All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #6 by Frank Miller and Jim Lee
As Hollywood has gone Frank Miller-crazy after the success of both Sin City and 300 and the upcoming Sin City 2 and Ronin, should we forget his collaboration with Darren Aronofsky on the unmade reimagining of Batman in their screenplay for the unproduced, BATMAN YEAR ONE.
1. SUPERMAN by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
It's time for Millar to prove his worth at DC writing the premiere super-team in comics. Let him tell the biggest stories possible with one of the greatest artists working in comics today.
Morrison's run on NEW XMEN succeeded in part to his acknowledgement to the work of Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Now I want to see what he can reimagine in the world of Marv Wolfman and George Perez. I NEED to read Grant's take on Trigon, Brother Blood, Deathstroke, Raven, Terra, Blackfire, as well as his interpretations of the Titans new and old. McKone's solid storytelling and affinity for the characters make him a natural collaborator.
Marshall Rogers 1950-2007
His Batman stalked the rooftops of Gotham, in vigilant pursuit of his Rogues gallery of villains; swinging across the rooftops of his Gotham City, a stunning interpretation of a modern metropolis with nods to the past (like the giant Sprang-esque typewriter in "Deadshot's Revenge").
While few details are available at this time, the great comic artist, Marshall Rogers, has passed away. The trained architect turned comics penciller was only 57 years old.
Steve Austin: astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster.
Jeph Loeb is a busy guy. Not only is he one of the most successful writers in comics today, not only is he actively working as a Hollywood producer and screenwriter, but he is also hard at work producing the hit WB series Smallville. I first interviewed Jeph with Brian Saner Lamken way back in 2000 for the first issue of Comicology Magazine, conducting one of the most exhaustive interviews with him yet. Since then, Jeph's success in the comic book industry has grown substantially. He was gracious enough to take a few moments out his limited leisure time to chat with forcesofgood.com
I think I always wanted to be a storyteller. Whether it was through writing, telling stories, filmmaking - that was my passion. Still is.
I came in backwards. I was working as a screenwriter (still am) and I was going to do a movie about The Flash. That fell through, but I met Jeanette Kahn who was then the head of DC Comics. She asked if I weren’t going to do the movie, would I do a comic book for DC. That turned into my first work, Challengers of the Unknown, which has just been collected as a trade paperback collection. (Unabashed plug.)
Again, not the usual way, I guess. I went to Columbia University’s Film School and then I came to Los Angeles, not knowing anyone. My then writing partner, Matthew Weisman and I wrote Commando on spec (meaning nobody paid us and we auctioned the script). That got us a job, strangely enough with Teen Wolf, which we wrote next, but it came out first.
Elliot has a wonderful sense of humor about the work. He taught me not to take it so seriously — to tell the best story I could and that’s what I’ve tried to do.
It was pretty much a disaster — except that we became best friends.
It was disaster because I didn’t know what I was doing — I had him redraw so many pages because I wasn’t explaining things properly. Like with film, I had to learn the language of working with an artist. Now, it’s something I do naturally. Poor Tim!
HA! Well… You know the obvious question is when do we meet Yoko? Look, I’m very flattered by the comparison but putting me, at least, (and I know Tim well enough to say this) putting either of us in the same sentence with the Beatles is silly. We’ve had a good run. We’re both very grateful to the fans, the readers and everyone who has supported us through the years. But, there is no doubt about it — we never take those people for granted — we’re very, very lucky to work in our chosen fields.
I think it’s their friendship. The light and the dark, side by side. It makes for good drama and also a few laughs. One inspires, the other strikes fear. But they both want the same thing: Justice. They just go about it completely differently.
Of course. But I would feel that way about any story I’m involved in. However, because I get paid to work on the world’s greatest hero, it’s especially sweet! Again, I’m very lucky.
Yes. I’ll have more to say on that very soon. And I’m still the Executive Producer of the show along with my pal, Joss Whedon who does all the heavy lifting in the genius department. I’m just there to make him look good. Like a Hollywood Wife.. (laughs)
I don’t know what makes a hit — if I did, I’d be running Hollywood! I think it had a lot to do with the combination of the right character and the right team. It wasn’t just me and the story. It wasn’t just Jim and the artwork. It was Scott Williams’ inks; Alex Sinclair’s colors; Richard Starkings’ lettering. We all worked very hard to put out the best comic we could and if it hadn’t clicked I would’ve been very, very disappointed. I mean, if you can’t win with that team, you’ve done something very wrong. I was really delighted that Hush had such a profound effect on folks… that’s what really matters.
You mean, other than it’s not called Batman and Robin? (laughs). We’re doing a Batman AND Robin story. Where that happens and in what format is still to be determined. It’s a mystery. The story, I mean!
The list is too long to mention. Although I’m seeing it get smaller every year. Superman/Batman provided a lot of them — working again with Ed McGuinness, with Michael Turner, with Carlos Pacheco, Pat Lee — it’s pretty sweet. And we still have a few surprises left! I’ll always work with Tim. Whatever we do next, it’s bound to be something that he does that astonishes me.
I get asked this a lot. Mostly, it was my Dad. He was a storyteller. He could make a trip to the post office seem like an Indiana Jones movie. He saw life as something you played, not that you lived. I see it in my son as well. It’s a very admirable trait. Storytelling — it’s a gift.
