Comicscape - May 18, 2005

By: Kurt Amacker
Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Before my phone interview with Bruce Campbell on Thursday evening, I spent the better part of an hour and a half trying to calm down. I was nervous, to say the least. I undertook my usual pre-interview ritual drinking. This time, it was two swallows of Barhbancourt rum. You may recall that prior to my slightly less-nerve-racking interview with Steve Niles, I fell into the sweet embrace of Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey. Unfortunately, the rum didn't dent my anxiety and I watched the clock until 6:30 p.m.

Dark Horse asked me if I'd interview Bruce over the phone on Tuesday. I immediately agreed, and began preparing questions. Knowing I only had 20 minutes with him, I determined to focus mainly on his upcoming movie and recent comic book miniseries, MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN. The movie will be featured at all of Bruce's upcoming speaking engagements for his new book MAKE LOVE THE BRUCE CAMPBELL WAY. It'll also be on the Sci-Fi Channel this fall and on DVD in 2006. Unfortunately, my resolve to focus on comics was shot, stabbed, chain-sawed, and buried when I found out just how many topics you can discuss in 30 minutes (he was kind enough to give me another ten). Any nervousness I felt prior to calling the underground's own Renaissance man died a quick death as I punished my keyboard with notes. You see, Bruce Campbell talks fast.

"Bruce, I understand we've only got 20 minutes. So, I'm going to try to focus on MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN, rather than badger you about EVIL DEAD IV. I've heard you don't really like talking about that," I said.

Bruce replied, "Well, there's not really much to tell."

I continued, "Okay, I've heard MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN comic book is a longer, 'director's cut' of the film. What's the difference?"

"Actually, more was cut out of the comic," Bruce said.

"So, there are no 'effects shots' in the comic cut out for budgetary reasons? That's what I recall reading," I said.

"No," he said. "It's a pretty true adaptation. Things like a car chases will just be handled differently than in the film."

I asked, "Was the comic planned from the start or did it happen later?"

Bruce answered, "The nature of the movie that allowed thing to spin off in that direction. I think it just happened that way. We didn't lay it out like that. I knew Mike Richardson before from Dark Horse."

"Yeah, they did the original ARMY OF DARKNESS comic years ago," I said.

"Yeah, we had a good taste in our mouth about Dark Horse."

"Have you ever been approached about working the Army of Darkness comic from Devil's Due?" I asked.

Bruce answered, "Those are pretty fun. I have been peripherally, but I think Sam [Raimi] wants to hold the card to continue the series. Other people can write them, though."

"You mean if he does EVIL DEAD IV?"

"He doesn't want it to be like 'We can't do this because this happened in the comic,'" he said.

"And you being his friend don't want to put him in that position?"

"Yes."

"As a medium, do you find comics kind of liberating?" I asked.

"A comic can be the purest form of a story. You're only limited by the artist's imagination. It doesn't cost you more to have a perfect scene. You can set the framing, the temperature, and the perfect expression and it doesn't affect your pocket book. A comic can be more of what the script describes," said Bruce.

I asked, "When you and David Goodman co-wrote the script for MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN, how did you collaborate?"

Bruce answered, "We talked about story ideas together, but I mostly wrote the script. I also translated the script for the comic. We were satisfied with the script, but needed to make it for comics. It wasn't a hard translation as an eight-act TV movie, but we had to say that if, for instance, Dark Horse is going to do a four-issue series, then we have to do two acts per issue."

"Why did you decide to do this project as a comic?"

Bruce said, "The comic is really a way to prime the audience for the movie. Some stories you can do like a drama don't always lend themselves well to comic books. This one being called MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN is a sordid tale that lent itself to being a comic book in the E.C. style."

I said, "I read the first issue last night and I really enjoyed it. Was the film itself commissioned as a TV movie or were their plans for a theatrical release?"

"I wanted a theatrical version and I negotiated my contract with the Sci-Fi Channel for a theatrical window so I could give it a shot," he said.

"You mean on the book tour for MAKE LOVE THE BRUCE CAMPBELL WAY?"

"Yeah, I got a taste of this with BUBBA HO-TEP when there were something like 30 prints and I thought, 'What if we did this seriously?'"

I continued, "BUBBA HO-TEP was really great. I expected to like it, but I actually found it kind of touching. A friend of mine that didn't care for the film said 'I like my B-movies bad.' I think that sums it up because it was like B-movie material turned into an A movie."

Bruce said, "That's a fair comment if he likes his movie shtier. It wasn't trying to preach anything, but you don't always have to have surface level stuff."

"Exactly," I said. "No movie has to be dumb like a Michael Bay flick."

"'I'm moving the camera here! Now, I'm moving the camera here! Now it's over there because I'm going to cover every possible angle in one scene!'"

I laughed, and then said, "Music videos have an undue influence. It's like 'Hold the fking camera still for a minute and let me see the shot!' But, I like when movies like SPIDER-MAN and the X-MEN have a bit of substance to them. They're fun, but they're not stupid."

Bruce said, "Well, B-movie doesn't have to mean bad and A-movie doesn't always mean good."

I said, "Yeah, there are some movies you see previews for where it's like 'Why didn't you just skip the film and just go beg the Academy for an Oscar?' Anyway, what's going on with the BUBBA HO-TEP sequel?"

He answered, "That's Don Coscarelli's call. He's been approached by a couple of studios, but, for instance, MGM was just bought by Sony. When things like that happen, things grind to a halt."

I continued, "Well, you've directed some television and now two documentaries FANALYSIS and A COMMUNITY SPEAKS but MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN is the first feature film you've directed. Did you enjoy it or will you never do it again?

Bruce answered, "It's cool because it's like doing two TV shows back-to-back. So, it's like doing two big XENA episodes. I really relied on that experience to get me through. People badmouth television, but if you can do TV you can do anything, because of the pace and the discipline you have to have."

"What's next, then?"

"There's another movie for Dark Horse we're starting this fall. It'll be on DVD in early 2006," he said.

"What is it, exactly?"

"It's just the untitled Bruce Campbell movie where I play myself. It's a crazy little tale. You'll hear more about it this fall. DVD has started kicking so much ass. It looks good, it sound good, sometimes you have extras longer than the movie, and it stops and starts as you need it. Before DVD, you had to rely on projectionists to be alert and how often does that happen? Bring on digital," he said.

Realizing, I'd hit a good nerve, I pursued Bruce's love of all things digital: "Yeah, George Lucas has been really behind digital becoming the standard instead of film."

"And he's right! Film's going away. Digital doesn't look shty. I don't think it should matter how you get cool images as long as they're there," said Bruce.

I interjected, "I'm sort of the same way with music. I know there are people that prefer records over CDs and I just wonder if they like hearing hisses and pops." [To my readers: I understand the arguments for vinyl and agree with some of them, but it's not my format of choice. Don't send me hate mail about this.]

Bruce said, "We live in the modern world and thank God we can preserve old recordings with modern technology. I can sit with one guy in a studio and create a full cacophony of sounds in five hours now."

I said, "Well, it also allows for more people to have access to that creative outlet. There's more art out there. A guy can practically have a recording studio on his computer, whereas before because of cost or access, he wouldn't be able to music. And at the same time and I don't know if this is really making the same argument I prefer to read books and comic books on paper. I've tried to read them online and I really can't. I want a stapled, newsprint book to hold it in my hands."

"That's why they still exist. It's like the digital book thing. Everyone thought we'd all be reading books on Palm Pilots, but it's not really happening. Collector's love things they can hold," he said.

I continued, "You wrote an issue of BMW: THE HIRE and now the MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN adaptation. Do you have any more plans for comics?"

Bruce replied, "I'd love to do something new that's not either derivative from a movie or from BMW. I want to do something original. I like comics because with the book for instance you can use a picture of Frank Sinatra, but you have to find out who took it and get permission from them. With comics, you start from scratch. And also, it's not like 'Hey, we're up at the butt-crack of dawn filming in Bulgaria.'"

"That, and no one's going to go, 'That's not in Bulgaria!' or whatever. They just process the image and the story. Moving on, your versatility is impressive. You've acted, written, directed, produced, and now you're doing comics. Are you planning to branch out into any other fields or mediums? Are you going to do a bit of painting soon or something?" I asked.

"Forestry: I've been doing forestry on my own land, deciding which trees to keep and which to get rid of," he replied.

"Yeah, I thought it was really impressive that you decided to branch out and make A COMMUNITY SPEAKS. It's really great that you kind of used your status to make something that's not horror or science fiction," I said. [A COMMUNITY SPEAKS is Bruce Campbell's documentary on land stewardship issues. The release date is yet to be determined, as he is still sifting through the 55 hours of film.]

"Well, I have certain skills as a filmmakers and being surrounded by public land it was in my face. So I thought, 'Let me use my skills for that.'"

I said, "Speaking of documentaries. I just watched FANALYSIS again last night just to try to figure out some obvious questions to avoid and to just try to get an idea of what you're like conversationally. I especially liked the part during the credits with the girl behind the box office window."

Bruce said, "That was funny. She had no idea who I even was, talking about 'dumb guys' and that sort of thing."

"And the woman that was obsessed with XENA the one that had the surgery to make her chin look like Lucy Lawless's...Christ."

"Yeah, she was a trip," he said.

I said, "That's just kind of sick. I mean, I like STAR WARS and I got tickets for the midnight showing, but I'm not going to camp out for it. I'm not camping out for anything."

"I guess that deep down, something with XENA really speaks to her. It's whatever gets you out of bed in the morning," Bruce said.

"I have a friend that likes to say you should run for president. Tell me something funny about running for president," I said.

He said, "I wish there were something funny about running for president. I mean, thank god for Jon Stewart. We're so polarized that we're never going to move forward."

I said, "There's definitely a cultural war, at least in the media and between the mouthpieces of the two sides. I've always thought the idea should to try come to some sort of compromise and that the idea shouldn't be to destroy the other side. People don't realize that those people they demonize have rights and a vote, as well."

Bruce said, "It's the 'I word' ideology. Once you enter the ideological world, everything gets thrown out the window. People can differ with a candidate on seven different issues, but there's that one issue that they'll vote on."

"Yeah, single issue voters. It's like you want to grab people and say 'Can you stop and think critically for once!?'" I said.

"Or really, think independently. There is a herd mentality in every direction," he said.

"One thing I've noticed, though, is that people just love to go on the attack. More than having ideas, they like to have an opposition. That can be a person or just an abstract idea, but everyone wants something like Darth Vader or a Satan to hate," I continued.

Bruce said, "For a lot of people, that's very real there really is a Satan or whatever."

"Well, Bruce I think we're out of time. Is there anything you want to leave the CINESCAPE readers with?"

"Support what you want and don't support what you don't want to. Decide for yourself."

New This Week
By Al Brown and Kurt Amacker

DARK HORSE

CONAN #16 $2.99
New arc. Good book. Just so you know.

DC COMICS

ABC WARRIORS VOL 2 THE BLACK HOLE TP $14.99

AUTHORITY REVOLUTION #8 (OF 12) (MR) $2.99

BATMAN DARK DETECTIVE #2 (OF 6) $2.99

BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #65 $2.50

BATMAN JEKYLL AND HYDE #2 (OF 6) $2.99
Jae Lee's drawing the first part of the series. This is Batman for adults, and color me impressed.

BIRDS OF PREY #82 $2.50
Al: Note that a few weeks back when I made that joke about how Kurt wants to make out with Wolverine, he retaliated by suggesting that the Birds of Prey were gonna beat me up and steal my girlfriend. I know he was trying to make me feel bad, but...man, that sounds hot. Sign me up.
Kurt: Dude, they'll totally blindfold you and just get it on right in front of you. They're mean like that.

BOOKS OF MAGICK LIFE DURING WARTIME #11 (MR) $2.50
Al: Know what? I just don't like when people spell "magic" with a K.
Kurt: I'm going to call Mother Earth to get all Pagan on yo' punk ass.

DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN HC $29.95
Yeah...I just...God...this could've been so much better, but it's still worth a read. I don't know about paying $30 for it, but still.

EX MACHINA #11 (MR) $2.99
Mitchell Hundred is NOT GAY! NOT GAY! NOT GAY! GOT IT!?

HAWKMAN #40 $2.50
This month we get to find out whether last month's apparently sea-changing cliffhanger - major character! dead! - was a red herring or the real deal. My guess: red herring.

HELLBLAZER SON OF MAN TP (MR) $12.95
I'm out of Keanu jokes, but there will be more coming when the DVD hits. Otherwise, HELLBLAZER is still one of the best ongoing series around.

HELLBLAZER TAINTED LOVE TP $16.95

JLA CLASSIFIED #7 $2.99

JLA VOL 8 DIVIDED WE FALL TP NEW PTG $19.99

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED VOL 1 UNITED THEY STAND TP $6.99

LOSERS TRIFECTA TP (MR) $14.99
Al: I thought the loser trifecta was Bush, Cheney and Condi. Yes, I think a new comics rundown is the perfect place for political commentary, why do you ask?
Kurt: I know you're bitter that Nader lost, but get over it.

LUCIFER #62 (MR) $2.50

MANHUNTER #10 $2.50

OLYMPUS TP (MR) $14.99

PLASTIC MAN #16 $2.99

POWERPUFF GIRLS #62 $2.25
Al: Blossom's my favorite.
Kurt: Dude, was that you in the crusty trench coat I saw hanging around the elementary school this morning?

ROBIN #138 $2.25

SUPERMAN #217 $2.50

TEEN TITANS #24 $2.50
In case you didn't get enough Robin already.

TEEN TITANS BEAST BOYS AND GIRLS TP $9.99

IMAGE

DAWN 2005 CONVENTION SKETCHBOOK ONE SHOT $2.95
Books for people too young to buy porn.

FREEDOM FORCE #5 (OF 6) $2.95

HERO CAMP #1 (OF 4) $2.95
What if it was like "Hero Nudists' Camp"? Except, like, only chicks are allowed. Huh-huh...huh-huh.

LIONS TIGERS & BEARS #4 (OF 4) $2.95
Oh my! C'mon...you knew it was coming.

MARK WAID HUNTER KILLER SCRIPTBOOK #1 $4.99
I really like this series, but this strikes me as kind of unnecessary.

REX MUNDI VOL. 2: RIVER UNDERGROUND $14.95

WALKING DEAD VOL. 3: SAFETY BEHIND BARS $12.95
Rick Grimes and the rest of the gang find a (nearly) abandoned prison. Hilarity ensues. Easily one of the best books being published right now.

MARVEL

BLACK PANTHER #4 $2.99

CABLE DEADPOOL #15 $2.99
Beginning the "Enema of the State" arc. Dudes, that joke is old. OLD!

DAREDEVIL #73 $2.99
How is this about the seven deadly sins but it's only a six-issue arc? Maybe they left out Envy. I always thought that Envy and Greed were a little redundant - y'know, not exactly the same thing, but close enough that if you've only got seven spaces you might want to be a little more economical about it. Did you know that Sloth wasn't even on the list at first? It used to be Sadness. Sloth was like a B-list sin. Backup sin. It played off the bench.

EXCALIBUR VOL 2 SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER TP $14.99
And speaking of stupid names for story-arcs...ugh. Quite possibly the worst name ever.

EXILES #64 $2.99

EXILES VOL 1 DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE TP $12.95

HERCULES #2 (OF 5) $2.99

LIVEWIRES #4 (OF 6) $2.99

MARVEL KNIGHTS 4 #18 $2.99

MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #14 $2.99

MARVEL MUST HAVES NYX #1-3 $4.99
You have got to be kidding me. In what alternate universe is this a must-have book? Hey Marvel: you couldn't even bother to finish the series yourselves. Kinda defeats your must-have argument.

MARVEL TEAM-UP VOL 1 GOLDEN CHILD TP $14.99

NEW THUNDERBOLTS #8 $2.99

NEW THUNDERBOLTS VOL 1 ONE STEP FORWARD TP $14.99

NEW X-MEN #14 $2.99

OFFICIAL HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE TEAMS 2005 $3.99
They should subtitle this "(that you don't really care about)". Aw yeah, Power Pack's in this one! W00t!

POWERS VOL 8 LEGENDS TP (MR) $17.95

SPIDER-MAN BREAKOUT #2 (OF 5) $2.99

SPIDER-MAN HUMAN TORCH #4 (OF 5) $2.99

TOXIN #2 (OF 6) $2.99
I gotta say, one thing I haven't minded about the whole NEW AVENGERS thing is that it's been an excuse to revisit all kinds of loopy old villains. In this issue: Razorfist, the guy with knives instead of hands. I kinda dug him back in the day.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #19 $2.25
New arc. The recently-wrapped N-Zone arc was a blast; consider me back on board.

ULTIMATE IRON MAN #2 (OF 5) $2.99

ULTIMATE X-MEN #59 $2.25

UNCANNY X-MEN #459 $2.25

WOLVERINE #28 $2.25
Who'd I say was coming back? Who's right about everything? Me, baby, me.

YOUNG AVENGERS #4 $2.99
Al: I think it's universal: this book is better than we thought it would be.
Kurt: The only true universal constant is breasts. Everyone loves them.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@cinescape.com.