First, a little more COMICSCAPE housecleaning: because of the overwhelming number of e-mails I've been getting that either declare the column "BOR FRICK ING" (in one astute reader's words) or threaten to stop reading altogether, I'm going to try to make the column a little more conversational and less "stiff." I've also had one stalwart reader volunteer to do the listings the old way (bad jokes and all), so if Al Brown sends them, I'll run them. Frankly, I find the amount of venom I've been getting about the listings to be a little disturbing, as I never really considered them the important of the column. Think of them as the french fries to the main column's hamburger. But, if you want bad jokes, bad jokes you shall have. Al took me up on my challenge and I'm glad someone cares enough to actually do something about it instead of just threatening to quit reading. And he promises to litter the listings with both drug references and the excessive use of the words "ass," "hell," "damn, " and even "crap." And just to put you in the comedic spirit, here is one of my friends from New Orleans's own More Fun Comics, beating up on poor, unloved X-FORCE #1. Now, on to my interview with Steve Niles.
Prior to interviewing Steve, I was incredibly nervous. I'm still coming to grips with the fact that writing this column means I can actually bug comic writers, artists, and companies and not be forced to talk to someone's receptionist sixteen times before giving up (to hear my slightly interesting story about getting the runaround from WIZARD a few month ago, e-mail me here). Being as nervous as I was, I did what any fledging writer about to talk to one of his favorite comic book writers would do: I drank. Before calling Steve, I grabbed the bottle of Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey from the liquor cabinet and took two kingly gulps. Then, I pored myself a beer and ate some delivery pie while waiting for the time we'd scheduled to talk.
With a light buzz going, I phoned Steve. After a minute or so of small talk, I confessed my nervousness to him and asked him to be patient with me. He replied, "Nervous!?" in manner not unkind, if slightly amused. After a few minutes of recounting his own experiences talking to his own horror icons when he first began trying to "break in," I relaxed a little bit and we got down to business. During the course of our conversation, I think I managed to grasp what fuels Niles his no-frills, down-to-earth, punk-rock-inspired attitude towards himself, his fans, and the comic industry as a whole. To him, there are no icons just people that love comic books sharing their stories. Appropriately enough, he still seems to have trouble coming to grips with his own celebrity.
"Do you want any teasers? I have good teasers." Steve said.
"Sure. What are they?" I replied.
"Make sure to say that THE NAIL and BIGFOOT will definitely be hitting the big screen. I'm going to be concentrating on BIGFOOT and Rob Zombie's going to be working more with THE NAIL."
"How did you get to meet Rob Zombie and what's it like working with him?" I asked.
"We were introduced by a mutual acquaintance in an office. It's not a very exciting story. I've got to think of a good lie to tell. Anyway, Rob's one of the hardest working, dedicated people I've ever met. He's a breeze to work with. And it helps that we think alike as far as what we think horror is and what it isn't."
Realizing that BIGFOOT the comic miniseries wasn't even out yet, I asked Steve to fill me in. He answered, "The main thing I'd like to say is that this is not HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS. I grew up with a big, bad, mysterious Bigfoot and that's what Rob and I put into the comic. This Bigfoot is about as nasty as a monster can be...and he's a man-eater."
I asked, "Steve, I know you've got BATMAN: GOTHAM COUNTY LINE coming out from DC. What can you tell me about that?"
Steve replied, "It's going to be three, 48-page books with Scott Hampton doing the art. It's going to be Batman dragged through his worst nightmare ever. I've read Batman my whole life and he's the most human DC character. There will also be guest appearances from a couple of the more macabre DC Universe characters"
"Besides that, do you have any other plans for DC or Marvel?"
"DC has welcomed me with open arms and been absolutely great. With Marvel, I keep pitching and nothing happens. It's a shame, because I really like and know those characters, but they don't seem interested. At this point, I'm willing to learn the DC characters!" he replied.
"I'd really like to work on the Hulk with Marvel," he continued, "because he's their only real monster. I grew up with Herb Trimpe's run on THE INCREDIBLE HULK in the 1970s, where the Hulk himself was a character and it wasn't all about Banner's being abused as a child. I'd love to do something with just about all the horror characters, especially Morbius. I just put in a pitch to Marvel that uses all the old Jack Kirby-Steve Ditko era monsters, like Fin Fang Foom. I incorporated their disappearance from comic books in the 1960s into the story itself."
I mentioned to Steve my own affection for Bronze Age Marvel horror. "I've got a complete TOMB OF DRACULA collection. It's really kind of sick," I said.
Steve seemed to understand: "I used to lug around those old black and white magazine all over the place. Right now, I'm writing back and forth with Gene Colan and we're trying to figure out something to do together."
Me: "That is fking awesome."
I pressed the DC issue a little farther. "Have you ever been asked to work on any of the ongoing stuff, like HELLBLAZER?"
He answered, "Not on the main series, but there was a HELLBLAZER project that was brought up to me. I love the series, but I turned it down because it was too close to something I would do with Cal McDonald."
For those that don't know, Cal McDonald is Steve Niles's own creation a hard drinking, pill popping, ex-cop private investigator that solves supernatural crimes. Steve's written three novels and an assortment of comic miniseries and one-shots featuring Cal and his zombie sidekick, Mo'Lock. One of the unique features of the Cal McDonald comics is that Niles answers letters to the book Cal's voice, rather than his own. Besides the obvious humor in having the hard-living detective badmouth his own creator, I suspected that this might be an outgrowth of Niles's own experience with Cal that of coming to know and understand one's fictional creation almost like a real person. Niles agreed: "It's mostly just the time. I've been writing Cal and Mo'Lock since 1987 and it's been slow getting to know them over the years."
I said, "I was finally able to track down a copy of the HAIRBALL one-shot from IDW for way less than it's going for on E-Bay, which is about $30."
Slightly surprised, Steve said, "Jeez, is that what it's going for? I don't think I even have a copy of that. What happened was that when that was first serialized in DARK HORSE PRESENTS, the last installment was printed with the pages out of order and it always bugged me."
I said, "Honestly, I really enjoyed it."
"HAIRBALL was my first time trying to do Cal McDonald as a comic book. I'm glad it works," he said
"What's going on with the Cal McDonald movie as well as the other projects?" I asked.
Movie adaptations and Hollywood proved to be a slightly sore spot for Steve, but he was willing and eager to discuss all of his projects in development. "I got to write the first draft of the 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and CAL McDONALD screenplays. CAL McDONALD was sold to MGM before they were bought by Sony, so now I don't know. There's a new writer that says he's doing a totally different take on it. We started working on 30 DAYS OF NIGHT before I even finished the comic series. I was sitting in a room with Sam Raimi and Rob Tappert and all these people I've idolized since EVIL DEAD. I got to meet with Sam Raimi once a week, for three months. He's the real deal. I never once heard a 'commercial thing' like 'marketing statistics' come out of his mouth. All we talked about was story and what would make the best movie."
I mentioned my own brief experience working in public relations and my distaste for the kind of people concerned about "marketing statistics." Steve concurred. "I really hate the Hollywood development system. People buy things and then changes them and I stand there thinking, 'Then why the hell did you buy it?' It's just a bad system. These people at the studios have to feel like they contributed so they'll mess with things for the sake of messing with them. I think some good stuff gets hacked up before it ever has a chance. I read an interview with Harlan Ellison in the Writers' Guild of America magazine and he said that the problem...is that every person working on it has to go home to a loved one and tell them 'I did something today,' even if that's just changing Cal McDonald's coat color. One of the producers on CAL McDONALD actually wanted Mo'Lock to wear a Tommy Bahama shirt. I told him that it wasn't funny and that he just wears white shirts."
"At one point, I said 'Let's go out and see if we can get REMAINS made' and I was told that there were only three successful zombie movies at that point and Romero's LAND OF THE DEAD is still coming, so we shouldn't push our luck. I know those zombie movies were made, but REMAINS hasn't been. It's like if I want something done the way I want to do it, right or wrong, I have to do it myself."
"What about the other properties in development?" I asked.
He replied, "ALEISTER ARCANE is at Paramount. Like the comic book, it's the story of what I imagined happened to my local horror host when he went off the air when I was a kid (although he showed up again on tv again as Captain 20). WAKE THE DEAD is at Dimension/Miramax, but we're really not sure what's going on with Disney. But, they still seem really enthusiastic."
During our conversation about movies, I asked Steve about his friendship with actor Thomas Jane and their upcoming comic miniseries BAD PLANET.
He answered, "We're shooting to get BAD PLANET out this summer. We've written the first couple of issues and we're trying to get an artist. Tom and I formed a production company called Raw Entertainment to make our own low and medium budget horror movies. I love selling movies, but I'm reaching the point where I want something to get made. I'm really lucky because with Tom, I'm one step ahead. We're talking about making THE LURKERS together with me writing the actual shooting script and Tom starring as Jack Dietz."
Wanting to get past movies, I said, "In the past few months in COMICSCAPE, there's been a lot of debate over the presence of politics in comics. What do you think about comics being used for direct, unambiguous commentary versus more universal storytelling? For instance, RISING STARS could just be called I HATE GEORGE W. BUSH: THE COMIC. I just reviewed the second issue of DOC FRANKENSTEIN, and its kind of the same way with Christian fundamentalists. Do you deliberately try to avoid "issue oriented" stories and just entertain, or do you let the chips fall where they may?"
Steve answered, "I definitely see a place for both. What I like to do is put that into my characters. I have no problem having a conservative character or a liberal character. But, I don't think people are coming to me to find out what I think about the election. If messages come through, that's fine. When you're trying to make a point come across, it doesn't work. I think a lot of people would think I'm a spiritual person based on the characters I write, and I'm not."
I decided to push the issue of character identification a little farther. "What do you think about peoples' tendency to assume every protagonist has to be a role model?" I asked. I continued, "People can't seem to just read without realizing that not every protagonist is going to be a model of virtue. I've even had people become indignant about history books I've had with me that might be about something violent or unpleasant. 'Why would you want to read THAT?' seems to be a fairly common reaction."
Steve was quick to concur: "Yeah, I agree. I think that's especially true with the way I portray drugs with Cal McDonald this guy doesn't have a good life and it alienates people around him. But people sometimes act like I'm writing CHEECH AND CHONG. I hate to bring this up, but it's like what George Lucas did to Han in STAR WARS with Greedo shooting first. Besides looking horrible from a technical standpoint, it ruined the character the fact that Han was supposed to be sort of a bad guy."
"Because we just can't have morally complex characters," I said.
Referring to back to my comment about history books and reactions I'd experienced, Steve quickly recounted a story from his own life. "I used to have that kind of problem with my family. We were altogether in a hotel after my father passed away. After he'd been cremated, no one wanted to take the ashes for the night. So, I said, 'I'll take it,' and I took the can of ashes in my hotel room. Then my sister knocked on my door and asked 'You're not going to take any of Dad, right?' When will people realize that just because you enjoy something doesn't mean you live it?"
Moving on, I asked, "How do you feel about your rather meteoric rise in status in the comic book scene? Sometimes, you seem to downplay yourself and your own work."
"Really?" he asked, his voice rising a bit.
"Well, it's not like I've read any interviews where it reads 'STEVE NILES: I suck!' but I've heard you downplay some of it before like you just don't think it's all that," I answered.
" I haven't had a chance to go back and read all of it, so I guess all of it's a little new. But, I see all the warts. I'm enjoying the work, though," he said.
I asked, "I mean, do you ever just look in the mirror and go 'I'm Steve fking Niles!'?"
He answered, "I'm really still getting used to that. I think there's nothing funnier than an egotistical comic geek because I see it in other people and it's ugly and it makes me not want to read their books. I'm hoping to emulate that punk rock attitude in comics. It's that openness that kept underground music alive. Big egos suck ass and I hate them. I think I need to hit the road more because Dallas was so great, because the people out there are so appreciative. But, I want to sell just enough books so that they pay for themselves. I don't want to break records or anything."
I asked, "Are you in a position now where you have creative control over your output or does IDW or Dark Horse hold more influence than you're comfortable with? Your prolific output suggests that you've been given a lot of creative freedom because the companies trust you."
Steve answered, "I'm really left alone. The only thing that can make or break what I do is the comic buyer. If they don't order books, that's going to stop. I've been really lucky with IDW. Dark Horse I had problem with one editor. You should never work with editors that really want to be writers. But, I really love just putting things out there."
"Do you feel like your ideas go through a lot of revision? With as much stuff as you put out, I have this vision of you hunched over your computer, banging out stories one after the other without much afterthought. When I write, it feels like I'm trying to forge iron and, as the cliché goes, nothing's ever completed it just escapes," I said.
"That's a pretty frighteningly accurate description of the way I work. I think it must be some sort of ADD thing. I try to get up early, but we're talking 10:00 a.m. here. Then, I sit at the computer and I just start attacking whatever's due. I usually have more than one deadline so I'll jump from project to project throughout the day. I love that I finish a script, give it a once over, move on, and then it's done. I get excited being in the moment," he said. "I think I kind of suck at the high concept pitch or story idea. I hit it once with 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, but aside from that I think my strongest point is writing characters that people care about. It's very important for me to inject as much reality into the characters as possible because that's what I like to read in horror. I hate killer fodder.
"I wrote a slightly maligned column a couple of weeks ago about the nature of comic books and why people read them in particular. What do you think separates comic books from other forms of storytelling?" I asked.
"Obviously the unique part about comics is that they're somewhere between a movie and a book. A book is more personal, but the comic book ups the ante. Unfortunately, I think that backfires because we can't get past the leotard men. They're still beating up the bully on the schoolyard in their tights. The medium has so much more potential than that, and I've just scratched the surface with horror. Comics give you a personal experience you can't get elsewhere. Films are a community thing and what's so wonderful about books is that you have more control. Comics hand a little of that control back. I don't know does that make any sense?" he asked, chuckling a little bit.
"Yeah, it does. It makes a lot of sense," I replied. "It seems like comics could be so much more than they are. In Japan, everyone reads comics and it's not viewed as a children's medium."
Steve said, "I was in Hawaii recently and there were a lot of Asian tourists adults and kids reading comic books. The adults were reading CSI type stuff and the kids more cartoonish stuff with talking animals and things like that. I mean I love the medium, but I hate the industry. There's got to be more. For instance, I can get my wife to read my stuff, but there's no way I can get her to read BATMAN. I would love to see someone to pull off a good romance comic."
I said, "Mark Millar tried with TROUBLE, remember? Aunt May is really Peter Parker's mom." Then I asked, "How do you relate to your artists? Do your scripts provide really specific instructions, or do you just give them a general description and let them run with it?"
"I start out really specifically and as I get used to the artist, I do it less and less. At first, there's a lot of direction. But with Kelley Jones, he knows what I want with Cal McDonald. My scripts are conversational it's like me cheerleading an artist to get the best I can out him. Artists tell me it's like talking on the phone. I had Richard Corben just tell me 'Thank you' for writing the BIGFOOT script like that, and I was like 'Holy sh-t!'," he said. "The thing I love about Kelley is that we both love having multiple actions going on. Cal will be talking to someone on the phone and Mo'Lock is doing something funny in the background. The reader that pays attention is rewarded. I was also really lucky to meet Ben Templesmith because we both had to do 30 DAYS OF NIGHT without getting paid up front."
"I love that you're keeping classic horror alive in comic books and keeping those old characters on everyone's minds. I know you've also got the LITTLE BOOK OF HORROR series coming out soon. Tell me about that and just talk to me about classic horror whatever you want to say," I said.
"There's a reason certain monsters have lasted as long as they have. DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN deal with our most basic fears of death, violation and disease. I have an endless supply of Frankenstein stories I could tell. I could write THE ADVENTURE OF FRANKENSTEIN if someone asked me to. The LITTLE BOOK OF HORROR series will be children's-style books for adults. One of the reason I'm doing the series is that there all these things that don't end up in the movie versions. People forget that in the H.G. Wells's original novel, WAR OF THE WORLDS, there's that great parallel between the Martians and the red weed and that's how he tracks the aliens. I mean, they were sucking the blood out of human beings and it's always been cut out of the movies!
"It's the same thing with FRANKENSTEIN. THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is kind of in the book already, and people don't realize that. I'm going to put the ship in the Antarctic in the end, Victor Frankenstein's brother, and the part when [Victor] destroys the bride," he said.
I said, "I think a lot of people don't realize that in the book, Victor's almost kind of the bad guy. The monster's extremely intelligent and articulate and actually learns to read. He never asked to be what he is, but he's shunned because of his appearance."
"That's what I did with WAKE THE DEAD Victor's the bad guy. I upped the ante by having him use the head of his friend that committed suicide," Steve said.
Steve continued, "By no means are the LITTLE BOOK[S] OF HORROR accurate retellings, though. These are my campfire versions. After DRACULA and WAR OF THE WORLDS, I want to do NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and ROSEMARY'S BABY. DRACULA is going to be the loosest of all of the adaptations because I wanted to portray Jonathan Harker as a greedy idiot. I wrote this very thin story and Richard Sala who does commercial stuff and works for Fantagraphics on EVIL EYE is going crazy because he wants to put all the imagery from the different films in there. I want to help redefine what people consider 'classic horror.'"
I asked, "Do you feel like you have to write, as opposed to just wanting to do? I know a lot of writers feel compelled like they just don't have a choice in the matter."
Steve replied, "If it wasn't writing, I'd feel the need to do something. I always have, like making music or Super 8 films. I don't like being a watcher. I like participating."
I concluded, "Steve, this was really awesome. Thanks for taking this much time to talk to me."
"I could've talked all night, man."
NEW THIS WEEK!
I was asked to remind everyone that Joss Whedon and John Cassaday are staying on ASTONISHING X-MEN, which would mean something to me if I hadn't bought all four covers and sold them immediately on E-Bay. But, if you're a fan, go wild! Now, on to Al Brown's way-funnier-than-I-could-write listings...
DARK HORSE
CONAN #13 $2.99
Kurt Busiek continues his excellent run on Conan! Hopefully less disturbing than #12 was - that one kinda freaked me out. I know. Big pansy, that's me.
JINGLE BELLE #3 $2.99
Warning: I keep hoping Jingle Belle will be some sexy little minx, because it sounds like a sexy little minx kind of name. Like the girl from Elf, y'know? Whats-her-name? She was hot. Anyway, it turns out she's not really all that sexy. Don't say I didn't warn you.
MICHAEL CHABON PRESENTS: THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF THE ESCAPIST #5$8.95
If you have not read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, drop everything and go do it. Don't even eat. Seriously. What? No, it doesn't have pictures. This book has pictures, though.
DC
BATGIRL #61 $2.50
I think it should be acknowledged at least every few months that Bludhaven is a ridiculous name for a town.
BATMAN #637 $2.25
This issue: Batman sorta mopes around and acts cranky.
CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #6 $2.25
Why isn't Aqua Teen Hunger Force in this book? Is there no justice in the world?
ELFQUEST VOL. 7: THE GRAND QUEST $9.95
More hot elf chicks and pointy-eared madness with Cutter and the rest of the Wolfriders. AYOOOOH!
THE FLASH #219 $2.25
Under Geoff Johns, this book has recently been very cool. This is the first part of a new mini-arc that crosses over with Greg Rucka's also-cool WONDER WOMAN, so if it's been a while since you gave these folks a shot...now's a good time.
LOSERS #21 (MR)$2.95
Woohoo! Losers rules all. Spies!
NIGHTWING #104$2.25
OUTSIDERS #21$2.50
RICHARD DRAGON #10$2.50
SCOOBY-DOO VOL. 3: ALL WRAPPED UP $6.95
SCOOBY-DOO VOL. 4: THE BIG SQUEEZE $6.95
SEVEN SOLDIERS #0 $2.95
It's gonna be tough to talk about Grant Morrison's SEVEN SOLDIERS series, because I'm so excited about it that I'm refusing to read it at all until the full series comes out in hardcover. I can tell you that it's supposed to shake up the foundations of the DC Universe, or whatever, not that every book doesn't promise to do that. But this is Grant Morrison! And when Grant says he's gonna shake something up, like ten million mutants die and Beast turns into the cowardly lion. I'm so there. Which reminds me, you know how in the old Marvel Handbook from the 80s, the White Queen's entry was totally hot? And you were, like, 11, so the White Queen's entry (and your mom's Victoria's Secret magazines) were pretty much responsible
for you realizing that girls aren't gross after all? I'm convinced that Grant knows what I'm talking about, and that his entire run on the X-MEN was a response to that exact fact.
SLEEPER SEASON TWO #9 (OF 12) (MR)$2.95
Also a great book! Man, it's an exciting week. If you like LOSERS, you should get this; if you like this, you should get LOSERS. If you like pain, I have some SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN for you.
WONDER WOMAN #213
Note: Blind Wonder Woman is cooler than blind Gambit. Further note: this is not the afore-mentioned Flash crossover issue - that's WW 214, due next month.
IMAGE
SMALL GODS #7 2.95
Turns out that if 1% of the population were psychic it would be less
Like Chirstopher Walken's Trivial Psychic sketch on SNL and more like a bunch of car chases. Distinct improvement, in my opinion.
RIDE FOREIGN PARTS ONE SHOT $2.95
Chuck Dixon does something called "pushing the bounds of storytelling", which sounds like....well, it sounds like I wouldn't use that phrase this close to WE3 for all the tea in Boston Harbor. But bully for him.
MARVEL
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #517$2.25
Peter Parker fights the only dude that was nerdier than him back in high school! Okay, it's not as lame as it sounds.
AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES
#8 (OF 8)$3.50
The conclusion of the series which was created solely to be a consolation prize to everyone who hated Disassembled! It hasn't been half-bad, actually. On the other hand, it was only half-good.
BLACK WIDOW #6 (OF 6)$2.99
Come back to us, Bill Sienkiewicz! We'll do anything! Except learn how to spell your name!
EXCALIBUR #10$2.99
In this issue: Something makes sense! Okay, that was a lie. It's just more tentacles and stupid codenames.
FANTASTIC FOUR #523$2.99
Mark Waid and Michael Wieringo's penultimate issue in what will surely go down as one of the definitive FF runs. Susan Storm: Still a total MILF!
MYSTIQUE #24$2.99
I blame you for the cancellation of this title. Seriously. You personally. Everybody go buy this last issue, just to confuse Marvel.
NIGHTCRAWLER #6$2.99
Does anyone else miss when Nightcrawler used to just be the bouncy guy? My kingdom for an X-Man who isn't drowning in angst! Sigh...I miss Stacy X.
POWERS #9 (MR)$2.95
The solicitations describe this as "Bendis uncensored". Does that mean he spells everything wrong?
ROGUE #8$2.99
Sunfire! I dig that dude. No, just kidding, I totally don't care.
SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH #2$2.99
SPIDER-MAN: INDIA #4$2.99
STRANGE #4 (of 6)$3.50
ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE #5 (Of 5)$2.25
Hey, remember this miniseries? No? It's the one where nothing ever happens, plus it's late. And here's the final issue...of the first of three parts! This is actually a cool series, but I wouldn't hold it against you if you waited for the trade.
UNCANNY X-MEN #456$2.25
The X-Men travel to the Savage Land, with all 139 completely unexplained new characters still wandering aimlessly around popping random thought balloons! This issue promises "a highly unexpected new member", so....well, more of the same.
WOLVERINE THE END TP$14.99
SPOILER: Hey, you know how this was called "The End"? Don't get your hopes up.
X FORCE SHATTERSTAR #1 (OF 3)$2.99
Hooray! When Jubilee got cancelled, I wasn't sure we'd ever have a book to match it for sheer "not mattering at all"-ness. Enter....Shatterstar.
X-23 #3 (OF 6)$2.99
Dude, what if Wolverine was a chick? That'd be so awesome! Pass the bong.
X-MEN #167$2.25
Golgotha part 2. Here's hoping Milligan gets his feet under him sooner rather than later. Not that this is has gotten off to a totally disastrous start, but...well, he can do so much better. On the plus side, "Golgotha" is fun to say.
X-MEN PHOENIX ENDSONG #3 (OF 5)$2.99
Part 3 of the miniseries that is way, way better than anyone thought it would be. Will someone give Greg Pak an ongoing job, please? Thank you. Also: Greg Land, the king of cheesecake! (Okay, co-king along with Frank Cho.) So, excellent chance that there will be underwear. Oi!
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