INSIDE: MARK WAID & MIKE WIERINGO! #6 $ 95 January 5 2004 In the USA MAGAZINE IN DEPTH SEE HOW BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS AND MICHAEL AVON OEMING CREATE THE HIT SERIES! PLUS: MARK BAGLEY MICHAEL USLAN BOB SCHRECK PLUS: MORE WRITING TIPS! The Magazine About Writing For Comics, Animation, and SCI-FI MAGAZINE Issue #6 January 2004 Read Now! Message from the Editor-in-Chief . page 2 Write Now! In Depth: POWERS #19 A detailed look at the creative process that goes into the making of an issue of a comic book. Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming tell all . page 3 Mr. Fantastic Interview with Mark Waid . page 42 The Power of Passion: BATMAN, DETECTIVE #27 Michael Uslan reveals how he was driven to write the Elseworlds graphic novel . page 57 Keeper of the Bat-Mythos Interview with Bob Schreck Part 2 . page 61 Conceived by DANNY FINGEROTH Ride a Dark Horse Editor-in-Chief Interview with Diana Schutz Part 2 . page 66 Designer Platinum Reflections CHRISTOPHER DAY Interview with Scott Mitchell Rosenberg Part 2 . page 72 Transcribers Feedback STEVEN TICE Letters from Write Now ’s Readers . page 77 Publisher JOHN MORROW Nuts & Bolts Department COVER Penciled and inked by Script to Pencils to Printed Comic: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #47 MICHAEL AVON OEMING Pages from “Suspended,” by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, and Art Thibert . page 36 (with an homage to Danger Diabolik ) Colored by Script to Pencils to Printed Graphic Novel: PARLIAMENT OF JUSTICE PETER PANTAZIS Pages from the graphic novel by Michael Avon Oeming and Neil Vokes . page 40 Special Thanks To MARK BAGLEY Waid’s Shoulds and Shouldn’ts BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS Tips for aspiring newcomers . page 44 ALISON BLAIRE Script to Thumbnails to Pencils to Printed Comic: NATCHIE CASTRO FANTASTIC FOUR #71/500 PATTY JERES Pages from “Unthinkable,” Part 5, by Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON and Karl Kesel . page 45 MICHAEL AVON OEMING JIMMY PALMIOTTI Script to Pencils to Printed Comic 2: EMPIRE v.2, #3 PETER PANTAZIS Pages from “This Time,” by Mark Waid, Barry Kitson, ADAM PHILIPS and James Pascoe . page 54 CHRIS POWELL Danny Fingeroth’s Write Now! is published four times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 1812 Park BEN REILLY Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, USA. Phone: (919) 833-8092. Fax: (919) 833-8023. Danny Fingeroth, BOB SCHRECK Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Write Now! E-mail address: [email protected] . Single issues: DIANA SCHUTZ $8 Postpaid in the US ($10 Canada, $11 elsewhere). Four-issue subscriptions: $20 US ($40 Canada, $44 elsewhere). Order online at: www.twomorrows.com or e-mail to: [email protected] AARON SEVERSON All characters are TM & © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise VARDA STEINHARDT noted. All editorial matter © the respective authors. Editorial package is ©2003 Danny Fingeroth NEIL VOKES and TwoMorrows Publishing. Write Now! is a shared trademark of Danny Fingeroth and TwoMorrows MARK WAID Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. MICHAEL WRIGHT WRITE NOW | 1 READ Now ! Message from Danny Fingeroth , Editor-in-Chief t’s here at last, our bold experiment in comics-writing investi - Also next issue, we’ll gation: Write Now! In Depth: Powers #19. be doing an extensive I interview with Batman ’s We present for your consideration a detailed look at a signif - own Jeph Loeb , who icant issue of a significant story arc by two of today’s most brings along an awesome significant comics creators, Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Tim Sale Catwoman Avon Oeming . Significant enough for you? painting that will be our cover! Plus: we’ll be From the script of the issue, to the printed comic, to checking in with Crimson commentary by the writer and artist, we bring you inside the Dynamo and Iron Man heads of the creators, to see what they were thinking, what writer John Jackson they intended, and how they feel about the story with the Miller and with Pirates of passage of time. I think it’s a unique way to examine and— Cazador ’s Chuck Dixon . given the teaching aspect of this magazine—to learn about the Platinum’s Lee Nordling will tell us about why Hollywood really craft of comics making. Brian and Mike were extraordinarily wants your comic. Mark Wheatley (who writes the Oeming- generous with their time and insights and with just allowing us drawn Hammer of the Gods ) tells about the creation of his to do this. The new cover by Mike, beautifully colored by Frankenstein Mobster series that he both scripts and draws. Powers colorist Peter Pantazis , is rather amazing, too. I can’t And animator Yvette Kaplan (Ice Age is among her credits) will wait to hear what you think of the issue. give us her insights into that industry. But since too much is never enough at DFWN! , we’ve also And issue #8 will feature another bold TwoMorrows exper - got the usual plethora of amazement in addition to In Depth . iment as Write Now! and Mike Manley’s DRAW ! Magazine do a crossover, creating a character and comic, starting in Write Nuts & Bolts how-to wise, we’ve got more Bendis magic in Now! and finishing in DRAW ! #9, with DRAW ! having a color the form of some Ultimate Spider-Man script, and pencils of mini-comic story insert featuring the new character. those pages by the ever-incredible Mark Bagley . And we’ve got Mike Oeming ’s writing and Neil Vokes ’ art on some remarkable SHAMELESS PLUG DEPARTMENT: The Comics and Graphic pages from their Parliament of Justice graphic novel. Novel Writing course that I’m teaching at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies has been a blast. Then, to accompany our information-filled interview with Mark (Denny O’Neil , Mike Mignola , Joey Cavalieri , and Axel Waid , we have script and art from his and Mike Wieringo ’s Alonso have guest-lectured!) I predict you’ll be seeing the Fantastic Four (you gotta see ’em), as well as Waid script, names of some of my students in the credits of comics in pencils (by Barry Kitson ) and inks (by James Pascoe ) from the not-too-distant future. If anybody’s interested, I’m giving it Mark’s own Empire series. again in the Spring (and you can check it out at: www.nyu.edu/scps.nyu ). We also have a making-of article by writer and Batman movie Also, my book, Superman On the Couch: What producer Michael Uslan about the creation of his Batman Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society , Graphic Novel: Detective #27 . Talk about insider views! published by Continuum, will be out in the Spring. It’s a book in which I blab on at length about why super-heroes have As for interviews that tell you gobs of important info about been so influential in our culture. I think it’ll be of interest to comics writing and the comics business, be sure to check out comics fan type readers as well as academic ones. And Stan the above-mentioned interview with Mr. Waid, conducted by the Lee himself wrote the foreword. one-and-only Jimmy Palmiotti . Besides that, there are the conclusions to the interviews with Batman Group Editor Bob Schreck , Dark Horse Senior Editor Diana Schutz , and Platinum Okay, let’s get on with the issue. Studios head Scott Mitchell Rosenberg . Write Away! Unfortunately, Dennis O’Neil ’s comics class notes got squeezed out this issue, but will be back next issue. Danny Fingeroth 2 | WRITE NOW IINN DD EPTHEPTH Nuts & Bolts Gone Wild! hat the heck is Write Now! In Dept h ?” you may by Danny Fingeroth “ be asking. Even if you’re not, I’m going to tell you. W One of the missions of Write Now! is to pull the curtain back and show how comics and related media are created, For this issue, I wanted to try something more, well, in depth, usually from a writer-centric point of view. Comics being a collabo - dealing with one specific series by one specific set of creators for a rative medium, the visual is always integrally related to the ideas and large section of the magazine. And nothing seemed more natural for words. Up until now, we’ve presented interviews with specific creators the treatment than Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s and decision makers in the comics and animation worlds. You get to Powers series. read how people like J. Michael Straczynski, Anne D. Bernstein and Axel Alonso think, how they decide what projects to take on and how The unique vision of two pros at the top of their respective games, to approach them. In our Nuts & Bolts sections, we show the Powers is an “Indy” that is fully cognizant of the “mainstream” elements that go into the making of stories. comics heritage it draws on. Because they own Powers , Brian and Mike can take it in whatever direction they choose, not having to please editor, publisher or critics. A look at the close to 40 issues and the Powers TPBs show that they have indeed unleashed their imagi - nations to both pay homage to and critique the super-hero genre. The fan and media attention to the series shows that their instincts have led them to create something people across a wide spectrum respond to. Using the crime genre that Brian has perfected in comics like Goldfish and Jinx , the result is something that seems both familiar and yet radically different. Love it or hate it, Powers is unique in comics. It’s a series and a universe that many people are intrigued and inspired by.