: • The Joker’s Daughter (see the original design from the 60’s Titans issues – you can get some good reference at www.titanstower.com) • Aquaman #16, 17, 18 (current) • Max Mercury • Current Aquaman • Geo-Force • Current Black Lightning (classic costume as seen in Outsiders) • Classic Metamorpho • Current Green Arrow • Classic Silver Age Robotman from original Doom Patrol • Grace from the Outsiders • Female Dove • Bumblebee PAGE ONE. PANEL ONE. Top third of the page. An establishing shot of Gotham City, ten years from now. And it looks slightly darker, the large metal spirals of the gothic city beginning to bend. The building before us: WAYNE ENTERPRISES, has been empty for a few years now. The twenty-foot sign on the roof – WAYNE -- is falling apart. Along the bottom of the sign is a group of cops, led by Commissioner Montoya and retired Commissioner Gordon. Montoya is older, obviously, but still in good shape. Gordon hanging on as best he can. They all have guns drawn. 1. CAPTION: Gotham City. 2. CAPTION: …Ten years from now. 3. MONTOYA: I want this roof covered TOP to BOTTOM. PANEL TWO. Closer on Gordon and Montoya. Montoya looking over at her senior as the other cops fan out. 4. MONTOYA: I appreciate your help locating this one, Gordon. I know you’re officially retired but –

Pages from Teen Titans #17, “Big Brothers and Sisters,” written by Geoff Johns, with art by Mike McKone and Marlo Alquiza. Notice how Geoff’s script tells editor and penciler what character reference they’ll need for the story. [© 2005 DC Comics.]

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10. IVES: I can hear it. Probably a set of CHATTERING TEETH like the last -11. MONTOYA: Ives! NO! PANEL FIVE. Pull back a bit, as the box explodes and takes several of the uniformed cops with it. SFX: BOOOMMM!! PANEL SIX. Montoya and Gordon are on the ground, blown back by the explosion. Other cops are around, wounded or worse. Montoya struggles to push herself up. SFX: AHAHAHAHAHA! 12. JOKER’S DAUGHTER (OFF-PANEL): Commissioner and…COMMISSIONER.

Teen Titans #17 – Geoff Johns

PAGE TWO. PANEL ONE. Large introduction shot of the JOKER’S DAUGHTER. She walks across the ledge, heel to toe with a smile on her face. In her hands a Joker-in-the-box pops up. A hose in the center of its smile, as if it is about to spray laughing gas at them. Her costume should be a new design of her original, but let’s keep the same color schematic. Purple, green and the black and white diamonds. (www.titanstower.com has some great pictures of her) Duela should be sexy and lethal. 1. JOKER’S DAUGHTER: Let’s turn those FROWNS – SFX: BOINGGG 2. JOKER’S DAUGHTER: -- upside DOWN! 3. TITLE: TITANS TOMORROW PART I 4. TITLE: BIG BROTHERS AND SISTERS 5. CREDITS: 6. TEEN TITANS ORIGIN BOX: What do teenage superheroes do on the Weekends? They hang with the TEEN TITANS! Superboy – Conner Kent. Cloned from the World’s Greatest Hero, Superman and the World’s Greatest Villain, Lex Luthor. Wonder Girl – Cassie Sandsmark. Blessed with the powers of the Greek Gods. Beast Boy – Garfield Logan. Animal shape-shifter. Robin – Tim Drake. Detective Protégé of Batman. Cyborg – Victor Stone. Half-man, half-machine. Raven – Empathic daughter of the demon Trigon. Kid Flash – Bart Allen. The latest super-speedster following the legacy of the Flash. Starfire – Koriand’r. Alien Warrior Princess. PANEL TWO. Suddenly, a razor-sharp batarang flies through the air, cutting the head off of the Joker-in-the-box. Joker’s Daughter turns around, grinning. SFX: ffshht! 7. BATMAN (OFF-PANEL): Party’s over, Duela.

GEOFF JOHNS | 31

ff Teen Titans #17 – Geo

Johns

PAGE THREE. now on the from ten years from PANEL ONE. ulder, as the BATMAN Joker’s Daughter’s sho er Ov el. pan e ssiv Ma o. edge of the Wayne log ckles leather-clad, brass knu Batman, this is raw, with is not a future-techno hout doubt, moving this wit , is take He . mis ion no fect ke Ma ned to per ke at 25, built and trai Dra Tim . AN TM BA . cape heavy and ragged amazing grace. His ER -JOKER’S DAUGHT NEVER over for the HTER: The party’s 1. JOKER’S DAUG HTER: -- TIM. 2. JOKER’S DAUG leaps over it towards Batman. He PANEL TWO. g a stream of hot acid din sen er, flow her s che Joker’s Daughter tou and towards her. AN. 3. BATMAN: BATM SFX: fssssss knocking out PANEL THREE. ghter across the jaw, smashes Joker’s Dau Batman’s massive fist k. s guy does not hold bac trickling from it. Thi

a tooth. Blood

SFX: KRRNCH! ghter backwards. PANEL FOUR. sending Joker’s Dau delivers an uppercut, And now, another fist ! SFX: KRRKKTCH She and lifting her head up. PANEL FIVE. Daughter by the hair d grabbing the Joker’s Close on Batman’s han . smiles, a tooth missing HTER: Hee. 4. JOKER’S DAUG

. per, Timothy Tim Tim HTER: Temper, tem 5. JOKER’S DAUG

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Even with a full-script, artist McKone still had many options as far as how to lay out the panels and the action within them. Another artist might have gone for a whole other look and feel. [© 2005 DC Comics.]

s Teen Titans #17 – Geoff John

PAGE FOUR. flowing a PANEL ONE. right off of the rooftop. Like an throws Joker’s Daughter And now, holy sh*t! Batm her ankle. r othe the up, hair her d hand pulle Frisbee with both hands. One your father for me. 1. BATMAN: Say hello to on each side. PANEL TWO. o with little tiny jet thrusters ghter smiles and throws a yo-y As she falls, the Joker’s Dau Oh, BATSY. 4. JOKER’S DAUGHTER: SFX: woooshh 5. JOKER’S DAUGHTER:

The JOKE’S on YOU.

PANEL THREE. an’s wrist. The yo-yo wraps around Batm SFX: fwap PANEL FOUR. the Joker’s Daughter. off of the building, falling with And now Batman is yanked A! SFX: AHAHAHAHAHAH window. PANEL FIVE. ding, firing it into a large glass hook towards the Wayne Buil Batman aims his grappling 6. BATMAN: Come on in. 7. JOKER’S DAUGHTER:

What -- ?

THE END GEOFF JOHNS | 33

[JOHNS continues from page 29]

of good story. At the same time, we’re keeping with what Superboy has always been about—finding his way in life. With the Rogues in Flash, when I first was offered the book, my immediate reaction to editor Joey Cavalieri was, “No one’s done anything with the Rogues. I want them to be a main focus for the book again.” And Joey let me run with it, even if he wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of reintroducing Grodd or Captain Cold. He let us run with it because he knew [penciler] Scott Kolins and I believed in it. And soon Joey was like “What about Weather Wizard? When is he coming in?” Joey is a great source of enthusiasm for The Flash. DF: A lot of your work is done in collaboration with people, usually James Robinson or David Goyer. What’s the appeal of that? GJ: I don’t like sitting in a room by myself working all of the time. I like people, I like hanging out, I like throwing ideas around. Collaboration is my favorite part of comics and occasionally cowriting can be fun. Working with David on JSA was absolutely enlightening. He’s a

terrific writer and I learned a lot co-writing the book. When James Robinson first left, David asked me to come on and help finish up the first arc with issue #4. Then I came on officially and fulltime with #6 after he wrote #5 solo. By the time we got to #15, I think we were both feeling really good about our writing relationship. I always knew the half of his script he would give me would be great and we built a trust. I’ve worked with James a few times on the first six issues of Hawkman. We’d been friends, liked each other’s work, and we both loved Hawkman. Unfortunately, he was just extremely busy outside of comics and he couldn’t stick around. But even when you’re not co-writing, you’re still interacting. Brad Meltzer and I worked really closely together on the Identity Crisis crossovers. Judd Winick and I exchange ideas between Outsiders and Teen Titans. DF: Do you recommend people trying to break in find a writing partner, or does solo work show one’s talents off better? GJ: It depends on your preference. In all honesty, I’ve co-written with people and it was absolutely awful. You need to be careful on who you work with and why. Writing partners in comics is very rare. You have Abnett and Lanning (who, if you aren’t reading it, are doing an amazing job on Majestic) and Palmiotti and Grey who thankfully took the reins of Hawkman. DF: Ever have any desire to be a comics editor? GJ: I don’t know. I like working with people. Maybe. DF: What are the qualities of a good editor? GJ: Understanding what the freelancers are going through, loving what they’re working on, hiring the right people to do the job and having a strong story instinct. DF: You’ve said you’ve never been rewritten at DC. Does that mean you get to do your own rewrites or that you literally have never been asked to change anything? GJ: I get notes. Trust me. I want notes. That’s not being rewritten, that’s being given feedback. I just recently completed the Doctor Light arc for Teen Titans and Eddie sat down and read it as a whole and came back with some real strong ideas to just tweak it at the ending—a moment or two that, to me, really just pounded on the theme of the arc and brought it out visually in a really powerful way. I couldn’t have been happier going back into the script and really pushing myself even further. DF: What makes for a good collaboration with an artist? GJ: Someone who makes me laugh. And they all do. Howard Porter, the next time you see him, ask Howard about the bathroom fish. He’ll know what you’re talking about. And the story behind it is so bizarre, but it’s because Howard’s got a bizarre and wonderful sense of humor. His message on his office machine is changed almost every day for everyone’s amusement. And like I said before, someone who has ideas and brings them and is willing to talk about character and plot. Just for fun. Ethan Van Sciver, for instance, had a simple idea for GL where I simply moved a scene from one place to another and the flow for him, with action and suspense, moved better. Turned out great.

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DF: How do you approach a big, company-wide crossover? GJ: With Identity Crisis it was simple. I read Brad Meltzer’s scripts,

and got on board when I found out they were 1) brilliant and 2) they touched characters I was working on. In particular, the Flash and Robin. I wanted to make sure these crossover issues weren’t b.s. That they didn’t just say “IDENTITY CRISIS TIE IN! PLEASE BUY ME!” I wanted people to read them and be surprised by how tightly they weave together with the main mini-series. There are a lot of small touches I put in there that most people won’t find if they’re just reading them quickly, but someone will see it and that means it’s worth the effort. There are panels and single lines in IC that I expanded into scenes. DF: If the comics work went away for whatever reason, or you just got tired of it, what would your fallback plan be? Film and TV? GJ: I’m working in both right now, so I’d just work in them more. I wouldn’t mind trying a non-fiction novel or documentary. DF: You almost studied criminal psychology in school. Do you feel you’re exploring that in the villains you write? GJ: It’s a main interest of mine and I was very close to declaring that as my focus before I was sucked into film production when a friend of mine dragged me to the campus film club. I do try and apply some of that to my villains, looking at them from different angles. Like Degaton in JSA. He’s a very different villain than a simple time traveler. He’s a voyeur, a man who lives through others because his own history means nothing to him anymore. There is no relative state-of-being left. He’s essentially removed himself, and his conscience, from reality. DF: Do you feel you take a psychological view of the characters you write in general? GJ: I think everyone does. Getting into their heads, trying to see life from their perspective. If you can really break in, the characters tell you how they react instead of the other way around.

GJ: Good writers and artists who are professional and respectful. DF: Any thoughts about the popularity of anime and manga and what comics creators can learn from it, creatively and/or commercially? GJ: I love the format and it looks like DC and Marvel are experimenting with it. Creatively, you can see its influence on pacing. DF: Any advice for aspiring comics writers? GJ: Write. If you have a Batman story you want to write, just write it. You get better, just like an artist, the more you write. DF: Any writing courses, books, etc. you recommend? GJ: I love The Writer’s Journey by Chris Vogler. DF: What’s coming up for you that you want people to know about? GJ: Right now I’m working on three titles and a mini-series. Green Lantern: Rebirth #2 is probably out by now and #3 is coming soon. Teen Titans is finishing up our “Titans Tomorrow” arc with #19, and then we have the Identity Crisis aftermath in Titans #20 in January. That leads into our Doctor Light arc. JSA #68 begins JSA/JSA where the team from today journeys back to 1951 to face Degaton. And finally The Flash #217 should be out, which focuses on the funeral of Captain Boomerang and sets the stage for the upcoming Rogue War that begins in The Flash #220. Wednesdays are going to be good. Thanks, Dan. DF: Thank you, Geoff. You gave the readers a lot to think about.

THE END

DF: Do you work full script or Marvel style? And why? GJ: I work full script because I don’t like plot style. I need to have the dialogue laid out, it’s better for the artist and me. They know who’s talking first, how much is said, etc. And I also am always of the mindset of, if a four-panel page can be drawn in three or six, that’s up to the artist. Rags likes to draw big so he’d occasionally try and cut a five-panel page down to four. If the story is still told, it’s fine with me. DF: Do you ever thumbnail stories for yourself or for your editor or artist? GJ: I thumbnail for myself. No one has ever, or ever will, see those. LOL. DF: Do you write as if each story was “the reader’s first” or are you figuring you’re writing for dedicated readers and/or for the collected trade paperback? GJ: I try and find a balance between being someone’s first and not boring the monthly reader. I try not to let TPB drive anything. They usually can figure out how to collect stuff without a lot of trouble. DF: What do you think readers of 2004 are looking for? How does it compare to what readers were looking for 10 or 20 years ago? GJ: Good stories and great art. DF: What are editors of 2004 looking for and how do you think it compares to what editors of 10 or 20 years ago were looking for? GEOFF JOHNS | 35

Pages from the history-making Green Pages from the history-making Greenby Lantern: Rebirth Lantern: Rebirth #1, written Geoff, with #1, by Geoff, art by Ethan Van Sciver artwritten by Ethan Vanwith Sciver. [©2005 2005 Comics.] DC DC Comics.] [©

Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 – Geoff Johns “Blackest Night” Geoff Johns REVISED 6/15/04 REFERENCE: • The sun: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/eit_304/512/ • Another pic of the sun: http://www.solarviews.com/raw/sun/sun.jpg • Area 51/Surrounding desert: http://www.ufomind.com/area51/photos/ • Tikaboo Peak: http://www.serve.com/mahood/nellis/gallery/gallery.htm • Yankees Stadium: http://www.baseball-statistics.com/Ballparks/NYY/ • Aerial Platform: http://www.cherrypicker.ie/product/category_view.asp?JSID=71 COMIC REFERENCE: • Showcase #22/Green Lantern Archives #1 – Abin Sur’s ship • Guy Gardner: Warrior #0 (Vuldarian Version of Warrior) • Guy Gardner: Warrior #29 (Warrior’s Bar, Exterior and Interior) • Green Arrow #20 (current series, Ferris Aircraft) • Spectre #1 (Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris) • Black Hand (Who’s Who) • Warden John Economos of Belle Reve, Belle Reve Prison (Suicide Squad #1) • Hector Hammond (Who’s Who) • Emerald Twilight – Green Lantern #48, #49 and #50

ns birth #1 – Geoff Joh Green Lantern: Re “Blackest Night” Geoff Johns REVISED 6/15/04 Big PAGE ONE. close we can see the s glittering, if we look PANEL ONE. ing out at space. Star look re we’ e, pag the Across the top of angled. Dipper, but it’s slightly : The Universe. nal he *1. CAPTION (KYLE) e in a book. In a jour as if it were from a pag k on green, and ripped blac be uld sho s tion *Kyle’s cap pt. print though, not scri might be keeping. It’s k then. Full of a magnificent place bac : I’ve been told it was NCE. MA 2. CAPTION (KYLE) RO n eve and NTURE… WONDER and ADVE g their respective sand worlds patrollin Defenders from a thou : 3. CAPTION (KYLE) sectors. weapon in existence. the most FANTASTIC : Each one wielding LE) (KY ON PTI CA 4. of those from here it’s like one rWe’re close to it, and PANEL TWO. rippling across the oute entering into frame. high sun s our mile , of s now n sand dow We tilt flames thou sun glows brilliantly, The tos. pho ic scop tele websites listed above) edge. (See reference, est tern Corps lit the dark years, the Green Lan : For BILLIONS of 5. CAPTION (KYLE) n of hope and tatio ifes man the e wer ends of space. They will. teousness and force of achievement. Of righ destroyed it all. : Until one of their own 7. CAPTION (KYLE) HED. Green Lanterns VANIS : And the light of the 8. CAPTION (KYLE) the surface. PANEL THREE. k, barely visible, is on sun. A small green spar Another angle on the : ALMOST. 9. CAPTION (KYLE)

Green Lantern:

Rebirth #1 – Geoff (CONTINUED) Johns PAGE ONE CONT INUED. PANEL FOUR. Profile shot of the sun as a silver spaceship blasts out of it. The dancing around, the sun is on the left of the spaceship shooting out panel here, flames of it left to right at incr engines. edible force. Green flames come from the The ship looks similar to the one Abin Sur first (See reference, Showca crashed on Earth, thou gh with a slightly mor se #22) e modern design. [NO DIALOGUE.] PANEL FIVE. And now the spaceshi p flies past us through space. Flames lingerin sun’s immense gravity g on it, evaporating as and enters the cold vac the ship escapes the uum. Its thrusters wor king overtime, again with green flames. The ship flies, arcing through space, slightly out of control. It’s obv master pilot. iously been banged up, the driver is not a [NO DIALOGUE.] PANEL SIX. The ship heads away from us, fire burning in its jets. Towards the Earth. looming planet fillin g up the [NO DIALOGUE.]

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background.

Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 – Geoff Johns

PAGE TWO. PANEL ONE. of the activities of the the U.S. Air Force, once warning people Tight on an old rusty out-dated sign from . ignored and ed military here, now discard otos/charles_ames/ames_sign_cu.jpg Sign: http://www.ufomind.com/area51/ph [NO DIALOGUE.] PANEL TWO. ins surrounding us, New Mexico desert, daytime. Rolling mounta Nice establishing shot. We’re deep in the sky. the in shining stars cactus and dry brush and past the sign, along g large hiking backpacks, shorts, boots, walk Two young twenty-year-old hikers, wearin of barbed wire property. An endless fence of three strands the edge of the border to a government owned desert. dry the shoots down through . 1. CAPTION: Highway Mill, New Mexico 2. HIKER #1: I’m NOT going in there.

I don’t want to get SHOT.

deserted for years. All those stories about 3. HIKER #2: The base has been mostly the Government testing stolen Soviet planes. UFO’s and GROOM LAKE. It was just used to call it RED SQUARE. 4. HIKER #2: They had so many the pilots PANEL THREE. to go through the fence. Hiker #2 pulls back the barbed wire, about Closer on the hikers, exchanging a look. 5. HIKER #1: You don’t believe in UFOs? 6. HIKER #2: Do YOU? PANEL FOUR. as the light hits them. in the sky above the two hikers. They fall Suddenly, a huge bright explosion erupts SFX: BOOOOMM! PANEL FIVE. g from it, a trail of fire t blue sky is the silver ship. Smoke eruptin Sailing down towards us out of the brillian wing. from one [NO DIALOGUE.]

Geoff and Ethan have been given the challenging presenting a controversial Geoff and Ethantask have of been given the challenging task of story to the reading public. These opening presenting a controversial story to the reading public. dramatic pages announce that they know the These opening dramatic pages announce that they know challenge and are going to give readers a the challenge and are going to give readers a wild ride. wild ride. [© DCDC Comics.] [© 2005 2005 Comics.]

GEOFF JOHNS | 37

While in full-script the finished dialogue and captions in the comic are usually, as on this page, the same as indicated in the script… Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 – Geoff Johns

PAGE THREE. PANEL ONE. on, skidding across desert floor, smashing through a rock formati The ship slides and crashes down on to the hole into the side of the aircraft. the sand. The rock formation tears a huge on impact. Literally, tons of sand explode into the air SFX: skrtchh PANEL TWO. down and digging into the desert floor. The ship continues to slide, it’s wing tipping SFX: krrreeeeoooommmm PANEL THREE. cloud of sand filling the air. And now, the ship comes to a halt, a huge SFX: THOOOMMM! PANEL FOUR. it dug up. Pieces of spaceship, walking through the path of desert A longshot of the two hikers approach the there. and here site crash the litter burning debris The fog of sand begins to settle. 1. HIKER #1: So what kind of plane is THAT? 2. HIKER #2: I… PANEL FIVE. 3. HIKER #2: I don’t know. PANEL SIX. as they peer inside. the huge tear in the hull at the two hikers We’re inside the ship now, looking out of hit their heads. right in, just ducking slightly so they don’t The hole is big enough for them to walk . amazed The hikers are completely 4. KYLE (OFF-PANEL/WEAK): Please…

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– Green Lantern: Rebirth #1

Geoff Johns

PAGE FOUR. SPLASH

e of Abin Sur lifting SHOWCASE #22, the imag ng in at the ship. Check out NER, in his Green Lantern The hiker’s point-of-view, looki But here this is KYLE RAY y. blood and n beate ship, himself off the ground in the gs racing through his mind. dazed and slightly off. Thin costume. He peers up at us, it, in front of it. t behind Kyle – he’s protecting is a metallic coffin like objec ’s GREEN POWER Established, but not blatantly, ar to Parallax’s uniform. Kyle simil gely stran ns desig in The coffin is hi-tech, covered coffin. BATTERY is on top of the er Battery. darkened ship, as does his Pow right hand glows eerily in the Kyle’s emerald ring on his AID. 1. KYLE: DON’T be AFR

– Geoff Johns Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 PAGE FIVE. PANEL ONE. ring off, but it won’t budge. tries to pull his Green Lantern Close on Kyle’s hands – he afraid. Can’t… 1. KYLE: You CAN’T be t use it…can’t get 2. CAPTION (KYLE): Can’

it OFF.

– Geoff Johns Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 PAGE FIVE.(cntd.) PANEL THREE. Kyle Rayner, his white eyes He runs his hand along the

wide through the mask. Not

cy to his voice. fear, but an eagerness. An urgen

coffin.

E. 6. KYLE: IT HAS A NAM T it. 7. CAPTION (KYLE): FIGH T the… 8. CAPTION (KYLE): FIGH

PANEL TWO. aches, with his left hand. Kyle grabs Hiker #1 as he appro EN. 3. KYLE: You have to LIST

the nscious, lying on the floor of And Kyle Rayner falls unco The hikers aren’t sure what

4. HIKER #1: Hey. Let go! 5. KYLE: You HAVE to tell

PANEL FOUR.

them.

ship, one arm still touching

the coffin.

to do.

R 9. CAPTION (KYLE): FEA

THE END

GEOFF JOHNS | 39

LOOK! UP IN THE SKY!

It’s... You!!

Welcome to modern society, where superhero culture has become the METAPHORICAL prism through which we see--and live--our lives.

& Cover art by Mark Bagley

Scott Hanna.

What is it about superheroes that speaks to us, that cuts across boundaries of nationality, race and gender to entrance us?

“Danny Fingeroth has produced a readable and socially insightful consideration of the superhero. His analysis of society’s solution to its dissatisfaction with the protection provided by standard law-and-order systems makes it important and current. Stan Lee’s ‘excelsorial’ foreword is an enjoyable addition.” —Will Eisner

paperback

$19.95 available now

“In Superman on the Couch, you’ll explore subjects that may make you reconsider preconceived notions and perhaps bring you greater appreciation of the superhero stories.” — From the foreword by Stan Lee

In Superman on the Couch, DANNY FINGEROTH, longtime Marvel Comics writer and editor, and editor-in-chief of Write Now! Magazine, digs deep into our cultural psyche to explore just what we see reflected back when we look at superheroes.

“…With humor and a touch of comic book hyperbole, the author capably mines the genre’s cultural morphologies and the societal changes it reflects - a subject largely overlooked by contemporary pop psychologists and academics…” — Publishers Weekly

Counselor of the Macabre

The Batton Lash Interview Conducted via e-mail November, 2004 By Danny Fingeroth

atton Lash studied cartooning and graphic arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where his instructors included Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman. After graduating, he took on various art-related jobs, including doing pasteups for an ad agency and being comic book writerartist Howard Chaykin’s first assistant. As a freelance illustrator, Lash did drawings for Garbage magazine, a children’s workbook, the book Rock ’n’ Roll Confidential, the Murder to Go participatory theater group, a reconstructive surgery firm, and other projects. In 1979, Brooklyn Paper Publications asked Lash to create a comic strip and he came up with “Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre,” which ran in The Brooklyn Paper until 1996 and in The National Law Journal from 1983 to 1997. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Lash drew W&B stories for such publications as TSR’s Polyhedron, American Fantasy, and Monster Scene. Original Wolff & Byrd stories also appeared in a number of comic books and anthologies, including Satan’s Six, Mr. Monster, Munden’s Bar, Frankie’s Freightmare, Crack-aBoom, The Big Bigfoot Book, and Murder by Crowquill. Since May, 1994, Wolff & Byrd have held court in Supernatural Law, their own comic book series from Exhibit A Press, which Lash established with his wife, Jackie Estrada. Exhibit A has published several collections of the comic book issues (most recently Mr. Negativity And Other Tales of Supernatural Law) and two collections of the weekly comic strips, as well as four specials featuring Mavis, W&B’s intrepid secretary. The comic book is currently under option by Stampede Entertainment, which is developing it as major liveaction film. Lash’s non W&B work has included art for Hamilton Comics’ short-lived horror line (Grave Tales, Dread of Night, etc.); The Big Book of Death, The Big Book of Weirdos, The Big Book of Urban Legends, and the Big Book of Thugs for Paradox Press; and Aesop’s Desecrated Fables for Rip Off Press. He also wrote the notorious Archie Meets the Punisher, the 1994 crossover between Archie Comics and Marvel Comics. As writer for the Radioactive Man series for Bongo Comics, he shared in the Eisner 2002 Best Humor Title honors. He was nominated for two Harvey Awards in 2003 and for three Harveys in 2004.

DANNY FINGEROTH: Where’d you grow up, Batton? Where’d you go to school? BATTON LASH: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I attended a parochial grammar school and James Madison High School, whose alumni included EC publisher Bill Gaines and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, for what’s that’s worth!

DF: Were you writing and drawing in elementary or high school? BL: Oh yeah—I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing and drawing. I’d do lousy in school, but I always got an “A” for compositions. My father would give me scratchpads when I was a kid Batton Lash and Jackie Estrada at WonderCon 2004. and I’d make my own comics (he would staple them for me). In high school, I “graduated” to drawing on Bristol with pen and ink. I was always doing cartoons for friends and family.

DF: Was there anybody in your early life that inspired or encouraged you in creative directions? BL: I had an aunt who was my biggest supporter, booster, and cheerleader when I was a kid. It wasn’t that my parents weren’t interested in my creative endeavors, but I had four siblings, so they had their hands full! My Aunt Ann worked in Manhattan—the proverbial single career woman. She went to museums, the theatre, and art galleries. She would often take me along, introducing me to New York and its culture. For a kid who only knew Brooklyn, it was very exciting to go to the “city”! My aunt would always ask me what I was working on, read my little homemade comics, and encouraged me to be creative. And she still does! I was very fortunate I had someone like that in my life. DF: How’d you end up going to SVA? BL: I would read bios of cartoonists and most of them would say they attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. When I decided that I wanted to have a career in comics, I figured that was the place to go! DF: Was SVA a good experience? BL: Yes it was. I met a lot of great people. In my second year, I was in the right place at the right time when Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman became instructors at SVA. Ironically, although I went there to get into comics, I was discouraged from doing so! Will and Harvey were both very generous to me, but they didn’t think I had “it.” So I had to expand my horizons. During my years there, I stopped reading comics for BATTON LASH | 41

encouraging. Recalling all this now, brings to mind Eisner’s recent observation about the state of the business: “I’ve seen this industry die five times already!” Somehow, the medium rises anew again and again—despite atrocious business decisions! (By the way, my interest in comic books was rekindled in the early ’80s. There were exciting and interesting titles like Love & Rockets, American Flagg, Cerebus, Zot!, and many others. It was a veritable Golden Age for the independents!) DF: What did you learn at SVA that you’ve carried along with you since then, especially from Kurtzman and Eisner? BL: Both of them stressed that there was more to comics than Marvel and DC. I especially remember Harvey saying that to do comics, you’ve got to get away from comics. I didn’t quite understand that at the time, but he was absolutely right. It’s important to have a commitment, but sometimes a person can get too close to their passion and lose sight of the bigger picture. Both Kurtzman and Eisner were very critical of my work back then and rightfully so. Now, I say this all in hindsight, because at the time I was crushed. But I did appreciate their honesty. Like I said, I needed to broaden my horizons. I began to read voraciously—anything but comics. It’s a big, wonderful, interesting world out there with all sorts of great, inspiring things in the culture (plus, getting some life experiences under your belt doesn’t hurt, either!). I’d like to think that it paid off, because years later, both Will and Harvey were very supportive and complimentary of my comic Wolff & Byrd.

the first time in my life and went cold turkey. I believe that was the best thing that could’ve happened to me. DF: Really? After a lifetime of reading comics, didn’t you suffer from withdrawal? BL: Not necessarily. At the time—this would be 1974—I was getting pretty disenchanted with comic books. I still liked comics; I didn’t like what was happening to comics. Maybe I was just outgrowing them, but I thought the wild creative streak of only a few years earlier was missing. I sensed a mean-spiritedness was creeping into the stories. Everything was so cynical—or maybe I was just more knowledgeable about how the business operated. Nevertheless, I believed there was a malaise in the industry that was filtered through fanzines, convention panels, and finally, the comic books themselves. In fact, whenever Eisner and Kurtzman had a “pro” come in to lecture, almost all of them would warn us that there would be no comics industry by 1980! Not very

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DF: Any other teachers there who affected you? BL: Too many to go into detail here! But a few stand out: There was a copywriting teacher, Regina Ovesey, who I learned a great deal from. Although her course was generally about creating ad copy, she taught the basic fundamentals about writing, which I thought was invaluable. There was also a playwriting teacher, Bob Auletta, who was very encouraging; I learned a lot about structure from his class. Two drawing teachers, James Kearns and Jerry Moriarty, were terrific. The administrator of the SVA Alumni Society at the time, Tom Gill (probably best known for drawing The Lone Ranger), was the first pro I ever got to know. He was incredibly patient and encouraging with all the aspiring comic book students. DF: Who else went to school with you that we may have heard of? BL: I was in “foundation” class (first year) with cartoonist and Punk Magazine founder John Holmstrom; animators Russell Calabrese, Tom Sito, and Yvette Kaplan; Bob Wiacek, who became a popular inker for Marvel and DC; and Peter Zeremba, who was a painter in school but went on to form the band The Fleshtones. When I was in my last year at SVA, Joey Cavalieri and Mike Carlin (now editors at DC Comics) were in their foundation years. Apparently, Peter Bagge was attending SVA the same time I was, but I didn’t know him. DF: Have you ever thought about actually becoming a lawyer? BL: No. I always wanted to be a writer and/or artist when I grew up, preferably both! DF: What was your fallback plan if art and writing didn’t happen for you?

BL: I thought I could always go into advertising. In fact, advertising did turn out to be my “day job” in the early ’80s. I wrote copy, did illustrations, comps, paste-up and mechanicals (paste-up and mechanicals? Those were the days, eh?), whatever was needed. It was an agency in downtown Brooklyn (a small agency, but the largest one in Brooklyn!). I was on staff for close to five years, until I was confident enough to go freelance. Luckily, I’ve been working steady as a professional cartoonist since then... knock wood! DF: What were the circumstances that led The Brooklyn Paper to ask you to create a strip for them, the strip that became Wolff & Byrd? BL: In the late ‘70s, before the ad agency job, I was schlepping my portfolio around town. If a business had an art director, I’d try and get an appointment! On a friend’s recommendation, I went to The Brooklyn Paper, a local weekly in (where else?) downtown Brooklyn. The Paper was happy with me—I was able to work fast and I was pretty dependable. I think living in Brooklyn helped! As a lark, I suggested to the editor that every newspaper should have a comic strip, and I offered to do one. Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre grew from that. Since all the courts and scores of attorneys were downtown, I thought a strip about lawyers would get some attention. DF: Was that your first “big break”? BL: Yes—I was able to get my chops on the job. Seeing the work in cold print every week was an education unto itself. I definitely think it was a big break. Doing Wolff & Byrd led to so many positive things in my life. I’m really grateful that Ed Weintrob and Beverly Cheuvont, the publisher and editor, respectively, of The Brooklyn Paper, gave me the green light to do it! DF: Wolff & Byrd is a rarity on several levels. It comes out consistently. It has a consistency of look and tone, and yet also is always full of surprises. How do you keep it familiar and yet fresh? BL: I appreciate that, Danny. Although I’ve been doing Wolff & Byrd/Supernatural Law (first as a strip, then as a comic book) for over 25 years, I’d like to think I’m still learning and still developing the series to be as entertaining as possible. I’m always striving to build the better comic book! I try to do a comic book that I would’ve enjoyed reading. I always liked a light-hearted approach, with resourceful characters who have romantic yearnings. I think that there are stories everywhere. Current events, certainly, are a source, but friends, family, community, pop culture, life experiences—good and bad—are all grist for the mill. I’m sure every writer and would-be writer reading this knows what I’m talking about. Everything’s material! DF: Let’s back up a little. Weren’t you Howard Chaykin’s assistant at one time? BL: Yes, for a brief time in the spring of 1977, when my days at SVA were winding down. I met Howard through his first wife, Dinah, who was a classmate of mine. I was Howard’s first assistant; I worked on Empire, an early graphic novel that had an original script by Samuel Delaney. I liked Howard and was flattered that he would ask me to work with him. Now, I don’t

want to give you the impression that I became his protégé—I don’t think Howard knew exactly what to do with me. He could be brutally honest and abrasively opinionated. I was a real greenhorn and tried my best but was untimely intimidated by Howard (I chalk it up to my post-adolescence awkward age!). In addition, I was pretty apathetic toward comics at that point, so my disinterest and nervousness weren’t winning points! DF: What did you learn from working for/with him? BL: Don’t be intimidated by someone trying to help you! Seriously, Howard loved comics but had many interests besides comics. He had a wide range of interests in books, politics, movies, and music. And an opinion on everything. What I got from Howard was that if you intend to go into any field, it’s important to bring something new to the table—and don’t be afraid to speak up! DF: Did you ever try to get work from Marvel or DC? BL: No. I really didn’t think Marvel and DC would be too interested in my work. Besides, I didn’t have that desire to

BATTON LASH | 43

work on characters I read as a kid. I wanted to write, draw, and more importantly, own my own material. Of course, I did do a book for Marvel back in 1994: Archie Meets the Punisher. That was a crossover with Archie Comics. I happened into that because I knew the Archie editor, Victor Gorelick—he had actually lettered my strip for me for a while. Over lunch when he was visiting San Diego, he happened to mention that he and Tom DeFalco at Marvel were always joking about doing something wacky like an Archie-Punisher team-up. I said that I could see that working. He told me to come up with a pitch if I really thought so. I did, Marvel went for it—and the rest is history! DF: Was Archie/Punisher an enjoyable experience? BL: I had a ball! I like to think that shows in the end results. Punisher editor Don Daley was just great to work with. I have fond memories of that project, since I was working on it around the time I moved to San Diego, got married, and set up Exhibit A Press. It was an exciting time! DF: If you got an offer from Marvel or DC today, would you take it? BL: That would depend! It might be a lark, but I’ve heard enough horror stories about office politics that make me wary. Again, to be fair, the “big two” may have heard horror stories about me to make them wary! DF: Your Bongo work shows you’re extremely familiar with the fads and phases of mainstream comics. Do you still read a lot of them? BL: All of the Radioactive Man stories I do for Bongo are cribbed from my days as a fan. I don’t follow the monthly DC and Marvel titles and haven’t for years. I’m not the audience for those books and I shouldn’t be. However, I will always read anything new by Eisner, Chaykin, Kyle Baker, Paul Pope, and Frank Miller. I think Chris Powell’s The Goon is a hoot. Rick Smith (Shuck) and Bosch Fawstin (Table for One) are talents to watch. And the minicomic world has a lot of great

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stuff going on; I really like Pat Lewis’s work, as well as Alex Grecian, Jesse Hamm, Chris Juracich, and Ellen Linder—just to name a very few! I could be here all day, citing the good stuff! There’s so much excellent work out there, which I mostly get to see at small press shows like APE and SPX. DF: Your wife and business partner, Jackie Estrada, has spoken in an interview about how it’s hard to market “middle ground” comics like Supernatural Law, which fall between mainstream superhero material and intensely personal comics. Can you speak about that a little? BL: You mean “The New Mainstream.” I do not consider superhero comics “mainstream” reading material; they are a niche market. And I believe most of the “alternative” comics are glorified art-school projects, which have a limited appeal. However, a lot of the independent and creator-owned material is more general-public friendly. The general public is just unaware it exists! There are plenty of comics—usually found in the back of the Diamond catalog—that are not superhero/collectible enough for Wizard or alternative/artsy enough for The Comics Journal to cover. I’m referring mainly to genre material that has solid stories, engaging characters, and, more often than not, spiffy black-and-white artwork. I hope I’m making myself clear here. I’m not antisuperhero comics or even anti-artsy comics. But the direct market has been in a steady decline for quite a while now. I think it’s resigned not to go after new readers; the plan seems to be to squeeze every last dime out of the regular customers, who are by and large superhero fans. After ten years of publishing, I have to give in and say that the direct market is a not only a superhero market, but an insular one.

DF: Can you elaborate? BL: The spin of late is that revenues in the direct market are up. I’m sure they are—but not because the customer base has increased but because Marvel and DC are putting out a lot of expensive superherooriented books, not to mention high-priced

Interior pages to Sonovawitch trade paperback. [© 2005 Batton Lash.] superhero-themed statues, figures, and tchotchkes. Retailers have informed me that they have to drop independents to clear their budget for the latest widget from the big two that might become a collectible. It doesn’t matter if those independents have regular readers. The direct market is at best tolerant of titles like Supernatural Law. At worst, it’s indifferent to the point of hostility. There are exceptions, of course. There are retailers across the country and abroad who have the right idea and reach out to new customers. They will try to get them hooked on comics that would appeal to their sensibilities. But those retailers are a small minority. It’s heartbreaking that most of the independent stuff gets overlooked or dismissed in the direct market. Even Bongo, with recognizable characters such as The Simpsons, are considered too “alternative” for many retailers. A few years ago, a really intense, sincere comic called Junkyard Wars by Josh Shepherd came and went due to lack of attention and exposure. The failure of Castle Waiting by Linda Medley is particularly shameful. Here was an ideal title for all ages and especially for females, young and old. But the direct market wasn’t interested. I don’t believe the marketplace decides if these titles live or die; I believe the retailers decide for the marketplace. Is it any wonder that manga has had such an impact on younger readers?

DF: Did you have much interest in monsters and/or the supernatural before you came up with the idea for W&B? BL: If you’re asking if I had an interest in the supernatural because I believed in it, I’d have to say no. My interest is strictly on an entertainment level. I see the conventions of the genre as fun and love the look of it. I adore all the old Universal monster movies and the cheesy horror and science fiction movies from the ‘50s. I used to read horror and ghost stories as a kid, too. I read Marvel comics before the superheroes were introduced and loved those kooky Kirby monster stories. The moody Ditko five-pagers made quite an impression on me, too. And of course, I was just crazy about Creepy and Eerie when those magazines first appeared. DF: The whole “feel” of Supernatural Law is informed by Kurtzman and especially Eisner. BL: God knows I try, Danny! They’re two of the best! DF: What do you think you—and comics creators in general— can learn from them? BL: Less is more. Most of the stories that secured Harvey’s and Will’s reputations were less than ten pages in length! The two of them are largely responsible for the language of comic book storytelling that is still being utilized today. I think

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about Rosemary’s Baby one day. If Rosemary knew she was carrying the devil’s child and wanted an abortion, would even the most religious zealot be able to sanction that? Sounds like a Wolff & Byrd plot, and I did it for issue #10—as a takeoff on romance comics. Another time, someone mentioned to me about praying to save souls, I thought, what if someone sold souls on the black market to the morally corrupt—and that became the basis for issue #26, which was also a takeoff on Vincent Price B-movies. I’ve always thought of goofy things like that, so I guess daydreaming pays off! I also like to do homages, parodies, and pastiches. For instance in issue #39, I did a werewolf story in the style of Chris Ware, which I titled “The Scariest Kid on Earth.” Often, I will also pull something out of my personal experiences and incorporate that into the back stories of Alanna Wolff, Jeff Byrd, and Mavis. DF: Your website (www.exhibitapress.com) is quite elaborate. What do you get out of it? Do you think a website is a necessity for comics people today? BL: For comic creators, the Internet gives us the chance to have a 21st century “Bullpen Bulletins Page” with a website. It’s cheap, fast, and relatively easy to connect with readers, editorialize, plug projects, etc. It’s intimate and immediate. One of the things that brings a lot of traffic to our site is all the photos we put up after events like San Diego—people want to see what all the various comics creators look like. And I also love the comics blogs. I’m not sure they help sales vis-à-vis comic stores, but there’s a lot of passionate discussion and more often than not, they’re funny as hell. DF: Would you ever do a comic for the web? BL: I’m going to do a new Supernatural Law story online in early 2005. I’ll still be publishing the comic book, but I want to reach a wider audience and new readers. Websites, the Internet, and e-mail are changing everything. The Internet is totally advantageous to the entrepreneur. Cover to Sonovawitch!, writer/artist: Batton Lash, trade paperback collection of Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre. [© 2005 Batton Lash.] Kurtzman, with his war stories, Mad, Goodman Beaver, and even the unfairly maligned Little Annie Fanny, tried to comment on the human condition, always reaching for a truism via the comics medium. With The Spirit, Eisner showed how flexible the comics form is by using The Spirit—and his environment— as the epicenter for whatever type of story he wanted to tell, whether it be comedy, drama, parody, social commentary or even in rhyme. Now, I don’t think they hit it out of the park every time. But when they did, it was a grand slam. I think the work they did 50 years ago is still relevant and it’s in every cartoonist’s best interests to seek out and study their work. DF: Where do you typically get the ideas for Supernatural Law? I ask because it’s such a specific kind of story you need to do for a comic like this. BL: I think I have a sense for absurd situations. I just let my mind wander and an idea evolves. For example, I was thinking

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DF: Any advice for people trying to break in, either to the Big Two (or Three) or trying to do their own thing, as you have done? BL: Don’t let anyone discourage you. If you have the passion and the burning desire to be creative, you’re going to do it no matter what. No offense to the Big Two (or Three), but they can be closed shops at times and very cliquish. I always advise people to develop and own their own material, so they won’t always be at the mercy of other people’s characters. DF: Any books, courses, etc., you’d recommend for aspiring writers or artists? BL: When I was in Regina Ovesey’s class in SVA, she assigned Shrunk & White’s Elements of Style to read. It’s fundamental to all kinds of writing. There’s a reason it’s a perennial! Also, it’s important to read non-fiction. As time goes on, it’s difficult for me to get into fiction the way I used to, sad to say! But I’m always looking for something that will get my creative juices flowing and I always like to have at least a kernel of truth to put into my stories. Probably the most important advice I can give to aspiring writers (even to some professional writers!) is

that it’s important to remember to know when to speak up and when to shut up. A person can learn a lot just by keeping quiet and listening. Everything’s material!

tone or pacing. My thinking is that since the main characters are attorneys, there is a risk of too much copy! So I try to find an interesting visual for each page before a script is finalized.

DF: What percentage of your time is spent doing commercial work (aside from the Bongo stuff) as opposed to working on Supernatural Law? How much time is spent on the Bongo stuff, percentage-wise? BL: It’s hard to say. I’m not a 9-5 type of person. Thinking is a large percentage of the work. Getting the plot and structure of a story to click—having it percolate in my head—means I’m usually living with it 24/7. The commercial artwork comes and goes; you know how freelance work is, Danny—feast or famine! Sometimes I’m swamped, other times it’s slow. When it’s slow, I can devote more time to Supernatural Law. DF: In a perfect world, would you only work on Supernatural Law? BL: Absolutely!

DF: Do you work Marvel style or full script? BL: Since I’m writing and drawing the same story, I don’t have to type up a script proper. It’s far more important to me to get the structure of the story rock solid. Dialogue can always be finessed. Having said that, I’m always rewriting the dialogue through each step of the art. I do thumbnails on Post-It Notes, which is the basis for more elaborate roughs, which are blown up and light-boxed on Bristol board. I make dialogue notes, and as I go along I jot down questions to ask my legal consultant, Mitch Berger. I then take all my notes and write a script in a notebook, longhand. After getting notes from Mitch about any legal nuances, I write the dialogue on Post-It Notes and place them on copies of the original art, indicating captions and word balloons for Jackie to do the lettering.

DF: When you write a story you’re drawing, do you start with a script and then draw it, or do you start with the art, or a little of both? BL: I start with an outline that stems from a one-line idea scribbled to myself (such as “black market souls”). I will then use the outline and break it down point by point, which gives me a good idea how many pages the story will take. Since comics are a visual medium, I figure out the most visual element of each page early on. Sometimes that changes the

DF: When you write for someone else to draw, such as Radioactive Man, do you approach scripting differently than you would when you write something for yourself to draw? BL: It’s the same process, except that I supply a typed, finished script, complete with “stage directions.” I also insist on being able to do layouts of the story for a penciller to follow. I think if you are writing for artists who do not write their own material, you have to be specific in what you want. Blame that Kurtzman influence!

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DF: Ever have writer’s block? If so, how do you deal with it? BL: I’ve never had a problem coming up with ideas or writing per se. That said, every story I’ve ever done had a point where I either got stuck on a plot twist or got bogged down on a dialogue exchange. Whenever that happens, I take a walk. Or take a shower! No kidding. Somehow, the gears start moving again and I come up with what I need so I can move ahead. By the way, I’ve always got the next issue—or the next Mavis story—bubbling in the back of my head while working on a current issue. DF: What about artist’s block? BL: Some days are better than others! Frankly, the story is much more important to me. Tastes in comic art is so subjective. I think readers will cut slack to an artist whose work may not be quite “there” as long as there are sharp writing, appealing characters, and interesting situations. Although comics is a visual medium and good art is important, an entertaining story is always at the core of comics. DF: Have you done much or any work for Hollywood? Is that something you want to do more of? BL: Not really. I wrote a screenplay in the late ‘70s that had some minor interest from Hollywood, so I went to L.A. but I was completely wet behind the ears. As they say in The Producers, “Everyone’s a big shot!” Schmoozing with Hollywood-types gets old fast. Everything was “hurry up and wait” and you always got a “definite maybe” for an answer. A way to get around the B.S. is to do it yourself, of course, but even a small indie film or

play can cost a fortune. And there are still many people you have to deal with: cast, crew, investors, etc. That’s a lot of personalities and other people’s money to work with. I’m really a bad businessman, so producing wasn’t for me. Comics are gloriously low-tech and an inexpensive medium... and I don’t have to worry about crews of people. I could have far more control over my work. And since most Hollywood types are comics fans, my work gets in front of them anyway! DF: What’s the status of the various options on Supernatural Law? BL: Although the option was with Universal for five years, it is now back with the independent producer who originally took the project to Universal, Nancy Roberts of Stampede Entertainment, Nancy and her partner, S.S. Wilson, are two creators of the Tremors movies and have written a new Supernatural Law screenplay, which I think is terrific. Their script has a lot of set pieces that are taken from the comics, so how can I not like it? I hope there will be something exciting to announce regarding the movie in early 2005. DF: Talk a bit about running your own publishing company. Do you publish anything other than things related to your own work? BL: No. Exhibit A Press was established to just publish my work. That’s a job unto itself! I wouldn’t want to be responsible for someone else’s career. DF: What are some important lessons about self-publishing that you’ve learned? BL: It’s tough work, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s paramount for a comics creator to control his/her work. Of course, it helps to be in business with my wife so that we can split up all the business chores, including things like creating posters, dealing with bookstore distributors, preparing to exhibit at shows, updating the website, and that sort of thing. Jackie’s the most organized person I know, and that’s an asset when it comes to publishing! DF: Do you consider yourself more a writer or more an artist, or is there no distinction for you? BL: I consider myself a cartoonist. I believe writing is just as much a part of cartooning as drawing is. DF: Would you or have you ever written anything that’s straight prose? Any interest in short stories, novels, etc.? BL: Yes. I’d love to do some articles, too. But I am not a fast writer; everything I do takes more time than it should! DF: Everything you do seems to have some kind of humorous slant. Have you ever wanted to do something that’s not humor? BL: I really have no desire to play Hamlet. Like I said earlier, I always enjoyed comics (and other media, for that matter) that had a light-hearted touch, so that’s my natural approach to writing. DF: Talk a little about the working process you and Jackie have. BL: Whenever I have an outline written, I will read it to Jackie and see what her reaction is. If she’s laughing at some of the plot points, I know I have a winner. On the other hand, if she doesn’t think a particular plot works, she will tell me. And she will be correct in her evaluation. I trust her instincts and opinions. I will then block out the story and show her the visuals. She will read my final “draft” of

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Interior pages to Sonovawitch! trade paperback. [© 2005 Batton Lash.] the dialogue when she gets ready to letter the copy. That’s when her blue pencil comes out. Jackie’s an excellent editor. She’s got “real world” experience, having been a professional book editor for over 30 years. She copyedits, cleans up my twisted syntax, and punches up dialogue (but doesn’t rewrite). Jackie’s editing is invaluable, and my work has improved because of her editing. It’s fashionable for comic book artists to poo-poo the importance of having a hands-on editor, but I think a lot of cartoonists need editors. Remember what I said earlier about getting a little too close to the thing you’re passionate about? A lot of comic book artists sometimes lose the scope of their story and stray into either obscure or esoteric areas—or both! A good editor does more than correct grammar and make sure the book is on schedule; a good editor will have a good sense of story to keep the creator on track. DF: What’s coming up (in early 2005) that you’d like to plug? BL: I’m doing a Wolff & Byrd crossover with Vampirella that is scheduled to come out in Vampirella Magazine early in the year. Jackie and I are also discussing a change in format for the Supernatural Law series that may involve increasing the number of pages, for instance. And since we believe that the bookstore market is the place to find our kind of readers, we

are working on putting together a trade paperback that will collect the first eight issues of the comic book series. We have three trades out now that encompass issues 17 through 36, but the original collections we did of the first 16 issues—four issues a piece in what we called Case Files— are out of print. But seeing as how that material is now ten years old, I am doing a “director’s cut”—going back to the original art and redrawing some faces I wasn’t happy with, relettering everything, and retoning all the pages in Photoshop, since back then I had actually produced the book by putting down handcut halftone screens on stats. We’ve come a long away! Oh, and I’m having fun working on an issue of Radioactive Man that parodies Steve Ditko’s Charlton comics; I’m writing and pencilling the three stories and Michael T. Gilbert is inking them. DF: Thanks, Batton. This was really informative and fun! BL: Thank you, Danny. I enjoyed doing it.

THE END

BATTON LASH | 49

Batton starts with a brief outline of the entire story, in this case issue #40. If he were doing a script for another artist, it would be more formal and would be typed.

Here are Batton’s thumbnails for pages 6 and 7 of the issue.

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Batton’s script for the issue, usually done after he does the layouts. On this page we see the layouts and script for page 6 of issue #40.

ARTICLE NAME | 51

Here’s the inked art for page 6.

And here are the lettered captions and balloons for the page.

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The lettering and the art are combined and this is how the finished page looks.

The same process is repeated for page 7 (and all the pages, for that matter). Here’s the script for the page.

ARTICLE NAME | 53

Batton’s layouts for page 7 (with notes from which he wrote the script)…

…and the finished art.

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Once again, the script is lettered…

…and another page of Supernatural Law comes to life.

THE END ARTICLE NAME | 55

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A Decent Proposal And Other Tricks of the Trade by Christos N. Gage

hristos N. Gage grew up outside Worcester, Massachusetts, except for five years spent living in Athens, Greece. He speaks, reads and writes Greek fluently. His father is bestselling author Nicholas Gage (Eleni), a former New York Times reporter who covered the Mafia in the 1970s. Chris attended college at Brown University, after which he earned a Master’s Degree in Screenwriting at the American Film Institute (AFI). It was there he met his wife and frequent writing partner, Ruth. Currently, they live in Los Angeles, where they pursue their screenwriting careers. Chris and Ruth have been working screenwriters and members of the Writer’s Guild of America, West, since shortly after graduating AFI, when they sold a sci-fi pitch to Warner Brothers. They have written screenplays for such actors as George Clooney, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Morgan Freeman, as well as studios from Sony to Universal to HBO. Their produced films include The Breed, starring Adrian Paul (Highlander) and Bai Ling (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) and Teenage Caveman, directed by Larry Clark (Kids), on which Chris is also credited as Associate Producer. In television, they have written episodes of the top-rated NBC series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Their Season Four episode, “Mercy,” was nominated for a SHINE Award for outstanding depictions of sexual health issues in media. In comics, Chris is writing the DC Comics mini-series Deadshot, illustrated by Steven Cummings and Jimmy Palmiotti, and an upcoming 3-part story in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. The Gages have served as lecturers on the subject of writing at UCLA, AFI, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

hen I told an old friend I’d begun writing comics in addition to my screenwriting work, he asked a question that hadn’t occurred to me: “Why’d you go into screenwriting instead of comics in the first place?” After all, I’d always loved comics as much as film and TV (more, to be honest), so why pick one over the other? The answer was simple: there were schools where I could learn screenwriting, and none (that I knew of) for comics. Today there are far more resources for aspiring comics scribes than when I entered film school ten years ago. Venerable institutions like NYU offer classes on the subject (taught by some guy named Fingeroth). There are books like Denny O’Neil’s excellent DC Guide To Writing Comics, one of my two bibles (the other you hold in your hands) when I was scripting my comics debut, DC’s Deadshot #1. Add the Internet to the mix, and there’s no shortage of places to learn the craft these days.

What remains elusive is workable advice on how to get to the point where you can use those scripting skills professionally. This might be because breaking in is like the Humpty Dance; no two people will do it the same. Still, I’ve found other writers’ stories can provide helpful insights, if not a road map. For me, the transition to pro began in film school. A family friend, who was a producer, read my thesis script and passed it on to an agent she knew, saying he should look at it. The agent trusted her opinion, read the script, liked it, and signed me. Six months later I sold a pitch to Warner Brothers. Boy, it sounds easy just writing it down like that! (And it was—sustaining a career is harder than breaking in, but one step at a time.) Now, believe it or not, there are things about this most boring of True Hollywood Stories that can apply to the aspiring comics writer. One enduring lesson I’ve learned is that the best way to get your stuff read by those in a position to hire you is through a recommendation from someone the employer trusts. Such a referral got me my first agent. My first job at Law & Order: SVU (with my wife and frequent writing partner Ruth) came after my cousin provided an introduction to the show’s head writer. When I got into comics, I’m sure my screenwriting helped give me credibility, but it was at the urging of Hawkman writer Jimmy Palmiotti that Dan DiDio at DC listened to my ideas. Okay, let’s say you don’t know anyone in comics. Get to know people, by hook or by crook. Jimmy’s writing partner, Justin Gray, started as an intern at Marvel Knights. Peter David worked in marketing at Marvel before he began writing for them. Find ways into that world. Here’s another tip: go to a major convention, like San Diego. Be friendly. Meet people. I know many writers aren’t social by nature; I’m not. But you and these folks have a common interest: comics. Who doesn’t love talking comics? At the major publishers’ booths, you’ll notice people in headsets who cap the line for Jim Lee’s autograph two seconds before you get there. These are employees of the company; many are the editors of tomorrow. Introduce yourself. Get to know them, ask their advice, and stay in touch. (Not long ago, Ben Abernathy at WildStorm was doing that job, and now he’s editing Garth Ennis and Brian Vaughan.) The more people you know in the industry, the better your access. But a recommendation alone won’t get you work. You have to seal the deal yourself. In film, you can write a spec script and

CHRIS GAGE | 57

try to sell it. Not in comics. Editors want a proposal, or pitch. They’re hard to write. Very hard. It’s a totally different art than writing scripts. It’s tough to find guidelines, because there’s no one way to do it—whatever works, works, and everyone has their own approach. The best I can do is offer some suggestions based on my experiences. First, keep it short. No more than a page. The first time I heard this, my reaction was, “Philistine! The nuanced brilliance of my intricately woven tale can’t possibly be encapsulated in one page!” Guess what, it can. At least, as much of it as an editor needs to see to decide if they want to go to the next step. I don’t care if you’re writing a six-page backup or Crisis On Infinite Earths, you can get across the basics of any story in a page or less. For me, the first sentence or two of the proposal is the “hook.” The teaser that grabs people and won’t let go. The line you would see on the movie poster. For Deadshot, that line was “What happens when a man with a death wish finds something to live for?” You get the idea: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” “What if the Mayor of New York was a retired superhero?” “One day, trapeze artist Boston Brand was murdered. That’s where his story begins.” (I made these last two up, but they’re based on existing comics: Ex Machina and

Deadman.) The idea is to raise a question in the reader’s mind they’ll want answered, and the only way to get the answer is to keep reading. Then you have to explain the premise in a paragraph or two. Describe what will happen in the first issue to set up the story we’ll be following. Here’s an excerpt from my Deadshot proposal (actually, it’s been shortened because the original was too long): Deadshot is a supremely accurate marksman—a cold, efficient killer, Batman’s deadly enemy and the Suicide Squad’s top assassin. But his uncanny aim and skill with weapons aren’t his most dangerous qualities. What makes him so perfect for suicide missions is that he’s not afraid to die. Why should he be? He has no reason to live. Or so he thought. Deadshot discovers he has a daughter. A child he knew nothing about, because the mother, Michelle, never told him. When he goes to see them, Michelle wants nothing to do with him. A former call girl who went straight to raise her child, she’s disgusted by him and doesn’t want her kid exposed to a life she’s left behind. She lives in a poor neighborhood, and they don’t have much, but it’s an honest living. Deadshot offers her money to move. Knowing he got it by killing someone, she throws it in his face and says they’re doing just fine. Deadshot looks around her neighborhood and disagrees. It’s the intersection of three mobs’ territories, so violence is a daily fact of life. The police spend their time protecting more affluent areas. Deadshot doesn’t like his daughter living in such a place, so he sets about cleaning it up the best way he knows how: by killing everyone who makes it dangerous. Then finish up by giving an idea of where the story’s going to go; what the middle and end will be. Broad strokes are fine. Don’t describe in detail the climactic shootout on the wings of a moving biplane, just mention there is one. The editor needs to know the general, emotional arc of the story. What obstacles will the protagonist face, and will he or she achieve the goal? How? Who lives and who dies? How will we feel at the end— sad, happy, a mix of both? (For an ongoing series, your focus is more on how the book will sustain itself month-to-month. But forget that, no first timer gets a monthly series.) The same rules go for a verbal pitch, but don’t recite as if from a memorized speech—it should feel conversational. By the way, Deadshot was not my first proposal. I had three rejected before that, and for good reasons. Not long before I met Dan DiDio, former DC President Jenette Kahn (who I’d come to know in her new position as a Hollywood producer), introduced me to JLA editor Mike Carlin and Batman editor Bob Schreck. Both agreed to read any pitch I might send. I blew it. Let my shame be a lesson to you, grasshopper. My JLA proposal was way too long. I think three pages. That’s bad, because I wasted Mike’s time—he could tell it wasn’t suitable from the start. Why? Because I made another cardinal mistake—I shoehorned characters into a story they weren’t right for. I didn’t have an idea for a JLA story, but I had one about superheroes getting caught up in a Hollywood movie about their exploits, so I forced the JLA into it. Which would have been fine for the humorous 1980s JLA, but not

illegal to self-publish a comic about someone else’s characters.) the current iconic team. (Brian Bendis later used a similar Another big plus is that handing editors a comic book is a lot premise—with a character it actually worked for—in Ultimate more likely to get you read than handing them a proposal. Spider-Man.) People are in this business because they love comics. Reading My Batman proposal was closer to the right length, but had pitches is work; reading comics is fun. another problem: Batman was a supporting character in his own So team up with an aspiring artist—post a flier at your comic story. The guy’s been around for sixty years; it’s hard to come shop or search Internet message boards, they’re out there. up with an idea for him that hasn’t been done. So instead of Create a comic of your own. Even if it never gets distributed, doing the hard work of finding one, I instead developed a story even if you never get paid money for a copy, it’s a far better about someone else. This happens a lot in TV when a series calling card than a drab page of double-spaced type. Of course, has been around forever—writers run out of ideas for the main the book has to be good; hand someone a piece of work that’s characters, so they introduce someone new. That’s fine on an not the absolute best it can be and you’re just ensuring they ensemble show like ER, but if your show is called Laverne & won’t read anything else from you. We’re all impatient to break Shirley, it damn well better be about Laverne & Shirley. Mine in, but don’t let that make you sloppy. There’s an old saying that might as well have been about the foreman at Shotz Brewery. half of writing is rewriting, and that holds true for comics as (Sorry for being vague, but I’d still like to use this idea someday well. You get one shot—make it count by bringing your A-game. where it actually fits.) I know what you’re thinking—how do I know this works when I My third proposal, to Dan, was for the Suicide Squad. The mistakes here weren’t as egregious, but they were also common. First, I proposed reviving a book that had just been cancelled. Unless it’s an iconic character like Green Lantern, books don’t get cancelled and brought back right away. The company gives the public some time to forget why they didn’t like the last version before launching a new one. Also, half the characters I wanted to use were slated for other titles that hadn’t come out yet; Bronze Tiger was going to be in Richard Dragon, for instance. Publishers plan things months and even years ahead. When you’re on the outside, you can’t know what’s going on inside. The best way to avoid this problem is to have a contact at the company who you can ask. A simple question can save you time and effort. If Grant Morrison is planning a book about a character you want to use, guess who gets first dibs. If all this sounds imposing, it should. The best way to make it easier on yourself is to know who you’re pitching to, and as much as you can about what their needs are (asking them helps). Read any interviews you can find with the person, and pitch stories involving lesser-known characters they like. Don’t waste your time pitching an ongoing series if you have no pro credits in comics. I don’t care if you’ve written for other media; it doesn’t prove you can write good comics. (Some of the greatest novelists were flops as screenwriters.) The less of a risk for the company, the more likely they’ll take a chance on you. Pitch a one-shot, backup, mini-series or short story arc. Don’t pitch the next two years’ worth of Superman comics, complete with summer crossover event. Now I’ll discuss what happened after my Deadshot pitch was accepted, so from here on out, everything falls into the category of problems it would be nice to have. But before I get to that, a word about breaking in in general. Pitching directly to big companies—the ones that pay page rates—is the absolute hardest way to break in. Pros I’ve spoken to agree that a far better strategy is to self-publish your own comic to serve as a showcase for your talent. If that sounds like work, well, it is… that’s one of the positives in the eyes of editors. By making the effort of self-publishing, you’ve already displayed commitment and a work ethic, not to mention More from the Gage-Cummings-Palmiotti Deadshot #1. that you can come up with original ideas. (Obviously, it’s [© 2005 DC Comics.]

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didn’t do it myself? Because it’s what my artist on Deadshot, Steven Cummings, did. He and his writer friend Egg Embry created their own comic, called Kamen, to show off their work. It did that and then some—IDW agreed to publish it. Okay, let’s say your proposal’s been accepted. What happens between that and signing copies for adoring crowds at cons (until they realize you’re not Joss Whedon and the only time you met Sarah Michelle Gellar was the court appearance for the restraining order)? In short, a lot. Here’s what happened to me. Dan DiDio felt that Deadshot was well suited to Flash editor Joey Cavalieri, and Joey loved the proposal, so we ended up working together. First we spoke on the phone about the miniseries in general. Joey pointed out that since the story had a street-level feel, perhaps we should consider giving Deadshot a new, less superhero-oriented costume; I agreed, so Steven got to work designing one. I asked if I could use the Suicide Squad in the story; Joey discouraged using them overtly, so the book would be accessible to new readers who’d never encountered the Squad, but said it was fine to use former Squad members and refer to Deadshot’s time with that team indirectly. We talked about who would be a good superhero for Deadshot to face off with, and the idea of Green Arrow came up, which felt perfect to both of us—the two greatest marksmen in the DC Universe matching their skills, and it had never been done before. After a productive conversation, Joey asked that I write an issue-by-issue breakdown of the mini-series—basically, a paragraph or so summary of each installment, briefly describing

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what happens and what the cliffhanger ending is to bring the reader back. This was broad-strokes stuff; for instance, the breakdown states that issue #2 ends with Green Arrow confronting Deadshot, but the details of how they meet were left for me to figure out during the scripting phase. The breakdown was approved, and scripting began. I decided this might be a good time to read Denny O’Neil’s book. I also pulled out Write Now #5 (See? Don’t throw them away!), whose Nuts And Bolts section was a huge help with formatting. I wrote the script to #1, sent it in, and Joey loved it. The sun shone, birds sang, and all was wine and roses. Well, I did make some mistakes. A common error found in comic scripts written by screenwriters—who are used to a medium that depicts continuous motion—is to ask for more things to happen in a panel than the artist can show from one angle. For instance, my page two splash in issue #1 called for battle-armored bodyguards to burst out of a window, fly over to Deadshot and his fellow assassins on a nearby rooftop, and attack them. Steven pointed out that this really required two panels, and that’s what it ended up being. As I went along, I did this less, but still had to be vigilant about it. A screenwriter doesn’t have to worry about how many frames it takes for Spider-Man to save Aunt May after Doc Ock throws her off a building; a comic book writer does. Film uses motion; comics use the illusion of motion. Be aware of the difference, or be the bane of your artist’s existence. Another thing that takes getting used to is telling a story one page at a time, which is not the same as one scene at a time. A scene in a movie can run one minute or five. In comics, scenes can be various lengths as well, but they are broken down by pages. You have to be conscious of that, and play to it. Each page is almost a miniature story in itself, with its own beginning, middle and end. Ideally, the end should be a minicliffhanger that spurs the reader to turn the page. My history of geekdom helped me here. As a collector of original comic book art, I was already used to thinking of pages as individual things; the best pages to hang on your wall are ones that tell an understandable story (or chapter of a story, if you will) within themselves. If you haven’t done it before, try looking at comic pages out of context of the overall issue and you’ll see this principle in action. Something comics and filmmaking have in common is that they are intensely collaborative arts (unlike, say, a novel). On a movie or TV show, there are literally hundreds of people who bring your story to life. In comics, there are fewer. Your penciler plays the roles of director, camera operator, production designer, and costumer all in one. How you communicate with the artist is crucial to how the finished product ends up. The best way to do this is through a well-written script; you won’t always have the luxury of knowing who your artist is going to be. Fortunately, with Deadshot, I knew it was the talented Steven Cummings. Initially Steven and I didn’t speak directly; we both talked to Joey. But Jimmy Palmiotti, my Jedi Master, advised me to call Steven. He said it’s a good idea to let the artist know you’re available to talk to, and he was right. Joey gave me Steven’s info, and we had a nice chat. I told Steven he could email or call about anything, and he took me up on it—if he had questions or suggestions, we talked them out, which beats getting your comic in the mail and seeing the artist misunderstood something in your script and now it’s too late to change it. In fact, Steven was kind enough to email me

scans of each penciled page as he finished it, and he listened graciously if I thought something important needed to be altered. If he wasn’t sure about a scene, he’d send me thumbnails, and we’d talk over what worked best. Steven was a great collaborator, and by the end of it, even though we still haven’t met face to face, I considered him a friend. It’s also normal for an artist not to correspond with the writer. Steven and I were both fairly new to the business; an industry veteran might not have any questions at all. I think it’s a good idea to let the artist know you’re there if they need you, while understanding there’s a good chance they won’t. As far as communicating through the script, to me it’s a bit of a tightrope walk: being specific about what’s important without putting shackles on the artist’s creativity. My approach was this: if I absolutely wanted a panel structured a certain way, I was as detailed as possible—“We’re looking up at Deadshot from the point of view of the punk lying on the ground; Deadshot’s guns are pointed right at us, trailing smoke, while the flames from the burning car in the background give his metallic helmet an eerie glow.” But a lot of descriptions were as simple as “Deadshot shoots the gunmen in the head.” That gives the penciler the freedom to choose the angle, the choreography, where the “camera” is, and so forth. The fun in that is when your artist comes up with something great you wouldn’t have thought of. Steven drew a panel I loved, with Deadshot in the background firing, while in the foreground, his enemies fall backward toward us, blood trailing from the holes in their heads. (Yes, this is a violent comic.) The flip side of that is, if you’re vague, don’t get mad if you saw it one way in your head and the artist drew it differently. If you want it a certain way, be specific. But my advice is, don’t be overly controlling. The temptation can be to define everything, to describe things so thoroughly it’s “artist-proof.” We’ve all seen Alan Moore’s incredibly dense scripts that specify each tiny detail. My feeling is, that’s great if you’re Alan Moore, but you’re not, and neither am I. Let the artist have some fun. The writer has less input on later steps, but it’s educational to see them progress. Around the time I was Another interior page from Deadshot #1. For some cool action pages, see the Nuts & starting issue three, Jimmy Palmiotti signed on as inker, Bolts section starting on page 62. [©2005 DC Comics.] thanks to a hole opening in his schedule. That was great news, because Jimmy—in addition to being a successful mistakes. Some are technical: a word balloon pointing to the writer—is a multiple-award winning inker with years of wrong henchman. Others could be more substantial, like experience (Hear that, Jimmy? You’re old!) to balance out addressing the fact that, while your comic was being drawn, what so far was a rookie-heavy team. Seeing both the another book came out in which a key character in your story penciled and inked pages gave me a new appreciation for lost their powers, and now you have to slip in dialogue what an inker does. Something like using a dry brush explaining why they’re back. This is your last chance to prepare technique to give a specific texture to shadows falling on a your baby before he goes out into the world, where he’ll wooden fence is subtle, but so important to the overall hopefully achieve the glory of good sales and critical acclaim, mood. but could just as easily encounter the slings and arrows of The lettering and coloring were excellent. Joey recruited withering message board posts or selling fewer copies than a Mike Zeck and Jerry Ordway to do the covers, which was a reprint of New Kids On The Block: Chillin’ #1. dream come true for me—I grew up idolizing these guys. I But that’s the end of the journey, which, as the proverb goes, suppose I’d have more interesting things to say if I’d hated begins with a single step. I hope my ramblings have shed a the coloring, covers, or what have you, but I’m glad I didn’t! glimmer of light on which direction to take… or, at least, what Like an old friend (or, if things are going badly, like a drunken not to step in. Write on, brothers and sisters! romantic encounter you’d rather forget), your comic comes back to you during the corrections phase, when you receive an inked and lettered photocopy of the issue. This is your chance to fix

THE END

CHRIS GAGE | 61

PAGE 1 CONTINUED: EWAL DEADSHOT: URBAN REN 3/25/04 Issue #1: “Strings” – REVISED by Christos N. Gage PAGE 1:

d. It’s two to craper. The blinds are close ground, a window in a skys PANEL ONE: In the back on. is room the in light POV. The three blocks away from our window. FROST), pointing at the lit hand (belonging to KILLER night. In the foreground is a feminine warm a on cold ice is body indicate her Steam rises off the hand to ows in. Light’s on. Four floors down, two wind 1) KILLER FROST (op): g with three r Frost is standing there, alon see we’re on a rooftop. Kille TE: This is PANEL TWO: Pull back to power and arrogance. (NO es exud who e figur ing huge, hulk I’m others. THE CLOSER is a man. As far as a costume, al norm a as thick and big twice as and tie, a new character. He’s at least of like the idea of a dark suit kind I ; look e nctiv disti a ld have dumb mass of muscle.) inclined against it, but he shou big, a on ds threa sharp – t et Service agen helmet on, highlike a Mafia stooge or Secr up already. DEADSHOT, ly, eager to burn something FIREBUG paces impatient access into this building. ides prov that door the st again powered rifle in one hand, leans

PANEL FOUR: We see the lit window through Deadshot’s helmet-mounted gunsig ht. The view is magnified, infrared, with a targeting sight in the center. The blurry shadow of a man can just barely be glimpsed behind the closed blinds. 9) THE CLOSER (op): Hey, babe, I want a guy dead, nothing stops me. That’s why they call me The Closer. 10) KILLER FROST (op): Oh, there’s a

“C”?

11) THE CLOSER (op): Huh? PANEL FIVE: Killer Frost, Firebug and The Closer turn their heads from the bluepr int to the edge of the roof, where Deadshot is firing his rifle at the distant window. 12) KILLER FROST: Nothing. Look, this

is gonna be tough and we’ve got to move

fast, so –

13) SFX (Deadshot’s silenced gun): PHUT PANEL SIX: Deadshot turns back to the others. Behind him, in the distance, their target’s limp, dead body tumbles through the shattered window and plunges downward. 14) DEADSHOT: Let’s go.

d. 2) CLOSER: Blinds’re close

gonna mob, ex-KGB, you think he’s ing, genius. Target’s Russian 3) KILLER FROST: No kidd make it easy for us? shot, who rs gather around, except Dead t unrolls a blueprint. The othe PANEL THREE: Killer Fros distance. the in ow wind lit the at s and look walks to the edge of the roof arrays, any room rity. Motion detectors, laser schematic shows their secu 4) KILLER FROST: This can be flooded with nerve gas. e armor. guards in black market battl there’s the half-dozen body 5) KILLER FROST: Then . 6) FIREBUG: It’ll all burn

air supply, and c room with its own power, t won’t is the fireproof pani 7) KILLER FROST: Wha winter. enough food to last a nuclear k through? ium steel walls. Can you brea Closer): Four foot thick titan 8) KILLER FROST (To The

62 | WRITE NOW

PAGE 2: SH): PANEL ONE (SPLA

battle armor fly BODYGUARDS in Closer run for it as six st, Firebug, and The Fro ler Kil ot, dsh Dea dow toward them. out of the shattered win alized from the if their armor is cannib amped jor geeks – like me – s of the DCU, but rev a cool in-joke for ma day be r ht Wa d mig It Col : the TE (NO l used during as long as it looks coo tter or the Soviet military ma ly arm real Red sn’t ket doe Roc old an idea. It re streamlined. Just mo and y box y.) less bod to be user’s entire the armor covers the and intimidating and run, four assassins. As they narrowly missing the ts that bounce off the ards fire energy bolts, sho ygu fire to bod the gun of ted ee Thr wrist-moun deflect e his rifle and uses his cover their escape and Deadshot tosses asid to the t a wall of solid ice to Closer rips the door The ler Frost starts to erec s. Kil ard or. ygu arm bod rs’ the cke atta at one of an avenue of escape. Firebug shoots napalm ile them wh , ing giv fire g er, min pap inco made of g off its hinges like it’s interior of the buildin warn us? it have killed you to mit, Deadshot, would 1) THE CLOSER: Dam 2) TITLE: “Strings”

s N. Gage – Writer Penciler 3) CREDITS: Christo Steven Cummings – er Jimmy Palmiotti – Ink Comicraft – Letterer ors James Sinclair – Col istant Editor Harvey Richards – Ass Joey Cavalieri - Editor

CHRIS GAGE | 63

PAGE 3 the roof as sins descend the stairway from PANEL ONE: The four assas gh. throu e cam barrier over the doorway they

Killer Frost forms an ice

’re fireproof. 1) FIREBUG: Great. They 2) CLOSER: Just let me get

my hands on one…

be they’ll think your arms. Stand still, may , they’re gonna swoop into 3) KILLER FROST: Sure you. past you’re a brick wall and fly de, the flying office building. From outsi an upper floor of a deserted en glass and brok e’s Ther PANEL TWO: They’re on ows. wind ting energy bolts through the bodyguards buzz them, shoo of DIE HARD. ere. It’s like something out shattered furniture everywh s a desk out at hurt him. The Closer throw with a jet of flame; it doesn’t . Firebug blasts a bodyguard them off ce es. Deadshot’s bullets boun one of the attackers, who dodg ’re bulletproof. shot, save your ammo. They 4) KILLER FROST: Dead armor… not. Their armor is. And all 5) DEADSHOT: No they’re seam of a d bullet penetrating the neck of Deadshot’s perfectly place PANEL THREE: Close up battlesuit. s seams. 6) DEADSHOT (op): …ha -7) BODYGUARD #1: Ukk

t tries to clog rd as the battle rages on. Fros bodyguard plummets downwa covers her back. The Closer’s PANEL FOUR: The dead shot Dead it; er shatt ets ice, but his rock an assailant’s boot-jets with suit. energy blasts that shred his invulnerable body shrugs off them all out that way. , but there’s too many to take 8) KILLER FROST: Nice stand extremes of et military, designed to with e their suits. Modified Sovi 9) DEADSHOT: I recogniz heat or cold. 10) KILLER FROST: I’d

noticed.

11) DEADSHOT: Key word

being “or.”

t smiling wickedly. PANEL FIVE: CU of Fros 12) KILLER FROST: You

clever boy.

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THE END

Feedback Letters from our readers Dear Danny, Write Now! #8—part one of the crossover with Draw!—is the first time I’ve read your magazine—and did I ever pick a good time to start! I hope to one day become a comic book artist/writer and this particular issue has inspired me to work even harder! Your mini-lessons are invaluable. Along with the script samples and panel-work as visual aids, they have given me much insight to both plotting and penciling. (I will definitely pick up Draw! #9 for the second part of the crossover.) I know I won’t get rich doing comic book work but at least one day I will be doing the job that I love. Sincerely, Steve Parks Via the Internet

for my website that we will post, usually on the homepage. If potential writers want to contribute reviews, they can post their review of a comic book on our forum section. Many comic book professionals stop by the site to check on the new talent and many contributors have been called for various gigs. We are the “Star Search” for new comic book talent! Sincerely yours, Paul Dale Roberts, Production Master Jazma Universe Online! http://www.jazmaonline.com/ Thanks, Paul, for the compliments and the information. Good luck to you and the folks who make use of your site.

Now it’s your turn! Tell me what you thought of this issue— or any writing-related topic! You can send your comments to me at WriteNowDF@aol.com or via regular mail, to: Danny Fingeroth, Write Now!, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614.

THE END

Thanks, Steve. The purpose of the crossover was to give you some idea of how a character is developed. Glad it worked for you. Now go out there and create something great! Danny: I’m a recent subscriber to Write Now! and just wanted to let you know how helpful the magazine is. I’ve been writing for years (fiction and screenplays) and this is probably the best mag on the craft I’ve ever come across. Not only do you present the nuts and bolts, but also (what I find the most helpful) in WN’s interviews and articles we learn about the individual journeys these writers have taken. That’s what inspires. Keep up the incredible work. Timothy Walsh Via the Internet Thanks, Timothy. I’ve always maintained that the text pieces in Write Now! are every bit as important as the how-to’s. They impart important information and, as you point out, can inspire someone to keep going or to modify their direction. Seeing how someone else handled a career opportunity or setback and be extremely illuminating. Dear Danny: Today I found your excellent magazine in Tower Books. (Danny Fingeroth’s Write Now! #8). I was amazed at all of the great information in this one publication. This is such a helpful tool for the aspiring comic book creator. You and your readers might be interested to know that at my website, Jazma Online! (www.jazmaonline.com), we promote aspiring comic book writers and artists who are trying to break into the business. We have a free fan art gallery for artists to display their work. They can submit up to 30 pieces of artwork and rotate/change the drawings at their leisure. Also on our forum we invite writers to create their own scripts and let some of the fanbase critique them. We also except comic book related articles

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www.romitaman.com FEEDBACK | 65

STORMBREAKER: THE SAGA OF BETA RAY BILL #1 SAGA OF BETA RAY STORMBREAKER: THE Fallout By Oeming and Berman

BILL #1

always PAGE 1 with action and word balloonsREA- some pages are tight rd! cove isn’t art GENERAL NOTE TO AND zing ama balloon placement so your made up of measure your space for word re a council. The council is men of Bill’s race Stand befo priesthood. the sit Panel 1- Large panel. Two room the ng undi above the council, surro Rogotta, military people. On a level your own. The head Priest, Walt Simonson, but make it e tubes contain the souls Thes s. Take all your design cues from tube um vacu T.V. red in what look like See the sketch wears a long robe that is cove re his feet touch the ground. dissipates into nothing befo s. tube of past head Priests. His body less with but , robe the same style of the priest. He I’ve provided. The priests wear above the rest, looking up at ary council, one man stands General. the In front of the group of milit d calle is He cil. coun ks for the military chosen has his own stand and spea They created Bill who was le with deep religious beliefs. . These beings are Bill’s people are a warrior peop body e battl new a him e matches and mad oding as they through Gladiator like death e of their original world expl is a vast screen with an imag ’s run follow them. fighters.__Behind the priest nson Simo from ons dem shapes of dogfly away in great ships. The ROGOTTA tested by the Gods priests, we who have been We gather now, warriors and and chased by Demons! ROGOTTA . We who have crushed by the Dogs of Hell We whose home planet was ns. ratio gene for e searched for a new hom ROGOTTA escaped the r to fulfill prophecy. We who We who built our own savio in Council. now er gath We . Turn Caldron and the AxiROGOTTA from that time ing souls with machines, and We mastered the art of merg RAY BILL! A BET ctor, prote our r, came our savio screen behind him. an Image of BILL is on the Panel 2- Closer on Rogotta, ROGOTTA ies. He fulfilled the home and defeated our enem It was Bill who found us a ed on and so must we! mov has Bill now and prophecy

ROGOTTA agree, we need a , we still need a protector. I We want Beta Ray Bill back ! erful pow too me beco has Bill champion, but I say Beta Ray the Gods. He has leadership instead of to us or Our people look to him for ncil! Cou the of and d thoo usurped the power of the Pries Panel 3- Close on Rogotta ROGOTTA fallen God, the face another trial. Ashta, the Now, our scientists tell us, we tens our adopted home, threa s, realm e entir es smit world ravager, he who space it comes, a short time. From deepest where we have lived for such blasphemy! our for us sh puni to le relentless and unstoppab We need a savior now. Our

66 | WRITE NOW

ROGOTTA greatest peril is at hand!

We were lucky enough to get some script and art pages of the current Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill. It’s written by Michael Oeming and Dan Berman, and the art is by Andrea DiVito. You know Michael from his great art on Powers, but he’s a writer, too. Here’s some of his work in partnership with Dan Berman. They’re working full-script. [© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

PAGE 2 otta looking down on the vast opening. We are behind Rog Panel 1- Reverse view of the d above circling them. thoo pries the by d unde surro Military Council who is

crowd of

ROGOTTA of our people, -’re created the first best hope Before Beta Ray Bill, the Sheo under its own but without a soul, it failed Ray, a Alph d calle e achin Bill arose the bio-m and machine, and Beta Ray soul d bine com -’re Sheo the power. So . pion as our cham ROGOTTA into the first they subdued it and set its body a, Alph oy destr not did But they it. rved prese day has Meta Orb which even to this ROGOTTA . He has turned Ray Bill is his own being now Beta . time s Ray’ a Alph is Now would be Ray a Alph but sGod to his new his attention from us looks completely under our control. GENERAL mind. The tests both its bio-tech body and its What? Alpha was unstable, , his mind isagain e stabl me beco to were broke him, even if his form s and Panel 2- The General stand

Panel 5- On Rogotta Yes! If we can control it, yes! unimpeachable!

ROGOTTA allegiance is We need a champion whose

ROGOTTA his. He even allegiance to those Asgard of Beta Ray Bill has sworn his call it -Stormbreaker? It is an he does t Wha mer. ham carries around that llion! insult, it is a symbol of his rebe Panel 6- On General. GENERAL otta? What are you implying, Rog

turns toward Rogotta

GENERAL ged. You used to me head priest you have chan Rogotta, ever since you beca much time communing so d spen you , Now rals. be one of our greatest gene with the ancestors... ROGOTTA stors are our guiding no sense of history. The ance General, you military have light, they... The ancestors are pushing you and your priests.

GENERAL for yourself toward avarice! You seek glory

Panel 3- On Rogotta No, I seek only glory for our ng Panel 4- On General -he’s getti

ROGOTTA people!

angry.

GENERAL an automaton? ld replace Beta Ray Bill with But at what expense? You wou

Notice how Andrea DiVito breaks down the story into panels and how those panels are laid-out. The script gives him basic directions, but leaves him a lot of freedom in the visual storytelling. [© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

STORMBREAKER | 67

STORMBREAKER: THE SAGA OF BETA RAY BILL #1 Page 3 Panel 1ROGOTTA s GODS! He aliens who dare call themselve ker, a He has sworn an oath to those -brother! He carries Stormbrea oath his R, THO , them of even calls one from those ERED by a divine blessing POW lly actua is us tells weapon he False Gods! ROGOTTA ibly put Asgardians. How can we poss these met even ever have us None of ns- False Godsn he has sworn oaths to Alie whe Bill Ray Beta in trust all our y! in his hands? It’s blasphem and- and carries their power raises his hand on a com-link in his ear. He r is interrupted by an update Panel 2- The Military leade to Rogotta to quiet him. GENERAL Hold... Understood. r turns Panel 3- The military leade

e and behind him. to the room, Rogotta is abov

GENERAL that attempts to r than we expected. Every ship Ashta is moving much faste is upon us! War ! over is ting mee This make contact is destroyed! general him shadowed by the threat. The ed, seeing his argument over Panel 4- Rogotta is impassion rs. orde out calls and he as room and hurries out of the council ROGOTTA ours! OURS! He our best hope! His mind is Wait! General, Alpha Ray is will not deny us! people. He will champion who will serve the He is our perfect soldier, a true for others! us ke forsa not and , death fight for us to the GENERAL TLE STATIONS! BATTLE STATIONS! BAT Panel 5- Close on Rogatta ROGOTTA great champion “your savior?” Where your Where is your Beta Ray Bill, now?

68 | WRITE NOW

Relive those PAGE 4-5 the battle we see is Thor 85! jump right into the heart of ad of Big double page spread- Let’s nd look at their demise. Inste seco a , love more bit a s acter They see one moments, and give those char t it means for the hero to die. wha s, death their in anity hum glancing over it, we see the oy himself to win the battle. spirits and another fall, Bill ready to destr the troops. He bolsters their him, Beta Ray Bill addresses As the battle rages beneath calls them to action. BETA RAY BILL iors of Asgard and prevail, for we are the warr The battle is not lost! We shall t! migh our re befo none can stand companion soldier is run through and his e with Surt’s minions. One Beneath him, Asgardians battl ers, he fights in reaches out for him. and the blood of fellow soldi with the ichor of the demons We see Sif and the fire. on and Another soldier is dripping half in ped ers are dying, arrows, chop a berserker rage! Other soldi who have others fighting strong near Bill. ses) of soldiers and demons g on top of the bodies (corp old broken fence over the an The whole battle is happenin were it if as stand s s, swords and arrow already fallen. Dozens of Pike field of bodies.

STORMBREAKER | 69

STORMBREAKER: THE SAGA OF BETA RAY BILL #1 art in front PAGE 6_ them before, I don’t have the dying the same way you drew Andrea, make sure they are himof me. ng a flaming sword through Volstag at the same time, drivi as they strike ons, Dem same Panel 1- Several demons jump those of e back too. Sif is on top of som her are maybe smaller knives in his moment). If you can, behind s off. (but this is Volstagg’s Volstag, she is loping their head SIf. on n dow and arrows, ready to rain archers with flaming spears VOLSTAG ALL?! S THI IS ?! have you all Is this SIF RRAAAAAGH!!!! ground, Volstag is dead. serious Panel 2- In the extreme Fore g- but we see she already has one swing- their heads are flyin with ons dem ral Sif kills seve cuts and wounds fighting with SURTUR! far background, we see Bill Behind her, in the high and You do your brothers proud, (was Panel 3- Sif is run through Sif falls-

SIF one again! Volstag- May the Three be

Bill it arrows or spears?) Beta Ray

coming to her, too late...

SIF AGH! And I shall follow... BILL LADY SIF! g and... es Bill as he is in mid-swin Panel 4- A lightening bolt strik e. He has been transported. g into the blackness of spac Panel 5- Bill finishes his swin to redraw of me, but it might be neat for the last issue of thor in front most part, the for bill nd behi Andrea, I don’t have the art are we bill, of Bill. Instead of looking at Bill only a this from the opposite side of Thors face in the cosmos, space with the Vague shape looking into the Vastness of small shape in front of it-. page from that issue:) simply re use the exact same issue 85? It should Other than that, feel free to (is this the same page as from ions Capt in ens heav the Thors Voice booms from e) wn from a different angl be almost the same, but redra THOR -brother! oath and d frien my Bill, Beta Ray

BILL THOR! What is happening! It is the end of my people. I

THOR us, despite your oath. cannot allow you to die with

NO! LET ME FIGHT! LET

BILL ME STAY!

e, calmer. Panel 6- Small. Bill in spac THOR on Earth, there Without you and my friends Go back to your people Bill. tales of our deeds. tell to one no us, r mbe reme would be no one to BILL But...

THOR memory. ing. Go now and honor us with Go with my love and bless face, Panel 7 Small- Close on Bills home.

his foes. splattered blood on it from

I understand. Yes... I... I don’t like it, but

70 | WRITE NOW

BILL

He fades out, being returned

PAGE 7 ’s flagship. ed by Panel 1- Interior of the fleet bridge deck. The ship is crew several priests stand on the ite the power they desp , here rol The General and Rogotta with cont in ly clear command. The military is ense, it soldiers under the General’s blurred shape -the scale is imm ship’s screens we see a huge gh we can’t completely Thou it. give the Priesthood. On the of part see only out there and we can should dwarf every other ship ctus’ world ship. ctus looks make it out, the shape is Gala ctus to the reader yet, as Gala we don’t reveal this is Gala to the more savvy clue (a What’s important here is that same the look ld ship, however, shou different to different races. The Kirby energy. reader) and it crackles with GENERAL than we ever thought... r large h muc , ense imm is It GENERAL Blue Squadron, engage! give Galactus destroyed. Huge explosions (large and small) are being Panel 2- All kinds of warships pause. d ship. s blooming in front of the worl flagship, we see the explosion Panel 3- On the screen in the That did it, we’ve slowed it

The blacked-out lines in the script on this page and the next are to conceal “spoilers”—future story surprises—we don’t want to give away.

GENERAL down! We can stop it. HELMSMAN

General... GENERAL Yes, what? HELMSMAN . Sir, they’ve all been destroyed GENERAL What? Who. HELMSMAN Blue Squadron. GENERAL destroyed? The... the whole squadron... HELMSMAN Yes sir. GENERAL My god...

General. Panel 4- Rogotta turns to the

ROGOTTA no other choice.

have General, we must do it, we

GENERAL But the fleet... The fleet has been decimated,

ROGOTTA and... GENERAL

But, Beta Ray Bill... Beta Ray is nowhere to be no other option.

ROGOTTA Alpha Ray, there is found. We have to reactivate

oys it. es the planet’s moon and destr Panel 5- The world ship reach GENERAL must. Gods help us . Yes, yes you are right. We But, but it’s not stable, but.. we must. into a ship intercom. Panel 6- the general speaks GENERAL Activate the Meta Orb. Orb. The Meta Orb is a large s begin to activate the Meta Alpha Ray Panel 7- A group of technician body. As the Orb is activated inert s Ray’ a Alph ains cont glowing sphere, that fog. with fills room begins to thaw, the

STORMBREAKER | 71

STORMBREAKER: THE SAGA OF BETA RAY BILL #1 PAGE 8_ e. his hammer to fly through spac Panel 1- Beta Ray Bill uses Caption I need her to live. I can’t bear Asgard are dead, and Sif! I... I won’t believe the Gods of her fallbeing torn from her, seeing my people fair and then I’ll t trust his word. I will see how Thor must have a plan, I mus return to Asgard. e he is t is attacking the planet- Sinc le in space. Rock and sees wha tinct, but if we know indis and Panel 2- He passes by the rubb away far is Is of Galactus’ world ship. so far away he can see more world ship. we could tell it is Galactus’ what it is we are looking at, Caption What is this? Caption Signs of battle! Caption instantaneous, but time is distances of space may seem Traveling through these vast ght, Oh... thou I than er long away not consistent. I may have been on Bills Panel 3- Huge panel-Close Caption NO!!

72 | WRITE NOW

shocked face

Introduced during Walt Simonson’s memorable run on Thor, Beta Ray Bill was a big favorite when he first appeared. The trick for the creators on this limited series is to keep what was appealing about the character while bringing him to another level. Looks like they’re succeeding. [© 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc.]

THE END STORMBREAKER | 73

THE TWOMORROWS LIBRARY R! WINNE D R A AW EISNER T! LD OU O S T S ALMO

Top creators discuss all aspects of the DESIGN OF COMICS:

DICK GIORDANO

CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality!

• Covers his career as illustrator, inker, and • WILL EISNER • SCOTT HAMPTON editor, peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL • MIKE WIERINGO • WALTER SIMONSON REFLECTIONS on his career milestones! • MIKE MIGNOLA • MARK SCHULTZ • DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI • MIKE CARLIN • Lavishly illustrated with RARE AND NEVER SEEN comics, merchandising, and • DICK GIORDANO • BRIAN STELFREEZE advertising art (includes a color section)! • CHRIS MOELLER • MARK CHIARELLO • Extensive index of his published work! If you’re serious about creating effective, • Comments & tributes by NEAL ADAMS, innovative comics, or just enjoying them DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL from the creator’s perspective, this guide is LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS must-reading! SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO & others! (208-Page Trade Paperback) $26 US • With a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS and Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ! (176-pg. Paperback) $24 US

THE LEGION COMPANION • A history of the Legion of Super-Heroes, with DAVE COCKRUM, MIKE GRELL, JIM STARLIN, JAMES SHERMAN, PAUL LEVITZ, KEITH GIFFEN, STEVE LIGHTLE, MARK WAID, JIM SHOOTER, JIM MOONEY, AL PLASTINO, and more! • Rare and never-seen Legion art by the above, plus GEORGE PÉREZ, NEAL ADAMS, CURT SWAN, and others! • Unused Cockrum character designs and pages from an UNUSED STORY! • New cover by DAVE COCKRUM and JOE RUBINSTEIN, introduction by JIM SHOOTER, and more! (224-page Trade Paperback) $29 US

GET ALL THREE COLLECTIONS OF MARK EVANIER’S ACCLAIMED POV COLUMNS! Each volume includes new essays, plus new illustrations and new covers by Mark’s GROO collaborator and MAD artist SERGIO ARAGONÉS! 200-page Trade Paperbacks • $17 US EACH

BEST OF THE LEGION OUTPOST Collects the best material from the hardto-find LEGION OUTPOST fanzine, including rare interviews and articles from creators such as DAVE COCKRUM, CARY BATES, and JIM SHOOTER, plus neverbefore-seen artwork by COCKRUM, MIKE GRELL, JIMMY JANES and others! It also features a previously unpublished interview with KEITH GIFFEN originally intended for the never-published LEGION OUTPOST #11, plus other new material! And it sports a rarely-seen classic 1970s cover by Legion fan favorite artist DAVE COCKRUM! (160-page trade paperback) $22 US

STREETWISE

TOP ARTISTS DRAWING STORIES OF THEIR LIVES An unprecedented assembly of talent drawing NEW autobiographical stories: • Barry WINDSOR-SMITH • C.C. BECK • Sergio ARAGONÉS • Walter SIMONSON • Brent ANDERSON • Nick CARDY • Roy THOMAS & John SEVERIN • Paul CHADWICK • Rick VEITCH • Murphy ANDERSON • Joe KUBERT • Evan DORKIN • Sam GLANZMAN • Plus Art SPIEGELMAN, Jack KIRBY, more! Cover by RUDE • Foreword by EISNER (160-Page Trade Paperback) $24 US

CAPTAIN ACTION

THE ORIGINAL SUPERHERO ACTION FIGURE CAPTAIN ACTION debuted in the wake of the ’60s Batman TV show, and could become 13 different super-heroes. With over 200 toy photos, this trade paperback chronicles his history (including comic book appearances), with historical anecdotes by the late GIL KANE, JIM SHOOTER, STAN WESTON (co-creator of GI Joe, Captain Action, and Mego’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes), and others, plus never-seen artwork by GIL KANE, JOE STATON, CARMINE INFANTINO, JERRY ORDWAY, and MURPHY ANDERSON! Includes a color section! Written by MICHAEL EURY!

“I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THIS GUY!” Explore the lives of the partners and wives of the top names in comics, as they share memories, anecdotes, personal photos, momentos, and never-before-seen art by the top creators in comics! • ALAN MOORE • WILL EISNER • STAN LEE • GENE COLAN • JOE KUBERT • JOHN ROMITA • HARVEY KURTZMAN • DAVE SIM • HOWARD CRUSE • DAN DeCARLO • DAVE COOPER and many more! (208-Page Trade Paperback) $24 US

(176-Page Trade Paperback) $20 US THE

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

TOP ARTISTS DISCUSS THE DESIGN OF COMICS

THE EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF

ALL-STAR COMPANION VOL. 1 ROY THOMAS has assembled the most thorough look ever taken at All-Star Comics: • Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON! • Issue-by-issue coverage of ALL–STAR COMICS #1–57, the original JLA–JSA teamups, & the ’70s ALL–STAR REVIVAL! • Art from an unpublished 1945 JSA story! • Looks at FOUR “LOST” ALL–STAR issues! • Rare art by BURNLEY, DILLIN, KIRBY, INFANTINO, KANE, KUBERT, ORDWAY, ROSS, WOOD and more!! (208-page Trade Paperback) $26 US

REVISED EDITION! NOW SHIPPING!

ALAN MOORE HERO GETS GIRL!

THE LIFE & ART OF KURT SCHAFFENBERGER MARK VOGER’s biography of the artist of LOIS LANE & CAPTAIN MARVEL! • Covers KURT’S LIFE AND CAREER from the 1940s to his passing in 2002! • Features NEVER-SEEN PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATIONS from his files! • Includes recollections by ANDERSON, EISNER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, ALEX ROSS, MORT WALKER and others! (128-page Trade Paperback) $19 US

The reclusive British author tells HIS OWN STORY in an extensive series of interviews! • Spotlights RARE STRIPS, SCRIPTS, ARTWORK and PHOTOGRAPHS of the author, most never published before! • Features comic stories about Moore by: NEIL GAIMAN, DAVE GIBBONS, SAM KIETH, KEVIN O’NEILL, BRIAN BOLLAND, RICK VEITCH, and others, plus an artistic tribute by ALEX ROSS, and a new cover by DAVE MCKEAN! • Includes the RARE MOORE STORIES “Pictopia,” “Lust,” his unseen work on JUDGE DREDD, and more! (208-Page Trade Paperback) $29 US

COMIC BOOKS & OTHER NECESSITIES OF LIFE

First collection includes some of his best essays and commentaries, plus new ones on the state of the art form (as only Mark conveys it), the industry’s leading practitioners (including JACK KIRBY and CARL BARKS), convention-going, and Mark’s old comic book club (with unforgettable anecdotes)!

WERTHAM WAS RIGHT!

Second collection features many never-before published columns on comic book history, creation, and appreciation, including Mark’s diatribe on comic book numbering, and an essay on comics’ greatest villain, DR. FREDRIC WERTHAM!

SUPERHEROES IN MY PANTS! (NOW SHIPPING!)

NEW THIRD COLLECTION about the people who create comics, the people who read them, and why they do these strange things!

READ EXCERPTS & ORDER AT: www.twomorrows.com

COMICS ABOVE GROUND

SEE HOW YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS MAKE A LIVING OUTSIDE COMICS

TRUE BRIT

CELEBRATING GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE UK A celebration of the rich history of British Comics Artists and their influence on the US with in-depth interviews and art by: • BRIAN BOLLAND • ALAN DAVIS • DAVE GIBBONS • BRYAN HITCH • DAVID LLOYD

• DAVE MCKEAN • KEVIN O’NEILL • BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH and other gents!

(204-page Trade Paperback with COLOR SECTION) $26 US

ACTING WITH A PENCIL EFFECTIVE DRAWING FOR COMICS AND ANIMATION

Make your drawings come alive with this ALL-NEW indispensible guide to creating animation and comic book art. Cartooning and lively figure drawing are explained in clear, easily understood prose and demonstrated by HUNDREDS OF DRAWINGS created especially for this book by two Emmy Award-winning masters of the subject: Mike Manley and Bret Blevins of DRAW! magazine! (160-page Trade Paperback) $24 US

SHIPS MAY ’05

COMICS ABOVE GROUND features top comics pros discussing their inspirations and training, and how they apply it in “Mainstream Media,” including Conceptual Illustration, Video Game Development, Children’s Books, Novels, Design, Illustration, Fine Art, Storyboards, Animation, Movies & more! Written by DURWIN TALON (author of the top-selling PANEL DISCUSSIONS), this book features creators sharing their perspectives and their work in comics and their “other professions,” with career overviews, neverbefore-seen art, and interviews! Featuring: • BRUCE TIMM • BERNIE WRIGHTSON • ADAM HUGHES

• LOUISE SIMONSON • DAVE DORMAN • GREG RUCKA & MORE!

MR. MONSTER, HIS BOOKS OF FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE, VOLUME ZERO • 12 Tales of Mr. Monster, with 30 ALL-NEW pages by MICHAEL T. GILBERT! • Collects hard-to-find stories & the lost NEWSPAPER STRIP! • New 8-page FULL-COLOR STORY by KEITH GIFFEN & MICHAEL T. GILBERT! (136-pg. Paperback) $14 US

(168-page Trade Paperback) $24 US

CALL OR WRITE FOR OUR NEW CATALOG, OR DOWNLOAD IT NOW AT www.twomorrows.com

G-FORCE: ANIMATED

THE OFFICIAL BATTLE OF THE PLANETS GUIDEBOOK The official compendium to the Japanese animated TV program that revolutionized anime across the globe! Featuring plenty of unseen artwork and designs from the wondrous world of G-FORCE (a.k.a. Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), it presents interviews and behind-the-scenes stories of the pop culture phenomenon that captured the hearts and imagination of Generation X, and spawned the new hit comic series! Co-written by JASON HOFIUS and GEORGE KHOURY, this FULL-COLOR account is highlighted by a NEW PAINTED COVER from master artist ALEX ROSS! (96-Page Trade Paperback) $20 US

MODERN MASTERS SERIES Edited by ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON

! IPPING H S W NO AGAINST THE GRAIN: MAD ARTIST

WALLACE WOOD

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 1

The definitive biographical memoir on one of comics' finest artists, 20 years in the making! Former associate BHOB STEWART traces Wood's life and career, with contributions from many artists and writers who knew Wood personally, making this a remarkable compendium of art, insights and critical commentary! From childhood drawings & early samples to nearly endless comics pages (many unpublished), this is the most stunning display of Wood art ever assembled! BILL PEARSON, executor of the Wood Estate, contributed rare drawings from Wood's own files, while art collector ROGER HILL provides a wealth of obscure, previously unpublished Wood drawings and paintings.

Compiles material from the first two soldout issues of DRAW!, the “How-To” magazine on comics and cartooning! Tutorials by, and interviews with: DAVE GIBBONS (layout and drawing on the computer), BRET BLEVINS (drawing lovely women, painting from life, and creating figures that “feel”), JERRY ORDWAY (detailing his working methods), KLAUS JANSON and RICARDO VILLAGRAN (inking techniques), GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY (on animation and Samurai Jack), STEVE CONLEY (creating web comics and cartoons), PHIL HESTER and ANDE PARKS (penciling and inking), and more!

(336-Page Trade Paperback) $44 US

WALLACE WOOD CHECKLIST

Lists Wood’s PUBLISHED COMICS WORK in detail, plus FANZINE ART, ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATIONS, UNPUBLISHED WORK, and more. Illustrated with rare and unseen Wood artwork! (68 Pages) $7 US

(200-page trade paperback) $26 US

FAWCETT COMPANION THE BEST OF FCA Presenting the best of the FAWCETT COLLECTORS OF AMERICA newsletter! • New JERRY ORDWAY cover! • Index of ALL FAWCETT COMICS! • Looks inside the FAWCETT OFFICES! • Interviews, features, and rare and previously unpublished artwork by C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, MAC RABOY, DAVE BERG, ALEX TOTH, BOB OKSNER, GEORGE EVANS, ALEX ROSS, Foreword by MARC SWAYZE, and more!

G! HIPPIN NOW S

(160-page Trade Paperback) $20 US

CRAZY HIP GROOVY GO-GO WAY-OUT MONSTERS #29 & #32

PETE VON SHOLLY’s spoof of monster mags will have you laughing your pants off—right after you soil them from sheer terror! (48 Pages) $8 EACH US

SPECIAL! GET BOTH ISSUES FOR $12 US POSTPAID

A new series of trade paperbacks devoted to the BEST OF TODAY'S COMICS ARTISTS! Each volume contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, plus a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW (including influences and their views on graphic storytelling), DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more!

VOL. 1: ALAN DAVIS

VOL. 3: BRUCE TIMM

(128-Page Trade Paperback) $17 US

(120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US

VOL. 2: GEORGE PÉREZ

VOL. 4: KEVIN NOWLAN

(128-Page Trade Paperback) $17 US

(120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US

Prices Include US Postage. Outside the US, Add $2 Per Item Canada, $3 Per Item Surface, $7 Per Item Airmail

TwoMorrows. Bringing New Life To Comics Fandom. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Dr. • Raleigh, NC 27614 • 919/449-0344 • FAX 919/449-0327 • e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

Prices include US Postage. Outside the US, Per Item Add $2 Canada, Elsewhere: $3 Surface, $7 Airmail.

Edited by ROY THOMAS The greatest ’zine of the ’60s is back, all-new, and focused on Golden & Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews, unseen art, plus FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

AE #2: (100 pgs.) All-new! EISNER “SPIRIT” story, KANE, FOX & SCHWARTZ on The Atom, L. LIEBER & JACK BURNLEY intvs., KANIGHER, FCA, new color BURNLEY & KANE covers, more! $8 US

AE #3: (100 pgs.) ALEX ROSS cover & interview, JERRY ORDWAY, BILL EVERETT, CARL BURGOS, Giant FAWCETT (FCA) section with C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, & more! $8 US

AE #4: (100 pgs.) 60 years of HAWKMAN & FLASH! ROY THOMAS remembers GIL KANE, intvs. with KUBERT, MOLDOFF, LAMPERT, FOX, FCA with BECK & SWAYZE, KUBERT covers, more! $8 US

AE #5: (100 pgs.) JSA issue! Intvs. with SHELLY MAYER, GIL KANE, MART NODELL, GEORGE ROUSSOS, FCA with BECK & SWAYZE, NEW INFANTINO / ORDWAY wraparound cover, more! $8 US

AE #6: (100 pgs.) GENE COLAN intv., how-to books by STAN LEE & KANIGHER, ALLSTAR SQUADRON, MAC RABOY section, FCA with BECK & SWAYZE, COLAN & RABOY covers, more! $8 US

AE #7: (100 pgs.) Companion issue to the ALL-STAR COMPANION! J. SCHWARTZ intv., JLA-JSA teamups, MAC RABOY, FCA with BECK & SWAYZE, BUCKLER & BECK covers, more! $8 US

AE #8: (100 pgs.) Bio of WALLY WOOD, ADKINS & PEARSON intvs., KUBERT intv., FCA w/ BECK, SWAYZE, & ORDWAY, MR. MONSTER, WOOD & KUBERT covers, more! $8 US

AE #9: (100 pgs.) JOHN ROMITA intv. & gallery, plus ROY THOMAS’ dream projects! FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, & TUSKA, MR. MONSTER, ROMITA & DICK GIORDANO covers! $8 US

AE #10: (100 pgs) CARMINE INFANTINO intv. & art, neverseen FLASH story, VIN SULLIVAN & MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES, FRED GUARDINEER, AYERS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, more! $8 US

AE #11: (100 pgs) Interviews with SYD SHORES, MICKEY SPILLANE, VINCE FAGO, MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES Part Two, FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, DON NEWTON, MR. MONSTER, more! $8 US

AE #12: (100 pgs) GILL FOX on QUALITY COMICS, neverseen PAUL REINMAN Green Lantern art, origins of ALLSTAR SQUADRON, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD, more! $8 US

AE #13 (100 pgs.) TITANS OF TIMELY/MARVEL Part Two! JOE SIMON & MURPHY ANDERSON covers, Silver Age AVENGERS section (with BUSCEMA, HECK, TUSKA, & THOMAS) & more! $8 US

AE #14 (100 pgs.) JSA FROM THE ’40s TO THE ’80s! MIKE NASSER & MICHAEL T. GILBERT covers, intvs. with ORDWAY & LEE ELIAS, neverseen 1940s JSA pgs., ’70s JSA, & more! $8 US

AE #15 (108 pgs.) JOHN BUSCEMA TRIBUTE ISSUE! BUSCEMA covers & interview, unseen art, ROY THOMAS on their collaborations, plus salute to KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, & more! $8 US

AE #16: (108 pgs.) COLAN, BUSCEMA, ROMITA, SEVERIN interviews, ALEX ROSS on Shazam!, OTTO & JACK BINDER, KURTZMAN, new ROSS & FRADON/SEVERIN covers, more! $8 US

AE #17: (108 pgs.) LOU FINE overview & art, ARNOLD DRAKE & MURPHY ANDERSON interviews, plus EISNER, CRANDALL, DAVIS & EVANS’ non-EC action comics, FCA, LOU FINE cover, more! $8 US

AE #18: (108 pgs.) STAN GOLDBERG interview & art, plus KIRBY, DITKO, HECK, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, EVERETT, WALLY WOOD’S Flash Gordon, FCA, KIRBY & SWAYZE covers, more! $8 US

AE #19: (108 pgs.) DICK SPRANG interview & art, JERRY ROBINSON on FRED RAY, BOB KANE, CARMINE INFANTINO, ALEX TOTH, WALLY WOOD, FCA, SPRANG & RAY covers, more! $8 US

AE #20: (108 pgs.) TIMELY/ MARVEL focus, INVADERS overview with KIRBY, KANE, ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS intv., panel with FINGER, BINDER, FOX, & WEISINGER, FCA, rare art, more! $8 US

AE #21: (108 pgs.) IGER STUDIO with art by EISNER, FINE, MESKIN, ANDERSON, CRANDALL, CARDY, EVANS, “SHEENA” section, THOMAS on the JSA, FCA, DAVE STEVENS cover, more! $8 US

AE #22: (108 pgs.) EVERETT & KUBERT interviewed by GIL KANE & NEAL ADAMS, ROY THOMAS on Sub-Mariner, COLAN, BUSCEMA, SEVERIN, WOOD, FCA, BECK & EVERETT covers, more! $8 US

AE #23: (108 pgs.) Two unseen Golden Age WONDER WOMAN stories examined, BOB FUJITANI intv. Archie/ MLJ’s JOHN ROSENBERGER & VICTOR GORELICK intv., FCA, rare art, more! $8 US

AE #24: (108 pgs.) NEW X-MEN intvs. with STAN LEE, COCKRUM, CLAREMONT, WEIN, DRAKE, SHOOTER, THOMAS, MORT MESKIN profiled, FCA, covers by COCKRUM & MESKIN! $8 US

AE #25: (108 pgs.) JACK COLE & PLASTIC MAN! Brother DICK COLE interviewed, Cole celebrated by ALEX TOTH, THOMAS on All-Star Squadron #1, JERRY BAILS tribute, FCA, cover by TOTH! $8 US

AE #26: (108 pgs.) JOE SINNOTT interview, KIRBY and BUSCEMA art, IRWIN DONENFELD, Superman art by SHUSTER, BORING, SWAN, FCA, Mr. MONSTER, covers by SINNOTT & BORING! $8 US

TIMELY/ AE #20: #27: (108 (108pgs.) pgs.) VIN MARVEL focus, INVADERS SULLIVAN intv., “Lost” KIRBY overview with KIRBY, KANE, HULK covers, the 1948 NY ROBBINS, DESCHAMPS CON, “GreatBOB Unknown” artists, intv., panel FCA, withALEX FINGER, KURTZMAN, TOTH, BINDER, FOX, & WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, covers by FCA, rare art, more! $8 $8 US US BURNLEY & KIRBY!

AE #28: (108 pgs.) JOE MANEELY spotlight, scarce Marvel art by EVERETT, SEVERIN, DITKO, ROMITA, extra-size FCA, LEE AMES intv., covers by MANEELY & DON NEWTON! $8 US

AE #29: (108 pgs.) FRANK BRUNNER intv., EVERETT’s Venus, Classics Illustrated adapting Lovecraft, LEE/KIRBY/ DITKO prototypes, ALEX TOTH, FCA with GENE COLAN, BRUNNER cover! $8 US

AE #30: (108 pgs.) SILVER AGE JLA special, ALEX ROSS on the JLA, MIKE SEKOWSKY, DICK DILLIN, GOLDEN AGE SIMON & KIRBY scripters speak, FRENCH HEROES, ROSS & RUDE covers! $8 US

AE #31: (108 pgs.) DICK AYERS intv., HARLAN ELLISON’S Marvel work (with Bullpen artists), LEE/KIRBY/ DITKO prototypes, Christmas cards from cartoonists, AYERS & RAY covers! $8 US

AE #32: (108 pgs.) Golden Age TIMELY ARTISTS intv., MART NODELL, MIKE GOLD on the Silver Age, art by SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, INFANTINO, KANE, GIORDANO & GIL KANE covers! $8 US

AE #33: (108 pgs.) MIKE SEKOWSKY tribute, intvs. with wife PAT SEKOWSKY and Golden Age inker VALERIE BARCLAY, art by ANDERSON, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, INFANTINO, FRENZ covers! $8 US

AE #34: (108 pgs.) QUALITY COMICS, intvs. with ALEX KOTZKY, CHUCK CUIDERA, DICK ARNOLD, TOTH, KURTZMAN, art by FINE, EISNER, COLE, CRANDALL and NICHOLAS covers! $8 US

AE #35: #20: (108 (108pgs.) pgs.)STAN TIMELY/ LEE, MARVEL focus,DICK INVADERS JOHN ROMITA, AYERS, overview with KIRBY, KANE, ROY THOMAS, & AL JAFFEE ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS on the 1940s & 1950s Golden intv., FINGER, Age at panel Timely/with Marvel, FCA, BINDER, FOX, & ROMITA WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, and $8 US FCA, rarecovers! art, more! $8 US JAFFEE

AE #36: (108 pgs.) JOE SIMON intv. & cover, GOLDEN AGE HEROES of Canada, ELMER WEXLER, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on MR. MONSTER’S ORIGINS, FCA, ALEX TOTH, and more! $8 US

AE #37: (108 pgs.) BECK & BORING covers, SY BARRY intv., Superman “K-Metal” story, FCA with C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, DON NEWTON, and Shazam!/Isis!, MR. MONSTER, and more! $8 US

AE #38: (108 pgs.) JULIUS SCHWARTZ tribute & interviews, art by INFANTINO, ANDERSON, KUBERT, KANE, TOTH, SWAN, SEKOWSKY, FCA section, INFANTINO and HASEN covers, more!! $8 US

AE #39: (108 pgs.) Full issue JERRY ROBINSON spotlight, with comprehensive interview and unseen Batman art, AL FELDSTEIN on EC, GIL FOX, MESKIN, ROUSSOS, & ROBINSON covers! $8 US

AE #40: (108 pgs.) JULIUS SCHWARTZ memorial issue with tributes by pros, GIL KANE interview, comprehensive interview and unseen art by RUSS HEATH, GIL KANE and HEATH covers! $8 US

ALTER EGO #41 (NOW!)

ALTER EGO #42 (NOW!)

ALTER EGO #43 (NOW!)

ALTER EGO #44 (NOW!)

Frankenstein cover by BERNIE WRIGHTSON—plus Captain Marvel flipcover by 1940s Fawcett artist MARC SWAYZE! WRIGHTSON on his ’70s FRANKENSTEIN masterwork—DON GLUT on the Monster in four colors—MICHELLE NOLAN on ACG’s “Spirit of Frankenstein”— DC’s “Spawn of Frankenstein” & Dell’s super-hero take—the Monstrous genius of DICK BRIEFER (with tons of rare art)—and like that! Art by KALUTA, BAILY, MANEELY, PLOOG, KUBERT, BRUNNER, COWAN, BORING, OKSNER, TUSKA, CRANDALL, SUTTON, and others! Plus FCA celebrates its 100th issue, with Golden Age Captain Marvel artist EMILIO SQUEGLIO interviewed by JIM AMASH, ALEX TOTH, MICHAEL T. GILBERT—and more! (108-page magazine) $8 US

MARVEL’S FORGOTTEN SILVER AGE ARTISTS, THE GOLDEN AGE OF ZIFFDAVIS, HILLMAN, & THE HEAP! Neverseen covers by FASTNER & LARSON, and Heap artist ERNIE SCHROEDER! A celebration of DON HECK, WERNER ROTH, and PAUL REINMAN, plus rare art by JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, DICK AYERS, et al.! Then, from Hillman to ZiffDavis, two Golden Age comics companies and their creators remembered by Heap/Airboy artist ERNIE SCHROEDER, editor HERB ROGOFF, and cartoonist WALTER LITTMAN—interviewed by JIM AMASH! Plus scarce Hillman & Ziff-Davis art by ANDERSON, INFANTINO, LEAV, KIDA, KRIEGSTEIN, & many others! Also: FCA, ALEX TOTH, & more! (108-page magazine) $8 US

CHRISTMAS—NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE BORDER! Behind flip covers by GEORGE TUSKA and DAVE STEVENS— Yuletide art by WALLY WOOD, JOE SINNOTT, FRANK BRUNNER, NICK CARDY, ALEX TOTH, MART NODELL, ESTEBAN MAROTO, and others! Interviews with Golden Age artists TOM GILL (Lone Ranger) and MORRIS WEISS of the Timely/Marvel Bullpen! “The Silver Age of Mexican Comics” by historian FRED PATTEN, exploring 1960s Mexican comics (with a cornucopia of rarely-seen comic art)! Plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, et al.—BILL SCHELLY on comics fandom—MICHAEL T. GILBERT’s Comic Crypt—and more! (108-page magazine) $8 US

Behind a wraparound JSA/ALL-STAR SQUADRON/INFINITY INC. cover by JERRY ORDWAY, you’ll find interviews with All-Star Comics/Hawkman artist JOE KUBERT— JSA/JLA co-creator GARDNER FOX—JLA/JSA artist MURPHY ANDERSON—All-Star Squadron/Infinity, Inc. artist JERRY ORDWAY—plus 1940s Atom writer ARTHUR ADLER! Rare Golden/Silver/ Bronze Age art by ALEX TOTH, MIKE SEKOWSKY, IRWIN HASEN, ARTHUR PEDDY, JOE GALLAGHER, MARTIN NAYDEL, MIKE MACHLAN, RICH BUCKLER, MICHAEL BAIR, et al.! FCA with MARC SWAYZE, C.C. BECK, and others—MICHAEL T. GILBERT showcases “I Like Ike!” cartoons by KANE, INFANTINO, OKSNER, and BIRO—and more! (100-page magazine) $8 US

ALTER EGO: THE CBA COLLECTION Reprints ALTER EGO flip-sides from COMIC BOOK ARTIST #1-5, plus 30 NEW PAGES: • Special color cover by JOE KUBERT and rare and previously-unpublished art by KIRBY, KANE, KUBERT, WOOD, ROBBINS, ADAMS, and others! • STEVE DITKO on the creation of SPIDER-MAN, ROY THOMAS on X-MEN, AVENGERS/KREE-SKRULL WAR, THE INVADERS, and more! (160-page Trade Paperback) $20 US

ALMOST SOLD OUT!

#10

NEXT ISSUE: M AG A Z I N E

•

long-awaited interview •The with Peter Bagge, iconoclastic writer/artist of Hate, conducted by JOEY CAVALIERI!

interview with Gerry Conway, writer of •An Spider-Man and a zillion other comics, about comics writing and about his current career in TV, writing and producing shows such as Law& Order: Criminal Intent and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys!

rs, rvel Characte

Inc.]

An interview with Dwayne McDuffie, story editor on the Justice League Unlimited animated series, and co-creator of the Milestone Comics Universe, including Static Shock!

Studios US A.]

An interview with Paul Benjamin, •editor-in-chief of Humanoids Publishing!

PLUS: More NUTS & BOLTS tips on writing from top comics pros, and much more!

SUBSCRIBE TO WRITE NOW! 4 issues: $20 Standard, $32 First Class (Canada: $40, Elsewhere: $44 Surface, $60 Airmail). Single copies: $8 US

Featuring:

BACK ISSUES

Prices Include US Postage. Outside the US, Add $2 Per Item Canada, $3 Per Item Surface, $7 Per Item Airmail

The KIRBY COLLECTOR (edited by JOHN MORROW) celebrates the life & career of the “King” of comics through interviews with Kirby & his contemporaries, feature articles, & rare & unseen Kirby artwork. Now in tabloid format, the magazine showcases Kirby’s art at even larger size.

KIRBY UNLEASHED: (60 pgs.) New, completely remastered version of the scarce 1971 portfolio/biography, with 8 extra B&W and 8 extra color pages, including Jack’s color GODS posters. $24 US

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOL. ONE: (240 pgs.) Reprints TJKC #1-9, plus over 30 pieces of NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED KIRBY ART! $29 US

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOL. TWO: (160 pgs.) Reprints TJKC #10-12, plus over 30 pieces of NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED KIRBY ART! $22 US

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOL. THREE: (176 pgs.) Reprints TJKC #1315, plus over 30 pieces of NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED KIRBY ART! $24 US

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOL. FOUR: (240 pgs.) Reprints TJKC #1619, plus over 30 pieces of NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED KIRBY ART! $29 US

JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST (100 pgs.) Lists all of Jack Kirby’s published comics in detail, plus Portfolios, unpublished work; even cross-references reprints! Filled with rare Kirby artwork! $7 US

CAPTAIN VICTORY: GRAPHITE EDITION (52 pgs.) Kirby’s 1975 Graphic Novel in original pencil form. Unseen art, screenplay, more! Proceeds go to preserving the 5000-page Kirby Archives! $8 US

TJKC #20: (68 pgs.) KIRBY’S WOMEN! Interviews with KIRBY, DAVE STEVENS, & LISA KIRBY, unused 10-page story, romance comics, Jack’s original CAPTAIN VICTORY screenplay, more! $8 US

TJKC #21: (68 pgs.) KIRBY, GIL KANE, & BRUCE TIMM intvs., FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE (LEE dialogue vs. KIRBY notes), SILVER STAR screenplay, TOPPS COMICS, unpublished art, more! $8 US

TJKC #22: (68 pgs.) VILLAINS! KIRBY, STEVE RUDE, & MIKE MIGNOLA interviews, FF #49 pencils, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, KOBRA, ATLAS MONSTERS! Kirby/Stevens cover. $8 US

TJKC #23: (68 pgs.) Interviews with KIRBY, DENNY O’NEIL & TRACY KIRBY, more FF #49 pencils, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, unused 10page SOUL LOVE story, more! $8 US

TJKC #24: (68 pgs.) BATTLES! KIRBY’S original art fight, JIM SHOOTER interview, NEW GODS #6 (“Glory Boat”) pencils, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, more! Kirby/ Mignola cover. $8 US

TJKC #25: (100 pgs.) SIMON & KIRBY! KIRBY, SIMON, & JOHN SEVERIN interviews, CAPTAIN AMERICA pencils, unused BOY EXPLORERS story, history of MAINLINE COMICS, more! $8 US

TJKC #26: (72 pgs.) GODS! COLOR NEW GODS concept drawings, KIRBY & WALTER SIMONSON interviews, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, BIBLE INFLUENCES, THOR, MR. MIRACLE, more! $8 US

TJKC #27: (72 pages) KIRBY INFLUENCE Part One! KIRBY and ALEX ROSS interviews, KIRBY FAMILY Roundtable, all-star lineup of pros discuss Kirby’s influence on them! Kirby / Timm cover. $8 US

TJKC #30: (68 pgs.) ’80s WORK! Interviews with ALAN MOORE & Kirby Estate’s ROBERT KATZ, HUNGER DOGS, SUPER POWERS, SILVER STAR, ANIMATION work, more! $8 US

TJKC #31: (84 pgs.) TABLOID FORMAT! Wraparound KIRBY/ ADAMS cover, KURT BUSIEK & LADRONN interviews, new MARK EVANIER column, favorite 2-PAGE SPREADS, 2001 Treasury, more! $13 US

TJKC #32: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! KIRBY interview, new MARK EVANIER column, plus Kirby’s Least Known Work: DAYS OF THE MOB #2, THE HORDE, BLACK HOLE, SOUL LOVE, PRISONER, more! $13 US

TJKC #33: (84 pgs.) TABLOID ALL-FANTASTIC FOUR issue! MARK EVANIER column, miniinterviews with everyone who worked on FF after Kirby, STAN LEE interview, 40 pgs. of FF PENCILS, more! $13 US

TJKC #34: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! JOE SIMON & CARMINE INFANTINO interviews, MARK EVANIER column, unknown 1950s concepts, CAPTAIN AMERICA pencils, KIRBY/ TOTH cover, more! $13 US

TJKC #35: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! GREAT ESCAPES with MISTER MIRACLE, comparing KIRBY & HOUDINI, Kirby Tribute Panel with EVANIER, EISNER, BUSCEMA, ROMITA, ROYER, & JOHNNY CARSON! $13 US

IL! IN APR TJKC #36: (84 pgs.) TABLOID ALL-THOR issue! MARK EVANIER column, SINNOTT & ROMITA JR. interviews, unseen KIRBY INTV., ART GALLERY, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, more! $13 US

TJKC #37: (84 pgs.) TABLOID HOW TO DRAW THE KIRBY WAY issue! MARK EVANIER column, MIKE ROYER on inking, KIRBY interview, ART GALLERY, analysis of Kirby’s art techniques, more! $13 US

TJKC #38: (84 pgs.) TABLOID KIRBY: STORYTELLER! MARK EVANIER column, JOE SINNOTT on inking, SWIPES, talks with JACK DAVIS, PAUL GULACY, HERNANDEZ BROS., ART GALLERY, more! $13 US

TJKC #39: (84 pgs.) TABLOID FAN FAVORITES! EVANIER column, INHUMANS, HULK, SILVER SURFER, tribute panel with ROMITA, AYERS, LEVITZ, McFARLANE, TRIMPE, ART GALLERY, more! $13 US

TJKC #40: (84 pgs.) TABLOID “WORLD THAT’S COMING!” EVANIER column, KAMANDI, OMAC, tribute panel with CHABON, PINI, GOLDBERG, BUSCEMA, LIEBER, LEE, ART GALLERY, more! $13 US

TJKC #41: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! 1970s MARVEL, including Jack’s last year on FF, EVANIER column, GIORDANO interview, tribute panel with GIBBONS, RUDE, SIMONSON, RYAN, ART GALLERY, more! $13 US

TJKC #42: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! Spotlights Kirby at ’70s DC Comics, from Jimmy Olsen to Kung-Fu Fighter! Huge Kirby pencil art gallery, covers inked by KEVIN NOWLAN & MURPHY ANDERSON! $13 US

KIRBY COLLECTOR SUBSCRIPTIONS! 4 tabloid issues: $36 Standard, $52 First Class (Canada: $60, Elsewhere: $64 Surface, $80 Airmail).

1 ST SERIES BACK ISSUES! CBA is the 2000-2003 Eisner Award winner for BEST COMICSRELATED MAG! Edited by Jon B. Cooke, it features in-depth articles, interviews, and unseen art. Back issues are ONLY AVAILABLE FROM TWOMORROWS!

CBA #9: (116 pgs.) CBA #10: (116 pgs.) WALTER CBA #11: (116 pgs.) ALEX CHARLTON COMICS: PART SIMONSON, plus WOMEN OF TOTH & SHELDON MAYER! ONE! DICK GIORDANO, THE COMICS! RAMONA TOTH interviews, unseen art, PETER MORISI, JIM APARO, FRADON, MARIE SEVERIN, appreciations, checklist, & JOE GILL, MCLAUGHLIN, TRINA ROBBINS, JOHN more. Also, SHELLY MAYER’s GLANZMAN, new GIORDANO WORKMAN, new SIMONSON kids, the real life SUGAR & cover, more! $9 US SPIKE! $9 US cover, & more! $9 US

WARREN COMPANION The ultimate guide to Warren Publishing, the publisher of such mags as CREEPY, EERIE, VAMPIRELLA, BLAZING COMBAT, and others. Reprints COMIC BOOK ARTIST #4 (completely reformatted), plus nearly 200 new pages: • New painted cover by ALEX HORLEY! • A definitive WARREN CHECKLIST! • Dozens of NEW FEATURES on CORBEN, FRAZETTA, DITKO and others, and interviews with WRIGHTSON, WARREN, EISNER, ADAMS, COLAN & many more! (288-page unsigned Hardcover) $44 US

CBA #12: (116 pgs.) CBA #13: (116 pgs.) MARVEL CBA #14: (116 pgs.) TOWER CBA #15: (116 pgs.) LOVE & CHARLTON COMICS OF THE HORROR OF THE 1970s! Art/ COMICS! Art by & intvs. with ROCKETEERS! Art by & intvs. 1970s! Rare art/intvs. with interviews with WOLFMAN, WALLY WOOD, DAN ADKINS, with DAVE STEVENS, LOS STATON, BYRNE, NEWTON, COLAN, PALMER, THOMAS, LEN BROWN, STEVE BROS. HERNANDEZ, MATT SUTTON, ZECK, NICK CUTI, a ISABELLA, PERLIN, TRIMPE, SKEATES, GEORGE TUSKA, WAGNER, DEAN MOTTER, NEW E-MAN strip, new MARCOS, a new COLAN/ new WOOD & ADKINS covers, new STEVENS/HERNANDEZ STATON cover, more! $9 US PALMER cover, more! $9 US more! $9 US cover, more! $9 US

NOTE: These unsigned hardcovers have all the contents of the signed version, except for the signed Wrightson plate. Please call for availability of the signed version. Sorry, the softcover is sold out.

THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST COLLECTION, VOL. TWO Second volume in the series, reprinting the Eisner Award-winning COMIC BOOK ARTIST #5-6 (spotlighting 1970s DC and Marvel comics), plus over 50 NEW PAGES of features and art: • New interviews with MARSHALL ROGERS, STEVE ENGLEHART, & TERRY AUSTIN on their highly-acclaimed 1970s Batman work! • An extensive look at perhaps the rarest 1970s comic of all, DC’s CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE, showcasing unused stories from that decade! (208-page Trade Paperback) $24 US

CBA COLLECTION, VOL. 3 IN APRIL! $29 US

CBA #16: (132 pgs.) ’70s CBA #17: (116 pgs.) ARTHUR CBA #18: (116 pgs.) COSMIC CBA #19: (116 pgs.) HARVEY CBA #20: (116 pgs.) FATHERS CBA #21: (116 pgs.) THE ART CBA #22: (116 pgs.) GOLD ATLAS/SEABOARD COMICS! ADAMS & CO.! ART ADAMS COMICS OF THE ’70s! Art by COMICS! Art by & intvs. with & SONS! Art by & intvs. with OF ADAM HUGHES! Art, KEY COMICS! Art by & intvs. Art by & interviews with interview & gallery, remem- & intvs. with JIM STARLIN, SIMON & KIRBY, WALLY the top father/son teams in interview & checklist with with RUSS MANNING, WALLY ERNIE CÓLON, CHAYKIN, bering GRAY MORROW, ALAN WEISS, ENGLEHART, WOOD, AL WILLIAMSON, GIL comics: ADAM, ANDY, & JOE HUGHES, plus a day in the life WOOD, JESSE SANTOS, ROVIN, AMENDOLA, HAMA, GEORGE ROUSSOS, GEORGE AL MILGROM, LEIALOHA, KANE, SID JACOBSON, FRED KUBERT & JOHN ROMITA SR. of ALEX ROSS, JOHN MARK EVANIER, DON GLUT, new CÓLON & KUPPERBERG EVANS, new ART ADAMS ’60s Bullpen reunion, new RHOADES, MITCH O’CONNELL & JR., new ROMITA & BUSCEMA tribute, new new BRUCE TIMM cover, cover, more! $9 US covers, more! $9 US STARLIN cover, more! $9 US cover, more! $9 US KUBERT covers, more! $9 US HUGHES cover, more! $9 US more! $9 US

CBA #23: (116 pgs.) MIKE CBA #24: (116 pgs.) COMICS CBA #25: (116 pgs.) ALAN MIGNOLA SPOTLIGHT, plus OF NATIONAL LAMPOON with MOORE’S ABC COMICS with JILL THOMPSON: Sandman to GAHAN WILSON, BODÉ, NEAL MOORE, KEVIN NOWLAN, Scary Godmother! Mignola ADAMS, FRANK SPRINGER, GENE HA, RICK VEITCH, J.H. INTERVIEW & ART GALLERY, ALAN KUPPERBERG, BOBBY WILLIAMS, SCOTT DUNBIER, extensive CHECKLIST, new LONDON, MICHAEL GROSS, JIM BAIKIE, and NOWLAN & cover, & more! $9 US WILLIAMS covers! $9 US more! $9 US

COMICOLOGY (edited by BRIAN SANER LAMKEN), the highlyacclaimed magazine about modern comics, recently ended its four-issue run, but back issues are available, featuring never-seen CC #2: (100 pgs.) MIKE CC #3: (100 pgs.) CARLOS CC #4: (116 pgs., final issue) art & interviews. ALLRED interview & portfolio, PACHECO interview & portfolio, ALL-BRIAN ISSUE! Interviews

TwoMorrows. Bringing New Life To Comics Fandom.

60 years of THE SPIRIT, 25 ANDI WATSON interview, a look with BRIAN AZZARELLO, years of the X-MEN, PAUL at what comics predicted the BRIAN CLOPPER, BRIAN GRIST interview, FORTY future would be like, new color MICHAEL BENDIS, BRIAN WINKS, new color ALLRED & PACHECO & WATSON covers, BOLLAND, huge BOLLAND GRIST covers, & more! $8 US & more! $8 US portfolio, & more! $8 US

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Dr. • Raleigh, NC 27614 • 919/449-0344 • FAX 919/449-0327 • e-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com