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Interview:
Talking Infamy (continued)
By
Published: 05 Feb 2006
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ADAM: With many writers currently “writing for the
trade,” companies have seemingly embraced trade paperback length
stories despite their aversion to original graphic novels. Do you
think comics will continue indefinitely as monthly
“pamphlets,” or is there some other format that the future
holds for the art form?
BEN: So long as it supports the current business model being
employed by the big publishers, I’d be willing to go out on a
limb and say the pamphlet is here to stay. If for no other reason than
to provide a testing ground and a foundation for the eventual trade
paperback… After all, if people weren’t willing to shell
out three bucks for a book, then why bother asking them to shell out
twelve? But then again, I’m no precog…
GREG: I think we will continue to see the monthly format for
a looong time. While it is neat to get an entire story line in one
read, I love going to the shop every week and grabbing stuff off the
shelves and reading the latest chapter of my favorite book. I would
like to see more original graphic novels, though. I think it is a
format with too much promise to be ignored.
RMB: Trade paperbacks greatly expand the market for comics
now that most bookstores carry them. I’m all in favor of trades.
However, there’s just something great about going to your
favorite comic store every week and checking out not only the new
books, but everything else now carried in the larger stores. I love
reading my books, then bagging, boarding and boxing them. Looking back
on your collection, you can actually see years of your life
represented. I don’t think the monthly comic will ever go away.
At least, I hope not. I do also enjoy the manga digest format, if only
because you get so much story for your money. I recently saw a guy
reading Lone Wolf and Cub at my local Quiznos, which I thought
was pretty cool.
ASHLEY: Comics will always be available in
“pamphlet” form
for one simple reason: you can carry them with you. Comics are meant
to be portable art, to be enjoyed anywhere at any time — just
like novels. If someone devises a means to deliver content in an
equally accessible, portable way, I think we may see migration of some
kind, but I can’t see comics disappearing from magazine racks.
DERIC: I’m still pushing for the edible comic as a new
art form, but Ash keeps force-feeding me my meds.
“There’s just something great
about going to your favorite comic store every week…
I love reading my books, then bagging, boarding and boxing
them. Looking back on your collection, you can actually see years of
your life represented.” —Robert Meyer Burnett
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ADAM: Given the multiple-copies sales potential of edible
comics, I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried it yet —
it’d probably bring in even more cash than variant covers. Back
to the issue at hand, though — is there a story you’re
dying to tell? Any creators you simply must work with? Or do you
prefer to go wherever life takes you?
DERIC: Go wherever life takes me. Right now, to my day job
so I can pay my bills.
GREG: I have some stories I want to get to, but they are a
ways off. Right now, I just want to be drawing comics as much as
possible and enjoying it.
RMB: There are actually three novelists, strangely enough
all Canadian, whose work I’d love to adapt into movies, but
I’ll keep their names to myself.
ASHLEY: There are stories I’m dying to tell, but if I
told you what they were I’d have to kill you. As for the rest of
it, I’ve been blessed to work with some enormously talented
people in my professional life, from TV to movies to comic books. So
I’m not going to be greedy — I’m just thankful that
I’ve been given the opportunity in the first place.
BEN: At the moment, I’m in more of “go wherever
life takes me” kinda place. I have a lot of stories I want to
tell. Some in comics. Some in other media completely. Someday I hope
to find the time to write them all…
ADAM: Now we’ve seen where you’re coming from,
so let’s end with a few quick questions to see what you enjoy as
a fan. What are your five favorite comics that you’ve read
recently?
GREG: Wow. Does this include monthlies? I am having a ball
with Ex Machina, really digging it. Despite the slow pace the
book comes out, I really enjoy Hitch and Millar on Ultimates.
Just read all the Sleeper trades and really had fun there.
Love 100 Bullets. Risso is briliant. The recent Top 10
OGN was awesome.
DERIC: Invincible, Infinite Crisis,
Justice,
Ultimates, Ex Machina.
ASHLEY: Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire’s revival of
Defenders is genius. I’ve been enjoying Teen
Titans (though I
miss Young Justice). I liked Identity Crisis a great deal.
BEN: When I have time, I try to keep up with what’s
going on in Astonishing X-Men, Green Lantern,
Aquaman, The Ultimates, Captain America and
Planetary. (I know, that’s six…)
RMB: Anything and everything to do with the Infinite
Crisis. I also just read the hardcover Walking Dead collection,
which I also quite enjoyed. All great comics should be giving the
“Absolute” treatment.
ADAM: Do you have any specific favorite writer(s)?
Artist(s)?
RMB: Neil Gaiman is my favorite comic writer of all
time… and Sandman my favorite ongoing series. However, I
also dearly love Howard Chaykin’s writing and art on American
Flagg!, Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz’s run on Moon
Knight, Matt Wagner’s Grendel, and anything by Alan
Moore.
ASHLEY: Alan Moore is easily my favorite writer, although
one could make a strong case for Keith Giffen. My favorite artist of
all time is Bill Sienkiewicz — which is funny, because I
didn’t appreciate him when I was first exposed to his work on
New Mutants. At the time, the paper quality was very low, so
the inks bled and it just looked horrible and confusing. But then I
saw his work as it was meant to be presented in Elektra: Assassin and
just… wow. That’s all I’ve got. Wow. That Alex Ross
kid is okay, but he’s no Bill Sienkiewicz.
GREG: Alan Moore, naturally. Grant Morrison is knocking my
socks off with
7 Soldiers. Like I
mentioned earlier, Alan Davis, Carlos Pacheco, and Steve Rude can bank
on my support. Mike Mignola is great.
DERIC: Whedon, Ellis, Vaughan, Millar, Bendis, Heinberg,
Johns, Busiek, Kirkman, Way. The artists are Cassaday, Gibbons,
Dillon, Skroce, Darrow, Hitch, Walker, Cheung...
BEN: While there are definitely creators whose work
I’m inherently predisposed to — Warren Ellis, John
Cassaday, Bryan Hitch, Mark Millar, Michael Lark, Ed Brubaker, Brian
K. Vaughan, Geoff Johns, Carlos Pacheco, to name but a few — I
tend to enjoy them more for specific books than I do their entire body
of work. I’m not slavish about my adoration like some fans are.
Not everything someone does appeals to me. I guess I’m just
picky that way.
ADAM: Finally, since you guys all experiment in a variety of
mediums, what’s the last good novel you read? Favorite film?
DERIC: Currently reading Michael Crichton’s State
of Fear and slowly getting through the latest Harry Potter book.
Too many movies. Need more room.
BEN: Before my daughter was born, I had time to read books.
And that’s over a year and a half ago… So when I was still
reading regularly, I picked up Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code
to see what all the hullabaloo was about. The sheer escapist fun I had
with it then inspired me to dive headlong into his back catalog and
give Angels & Demons, Digital Fortress and
Deception Point a shot. Personally, I rank DaVinci Code
and Deception Point as his top two for pure entertainment
value.
As for my favorite film? Man, there are just too many to list, so
I’ll pick one that I think people should check out if for no
other reason than because Steven Soderbergh directed it. And that
movie is Kafka starring Jeremy Irons as the misanthropic Czech
author who finds himself tangled in a web of conspiracy and political
intrigue that may or may not be all in his own twisted mind…
Though I’m clearly in the minority here, I think it’s a
work of unsung genius and can only hope that it will someday be
released on DVD.
GREG: Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, all
geek-factors aside, was a great book.
RMB: Some of my favorite films include A Clockwork
Orange, Wings of Desire, All That Jazz, Sweet
Smell of Success, Ran, The Godfather, Apocalypse
Now, Amelie, The Shawshank Redemption, All About
Eve, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Romero’s Dawn of the
Dead, The Exorcist, To Live and Die in LA,
Rosemary’s Baby, Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan,
Jaws, Raiders, Close Encounters, The Great
Escape, Animal House, Lolita, and 2001. The
last greats novels I read were Dan Simmons’ Olympos and
Andrew Vachss’ Two Trains Running.
ASHLEY: The last novel I read was the latest Harry Potter,
which I thought was the best of the bunch. And I’m in the middle
of a really cool book called Captain Alatriste right now. Other than
that, I’m a bit of a British Lit snob — I love E. M.
Forster and Kazuo Ishiguro. I will freely share with you that I think
Dan Brown blows dead bears, and so do his books.
My favorite film of all time is Casablanca, hands down. Not
even a contest. If you don’t love that movie, you don’t
have a soul. The End.
…Which is as good a note to end on as any, because those of you
that do not like Casablanca indeed lack a soul; if you haven’t seen
it, shame on you — and yes, I am a bit of a film snob (I went to
NYU, after all). The team members behind Living in Infamy obviously
have a variety of opinions and interests, yet they all have one thing
in common: they love good comic books. Which is convenient considering
they’ve produced one darn good comic book with Living in Infamy , so
you slackers that wanted to read this interview before you bought the
book can now safely get off of your collective Tom Cruises and buy it,
love it, and then make your friends and neighbors do the same.
What’re you waiting for? Get thee to a comic shop.
Adam White writes stuff. He also wants to express his
sincere gratitude to Ben Raab, Deric Hughes, Greg Kirkpatrick, Ashley
Miller, and Robert Meyer Burnett for their time and concerted efforts
in not only the making of this interview but also for creating and
producing Living in Infamy in the first place.
—CCdC—
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