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with Ron Marz
Interview
with: Troy
Brownfield
(special thanks to Ian Feller of CrossGen Comics)
If you're a devout comics fan, you've no doubt heard of today's
guest. He came to prominence on Silver Surfer, but he really
made his name known by taking over DC's Green Lantern. Ushering
in the age of Kyle Rayner, this writer took a character that
Hal Jordan zealots wanted to see fail and made him into an
engaging personality who grappled with the questions of power
and responsibility. That talent caught the attention of fledgling
comics company CrossGen, who tapped the writer for a move
down south. As the scribe on Mystic and Scion, our guest continues
to explore questions of power and responsibility in two of
the most exciting comics to debut last year. He'll also be
helming a new CrossGen title, Sojourn.
Everyone,
please welcome Ron Marz!
THE BIG Q&A
Q1.
Through your run on Green Lantern, and in your current CrossGen
books, you've dealt monthly with the theme of "responsibility
of power". Is this a theme that you're naturally drawn to,
and how has several years of touching on the topic affected
how you view responsibility personally?
A1.
It's definitely something I'm drawn to, both personally and
as a storyteller. Obviously "coming to responsibility" stories
have been with us as long as we've been telling stories. It's
part of the traditional hero cycle in myth, and of course
it's been utilized in everything from Spider-Man to Star Wars.
It's really an evergreen concept when you're dealing with
mythic stories.
For me
personally I think it's a pretty simple formula: "Do what's
right." Do what's right for your family, your friends, the
people you work with, the fans who buy your books. I never
want there to be a day when I don't like the guy looking back
at me in the mirror, so you do what's right every day, even
when it's not the easiest thing to do. ESPECIALLY when it's
not the easiest thing to do.
Q2.
CrossGen arrived in popular consciousness with a bang. What's
it like to have been in on that from the ground floor?
A2.
Pretty damn satisfying, to tell you the truth. I'm very
gratified that I was here to contribute to the building of
CrossGen, both as a universe and as a company. We started
out comparatively small if you stack us up next to Marvel
or DC, and we're certainly doing different material than the
superhero fare you get from the Big Two. And yet we're still
here and growing, and frankly getting better all the time.
We have new people in house, like Mark Waid and Steve Epting
and Greg Land, who are doing terrific work. We have more people
on the way.
So there's
a great deal of satisfaction in watching this grow and having
helped nurture it. I'm proud of what we accomplished so far,
but it's only the beginning of what we can do.
Q3.
Like a lot of fans, I'm curious about the CrossGen quad system
and studio approach. Could you give us a view from the inside?
A3.
It's like having a real job, which for a lot of us comic
guys is a whole new way of life. You come to work in the morning
and you do your job. When you're done, you go home. You come
back the next day and do it again.
I'll be
the first one to say working at CrossGen isn't for everybody.
A large portion of the pros in the industry couldn't work
at CrossGen. It takes a higher level of talent, commitment
and maturity than anywhere in the industry, because to do
what we're doing on a monthly schedule, never miss shipping
dates and maintain this level of quality is not an easy thing.
Working in a studio like this requires a huge amount of dedication.
All that
said, I think this is the best place in the industry to work
if you've got what it takes. The studio environment is pretty
relaxed and wonderfully creative -- everyone learns from and
is inspired by each other. Having all the members of a book's
team under the same roof makes the job that much easier, and
cuts out any miscommunication. You'll see a hell of a lot
less mistakes in our books than in anyone else's. And in terms
of "real world" concerns, everyone's paid a salary, not a
page rate. We have vacation and sick days, full benefits.
A lot of guys have never had that. Working here, even though
we're a small start-up, feels more stable than working freelance.
This is our company. We're all part-owners thanks to the profit-sharing
and equity-sharing plans in place. Where else could you get
that?
 Q4.
"Mystic" has a gradually unfolding kind of feel, whereas "Scion"
seems to have a huge, sweeping scope. How do you balance these
two very different writing approaches?
A4.
A lot of the differences are dictated by character and setting,
both of which drive the plot. The kinds of stories we tell
in Mystic and Scion respectively are, I think, what works
best in those books. I don't know if it's as much a balancing
act as it is just trying to figure out what the book demands.
Q5.
Will you be taking on a third regular title in the future,
or is two your limit for the moment?
A:
My third monthly title, Sojourn, begins in June with an over-sized
Prequel issue, with the monthly series debuting in July. It's
more of a classic, traditional fantasy than CrossGen has done
previously, which is something I've always wanted to write,
and something I think the market is probably ready for as
well. It's a quest story, with a really nasty villain we're
hoping will turn into CrossGen's Doctor Doom. Greg Land is
penciling, with Drew Geraci inking and Caesar Rodriguez coloring.
It's easily the best stuff Greg has ever done. Birds of Prey
was great, Nightwing was great, but this stuff blows Greg's
previous work out of the water.
Q6.
This is my semi-obligatory question to all writers: what advice
do you have to impart on young writers hoping to break into
comics?
A:
Save the tough one for last, huh? Breaking in as a writer
is the toughest route, because unlike an artist, you can't
just show your portfolio to an editor and in five minutes
the editor knows whether you've got it or not. As a writer,
you actually have to get someone to READ what you do.
But there
are two bits of advice I traditionally give. One is to read
as much as possible, and not just comics. Read novels, read
non-fiction, read everything you can get your hands on. You
learn an immense amount about writing by reading, by seeing
how OTHERS write. And aspiring comics writers should learn
to be WRITERS, not just comics writers. First learn the craft
of writing and translate that into comics. I hate hearing,
"The only thing I ever wanted to do is write comics." The
industry doesn't need any more writers who want to re-tell
the comic stories they read when they were 11. What the industry
DOES need is storytellers, people with their own voice and
their own stories to tell.
The second
piece of advice is more practical. It's virtually impossible
to break in at Marvel or DC. If somebody's out there working
on an Avengers submission, stop wasting your time. An editor
has a long list of established, proven professionals he can
call to write Avengers or anything else. New writers are much
better off going through small press publishers or even self-publishing
if they can team up with an artist. It's not as sexy as writing
X-Men or JLA, but it's real, practical experience. Once you've
got some of those sorts of projects under your belt, once
you're seen as a published pro, it's a lot easier to go knocking
on the doors of the big publishers.
We'd like to thank Mr. Marz for taking the time to take part
in The Big Question! If you've missed his early monthly work
on either Mystic or Scion, trade paperbacks of the first seven
issues will be arriving soon! Don't forget to check out Sojourn
this summer as well. You can learn more about the CrossGen
universe at www.crossgen.com.
Also, we owe a special thanks to Ian Feller at CrossGen, who
arranged this interview for us.
As always,
if you have any suggestions for future Big Questions, direct
them to Troy at psikotyk@aol.com.
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