Today is Dragonflyman Day, a new holiday to commemorate the bookstore publication of AHOY Comics newest trade paperback, Dragonfly & Dragonflyman.
The book — which is a prequel to the AHOY launch title Wrong Earth — is from writer Tom Peyer (who is also AHOY’s editor-in-chief), artist Peter Krause, colorist Andy Troy, and letterer Rob Steen. For those of you who have not read Wrong Earth nor Dragonfly & Dragonfly Man (and are presumably just here because you #*$&-ing love holidays), the concept behind this story is basically that one superhero from two different earths has had versions of himself switched. Imagine if Batman from The Dark Knight Returns got swapped with Batman ’66. In Wrong Earth, we see these characters navigate each other’s worlds; in Dragonfly & Dragonflyman we see them navigate their own worlds as a lead up to Wrong Earth.
Anyway, the point is they are good comics, they have their own holiday, and today Dragonflyman creator/writer Tom Peyer was kind enough to do a quick interview with The Beat.
Enjoy!
ZACK QUAINTANCE: One thing I’ve been curious about for a while — since Wrong Earth started, actually — is when you had this excellent idea to put different eras of the same character into each other’s worlds? Is this something you’d thought of years ago during some of your earlier work with superheroes, or is it a more recent concept?
TOM PEYER: The general idea first hit me a few years before we started AHOY. I was thinking about pitching it to another company’s superhero, but then I learned they no longer owned the property. Which turned out to be lucky, because doing it at AHOY with Jamal Igle almost certainly made it a hundred times better than it would have been.
QUAINTANCE: What was the writing process like for Dragonfly and Dragonflyman? Did you write both stories separately and later alternate them, or did you write it all at once?
PEYER: I tend to write a Dragonfly chapter all the way through, then write the Dragonflyman chapter for dessert, then shuffle the pages. Start again next issue.
QUAINTANCE: The first page of the first issue, with the joke about the fantasy baseball player, really cracked me up…and it was set on the grittier Earth Omega. Was there something about that setting that you found actually lent itself to humor better at times?
PEYER: That was Stinger, the kid sidekick, narrating like a hard-boiled film noir detective. I haven’t analyzed it much, but characters present their own opportunities for humor, and a writer who’s keyed in can be lucky enough not to miss them.
QUAINTANCE: What’s your secret to writing a great overly-verbose superhero soliloquy?
PEYER: I just try to remember that superheroes tend to love the sound of their own voices. And that they have anonymity on their side, like internet trolls. Spider-Man has always had the nerve to say what Peter Parker can’t.
QUAINTANCE: Finally, for the faithful, what are some ways you recommend observing DRAGONFLYMAN Day?
PEYER: Dress in loose, comfortable clothing. Remember to stay hydrated. Use the buddy system. Look both ways. Get home before dark. And have fun!
