Dom
Thanks for the opportunity to interview you today. I hope you don' mind if I start by saying that this week's issue of Herc was, once again, great. With Herc's end approaching, though, and the cancellation of books like S.W.O.R.D., Doctor Voodoo, and last year's cancellation of Captain Britain, how much of an advantage do books like Herc and Captain Britain get of maintaining a long print run due to the fact they were tied into major events, Herc with World War Hulk's aftermath and Captain Britain with Secret Invasion?
Fred
Well, for one thing, Dom, there is a slight misconception in your question -- unlike those other books, Herc isn't ending. The title "Incredible Hercules" is ending, but we were just borrowing that from the Hulk in the first place. But the story contained in that book is continuing for the foreseeable future, just in a form I've got to be cagey about at this time--but see the May solicits!
I think Herc got a huge advantage from coming out WWH, no question about it. We never would have gotten the numbers and attention we did it if we hadn't. And while it's been a bummer to see our numbers slide, I think it was unrealistic to expect us to maintain that high level indefinitely -- which we did for the better part of a year. This is Herc's first on-going series ever, and in today's market to keep it going without the benefit of years of legacy fans built in behind us is something I think we can feel justly proud of.
Dom
I, personally, love being corrected on misconceptions. It keeps me informed. I know of the Hercules: Fall of An Avenger solicits, so I was happy for those, but sad to see it as a 2 part series. If it goes on beyond that, fantastic.
Lets say I want to look at Hercules through the lens of a literary scholar. What are some of the themes you were hoping to touch upon with the Incredible Hercules books up to this point?
Fred
It's exploring the nature of heroism and friendship in general, not just looking at Herc's original myths and how they're reflected in his adventures today, but of course in the evolution of Amadeus Cho and him learning how to become a hero by following -- or, in many instances, actively avoiding -- Herc's example.
Dom
My store is not the most diligent in picking up titles from alternative publishers. I never got a chance to read Action Philosophers as it came out, or Comic Book Comics. Comixology on my iPhone has done wonders in allowing me to read Action Philosophers. How important has digital distribution been to the book?
Fred
So far, no so much. Print is still where the money is. We're did pretty well in our launch on iTunes, and we've recently signed deals with new cell phone content providers, but we still make the vast amount of our revenue from the comics shops, and a bit less in bookstores and Amazon.
Dom
I would have personally found the answer regarding Action Philosophers to not be surprising, no matter which answer you provided. I could have honestly seen it falling either way. But it is good to get an honest opinion from one man on the impact online distribution has on his indepedently made books. Did you cover most of the philosophers you wanted to, or were there some you wish you could have included?
Fred
We ran fan voting on our web site to see who people were most interested in, and in addition to our picks, we used what the fans were telling us as a guide for people to choose. With the four brand-new stories in the COMPLETE ACTION PHILOSOPHERS trade -- available at finer comics shops and Amazon today -- we pretty much closed out that list. People are always coming up to us at conventions and saying "What about [INSERT NAME OF OBSCURE THINKER YOU READ IN COLLEGE]? He's crazy!" But we did pretty much all the A-listers in philosophy, and many of the B-listers. That's over 300 pages worth of philosophy comics! Which was enough for us. We've moved on to the history of comics. ;)
Dom
I did a Social Studies Fair Project on that back in Middle School. First Social Studies Fair I did not get 1st place in. I was able to get a hold of a copy of each issue of Comic Book Comics from a friend, eventually. I need to actually purchase them so my money gets in your hands. As I read about Walt Disney and his obsession with his "Disney World" I couldn't help but think of Doctor Doom and Latveria. How are you able to research this project when my middle school library and local public library did not have any information for me to use? Do you have your hands on some primary documents to help with the work, and, if so, where did you find them so that other enterprising comic book historians go pursue these sources themselves?
Fred
Well, a lot of the best books on comics history have come out fairly recently, like TEN-CENT PLAGUE. A lot of it also is that people who write histories of comics rarely do the whole field, they instead focus on things they're fans of, whether that's Batman or R. Crumb or MAD Magazine or what have you. That's part of me and Ryan's project, to unify comics history and show how all these different trends influenced each other.
But you can go to our web site and see all the Notes on Sources for the entire series:
http://www.eviltwincomics.com/cbc_notes.html
Dom
Excellent. So, now, lets bring up something about you. Between Action Philosophers, Comic Book Comics, and Hercules there is a theme of history in your work. Are you a fan of history or just interested in these particular projects given their content or themes? Is there anything else you like learning more about besides comics history?
Fred
History is definitely something that's always interested me as a subject. I love reading historical fiction, and one of my current projects is to do more historical fiction in comics, now that I feel like I've explored the superhero genre quite a bit. That's been one of the most rewarding aspects of Hercules, relearning and exploring the Greek myths that have had such a mammoth impact on Western culture.
I was actually never a big philosophy guy -- Ryan and I just did a funny Nietszche comic because we thought it was funny. It was encouragement from others that led to the creation of Action Philosophers as a series!
Dom
So if you're doing more historical fiction in comics, would you mind if I ask what topics you would like to cover?
Fred
Alas, that would be premature. But it involves a lot of reading. ;)
Dom
I promised myself never to fall into the speculation trap when talking about comics. I should have known what the answer would be. I can only hope it meets my interests in history.
Onto Spider-Man briefly. How well is "The Gauntlet" doing for the series?
Fred
My understanding is it's doing very well. I was very pleased with the response my Sandman story got, and having read future issues, like Joe Kelly's Rhino and Zeb Wells' Lizard and Dan Slott's Mysterio, I really think it's going to blow people away. I feel like everybody (myself included) are turning in their best work on the book so far, and it's hard not to think it has something to do with the return of these great villain characters.
Dom
The premise of "The Gauntlet" got me to actually buy into the books. Curse Marvel's marketing department. But the whole plan seems to be working out great for consumer like me. The idea of doing smaller contained event stories has already got me onboard Necrosha, Siege, Gauntlet, Doomwar, Realm of Kings, and Fall of the Hulks. I dont want to count how many more books that I'm going to end up buying because of these events.
The Sandman story was fabulous, by the way. It was a good emotional gut punch that doesn't feel too over-played. The ending was superb. The story, itself, while not full of action every page, was entertaining and engaging.
Now, moving to Marvel Zoombies. You've been the writer of the series since part 3, if I'm not mistaken. Part 5 is coming out. Your works began to seriously address the Zombie's world colliding with the "Core Marvel Universe" (A phrase I love since reading about it from Chris Sims) Was this the direction you wanted to originally take with the franchise or an editorial one? How big is the desire to continue to integrate the Zombie's with the greater Marvel Continuity?
Fred
Well, the challenge with MZ -- and hopefully I'm not shocking anyone by saying this -- is to keep the concept fresh and interesting. Spider-Man can only eat Mary Jane once. I really felt like crossing them over with the 616 was the best "high concept" to grab new readers, and it really seemed to resonate with people. I also consciously tried to get more of a, for lack of a better word, "Serious" feel, give it more of a action/horror to plot -- actual heroes who have to defeat the zombies to gain a specific goal.
But just the sheer ridiculousness of the concept, these cannibalistic undead guys in long underwear, eventually took over, and the whole thing got crazier and crazier. Humor is always a big part of my writing and I do enjoy combining it with the gore in MZ.
Dom
I must say I did a o.O when i read you wanted to make it more serious, considering the involvement of the Warren Ellis redefined Machine Man in part 3. With part 4, though, I can understand.
Thanks for the interview.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment