Bestselling fantasy author Diana Gabaldon, creator of the Outlander series, had a comics bestseller last year with her book THE EXILE, and in an interview at EW, she explains her earlier career writing Disney Comics:

Is there a book that cemented you as a writer?

If anything, it would be a Walt Disney comic book that I read when I was about 28. My mother taught me to read in part by reading me Walt Disney comics, and I never stopped. But I was reading one that I picked up at a convenience store on the way to work, and I said, “Well, this is pretty bad, I bet I can do better myself.” On a whim, I found the address and the name of the editor for that line, and I wrote him a very rude letter that said, “Dear sir, I’ve been reading your comics for the last 25 years, and they’ve been getting worse and worse. I’m not sure if I could do better myself, but I’d like to try.” Luckily, he had a sense of humor and he wrote back, “Okay, try.” He sent me a couple of layout sheets so I could see how a story was constructed by the company guidelines, so I wrote him a story. He didn’t buy it, but he did something much more valuable: He told me what was wrong with it. He did buy my second story, which was my first fiction sale ever. I continued to write for him for the next three years until the Disney Company said well we’ve got 40 years worth of Carl Barks in the files, why are we buying more stories? And that was the end of my comics career until I wrote the Exile last year, which is a graphic novel. I guess it would be that. It actually got me to commit something to print and send it to someone.

Although battered and bruised by a wave of opprobrium over his work on the New 52, writer Scott Lobdell hasn’t given up, and he’s facing the music — or questions from the internet, as the case may be. After a lengthy layoff from high-profile comics assignments, Lobdell’s work on RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS and TEEN TITANS has met with a….mixed reaction. Or as he reportedly asked Gail Simone, “Why didn’t you TELL me?” In an interview with Comicvine he does cover some of the more controversial aspects of his recent work like…Starfire, the amnesiac sex addict.

I’ve read the sixth issue, which reveals the story of how she and Jason met — and he learns exactly what she does and doesn’t recall from the past. I think everyone who is dismissing her as a “goldfish” (with tongue often planted in cheek) is going to be disappointed that their snap judgement about Kori hasn’t played out.
In short, I love Kori — I have since her very first appearance. I love that she’s the strongest member in a team of bad asses, I love that her perceptions will often challenge Jason and Roy’s, I love the fact that she doesn’t think the way humans do. I am forever fascinated by her and I can only hope that love for the character is contagious.

Q: Follow-up: What would you say to those who did not like her in the first issue of Red Hood and the Outlaws?

I’m not sure what to say, to be honest.

Later in the piece, Lobdell tries to turn the tables on his attackers:

I think what HAS surprised me the most is the vulgar tone of the comments I’ve read. When I hear people calling Starfire a “slut” or a “whore” or a “sex toy” it makes me sick to my stomach, honestly. I don’t think a person (man or woman) gets to define someone else’s sexuality and certainly not in such derogatory and dismissive terms. The notion that people genuinely believe they are staking the moral high ground in what they believe is their defense of Kori, by using such dehumanizing language is otherworldly to me.

Perhaps there IS a lesson there — slut-shaming shouldn’t be the point of the criticisms — nor has it been of the best objections.

There’s much more in the interview.

This afternoon, Bill Willingham tweeted some typically frank thoughts about working on superhero comics — in recent years, he wrote JSA for DC, and before that, SHADOWPACT, a group book featuring several of DC’s more supernatural characters…and Detective Chimp. And as many have said before him, working with recent brands of editorial direction tended to mitigate against spontaneity:

To answer your question, no, I am not done with superhero comics. I surely love me those heroes. But the next thing will take a little time. Past superhero series I’ve been involved with had too many captains trying to pilot one boat. Characters taken from me mid-story. Plots imposed from above, and then changed arbitrarily. That’s no way to tell any story well. So the next project will be one I create from the ground up and control fully. No more begging permission from distracted gatekeepers.

It wasn’t just a matter of characters taken away for big crossovers and such. I had one character, Liberty Belle, taken from my JSA……to join the JLA — but no one told me. I learned far after the fact from @matt_sturges who read a script of mine and wondered why I was still using her in the JSA. Call from editor? Nope. Call from fellows who took her for the JLA? Nope. Silly way to run a circus.

Yeah, Shadowpact was another example of abrupt changes made constantly to stories that had been approved for months…… starting with 1st page of 1st issue, and never letting up. Too bad. I had hopes for the series too.

Don’t get me wrong. I think work for hire is a reasonably fair system, provided you know what you’re getting into. But to hire a fellow to write a series, approve the stories, but then do everything possible to disrupt and derail those stories seems odd.

No editorial hasn’t increased over the years, they’ve gotten (at least in one house) more chaotic. Today’s idea supplants yesterday’s idea! Now, everyone implement the changes on the fly! Hold on! We just had a new set of ideas at lunch! Everyone get ready for new changes! No I will not list all of the changes required for any series, only because it would be too long a list. But to say changes were called for on every page of every issue wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Willingham still enjoys his FABLES experience, however:

Good question. On Fables there is editing, well in advance of production, but never last minute whim changes required. And no one at DC can grab Fables cast members, without my say so, for other stories. That’s the job of big TV networks.

Yesterday, Willingham had tweeted:

Fables is # 1: tinyurl.com/3z87sf6 Suck on that, two TV networks with Fables-esque series coming out soon (not bitter, but prepared to be).

in reference to Once Upon A Time, an ABC show about fairy tale characters trying to break an evil queen’s curse.

What writer has made the biggest contribution to the many universes of DC? Now that question can be answered, at least in terms of volume. Jason Kirk has been playing with the Grand Comic Database and come up with a list of the top 100 DC Comics writers by page count. You’ll need to go to the full link, but here’s the top 20 for arguments sake and some of Kirk’s talking points:

The most prolific DC writer of all time is Robert Kanigher who is responsible for 3.5% of all DC’s original output across their entire 75-years. Second to him is Gardner Fox. Together they are responsible for more than 5% of DC’s entire output.
The most prolific DC female writer of all time is Gail Simone at No 42. Other women on the list include Dann Thomas (No. 57), Louise Simonson (No. 66), and Devin Grayson (No. 68).
The most prolific DC writer to start working after the Golden Age is Chuck Dixon at No. 3.
The newest writer on the list is Matthew Sturges who appears at No. 61.
The writers with the earliest start dates are Jerry Siegel and Sheldon Mayer who both have credits dating back to 1935.

Kirk cautions that the GCD methodology is nt 100% accurate but this certainly provides a good snapshot.

Though the most prolific, Kanigher probably has had less actual impact on the DCU as most of his writing was for the war books. Gardner co-created such characters as The Flash, Hawkman and the (OG) Sandman.

As the business is changing, creators are getting creative about the business and finding new revenue streams. One such venture is Crazy 8 Press. Six noted SF writers—Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Aaron Rosenberg, and Howard Weinstein—are banding together to start their own online publishing cooperative and sell direct to readers. Books will be offered on a bimonthly basis to start, with greater frequency to come. Interested readers can sign up for the newsletter at the above link.

The initial offering is The Camelot Papers by Peter David, described as “the down and dirty” story of Camelot.

More:

Crazy 8 Press, the new internet-based publishing venture, has unveiled plans to sell original novels and short stories by established authors directly to their readers. Crazy 8 will initially offer new titles on a bimonthly basis, with an increased publication pace to follow.

Crazy 8’s founders are veteran science fiction/fantasy authors Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Aaron Rosenberg, and Howard Weinstein. Together they have written hundreds of books and comics over the past 30 years, with combined sales of more than 15 million copies.

Peter David, a prolific writer of successful comic books, novels, plays, screenplays, and television scripts, co-created the Nickelodeon series Space Cases and spent a decade writing The Incredible Hulk for Marvel Comics.

Michael Jan Friedman, The New York Times best-selling author of nearly 70 books based on properties from Star Trek to the Wolf Man to the X-Men, also co-created the Darkstars monthly comic book series from DC Comics.

Aaron Rosenberg has written for children, young adults, and adults with a refreshing blend of science fiction and fantasy, mystery and humor. He has recently released two novels based on the popular SyFy series Eureka, the first two books in an original middle-grade mystery series, an original space-opera novel to lead off the new Scattered Earth series, and a supernatural thriller novella to start off the O.C.L.T. franchise.

Robert Greenberger has worked in publishing as an editor or executive for thirty years; his lengthy writing credits including both fiction and non-fiction, running the gamut from the youngest readers to the oldest.

Howard Weinstein is a New York Times best-selling novelist whose writing career started with a television script for the Star Trek Animated Series. His books, articles, comics and graphic novels cover an eclectic range from outer space to dogs to baseball.

Glenn Hauman is a web innovator and author who has written both Star Trek and original fiction. He cofounded Bibliobytes, an early forerunner of today’s eBooks, and is Vice President of the pop culture website ComicMix.

“Through Crazy 8, we can be a lot more responsive to readers,” Weinstein said. “We’re not a huge publishing battleship. We can turn on a dime. If readers want a werewolf anthology, we can give it to them in a matter of months rather than years.” “It’s the future,” said Rosenberg. “Authors have to make their work available to the public in new ways. And what’s more appropriate than a pack of science fiction writers leading the way?”

Readers can visit www.crazy8press.com to join the group’s e-mail newsletter list. They can also follow the group at @Crazy8Press on Twitter.

For additional information contact Michael Jan Friedman at ferrincolos@optonline.net.

Bob Haney and Del Connell are the writers selected to received this year’s Finger Award. The Finger Award is presented each year to writers, one living, one dead, who for whatever reason, have not received the recognition they should have for their creative efforts. It’s named for Bill Finger, who created much of the Batman mythos we see today while Bob Kane got the credit.

Bob Haney began writing comic books in 1948, freelancing for a wide array of publishers, including Fawcett, Standard, Hillman, Harvey, and St. John. In 1955 he began a long association with DC Comics, where he wrote hundreds of scripts in the genres of war, western, mystery, romance, and of course, superheroes. He is best remembered for his work on The Brave and the Bold, The Unknown Soldier, Teen Titans, Aquaman, World’s Finest Comics, and especially Metamorpho, which he co-created with artist Ramona Fradon, and The Doom Patrol, which he co-created with writer Arnold Drake and artist Bruno Premiani. Haney retired from comics in the late 1980s and passed away in 2004.


Del Connell began working as an artist at Disney Studios in 1939 and soon segued into the story department. He contributed to many shorts and features, including The Three Caballeros and Alice in Wonderland. He began writing Dell Comics for Western Publishing Company as a freelancer in 1950 and joined its editorial staff in 1954, though he continued to be the firm’s most prolific writer. Among the many comics he originated were Super Goof, Wacky Witch, The Close Shaves of Pauline Peril, and Space Family Robinson, which was adapted into the popular TV series Lost in Space. He eventually became editor-in-chief of the West Coast office of Western Publishing’s comic book division until it ceased activity in 1987. For over twenty years, he also wrote both the daily and Sunday editions of the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip. Del, at age 94, will be on hand to accept his award.

The selections were made by a blue ribbon committee consisting of writer/historian Mark Evanier, Charles Kochman (executive editor at Harry N. Abrams, book publisher), cartoonist/historian Scott Shaw!, writer Kurt Busiek, and writer/editor Marv Wolfman.

The awards will be presented on the evening of July 22 during the Eisner Awards ceremony at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. The 2011 awards are underwritten by Comic-Con International. DC Comics is the major sponsor; supporting sponsors are Heritage Auctions and maggiethompson.com.

Via TVTropes and Deviant Art, a visual aid to storytelling devices. Do a choose-your-own-adventure type thing or use a dartboard and make your own story. Endless uses.

Via Twitter, Mark Millar reminds us he’s no longer working on Marvel books but is concentrating on his own properties:

Well, I just finished the dialogue on my last ever script for Marvel. It was a lot of fun, but I’m full-time on Millarworld as of today.Huge thanks to all the guys I worked with on Ultimates 1&2, Civil War, Old Man Logan, Enemy of the State, Ultimate X-Men, 1985, etc, etc. It’s been an amazing experience and I’m stealing all the best ones to work with my on creator-owned anyway :) In the next 12 months: Kick-Ass 2, Nemesis 2, Supercrooks, Superior, the Dave Gibbons project, the Frank Quitely project and HIT-GIRL!! I’m going to miss the lads, the best editorial team in the biz, but there comes a time when every boy needs to start his OWN media empire!!

Hm. Last ever MARVEL…but he could still write for DC, and they still haven’t announced the Super books. Heh…

In case you were wondering, Aaron, author of SCALPED, WOLVERINE and PUNISHER MAX, sports a beard as fearsome as his talent.

Here.

On a November day in 1957 I found myself standing in front of Miss Grosier’s first grade class in Hillcrest Elementary School in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, trying to think of a really good word. She had us play this game in which each kid had to offer up a word to the class, and for every classmate who couldn’t spell your word, you got a point–provided, of course, that you could spell the word. Whoever got the most points received the coveted gold star.

“Bouillabaisse,” said I, finally.

“You don’t even know what that is,” Miss Grosier scolded.

See, even in a blog post, the former Marvel editor in chief sets up the conflict right from the start.

Shooter is known for running the company during some of its greatest Silver Age moments, presiding over the rise of the X-Men, killing off Jean Grey by editorial fiat, and other deeds, before moving on to revitalize Valiant and then run his own company, Defiant. Today he’s involved in revamping the Gold Key characters for Dark Horse.

He’s also tweeting.

Ever since their autumnal launch of Law and the Multiverse, James Daily and Ryan Davidson, two stalwart attorneys licensed to practice law in Missouri and Indiana respectively, have used not a brush or nib but the digital pen to question what many fates are in store for superheroes should the law of our land ever catch up to theirs. What might seem like a school lecture is actually an enriching conversation full of ‘what if’s and delivered with the sincerity of a eulogy. The caped situations are approached in such a deadpan manner using precedence from past cases and our own bill of rights, that ignites a chuckle from within and likewise sets to rest those niggling questions that often pop up when one flips the pages of a floppy comic.

James and Ryan were nice enough to agree to a Skype interview with THE BEAT recently so they could answer a few questions of mine.

Jen: So, considering you are both working and living in two different states how did you meet?

James: I joined Metafilter in 2005 so I had been on there for quite a long time and had known Ryan (who joined in 2008) through the site at least through a year. We had talked briefly on other occasions before the idea of the blog came out.

Jen: How long does it take to write an article for Law and the Multiverse?
James: It really varies a lot. For those topics that are close to our day jobs it doesn’t take that long at all. For that Batman patent article, I banged it out in definitely no more than an hour. There are definitely ones that take 2-3 hours.

Jen: From what I understand and as is often the case with the internet, you two have yet to meet in person?

Ryan: That is correct, we’ve talked on the phone a couple times.

James: There have been some times we had serious conversations and for those we went to the phones

Jen: How old were you when you started reading comics?

James: No older than 11 for sure because we moved towns around that age. I definitely remember going to the store to buy comics in the town I moved from and I had been reading for a year or so before then.

Ryan: I didn’t really grow up with comic books but I had been reading science fiction since second grade.  I just killed the entire science fiction section of the library. Comic books are a more recent pick up. I think the first thing I read all the way through was Civil War in pretty much every continuity. Then Watchmen, I’ve been getting into Frank Miller.

Jen: While unlike superheroes you might not have a single moment in time that made you want to be an attorney, what drew you to that profession?

James: I have a technical background in computer science, BA and Master’s in it, so I went to law school to be a patent attorney. I do represent clients in patent manners but my day job is an academic legal researcher with a project in commercializing innovation which as the name might suggest deals a lot with patent law. In response to a specific moment, that I couldn’t say.

Ryan: I had knocked around the idea of being an attorney during high school and in college I took philosophy and history as an undergrad. Then I toyed with other things, spent a year teaching before going to law school kind of like I had always planned.

Jen: If you had a superpower what it would be? Would it be untraceable by the state?

James: Being an attorney, you are sort of inclined to break the rules of the question and go for omnipotence or the like. One of the things attorneys tend to do when asked any question is immediately think what is the most extreme possible thing I can get away within the bounds of the question but more realistically something like flight or the more classic powers like that. FLIGHT!

Ryan: I think I would have to go with a mutant healing factor like Wolverine because you get the bonus of longevity.

James: GOOD ONE!

Jen: Do your favorite superhero characters have those powers as well or is there a character flaw in them that you appreciate?

James: My wife can tell you this, I’m not the best person for superlatives so questions with ‘best’ and ‘favorite’ are hard for me. But Wolverine is definitely a classic favorite character of mine from the Marvel Universe and in DC, I have to go with Batman.

Ryan: I’m just partial to the X-Men stories and it has been my favorite contact with the comic book worlds. And I got a huge kick out of the Civil War stories so it’s hard to say.

Jen: Do you have a preferred attorney in comics? She Hulk, Daredevil, Manhunter?

James: I’m actually trying to hunt down some Manhunter issues because I’m a fan of well-written female characters and I understand that she is one.

Pictured below: Ryan Davidson

Jen: I have some legal questions.

James: We can’t give you any legal advice!
(Nervous laughter from ALL of us)

Jen: Thank you, more like because of comics and movies like Watchmen and PIXAR’s The Incredibles, what are your opinions on the supers/capes being agents of the state and then stripping them of their official powers?

James: Writers can tell stories however they like so it’s hard to say “oh no, that’s totally unrealistic.” from a real perspective. It’s likely, for example, that what happened in Watchmen could probably happen whether superheroes were real or we just have a vigilante problem. In the case of the Incredibles, yeah, what happened was reasonable given the amount of damage that happened (in cities).

Ryan: Part of the play here is that we are trying to talk about very realistic details about books and stories that are inherently unrealistic. The fact that we can push them as far as we do is a testament to the creativity of the authors and the robustness of the legal system.

James: Yes, sometimes the stories hold up surprisingly well through legal scrutiny.

Jen: When I was watching the Incredibles, that’s all I could think about was all the car damage being done.

Ryan: Ha, yes, State Farm is NOT going to be happy about this.

Jen: What about abortion? Is each super sperm special?

James: We at Law and the Multiverse do not hesitate at the tough issues.

Jen: So if you are dealing with a super who can erase memories or even has the sperm-power of Zeus, as in you can impregnate someone with a shaft of light or as a shape-shifter how can you prove if you have been raped?

Ryan: I’m not sure that brings up any questions about abortion but about paternity is sure going to be a fun discussion there.

Jen: Well, if to say a woman or male wants to the baby to be aborted, would they be considered human, superhuman, would it depend on each state court?

James: I think it depends on the superhero you are talking about. If you’re talking about the X-Men, the current canon suggests that it’s just one gene, the X gene, that makes the difference there so they are clearly human. But there are others that are less obviously human and it can get tricky there. I know Kryptonians can have children with humans so they may have a tougher argument.

Ryan: And here’s actually another question, what happens if the woman tries to have an abortion and it doesn’t work?

JEN: EXACTLY

Ryan: I mean, how do you abort Wolverine? That’s just not going to happen.

James: That is a good point, it might be um, well..

Jen: Uterine removal?

James: Yeah, you might have a hard case there.

Ryan: But again, I don’t think it is as much as legal case as ‘good luck with that.’

Jen: So with the Bureau of Amplified Animals of the DC universe with characters like Detective Chimp, how would animals with human intelligence be tried if they could be in our legal system?

James: There have been some interesting cases in the real world involving animal who are brought in as witnesses. In particular there have been cases where a parrot, not the same parrot in each case, has been brought or attempted to brought as witnesses because the parrot is saying things like “No, don’t hurt me, Jim” or whatever. And then they are arguing that that is essentially a recording of the deceased person’s speech. And, of course, it turns out if you analyze it from a legal point of view, there’s lots of problems like even if you are willing to put them on the stand, just what they are trying to offer as testimony if they were a person (there are lots of problems with that). So I think if animals could be brought as witnesses perhaps, if they can enter in to the legal system that way, then they could probably be tried for crimes.

Detective Chimp in his most recent appearance in Shadowpact

I think that the animals involved, like if Detective Chimp commits a crime, would much prefer to have access to the legal system and all the rights of a defendant than to be just be declared a simple animal and presumably be put down by his owner or whatever the state decides his owner was. So, non-intuitively, intelligent animals would probably want to considered like humans even in a criminal case, they’d want to be tried because the alternative is actually worse.

Ryan: How the legal system treats non-human intelligences is actually a fairly fertile morality tale for authors who want to talk about things like racism and homophobia. We see this in Battlestar Galactica and superhero books all the time. And so it just depends on what kind of of morality tale someone wants to tell combined with how optimistic the author actually is about human society and morality. That may have as big effect on the outcome as anything else.

James: True, an interesting twist on that is cases like Brainiac where you have essentially a robot who is intelligent rather than a living creature. Well, is Braniac alive, is a question within itself.

Ryan: Biologically.

James: Yes, it isn’t biological at least. So you have a third possible category, humans or certainly human-like, such as Kryptonians, animals who are amplified or mutated or gained intelligence that their species wouldn’t normally have, and then you have totally artificial constructions and they have to be treated differently as well.

Ryan: I can see some In-universe attorney whipping out the 14th Amendment about discrimination on the basis of race and saying “well it doesn’t say human, just race.” I’m not sure I’d want to have to ARGUE that but it’s in the law!

James and I have found that what started as a let’s take a superhero and talk about their legal issues has almost transformed into let’s think of a legal issue and throw a superhero in. It almost doesn’t matter what legal issue we come up with, some superhero will be impacted by it.

James: Even something you really wouldn’t think about, like securities fraud, it turns out that someone like Bruce Wayne or Lex Luthor would be impacted by that stuff. Depending on what they do or don’t know their business is doing versus what they do or don’t know as Batman or Lex Luthor the supervillain. Just about anything you can think of has good comic books hooks.

Jen: So now you think of a legal issue and try to match it up with a superhero. To stay on top are you currently both reading comic books at the same time, floppy wise or trades? Are you going back and reading DC/MARVEL Archives?

Ryan: For the first part of the question, I do both. Sometimes I’ll take a superhero, I’ll think of a legal issue. Whichever comes first.

James: I’d like to make the point is that the whole blog was inspired because we thought of what happened in comic books and certain events created legal events. Super powers…is that a weapon maybe?! But you don’t have to try and fish for common comic book powers and tropes, you can go the other direction too and take a legal direction out of the air and find how it fits into the comic book world. We haven’t necessarily shifted form one direction or the other but that it can go both ways.

Given that I have a day job and a family, I tend to read trade paperbacks and graphic novels rather than have a pull list at the local comic book store. Then I can do all my reading at once. But there are some individual issues, little one offs that I’ll pick up as soon as they come out like the Doctor Horrible series.

Ryan: I’m definitely in the same category, I’m coming from behind and absorbing large collections as fast as I can get my hands on them. Reading a bunch  of comics books is always something I wanted to do and now I have the perfect excuse.

Jen: Have you gone back to read any pre-code super hero stories?

James: No, we haven’t because our audience is so diverse. Some people reading our blog come at it from the comics angle and find this an interesting way of looking at comic situations or some are lawyers who find this as an interesting way to look at law. SO we basically have two kinds of niches and so as a result we tend to speak in general terms, broadly accessible. So when we speak about Batman or Superman we are thinking about the general conception of Superman or Batman especially with the movies or animated series in mind. Going back to the pre-code stories, that might fall out of the general public’s idea of what they think of [as classic superheroes].

Ryan: Yes but that might be fertile ground for interesting discussions since things were obviously a lot less sanitized back then. So it’s probably worth looking at if only to find some issues that might not show up later.

Pictured Below: James Daily

Jen: Would you like to speak at conventions? I’m sure there is a growing need and curiosity for you.

Ryan: That would be fun!

James: Yeah, we wouldn’t mind that. I haven’t been to a comic book convention yet but I have been to a Star Trek convention. At which there was necessarily a fair comic book component, there is a cross-over. I didn’t dress up but I got to see William Shatner speak and that was fun.

Ryan: I stuck my head into Otakon a couple years ago and that was an experience.

Jen: Have you thought about integrating your work/applications into law school course instruction?

James: We had a commenter on the blog, a professor at Columbia Law School, who loved the blog and he wrote he would have to use it in his classes. We’ve had comments from other other law school professors like from Georgetown, one in particular claimed she loved it as well so it may find it’s way into other law classes. While I don’t think either of us are personally in a position to do so, if invited to give a lecture we certainly would not say no.

Ryan: It’s possible that student organizations at law schools could start sending invitations and we could do a certain amount of traveling, I would certainly go to my alma mater which is only two hours away.

James: I live in a city with TWO law schools, including the one I went to (Washington University in St. Louis School of Law) so I wouldn’t turn down an invitation from both.

Jen: So when is the book coming out?
(Laughter)
Ryan: We started this as two guys doing blog having fun and about three weeks later we were in the NY Times.

Jen: So you might need a few more posts.

Ryan: Probably.

James: Actually, we’ve been approached by several publishers and are shopping around a book proposal. Ryan and I hope to have a book deal closed soon. We definitely hope that the blog and any book would take the tack of using superheros as a framework, as an example, as an entertaining way to talk about the law in a way that is accessible and interesting. And we think that a book is a good way to address that plus we like the aspect of geeking and overanalyzing/overthinking things in true comic book geek fashion.

Ryan: Neither one of us would have gone to law school if we didn’t like doing that anyways.

Indeed! I’d like to thank Ryan and James for answering my oh-so compelling questions and encourage you to please visit Law and the Multiverse to quell legal questions you might have with a superhero taking off their mask in court or other such problems. An email address is posted now so that you too can ask a question. A special thank you from me to Tom Howe, a fearsome attorney from the State of Texas and comics enthusiast, for pointing me towards Law and the Multiverse back in November. For those of you on the go, follow James and Ryan’s updates via their Twitter feed.

==========

Jen Vaughn is a master unicorn wrangler and a cartoonist. When not bothering or drawing hard-working attorneys, she works as the night librarian at the Schulz Graphic Novel Library.

In November the Beat participated in a campaign for the upcoming Image book Butcher Baker by Joe Casey and Mike Huddleston, which debuts in March. The campaign consisted of a month of panels paired with slogans — some of which were profane others bizarre, some just plain funny. During the course of setting things up, I started chatting with Casey about various aspects of working in the comics industry today: how creators craft a career and what avenues to pursue in a quickly shifting landscape.

Along the way we thought it would be cool to put some of it in sharable form. Casey obviously has quite a career to draw examples from: for the past decade plus he’s worked steadily at the big two while still putting out a sizable body of creator owned work from a variety of publishers. As part of the Man of Action Studio (along with Steven T. Seagle, Duncan Rouleau and Joe Kelly), he’s co-created the hit TV show Ben 10, a genuine phenomenon among tween boys, and the newer Generator Rex. Man of Action was also signed to produce and story edit the new Spider-Man cartoon for Disney as well. All of which gives him quite the unique perspective which follows:

THE BEAT: So Joe, for a whole month we featured a series of bizarre, filthy and mysterious teasers that turned out to be in preparation for your new book BUTCHER BAKER with Mike Huddleston. What the hell ever gave you the idea for this kind of promo?


Joe Casey: Okay, look… we’ve all seen teaser campaigns before. We know ‘em, we love ‘em, we can’t get enough of ‘em… but I was kinda curious just how long one could be sustained. Turns out, a month of weekdays was just about the limit. But we had the material available, Image was down with the idea (and, in fact, Eric Stephenson had helped me hatch the initial plan), so I figured why the hell not? I think maybe I thought, on some unconscious level, it would reassure readers and retailers that we’ve been banking material way ahead of actually soliciting it… so that the book will come out when we say it’s gonna come out. But once I got into it, it morphed into something where I was simply having a good time with it.

THE BEAT: How effective do you think they have been? How would you measure the effectiveness of such a campaign?

Casey: Jeezus, I have no idea how you could measure it. Who knows if it’ll move the needle at all? But that’s not really the point. If anyone paid any attention at all – be it positive or negative – then I guess it was as effective as I could’ve hoped it would be. I’ve said this before; I looked at this teaser campaign more as some kind of weird performance art than anything else. Any actual awareness or promotion that comes out of it is a bonus. It was fun to watch it all play out, that’s about the most I’m able to say about it right now. Maybe with some time – and depending on how the book ultimately performs – I’ll gain some different perspective on it. But, y’know, now that I’ve had my laugh, it’s time to really get out there and sell the book. I know Huddleston and I are psyched enough about the work we’re doing together, so we felt confident that it could sustain this kind of weird promotion. If the book was weak sauce, we probably wouldn’t have even attempted it in the first place. But the book’s got a big pair hangin’, so we went for it.

THE BEAT: Along those lines, it does seem that in order to promote a project you can’t just throw it out in Previews and then sit back and count the filthy lucre. Those days are long gone. What do you think creators have to keep in mind when launching a new project now?

Casey: I think the same way that readers can inherently sense that creators are having fun when they’re doing a book, you also have to get that spirit across when you’re promoting it. When it’s truly authentic, enthusiasm fucking translates. On a personal level, I like having conversations like this. Assuming I have something to say, it’s kinda fun for me; it’s certainly not a drag or a slog or a burden on my time. Not to mention, I’m fuckin’ excited to get this book out there, and I want readers to know that. And for the most part, comicbook industry journalists and even a lot of bloggers right now — the ones that I tend to read, anyway — are pretty insightful in their writing, so talking comics with them is generally a pleasure. Of course, I’m also not playing a bullshit PR, “Guess what I’m really saying”-game with anyone, either; I pretty much speak my mind. That certainly helps. Not all creators have that luxury, unfortunately. But, no matter what, when it comes to pimping your product… at the very least, have a good time with it. Think outside of the box; be as original as you can with it; don’t hide your own enthusiasm for your work. It’s not at all “cool” to act aloof about something you’ve put your heart and soul into. Let your freak flag fly high. That might be the only way you can cut through all the white noise that’s out there.

THE BEAT: Have you ever had to give one of those “I’m doing the best work of my career”? interviews? It’s always either that or “I’m so excited to be working with soanso.” I guess we all have to do them at one point or another, but my eyes tend to glaze right over.

Casey: Hey, if it’s genuine, I think that kind of hyperbole is okay. Then again, when you’re a creative person, your best project is always your next project. Having uttered that incredibly canned line, I do tend to go for scatological apeshit rather than overblown self-hype. It’s just more fun for me to go that route with it. When it comes to Man Of Action stuff, the more corporate stuff, sometimes you have to toe the party line, dance the happy dance, whatever. Oftentimes it feels like that’s mainly what they’re paying you for.


THE BEAT: The whole reason I wanted to talk to you was because we’d been having an ongoing conversation about, I guess you would call it, comics career management. The level of anxiety about surviving in any creative field is at volume 11 these days, partly due to online file sharing, but also due to the proliferation of sheer information and social networking and playing Pocket Frogs on your iPhone other things that take up time and money that used to be spent on advances and royalties and page rates. When did you realize that in order to be a successful comic book writer you were going to have to do things other than just sit home and write comics?

Casey: You and your Pocket Frogs…

THE BEAT: Breeding rare virtual frogs is very relaxing!

Casey: So they say. Personally, I don’t know where the hell this “anxiety” comes from or why anyone would have it. Just keep things interesting and let the rest sort itself out. That’s how I’ve always tried to work it. It wasn’t much of a realization for me or even any grand plan on my part. I’m a whacked out creative type, Heidi… I just go with my gut mostly. I’m sure there are times when that approach might threaten to hurt my so-called “career”, but a lot of times it’s really kinda helped.

Comics is a culture. You have to immerse yourself in it if you’re going to survive, much less thrive. And I gladly and proudly immerse myself in it as often as I can. And you’re right, that goes way beyond just sitting on your ass, writing comics. Clearly, it goes way beyond the books themselves. But as much as we may moan about the “good ol’ days” – and I do my share of moaning about it, believe me – that’s not the world we live in anymore. And let’s not forget… we all wanted it this way, didn’t we? We wanted out of the ghetto. We wanted to swim in the mainstream. Now we do and we have to live with the consequences. And I gotta’ say, I dig the challenge of confronting this new world head on, diving into it and seeing what we can accomplish… without losing that divine spark that’s made me unconditionally love comicbooks since I was five years old. The landscape may have changed, but the love affair is still going strong.

THE BEAT: What’s the hardest part of being in the bigger pond now? Are there advantages?

Casey: Well, we can’t afford to be blissfully ignorant anymore. Graduating up to a bigger pond usually means you’ve been knocked around a little more, you’re sporting a few more battle scars. I wouldn’t say it’s been terribly hard, because it’s been a gradual process and you learn as you go. Nothing has been “overnight”, either in my own career or with Man Of Action in general. So there’s plenty of time to get acclimated to each rung of the ladder as you step up on it.

The advantages? You can see those in our relationship with Image Comics, where we pretty much get free reign to do whatever projects we come up with. We certainly don’t abuse their trust, but it’s nice to have what amounts to an automatic green light for the books we’re interested in doing. That’s where something like BUTCHER BAKER comes from. That kind of freedom absolutely opens up your creativity in strange and wonderful ways.

THE BEAT: You are part of Man of Action Studios. To be frank, I’m really surprised that more creators haven’t started this kind of branded content production studio. And you’ve had a little bit of success, creating one of the signature franchises of the past 10 years as far as young boys are concerned with Ben 10, and  Generator Rex and the Spider-Man TV show. How did Man of action come about?

Casey: A “little bit” of success? Geez, Heidi… you’re tough to please. The inception and the real codification of MOA was all about timing and opportunity. And since then we’ve spent ten years building up our company, bit by bit. Believe me, it took a while for folks to grok to exactly what we are and what we do. Personally, I feel like we were on the forefront of that fairly recent phenomenon of comicbook creators being tapped to work on outside media tie-ins. We just didn’t put out a big press release every time one of us sneezed on a studio lot. We’ve kept our heads down, we’ve done the work, and now ten years on, I guess we’re able to both assess and — to a certain extent — enjoy what we’ve done. Having said that, it’s not over. Not by a long shot. We really feel like we’re just getting started, and in a world where, more and more, the old systems of entertainment (including content and delivery) are crumbling all around us, we’re uniquely poised to take full advantage of the ensuing chaos. Bring it on, motherfuckers.

THE BEAT: Was there a “Big Break”? for Man of Action? I think to a lot of people it seemed like you guys had teamed up and then 10 years later there was Ben 10. There must have been incremental steps.

Casey: Lemme tell you, I think there’s a lot of comics industry folk that still haven’t fully connected us to BEN 10 and its unholy penetration into popular culture. And that’s fine. But other than getting that particular show on the air, there’s been no “big break”, in the manner you’re asking about. I think we look at this more in a “slow and steady wins the race”-kind of way. From our perspective, it’s all been incremental steps. That’s the secret to real career longevity, as far as I’m concerned. You don’t worry about winning the big lottery, you worry about the smaller shit that’s directly in front of you. It’s all one script at a time, one project at a time.

THE BEAT: Why do you think there are not more studios like Man of Action?

Casey: Now that’s a tough question to answer. Why aren’t there more MOA-type entities out there? The glib answer is, “Because no one else has worked together writing pretty much all the big comicbook franchises that exist. Because no one else wrote the first X-MEN: LEGENDS video game. Because no one else created BEN 10. Because no one else created GENERATOR REX. Because no one else produces and story edits the ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN show. Because no one else consults on BAKUGAN. Because no one else has a co-pro deal with SAMG or countless other global entertainment companies.” Like I said, that’s the glib answer. But it doesn’t make it any less true. You add all those things up — not to mention the shit we don’t talk about — it adds up to a lot.

We haven’t followed any pre-existing formula or battle plan. There’s no template for what we’re doing here. We’ve been very lucky with the properties we’ve created and with the gigs we’ve been offered. We’ve taken on each challenge that was presented to us and, for the most part, we’ve never fucked up too badly. That counts for a lot… in this town, especially. You cannot put too high of a premium on simply Not Being A Fuck Up. The other side of it is being a forward thinker whenever possible. Not just in your ideas, but in your ideas on how to do business.

THE BEAT: At San Diego last year, I ran into you guys on the sidewalk after the Eisners and gave you shit about not sounding your horn more. Everyone looks at the Mike Mignola and Bryan Lee O’Malley and now Robert Kirkman as Hollywood success stories, but not as many people know that the four of you have created an iconic character. Do you guys have a press agent? Do you think it would help?

Casey: Well, like I said earlier, it’s kind of funny how few people connect Man Of Action with the shows we’ve created, even though they might be very aware of the shows themselves. We’ve done little PR experiments here and there over the years, but we’ve never really done any kind of full court press with the media. I couldn’t tell you why. Laziness, maybe? I dunno… maybe it’s just our particular style. It’s like comparing Tarantino to the Coen Brothers. They have the same job, essentially, but Tarantino has a pretty open, gregarious relationship with the press, while the Coen Brothers tend to keep to themselves more. Who’s to say which is the better approach… I guess it depends on your own disposition. Also, maybe it’s the fact that there’s four of us… it’s not one guy that can more easily be the focal point of a press story. That makes a difference, I guess.

THE BEAT: How would you characterize your monetary participation in Ben 10? (this is a sneaky way of asking if you get licensing money without asking it.) Did MoA have certain things they wanted for Generator Rex that they didn’t get on Ben 10? You can’t have been in Hollywood this long without some kind of story that left it hard to sit down for a while.

Casey: Okay, lemme say this… any success that anyone has, you have to look at it in context. Remember back in the 90’s, when the term “Hollywood option” probably had the average fan thinking, “Wow, that guy must be a millionaire now”? I would hope that most people have since become savvy enough to understand that a typical option — the initial money that you might get when someone wants to turn your comic into a movie or a TV show — might be enough to cover… oh, I dunno… a month’s worth of groceries. So, here’s some context for BEN 10… at this point, you can go almost anywhere in the civilized world and see BEN 10 merchandise for sale. It’s fuckin’ global at this point. Go on Amazon.com and search “Ben 10” and see how much shit comes up. Hell, Amazon has its own “Ben 10 Store” as part of the site. Just about everyone else who works in the animation game has, at some point, talked about wanting their own BEN 10-type property. Man Of Action created that property and obviously we get a creator’s cut of the back end, as would be expected. The bigger it gets, the better we do. You don’t need to be a CPA to figure that out. Now, obviously we have no idea if GENERATOR REX will duplicate that kind of cultural penetration, but it kinda feels like anything at this point is gravy for us. We’ve already scored a big win in this arena.

So… that’s how I would characterize it. Yeah…

THE BEAT: In the time that Man of Action has been together, have Hollywood types come to see comic book types in a different way? Is it still a hard sell? Sometimes I get the feeling that studio wonks are just humoring us.

Casey: Maybe they are, but does that even matter? If the money is changing hands and the work is getting out there, whether the studios are “humoring” us or not is kinda irrelevant. That’s akin to being worried about being liked. Y’know, the way I see it, we’re humoring them. As a lifetime comicbook creator, I consider that gig way cooler than any Hollywood job one might aspire to have. Execs come and go. Even big-time studio heads get ousted. Meanwhile, I’m still making the comicbooks I wanna make, exactly the way I wanna make ‘em. It’s a pretty sweet deal for me, don’tcha think?

THE BEAT: You have a bit of a different style of engaging with the internet than a lot of today’s creators, although you were sort of part of the “Warren Ellis” era of self-marketing. You don’t tweet or blog or Facebook. Why?

Casey: Holy Christ… I’m in awe of any creators out there who seem to have endless amounts of free time to Tweet or whatever the hell it is they’re doing online. They must have more hours in their day than I have in mine. Like I said, interviews are cool, because I like talking one-on-one with people. To me, the Net is just another delivery system to get the word out about something I’ve created… it’s not something I feel like I have an overly-intimate relationship with.

But you’re right, I was definitely part of that wave of guys that used the Net to try and carve out these goofy “rock star” personas online. Whatever. I guess it kind of worked, but I look back on that particular period and I think that maybe we were misguided about one or two things. Ultimately, it’s about the work. Your legacy is the work. Your voice is heard most strongly in your work. I want as many people as possible to know about the work… but I certainly don’t need them to know what I had for breakfast this morning or my random thoughts about this season of Breaking Bad or whatever. I honestly can’t imagine they’d want to know those things, anyway… and if they do, they’re definitely missing the point of my job. My work is the entertainment that I’m trying to provide here.

THE BEAT: A lot of creators seem genuinely frightened by potential changes to storytelling itself in the digital era. Are you? How do you see your tool set evolving in the era of the iPad?

Casey: The greatest thing about the iPad and, I suppose, the Kindle before it — and in the spirit of full disclosure, I don’t own either one — is that the dimensions of their screens finally match the dimensions of a comicbook page. As ridiculous as it seems, that’s the big breakthrough — not only for comics, but for all print media in general. To get away from the wider, smaller TV screen-based shape of most computer/laptop/iPhone screens, etc. and to embrace the taller, thinner shape that equates the shape of traditional magazine or book page… and the fact that it’s completely mobile… clearly, that’s the real game changer. It makes the idea of reading from a computer screen easier for people, psychologically. And that’s the only way to really sell new technology to the masses… by making it easy for them to accept, by making it feel like what they’re already comfortable with. “Hey, it’s shaped like a book, so I guess I can read on it!” I definitely don’t think there’s anything to be particularly frightened about. As far as I can tell, on a fundamental level, what we do as creators and storytellers isn’t really going to change.

THE BEAT: It seems like Image Comics has become the go to place for comics creators right now. Not only are there the Chew-level sales hits, but now all the hot books seem to be coming out of Image, and guys like Nick Spencer are getting picked up by the Big Two based on their Image stuff very quickly. What advice would you give a writer considering doing a book at Image?

Casey: I find it hilarious that Image would be seen as some sort of “stepping stone” that leads specifically to Big Two employment. Isn’t it obvious that doing your own comics is the goal, the ultimate career destination? Hell, for all of us in Man Of Action, it turned out that working at the Big Two was actually the stepping stone. To have full creative freedom — which is what we get at Image — is what all creators should aspire to. I mean, how does writing a character that 1) you don’t own and 2) you have little or no control over even compare to doing your own book? For me, it doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on Marvel and DC and when I write those characters, I have a blast. I think the Spider-Man show is gonna be rockin’. But it’s definitely a momentary hit. Creating and crafting my own books is the buzz that keeps on giving.

THE BEAT: One of the problems with the Image model is that you do need to subsidize work on the first few months of the title. I know that is not a problem for you as thousands of Ben 10 backpacks fly off the shelves of Target, but how can a writer and artist minimize the exposure for the initial period?

Casey: That’s a good question, and for me there’s really only one answer… what’s life without a little risk? I’d be doing my own comics whether or not BEN 10 was a hit or a flop. We launched GØDLAND almost two years before that show was on the air. So I was doing plenty of work for no money before we had any real success in TV. If you love the process, you shouldn’t worry about “minimizing” anything. If you have to work at Target stocking shelves to subsidize your comicbook work, then that’s what you do. If making comicbooks is all about the money, then you don’t need to be making comicbooks. Just don’t even bother. There’s no secret handshake… just shut the fuck up and make comics. Period.

THE BEAT: Would you suggest any other options for creators who want hold on to their rights?

Casey: I don’t think there are other options, aside from flat-out self-publishing. And, by “self-publishing”, I mean either in print or on the Web. Image Comics is by far the best game in town. It’s the only publisher that I know of where you can truly bet on yourself, without a lot of interference from people who don’t have nearly as much invested in your work as you do. And that’s the game I want to play. I’m a grown man and I want to control my work fully and completely. I don’t want to be forced to share my media rights or be forced to have my properties pimped around by a representative that’s not my chosen representative. It comes down to whether or not you want to be just another cog in the machine… or you want to own the actual machine.

THE BEAT: You’ve had some harsh words for the mainstream editorial process in the past. Now, it seems that comics periodicals are in a very precarious position. Both companies are holding lots of meetings to figure out ways to get sales on the rise again. If you were sitting in one of those meetings what would you say?

Casey: The only thing I could possibly talk about is what I see strictly as a reader: I honestly don’t think that — aside from a few random bright spots — Big Two comics have gotten noticeably better as the editorial environments have become more corporate and more controlling. If they were, I truly believe they’d be selling better. But, hey, that’s just one man’s opinion. I know they’re in there swinging, there’s a lot of talent involved, people are trying hard to do their jobs well… but, just as a “for instance”, I still remember the early days of the Quesada/Jemas Marvel. The excitement generated in that period, I feel like the industry is still living off of today. Jeezus, that excitement made the return of event comics actually seem fresh. But, back then, they were playing pretty fast and loose with the biggest franchises in comics. I mean, c’mon, they gave a young loudmouth like me all the rope I needed to hang myself while I was writing UNCANNY X-MEN. They let Grant change almost everything on his X-book. These were their best-selling books and they let us follow our instincts and our creative impulses and, in Grant’s case, it worked out pretty well. When sales are in the crapper — as they were in the late 90’s and as they are right now — that’s not the time to be overly-conservative or overly-cautious. That’s the time to say, “Fuck it,” and just go for broke. Take chances with the material and the characters, for chrissakes! There’s a resilience there that’s definitely not being tested, and that’s a real shame. And sorry, but I don’t think killing characters and then bringing them back is going to cut it anymore. That bell’s been rung too many times. To me, there’s a huge difference between “creatively driven” and “editorially driven” and you can see it in the books themselves.

Fuck, I guess you could boil all that filibustering down to a simple sentiment: Make better comicbooks and they’ll sell better.

THE BEAT: In looking over the industry landscape, it seems like there are fewer options for creator-owned material than ever before. And yet The Walking Dead is the new Hollywood fairy tale story. Is creator owned material an endangered species or the way of the future?

Casey: Well, I’ll go you one step further… not only is creator-owned material the way of the future, self-sufficiency in general is the way of the future. The monolithic, corporate structures that, at one time, were absolutely necessary to get your work out there are no longer as needed and are, from my perspective, rapidly becoming obsolete. Like I said, the old systems are crashing all around us and it’s fucking great to be here as it’s happening. Y’know, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s the people having the Good Ideas that will always lead the way. The rest is just window dressing. Creators are the ones with the real power… because no one else in the chain can do what we do. No one else can think of the shit we think of on a regular basis, and having some talent never goes out of fashion. Add to that the knowledge and the capabilities to actually execute those ideas, and we’re fucking unstoppable.

THE BEAT: In five years what do you hope your career looks like?

Casey: Y’know, the old adage, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”…? Okay, I’m not quite there yet, but that’s the goal. I certainly don’t ever want to be content… but I want my career challenges to come from within, from a purely creative space. Strangely, I still have trouble even considering what I do as my “career”, per se. As much as I strive to maintain those boundaries for myself, a lot of the time, this is simply my life… so I feel like you’re asking me what I hope my life will look like in five years. All I can say for sure is that I’ll have five more years of experience under my belt and I hope that it’s reflected in my art, in whatever form that may take.

That, and I want my own jet pack. It’s time, goddamn it!

Moore is 57 years old today, and it gives us a great excuse to post this illo by Dylan Horrocks of Moore as Tom Strong.

Based on what she came up with for one of her Twitter followers, probably. These are pretty good character designs!

Atwood, often mentioned as a potential candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature, has long dabbled with comics, so this should be no surprise.

Literary icon, comics admirer, and Bay Area resident Dave Eggers was hired to go to the World Series and draw what he found. The results are no threat to Ben Katchor, but pleasing enough.