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with Mark Waid
Interview
with: Troy
Brownfield
Whenever you write columns and do interviews, you make a mental
list of who you would ultimately like to have as a guest.
I've always wanted to be able to ask questions of personalities
like Warren Ellis, Kevin Eastman, and Matt Wagner, and fortunately,
I've been able to do so. However, there was one writer that
I really wanted to track down, based on his obvious work ethic,
affection for certain characters, creativity, and all-around
insight.
And here
he is.
Our guest
this time has written The Avengers, X-Men, and Captain America.
He did The Flash for eight years and co-created its spin-off,
Impulse. With Alex Ross, he did the magnificent Kingdom Come.
He's one of the forces behind the new Gorilla Comics and writes
Empire there. He writes Gatecrasher for Black Bull. And he's
just taken over as the writer of nothing less than the JLA.
Ladies and gentleman, he's Mark Waid.
THE BIG Q&A
Q1. You just ended a remarkable run on "The Flash" (98 regular
issues?). If you would, please tell us how you feel about
departing a book that obviously means a lot to you personally?
A1.
It's no secret that Wally and I dovetailed enough for me to
(I think) seamlessly overlay my own personality, speech pattern,
and personal goals and dreams onto him. If ever I had an alter
ego, Wally was it. We had similar upbringings--small-town
boys who wanted to move faster, fathers we couldn't connect
with, a real desire to find outside the standard family dynamic
that which family gives you. And the day early on when I first
wrote, in Wally's voice and my own, "Time is the enemy," I
knew I'd found a vehicle for my own self-expression for as
long as I liked.
However.
Eight
years later, Wally and I were in different places. Through
him, I'd worked out a lot of my own issues with romance, with
women, with impatience and with self-image...and one day,
I woke up to realize that our roads had finally diverged,
that we'd maybe learned all we could from one another at this
stage in my life. The issues I now have to work out nearly
a decade later are probably things for which Wally's not an
appropriate vehicle. Maybe Golgoth is. Maybe Gatecrasher.
I'm not sure yet. Stay tuned.
Q2.
By now, you've taken over JLA. Perhaps the greatest thing
Grant Morrison did with the book was to give it a consistent
iconographic tone. What would YOU most like to bring to the
book?
A2.
Without losing Grant's scope, I'd like to bring a lot more
character intensity to the book. The standard line on a team
book is that you can't do anything substantive to characters
who have their own books. Baloney. If you don't think what's
about to happen between Batman and Superman isn't substantive
and far-reaching, you're wrong. And wait until you see what's
coming with Aquaman and Wonder Woman.
Q3.
This is the semi-obligatory JLA line-up/bad guys question.
Will we get to see old favorites like Zatanna, The Ray, Firestorm,
and, dare I say it, Amos Fortune and the Royal Flush Gang,
during your tenure on the book?
A3.
For the LAST TIME, I HATE FIRESTORM! Seriously, Firestorm's
better left to the Jay Faerbers or Ben Raabs of the world
who have the same nostalgic affection for him that I do for,
say, Robby Reed or Mr. Terrific. Better for me to work with
characters I have a passion for. Zatanna. Atom. Adam Strange.
And, yes, eventually even Amos Fortune and the staggeringly
unfortunately named Royal Flush Gang.
Q4.
Who are some of the other writers and artists that you believe
are elevating the field of comics?
A4.
Grant Morrison. Devin Grayson. Grant Morrison. Tom Peyer,
when he gets his damn work in. Scott McCloud. Grant Morrison.
Q5.
What advice would you give to young writers wanting to break
into the field?
A5.
Speak kindly of me when I'm a burned-out hack and you've just
stolen my last regular assignment.
Q6.
Gorilla Comics. Tell us what we need to know.
A6.
Eight creators with proven track records doing dream projects
with 100% editorial control. If that's not a recipe for good
comics, it's all hopeless.
Q7.
You're one of the top writers in the field. Still, you've
faced some editorial obstacles from time to time. What's the
single most difficult thing to deal with as a high-profile
comics writer?
A7.
Not allowing it to make you fat and lazy when it comes to
challenging yourself. It would be so, so, so easy to write
nothing but amusing, vaguely entertaining super-hero comics
for the rest of my life, and I could probably have a relatively
long career, but eventually everyone would catch on that I
was just repeating myself endlessly, using the same old tricks
and schticks. Denny O'Neil once told me that my responsibility
as a writer is to force yourself to learn new habits by reaching
into that bag of tricks every four or five years and throw
out half of 'em whether they still work or not. Wise words.
Q8.
How cool is it to see a character you co-created (Impulse)
and another you reinvigorated (Max Mercury) being released
as DC Direct figures?
A8.
Immeasurably. Now, if only Warner Bros. had allowed Nickelodeon
to pick up the live-action option like they wanted to a few
years ago...but the toys are keen.
The staff of Shotgun Reviews would like to thank Mark Waid
for taking the time to be our guest here. Be sure to read
Mr. Waid's monthly work, especially Empire and JLA. If you're
a Flash fan, you'll also want to check out the recently released
Dead Heat trade paperback. As always, if you have any guests
that you'd like to see us get, or have an indie comic that
you'd like to promote yourself, let Troy know at psikotyk@aol.com.
Troy
Brownfield is the Editor-In-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. You
can read his review of Empire #1 over in the Comics
Convention section.
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