The Peter David Interview



Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know this puppy is WAY late. Especially considering Wizard World Texas (WWT) was the weekend of November 4-6, 2005. What can I say? I tend to procrastinate and life and work kept getting in the way… J

But, here it is. FINALLY put to bed and ready to be read by anyone who wants to read it. Even though I would tend to be biased in wanting you to take a peek at it I still recommend the PAD fans and haters and those who have no idea who he is [I’m looking at you, GroovyBoy!! The man that kept referring to PAD as: “That dude” the entire weekend of WWT.] take a gander at this interview. It’s a peek into one of the greatest and most prolific writers in the writing business today.

Peter David has YEARS of comic book writing as well as various novels under his belt. He has written the Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Sachs & Violins, Young Justice, Spyboy and Captain Marvel just to name a few. He has quite a few Star Trek novels and currently four “Lord of Apropos” novels out there to be read. And, one of the best novels I have read- Howling Mad- I can’t recommend enough to anyone and everyone.

While I was at Wizard World Texas this past November for the last Comic Book Convention of the 2005 season, I had the opportunity to meet PAD and humbly request an interview from him. He was more than happy to do it. And, he went out of his way to do it, too. On Friday (11/04) he was ready to sit and talk, but I never expected it that quick and had neither my questions nor my tape recorder with me. On Saturday (11/05) we sat down and were ready to go at his stand in Artist Alley. But, fans kept coming up and asking questions and such of him. Being the consummate professional and all-around nice guy, Mr. David didn’t turn them away. The questions never stopped until the Con closed for the day. Because he had an appointment to keep right after the Con he wasn’t able to stick around afterwards for me. No biggie. I totally understood. I didn’t mind at all because the people coming up had some good questions and comments and I was getting into the answers from PAD.

So, he promised me then and there that on Sunday (11/06) I would get my interview no matter what. He had a Writing Panel to conduct Sunday afternoon and told me to be there as soon as it ended. He and I would then go to a private room and I would get a full ½ hour of his time, uninterrupted.

On Sunday I showed up and after waiting an additional 20-30 minutes for his Panel to be done I got my interview. His Writing Panel ran late, but was very interesting from what I heard of the last ½ hour of it.

I was only supposed to get a ½ hour interview, but we talked for a nigh-45 minutes. He was even late to a VIP Signing because of me. Sorry, Peter!

Anyway… But I Digress…

When you read this keep in mind it was done waaaay back in November. Some of the stuff we talked about might be old news now. Also, since we had talked a few times during the WWT Con weekend, there was really no introduction for the interview. We just jumped right into it and got the proverbial ball rolling.

Here it is: the Peter David Interview-- Enjoy!!!!



LJH: A lot of the questions David R from ComiX-Fan helped me out with.

PAD: Okay.

LJH: He had some questions for you because he’s a big fan just like I am of your work.

PAD: Okay.

LJH: For a long time we both grew up reading your writing: The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and everything else. Let’s hear the real reason you left the Hulk back a few years ago. The unedited version.

PAD: I’ve never been less than square about it. It is real simple…

LJH: Sometimes you get caught up in an interview, like Wizard, where they sugar coat it.

PAD: No. I’ve always been straight forward about it. What essentially happened was Bobbie Chase was the editor. She suggested the possibility of killing off Betty. I decided to go along with it. So, I wrote the story where we kill off Betty because the concept was we were going to explore the concept… that was repetitive… the concept was we were going to explore what it was like for the Hulk to be- and Bruce Banner, but particularly Bruce- to be bereft of what was essentially his anchor to the real world. Which was something I felt I could have a certain degree of personal resonance with because I was newly divorced. So, I felt kind of adrift in the real world. So, I felt that I could empathize with that.

And word came down from on high that what they wanted was to use this as an excuse to have Bruce essentially disappear… be the Hulk all the time… and go around the entire Marvel Universe smashing everything in sight. I couldn’t relate to that. Number one: as upset as I was, I wasn’t going around smashing everything in sight. So, I had no… it had no personal resonance for me. And also, I felt that that would be catastrophic in terms of sales. But, we had gotten the readers accustomed to reading stories with deep psychological meaning and gravitas… and subtext. Twenty-two pages of the Hulk smashing stuff I was convinced would cause us to hemorrhage readership. And I told them that. And they said: “Well, this is what we want you to do.” And I said: “Well, I don’t want to write that.” And they said: “Well, fine. Then don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

And that was essentially it. They wanted to do this and they made it clear that if I wasn’t going to write this then we were done.

LJH: Now, by “they” you are talking about someone beyond just Bobbie Chase…?

PAD: Yeah. It wasn’t up to Bobbie. It was basically Bob Harass’ decision. Bobbie called me up and she was crying and she said: “You are off the Hulk.” And I was kind of stunned because I sure wasn’t expecting that and, you know, she felt terrible and I would go easy on her because I knew that she was carrying out someone else’s orders.

Bobbie and I had been together for a real long time and the concept of firing me off the book was just anathema to her. But, she did what she was told to do. Annnnd… they then did exactly the Hulk books that they wanted to do and sales went right down the crapper as I expected that they were going to do. And, you know, there were fans who said they just stopped reading it because I wasn’t writing it. And I…

LJH: I was one of those fans. As soon as you left the book I boycotted the book.

PAD: And I appreciate that as far as it goes. But, I know that for most fans their loyalty is going to be for the character and, at the very least, they are going to give it an issue or two to see what the next guy is going to do. And if they like what the next guy is going to do they are going to stick with the book. I mean… when I resigned off X-Factor people told me they were going to boycott the book because they didn’t like that I was leaving it and I was the best thing that ever happened… and how dare Marvel screw around with me to the point that I had to quit. Three issues later… X-Factor #92 I think it was… which tied in with the crossover which I resigned off of rather than write was the highest selling book Marvel had that month. So, so much for fan loyalty.

LJH: I remember reading about that back in one of your “But I Digress…” columns back in the early-90’s talking about that.

PAD: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So… you know… the sales dropped like a rock and they restarted it with #1 and sales continued to drop like a rock until Paul Jenkins took it over and started writing stories that had deeper psychological basis to them. Just as mine had. At which point sales started to go back up again because this is what fans had become accustomed to. The concept of… you know… the… uh… the ’Hulk-Smash-Hulk’ was simply something they weren’t doing… that they didn’t want to see anymore.

LJH: Did you follow Paul Jenkin’s run, by chance?

PAD: Oh! Did you mean did I read it?

LJH: Yes.

PAD: Uh… one or two issues…

LJH: Oh, yeah? That’s about what I read. I read about one or two issues, too. And it seemed like in the one or two or three issues I read it seemed like he was trying to follow up on a lot of the stuff you had done.

PAD: He was. He was trying to follow it in my types of stories. I didn’t agree with everything he did. His concept that the merged Hulk was actually something that Doc Samson had stitched together but it was simply another personality-- my attitude was: “No. Quite the opposite.” He was what he always said he was- a merged Hulk. He was the combination of all the personalities. Not a separate one. But, you know, at least he brought back the psychological underpinnings to the book that it was missing since I left. So, I am appreciative of that and I’m flattered to think that once he started doing the same types of stuff that I was doing suddenly sales turned around. My assumption was that it was Bob Harris‘ decision.

LJH: What would you have done with the Hulk if you would’ve stayed on the title back then?

PAD: Read Hulk 467. Everything that I would have done with the Hulk beyond that point was mentioned or touched on or referenced in 467. My intention was I wanted to stay on the book until 500 and then I was going to bow out. I thought that 500 would be a good place to end my run.

LJH: Interesting.

PAD: Annnnd… I had ideas and concepts that I thought were good for another two years or so. And then I thought that would be enough. You know? Fourteen years is a good run.

LJH: It was a very impressive run.

PAD: And with issue 500... It’s 500 you know. A big farewell to Peter-thing. I thought that would be kind of cool. And I didn’t get to do that. So, instead, I collapsed everything I was going to do down into a couple of pages of Hulk 467. As I had the elderly Rick Jones talking about everything that happened afterward…

LJH: …excellent…

PAD: … so, if you want to see who’s going to be in there that’s where it is.

LJH: Now that was an excellent story…

PAD: …Thank you…

LJH: … I had tears in my eyes reading that story- the last book.

PAD: I actually wrote that issue with the deliberate intention of reducing Bobbie Chase to tears. And she called me up after I sent her the story and she told me how wonderful it was. And, I said: “Did it make you cry?” And, she said: “lots.” And, I said: “Good. Then my job is done.”

LJH: <laughing>

LJH: In “Hulk: The End.” Did that follow up on anything from 467?

PAD: No. “Hulk: The End” was written before Hulk 467. The story which was originally called “The Last Titan” appeared as a short story. The last short story in a Hulk short story collection called Ultimate Hulk. Which actually had nothing to do with the Ultimate Hulk. You know, the later one that was called the Ultimate.

It was a short story collection that I co-edited with Stan. And, it was a short story. It was about the Hulk at the end of “Days” essentially. Annnnd… Bobbie contacted me- and this was all before I was fired off the book. Bobbie contacted me and she said: “Would you be interested in doing a new series of books called ‘The End?’ Which are supposed to be the last story of a particular character. And, naturally, I thought you’d be the ideal person to do ‘Hulk: The End.’” And, I said: “Well, I’ve already done that. I did it… it was basically as a short story that ran in the last… you know… the last thing.

Well, she said: “Marvel owns the copyright to that soooo… Maybe we could… you know… you could do an adaptation of that and expand upon it a bit?” And, that’s exactly what I did. And, they gave it to Dale Keown and it took a real long time for it to come out. But, it eventually came out. And the sales on it were really good. But, that’s where it originated from- as a short story.

LJH: It was a great story.

PAD: Thank you.

LJH: It was definitely a great story.

Which artist did you enjoy working with the most? Not just on…

PAD: … the Hulk…?

LJH: Let’s say the Hulk and any kind of book- besides the Hulk.

PAD: George Perez. I love… I mean really… working with George Perez. There is George Perez and then there’s everybody else.

We could, number one, be in synch. Number two: George brings so much to the party! And, his story instincts are dead on. And, if there are places where he thinks he could improve the story, he’ll say: “How about if we do this?” And, invariably, it’s better than what you yourself are going to do.
I loved doing “Sachs and Violins” with him. I loved doing “Future Imperfect” with him. The fact that after all these years these are still projects people come up to me about. The copies and that kind of thing. The fact that I guest-starred Sachs and Violins, who had not seen print in over a dozen years, in two issues of “Fallen Angel” sales jumped up shows the strength that George Perez brings to any project. Of course, if we had done “Sachs and Violins” with anyone else, it would be a long forgotten thing. But, because it was George, people remember.

LJH: Well, I mean, you’re giving yourself a little discredit here. Which I think… you know… you’re the one that created them and…

PAD: I’m the one that created them, but George made valuable additions. First and foremost: suggesting that J.J. Sachs be Hispanic. That was all George’s idea. It gave her a fiery temperament that she didn’t have. It was a lot of fun writing her as Hispanic. And George loved drawing her. Loved drawing J.J. That’s why he had no trouble with the idea of doing two covers of “Fallen Angel.” He was going: “I get to draw J.J. again! I’m there!” He loves drawing Sachs. It was just a lot of fun.

And, after that, I would say Leonard Kirk. With whom I worked on “Supergirl.” And Todd Nauck with whom I worked on “Young Justice.” Artists that are just remarkable in their flexibility. What they can bring to it is just… I can ask anything of these guys… Annnnd… they’re phenomenal. I also think that J.K. Woodward, who I’ve worked with on two issues so far on “Fallen Angel-” but, I think J.K. Woodward is going to be fantastic. He’s going to be a name to watch. I’m telling you. One of the major companies is going to grab him up in a heartbeat once they actually see what his book looks like.

LJH: Now you’re writing “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.”

PAD: Yes. Or, as the fans call it, “F’in Spider-Man.”

LJH: As you said in the Panel here. [PAD gave me the interview after he finished a Panel.]

PAD: Yep.

LJH: How was it going back to a character you hadn’t written in years? Did you have to research him or just sort of go with the flow you had in the past?

PAD: I read… I did a quick read of the last year’s worth of Spider-Man stuff so I could get some footing as to where he was and where his head was at. It helped that I’d been reading Joe Straczynski’s runs since he came on board. I don’t get Marvel comps [free books]. DC comps I get. Marvel comps I don’t. Go figure. I work for Marvel, I’m not working for DC. DC sends me the comps. I’m not knocking it, but…

So, once Joe came on Spider-Man, I started reading Spider-Man. I gotta read it. It’s Joe, you know? So, fortunately, I was current with what was going on in his life because of Joe’s stuff. Then I went back and I started to read Marvel Knights Spider-Man and the other Spider-Man stuff that I could find.

LJH: How did you feel about Millar’s work? I know there were a lot of fans who loved it and a lot who hated it.

PAD: I was kind of somewhere in the middle. I mean, I liked some stuff… I didn’t like some stuff. I thought that some things worked better than other things. I think that the entire concept of Jonah Jameson thinking Spider-Man is his son is kind of out there and I think we are going to have to address that one. I think that was Mark [Millar].

LJH: I believe it was.

PAD: Ummmm… I’m not sure about that one. But, you know what? You gotta admire someone for just going in there and just trying new things. I mean, that’s what you gotta do. You gotta try new things because if you don’t then it’s just going to be same old, same old. Every time you do something drastically different you risk losing fans. But, I can guarantee you, if all you do is what everyone else has done you will lose fans. There’s no ifs, ands or buts. You’re going to stop. You’re going to see your holdings erode. You gotta try the new stuff. And, if it works- run with it! And, if it doesn’t work- blame it on the editor!

LJH: Let’s go with writers here. I know a lot of writers- and I’m not going to mention any names because everyone has their own opinion about this- but, a lot of writers will throw in things like politics into their stories. How do you feel about that? How do you feel about writing comics or even novels when a writer will throw his personal opinion into his work?

PAD: I think I have no trouble with a writer putting his personal opinion into his work as long as it’s been balanced with someone else’s opinion. And that’s just to make the story interesting. I don’t feel it has to be done because of any steps of fairness or equal time or war or anything like that. My feeling is that if you put politics in there that are your own politics and that’s all that’s in there then the story’s going to be flat and uninteresting. What makes politics interesting is the debate. So, if you’re going to have a story involving capital punishment as I did in Hulk 380, you want to try and write it as balanced as possible. Because, for no other reason, that you want to piss off as many people as possible. In Hulk 380 I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. I had people who are anti-capital punishment writing in saying that I had written this comic book to make capital punishment look like a good idea. I had people who are pro-capital punishment writing me angrily saying how dare I write this brutal look at capital punishment- it makes them look bad.

So, I managed to piss off everyone and no one was able to determine from the comic book what my own feelings on it were. Which means, by me, that it was a successful story. If you could with no trouble determine what the writer’s politics are- of the story- it’s not the best story in the world.

LJH: I know when I read the story it was… I’m pro-capital punishment. In certain cases, if you can prove 100% a person is guilty and they get their fair trial and their fair amount of appeals, I’m pro-capital punishment. But, after reading your story, I took a second look at it and said: “Ah. Everyone does have another story to tell. She had her own story. She had her reasons why she went down the path she did. It made me think…

PAD: Good…

LJH: I’m still pro-capital punishment, but I’m still thinking: “Well, you know what?” It just makes you think…

PAD: I’m against capital punishment. For the simple reason that there have been too many cases where people on Death Row turn out to be innocent and were freed on subsequent evidence, testimony or whatever. And, as far as I’m concerned, if there is one person on Death Row that turned out to be innocent that’s one person too many. The fact that there have been multiple times indicates to me: No way. No way!

I would rather see a hundred vicious murderers simply locked away forever rather than risk one innocent person being killed.

LJH: I agree because I know how in inner cities and things like that how bad it could be to prove something like a person’s innocence. I’m a police officer. I’m a State Police Trooper in Pennsylvania with 13 and a half years. Even if I make a “normal” traffic stop, if I’m not 100% sure, I’m not going to arrest anyone. I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end before I got on the job. I don’t want to be one of those guys that arrests people willy nilly saying: “Yeah, yeah, you’re guilty.”

PAD: With that said… and it sounds hypocritical… then I’m a hypocrite and I accept it… if someone killed my wife or my children would I want to see capital punishment? I’d pull the lever myself. I’d inject the poison myself. Give me a guillotine, I’d drop the blade myself. And not shed a tear. And not hesitate. And dance on the guy’s grave.

But, you know what? It’s not my call to make. It’s not my call. You know? And, it shouldn’t be. No, because that’s simply vengeance. And, would I want to exact bloody vengeance? Oh, you bet your ###. But, the Justice System is not about vengeance. It’s about justice. And, it should never be confusing. That’s my feeling. Anyway…

LJH: I definitely feel that way. But, I know from working in the Justice System for 13 and a half years there is a reason Lady Justice wears a blindfold. That’s why it’s so tough for me getting involved in…

PAD: She wears the blindfold to symbolize all people are equal. The problem is…

LJH: I see that Justice is blind because…

PAD: Yeah. Justice is blind to the differences between men. Would it mean Justice is blind because you are currently rich or you are currently poor? You should be treated the same. That’s why Justice is blind. It doesn’t mean Justice is random.

LJH: That’s what it’s supposed to mean, but I…

PAD: The problem is that when it comes to capital punishment it’s not. It’s not equal because if you’re very rich you don’t get the chair. And, if you are very poor you bet your ### you do. And, that’s an inequality. And, therefore, to my mind, the fact that Justice is blind underscores the concept that if you have a punishment that’s not going to be applied equably then it should not be a punishment that should be allowed to exist.

And, it is indisputable that capital punishment is applied unequally. Indisputable. Indisputable. The chances of you being a rich millionaire who kills you’re wife and you’re put on the electric chair is non-existent. But, if you are a street level crack addict who kills two people. Oh, yeah! We’re going to fry your ###. And, if you are black? Forget about it.

LJH: I agree. I agree.

PAD: Okay. Anyway… want to talk more about comics?

LJH: Yeah… let’s…

PAD: … of course that was a darker side…

LJH: … that was a great conversation… I could get into that.

PAD: I have my moments.

LJH: Any more collected anthologies of your “But I Digress…” columns coming out? The last one I have is a collection of your first year.

PAD: That was the only one. I was actually in discussion with them about doing an anthology about more “But I Digress…” columns and what that evolved into was the Writing Comics With Peter David book. Which has some excerpts from my columns, but also mostly original material. And, if this is successful then we will segue into doing another column collection.

LJH: Great! Any more anthologies of your Hulk book coming out? There are two that came out…

PAD: Anthologies of my Hulk book…?

LJH: You’re original…

PAD: Oh, oh, oh! The paperback collections.

LJH: Yes.

PAD: Peter David: Visionary. Which totally cracks me up because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I had a general idea of where I wanted to go, but “visionary” makes it sound like I had this grand, vast plan. You can’t come in there thinking maybe you will be lucky and come up with the next stories for the next six months and have a grand, vast plan, you know?

LJH: Well, I don’t want this to go to your head, but I consider you a visionary.

PAD: Well, thank you. Thanks. I appreciate that. They did in fact say, I assume, that if the first two did well there would be more.

LJH: But, you’re not in the know?

PAD: Right. I didn’t know they were doing the second until someone said: “Hey! Being solicited this month is Peter David: Hulk Visionary #2.” And, I went: “It is?!?” I didn’t know they were doing the X-Factor trade paperback of my original run on X-Factor until I read about it in the “Westfield Catalogue.”

LJH: I didn’t know that. I’ll have to pick that up.

PAD: Yeah! Who knew? It’s supposed to be coming out this month, I think. Much to my shock.

LJH: I’ll be looking for that.

PAD: Nobody tells me anything. But, you know what? If they send me money, I’m happy.

LJH: <laughing>

Is it a job to you or is it more of a love for the characters? Since you made a comment about the money.

PAD: Well, I only made the comment about the money in regards to the Trade Paperbacks. I’m saying they don’t have to drop me a memo. If you’re not going to drop me a memo you can drop me a check.

In terms to the characters: The love of the characters always has to come first. I mean, I can’t be that I’m going to write a character just to earn a paycheck. And that’s because I really like the character. And I know this because I’ve been offered gigs that would have been very lucrative, but I turned them down because I felt no connection to the character. That ranges from comic books to writing the first Voyager novel.

Pocket Books offered me a butt-load of money to write the very first Voyager novel. The very first… I should say… the original version novel as opposed to an adaptation. And they sent me the “Bible” and they sent me the scripts and I read it over and I said: “Uh huh. I feel no attachment to these characters at all. Because they don’t interest me. Someone else will, but I don’t.” And they were willing to throw quite a lot of money at me. But, I said: “No. It’s going to be hack work.” It’s going to be something that doesn’t… if it doesn’t come from the heart then what’s the point? So that was that.

LJH: Over the years writing various characters have you felt at all being collared or having a leash put on your writing or having your scripts hacked up or anything else?

PAD: Well, if they did, then I quit. When I was doing my first run on X-Factor they were re-writing my dialogue after the fact. They were making decisions without consulting me. At which point I said: “I don’t need this ####.” And, I quit.

Anytime that an editor becomes too heavy-handed to the point where I can’t operate with that editor anymore I say: “Okay. That’s enough. That’s all I cans stands because I canst stands no more.” And, I’m done.

So, has it happened to me? Yeah. On a few occasions. Not a lot. On a few.

LJH: Do you feel any certain writers it happens to more often than not?

PAD: I haven’t the faintest idea. I mean, because I don’t read… it’s not like I read their original manuscripts.

LJH: Okay. I assume you talk to writers at Conventions and things like that?

PAD: Sure. But, it’s not the kind of thing we really get into any kind of detail. And, I can tell you right now if there were writers who were griping about it I sure as hell wouldn’t tell you because <said jokingly>…

LJH: I wouldn’t ask you who it was. I wouldn’t ask you that. I’d uphold their privacy.

PAD: Yes… as the tape recorder goes… <smiles>

<Laughter from both of us.>

PAD: I’ve generally found the best way to have something you don’t want to have repeated is not to say it in the first place. That’s the only sure fire way.

LJH: Has the Internet hurt comics in any way? As in: now the Internet is out there and stories are leaked…

PAD: As with anything else, there’s the upside and there’s the downside. It’s silly to focus purely on the negative because there’s lots of positives. The Internet’s valuable in terms of feedback. If for no other reason that when fans say one thing then I turn around and do the other. So, that’s today’s guideline. And the Internet has been positive as I’ve made many connections. You also get word out in a way that wasn’t possible before. We’ve been [hyping] “Fallen Angel” at my website and Newsrama and Comicon and Dotcom and any place that I can. And when I wanted to let retailers know what the first issue of the new “Fallen Angel” will look like I went to the CBIA website and said: “Look! We’ll send you PDFs of the entire first issue.” Because, if for no other reason, retailers will know that the whole first issue is done and means the book is going to ship. And, when you are dealing with the Indy publishers, that is rarely a given. But, if you know the whole book’s there they can order the book with confidence knowing that they’re not tying up their money for a book that’s not going to come out until April. And, we went to the fans over at Newsrama and we said: “Look: anyone who’s interested we’ll send you a PDF of the first eleven pages of “Fallen Angel.” If you read it and you like it go to your retailer and say: “I want to order “Fallen Angel” #1. I want to see the whole book. I want to see what’s happening.”

We got word out in a way that would not have been possible without the Internet. What’s the result? Sales! The sales on the first issue are looking extremely promising. It’s outselling what was selling towards the end of the run of the DC [Comics] book. We’re outselling the DC book. Which is kind of astonishing when you consider that far few stores carry IDW than they do DC. Far fewer stores.

What that means is that people are actually ordering Indy in advance. Retailers are ordering it because the quality of the book that they see gives them confidence in it. Fans are ordering it because they’re saying: “I must see this because it looks exciting.” That’s the advantage of the Internet.

The downside is that things get judged in advance. In a way that is not totally fair. And, usually it gets judged in a negative view: “Wow! That’s going to suck!” I mean, when I was a kid, and I was reading Spider-Man, right? Spider-Man #100 comes out and at the end of Amazing Spider-Man #100-- “Oh, my God! He has four additional arms.” Do you remember this? Do you remember this?

LJH: I didn’t read the story, but I remember seeing it and I just… it threw me off.

PAD: It blew me away as a kid. Absolutely blew me away. Oh, my God! Spidey has four additional arms. Holy ####! A’right? If this were being done now… okay? The reveal of issue 100 would be blown three months in advance. The older fans would all be saying: “That is the dumbest idea I ever heard.” And, all the kids like me would be exposed to 30 and 40 and 50-year olds explaining why this is the most phenomenally stupidest thing that’s ever been done.

So, instead of young Peter [David] reading this and going: “Oh, my God! What’s going to happen next?!?” I would be going: “Yeah, this is stupid.” So, before it even comes out I’d be hating the idea. It’s, by me, not a good progression of books. It is becoming brutally difficult for writers to surprise anyone or to write a series that will be judged on the quality of the series and execution alone. Rather than just the curdle of an idea… you know? It’s really, really difficult to get an idea what a story’s going to be like based on a one line or two line description. It’s all in the execution. And, you can’t describe the execution. You can only read it. And that, I think, is one of the biggest problems of the Internet. There’s a number of reasons why sales are rocking. But, one of them is that the older readers can just be so disparaging about comics it must be a turn off.

On the other hand, the Internet can be tremendously useful in terms of predicting what sales are going to be like. When we announced the “Other” fans #####ed about it and pissed and moaned and grumbled and griped about the “Other.” “Oh, my God! What a stupid idea… It’s dumb… It’s ridiculous…”

I’m sitting there going: “We’ve got a hit. I smell a hit!”

And, people are going: “Oh, why is “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” involved in this? I’m not going to be reading it until issue #5... I think it’s stupid… I’m not going to bother reading it…”

I’m going: ”I smell a huge hit!” Sure enough, sales on “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” were through the roof. It’s blowing out of stores. They’re going back to press. They can’t get enough of it. And, what happened with “Marvel Knights Spider-Man” and “Amazing Spider-Man?” Same thing.

I generally found that sales… the actual sales activity… is 180-degrees away from Internet opinion. If that were not the case Vertigo books would all be in the Top 10 and there would be one X-Men book and it would be selling like ####. The more the Internet complains about something, the more I’m going: “Bring on the sales bait.”

LJH: Okay. Two questions more. I know you have to get somewhere [PAD had a VIP Signing scheduled at this time]. I don’t expect an answer to the second one [Basically, because it would possibly take a while to answer]. The first one is a really light question. Pickard or Kirk…

PAD: Kirk…

LJH: Who do you want on the Enterprise when the #### hit’s the fan?

PAD: Kirk. When they did Star Trek Generations and Soran is walking towards the bridge and on the other end of the bridge Pickard shows up. The viewers… the audience… are thinking: “Wow. What will happen now?” Okay? And, I saw it in a packed theatre. Packed theatre. They all reacted. It’s just: “Okay, what’s going to happen next?” <said in flat voice>

Twenty minutes later, where they replayed that sequence after all that business with him going for Kirk, Soran starts crossing the bridge and stops. Who’s waiting for him on the other side? Kirk. The audience thunderously cheers. Why?? Because they’re not thinking: “What’s going to happen next?” They’re thinking: ”Soran is going to get his ### kicked.”

LJH: I was one of those thinking that.

PAD: And, what happened? Kirk kicked his ###. As Kirk should.

LJH PAD: … As he should…

PAD: He kicked his ####ing ###. He’s Kirk…

LJH: With the Kirk-music playing in the background…

PAD: Yeah. No question.

I still remember Wrath of Khan when Uhura says, after they got initially blindsided by the other ship: “We’re receiving retorts for surrender.” When she says “surrender” to Kirk it was like she farted in church. The whole Bridge freezes and Kirk, playing for time, says: “Put him on.” They can’t believe it. It’s like being told there is no Santa Claus. It’s like: “Is Kirk even considering surrender?” Their entire world is shaking by even the merest hint that Kirk might be considering the slightest scintilla of possibility that he would surrender. Captain Pickard… first episode… Next Generation… What did he do? Surrender. Give me Kirk.

<laughing>

LJH: Alright. Second question. I’m not going to expect an answer. Maybe if you want to get on ComiX-Fan and answer it there. Do you feel Marvel Comics is going down that dark path of history again as in the 1990’s when they went bankrupt? Or, are the movies saving them right now? We’re going back to multiple covers, huge crossover events that don’t really seem to go anywhere or try to change everything and 8 months from now go back to ‘normal’ and pretend like nothing ever happened with the huge crossover. Do you feel that Marvel’s…

PAD: No…

LJH: Do you feel that Marvel’s taking a backslide here or…

PAD: No, I really don’t. The reason that they’re doing the multiple covers is quite simply: back in the old days Marvel would just go back to press. If something sold out they would go back to press. And, they go back to press again for second, third and fourth printings. With the exact same covers. What Marvel does now… and they want to maintain their ‘not go back to press-thing’… because what happened was Marvel stated they are not going to go back to press on anything.

DC was happily going back to press on everything.

So, what did the retailers start to do? They ordered huge on Marvel books because if they knew they wouldn’t be getting additional books they had to figure : “Let’s get them now.” And they were ordering DC books by the bone. Reasoning that if it was a popular book DC would go back to press. So, Marvel, with the more restrictive policy, was benefiting and DC… they were getting screwed.

And, this is what the guys at DC were thinking- banging their heads against the wall: “We’re getting screwed over for being the nicer guys.” So, now I think Marvel’s trying to bend the policy somewhat. They want to maintain their ’no back to press-thing’ because they don’t want to give up the fact that people are still ordering high on Marvel Comics because they don’t know if the book is going back to press. But… they don’t want to go back to press and produce the same book. So, they do additional covers. They say: “Okay, we are going back to press, but it will be a different cover.” That way it’s not the same product. It’s a different book. Even if the book only has a different cover. It’s not like they’re issuing number ones and it’s like three different covers to start out with. I don’t thin they’re doing that.

LJH: They’re doing it on a couple different series. Not very often…

PAD: Not very often…

LJH: It seems like it is starting to happen again.

PAD: I personally thought Multiple Man should have multiple covers. Makes sense.

LJH: That would make sense and is not the same as doing multiple covers to make money.

PAD: Did they listen to me? Heck no. And, I’m also not going to knock the concept of multiple covers because on “Fallen Angel” we’re doing two different covers. We’re doing a J.K. Woodward cover and we’re doing a David Lopez cover. You know? And whatever you want. That’s what they do. Okay, fine.

I don’t think they are going into bankruptcy, though, because the bankruptcy came as a result of a vast variety of business situations. Not to mention their incredibly calamitous and stunningly stupid decision to go into self-distribution. That was one of the main things that sent them down the toilet. It wasn’t multiple covers. It wasn’t the variants. It wasn’t even the storylines. It was self-distribution that sent them right down the freaking tubes. And the fact that the guy who bought them- Ron Perlman, not the actor- thought that he knew everything there was needed to know based upon his experience in cosmetics. And he didn’t understand the vast differences between comic books. They wanted to have… they wanted to follow the Disney model and they thought the characters were as iconic and had a following as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. And, they were wrong. Anyone could have told them they were wrong. But, they weren’t listening. And, that’s what sent them down into bankruptcy. Not multiple covers.

LJH: I wasn’t trying to just blame multiple covers.

PAD: No, but I think that there are some people who believe that it was.

In terms of the crossovers- I would completely disagree with the notion that they’re not going to have long term ramifications. “House of M” is having massive ramifications. The fact that there used to be thousands of mutants running around and now there’s only going to be- what?- 198?

LJH: I believe that’s the theory, but I don’t know if it’s actually been stated officially for the record.

PAD: Right, well, we’re pretty much close enough…

LJH:… unless you’re going to give some privileged information…

PAD: Well, we’re pretty much close enough to the denouement that I think it’s pretty much obvious. There are going to be a lot fewer mutants around. That’s going to make a huge difference up to and including that one of the members of X-Factor is no longer a mutant. The individual no longer has their powers.

Who’s that going to be?

PAD: I’m not going to tell you that. <said jokingly>

LJH: Okaaaay… <laughing>

PAD: But, in the concept that Mutant Town was once a town that was filled with just mutants: suddenly, Mutant Town is filled with people who used to be mutants- now having no idea what they are supposed to do with their lives. They feel exposed, they feel naked without their abilities and there’s lots of people who have been scared of mutants for a very long time. If you’re scared of someone for a very long time because you think they can hurt you and suddenly you know they can no longer hurt you what do you do? You go after them. You decide to tap dance on their face a little bit. And, X-Factor is essentially going to become the de facto protector of the refugees of Mutant Town. That, by me, is a long term thing. And, we have absolutely no intention of going back and undoing it and suddenly re-populating the Marvel Universe with tons of mutants.

The “Other.” Big crossover going across 12-issues. At the end of it there’s going to be major changes and major differences and at least one new, major character who will be resulting from or related to the “Other.” Who, again, will be long term.

So, like I said, I strongly disagree. The only difference is we’re not doing it the way DC is doing it. DC is basically like a military campaign. Everything is coordinated with absolutely everything else. And, it is this vast, interlocking universe now with everything coming together with almost military precision.
It’s a very impressive accomplishment. The thing is, you better damn well be reading every damn DC book out there because you’re going to be missing out on large chunks.

With the “Other,” if you only read one Spider-Man book a month you will still be able to follow everything that’s going on.

With “House of M,” if you only read the “House of M“ main book, you will still be able to follow everything that‘s going on. If you skip “House of M“ completely… if you have nothing to do with it… but you read X-Factor #1, you‘re still going to know everything that happened in “House of M.”

LJH: That’s great.

PAD: Essentially, Marvel is trying to make the crossovers as accessible as possible and as non-intrusive as possible. When you compare them to crossovers Marvel use to do, where everything was a single chapter to get you to read all of these books and nothing made sense, is night and day.

I have to head to that Signing now.

LJH: Thank you very much for this interview! I really do appreciate it.

PAD: You’re very welcome. No problem.

[Actually, he was already some-20 minutes late for the VIP Signing. He was only going to give me 30 minutes, but we went for nearly 45 minutes.]

I will just reiterate that Peter David is one of the greats and will be for the foreseeable future. I can’t thank him enough for making time for me and being such an interesting person.

Hope everyone enjoyed the Interview.

Just wanted to say "Thanks!" for posting that interview. I'm a long-time PAD fan (and not just because Peter frequently works Hank Pym into things ) as he's one of the long-time modern greats. You had some great discussion in there and I appreciate you giving your fellow forum-go'ers a chance to read some great PAD discussion. Great job!