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March 17, 2004
"Real" Writers Attracted to Superheroes
by Ron Hogan
Now that Michael Chabon's in on the action, with a genuine comic book starring the Escapist (check out that Chaykin headshot), the character invented by the characters he invented in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the Times officially discovers that book writers (and filmmakers) are writing comics on the side. They mention Greg Rucka, who was namechecked in one of my earliest items, along with Brad Meltzer, Joss Whedon, and Kevin Smith, who, it is claimed, "raised Green Arrow from second-string hero to one of DC's top sellers."
Now, I wouldn't exactly call Green Arrow "second-string" when Keven Smith took up his exploits. I'd call him, oh, "dead." And it might have been nice to mention how he cut his teeth on a few other comics, like Daredevil, beforehand. Just like it would have been nice to mention J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5 creator and recent Spider-Man scribe. Or, heck, dig out the wayback machine and recall Harlan Ellison's one-shot stories starring Daredevil and Batman (not together, though).
My favorite in this subgenre, though, remains Bill Mumy and Miguel Ferrer's contribution to the Marvel Universe, Comet Man.
Also, Samuel R. Delany did a couple of Wonder Woman comic books (I think he did other work in comics as well, but don't know what) and Alfred Bester wrote Green Lantern. Joe Lansdale has done numerous comic books. And then there's that Gaiman guy...
Posted by: Brian at March 17, 2004 01:36 PMI dunno, I count Gaiman as having taken the reverse direction, even if the Douglas Adams bio came before the comics. Because I can.
One of Delany's Wonder Woman issues also featured two Fritz Leiber characters making a crossover into the DC Universe (discussed in this fun fan essay). And one of Lansdale's Jonah Hex stories led to a lawsuit by Johnny and Edgar Winters...
Posted by: editor at March 17, 2004 02:31 PMYeah, you're right about Gaiman. I thought of that just after I posted it. And the only reason I knew about the Delany Wonder Woman issues was because Gaiman mentioned it and the Leiber characters recently on his blog.
I did follow that lawsuit, which was really a shame. The characters, while obviously vile, were definitely intended as homages, not parodies (except in the legal sense.) I guess the Winter Brothers needed some money.
And while I'm posting again, a couple of other comic book writers come to mind: fantasy, science fiction writer and movie reviewer Lucius Shepard did an aborted series called "Vermillion." Also, filmmaker Alexandro Jodorowsky did a few comics with Moebius. I notice though that almost all of these are science fiction writers. I imagine that's why the Times hasn't taken notice before.
Posted by: Brian at March 17, 2004 02:48 PMYeah, that's undoubtedly what it is.
Also just remembered, Lewis Shiner's The Hacker Files, a DC mini-series which, though focused on a character wholly of Shiner's invention, was also the site of the first appearances of the paraplegic Barbara Gordon post-Killing Joke...and eventually featured a Green Lantern at some point, as I recall.
Posted by: editor at March 17, 2004 02:54 PMAlso, I believe Landsdale's buddy, Andrew Vachss, has dabbled in the comics world as well, though I forget in what exact capacity.
Posted by: Sarah at March 17, 2004 02:57 PMOh, Vachss, I forgot to mention him. He did a couple of Batman stories as I recall.
Also, I just realized we're only talking about superheroes here, so Shephard and Jodorowsky don't really apply. (Although Jodorowsky's work on Metabarons may be close.)
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