Next month, Archie is launching Dark Circle Comics, a new imprint that focuses on many of the classic Red Circle superheroes that Archie, DC, and other publishers have released comics from in the past. The launch of Dark Circle is highlighted by the high quality of talent that Archie has brought in for the books.
The first of those books to be released is “The Black Hood” from the team of Duane Swierczynski and Michael Gaydos. Duane was kind enough to sit down and talk with us about the genesis of the project, his history with the character, and what we can expect from the book in its first year.
Duane, lately you’ve been working in a number of smaller shared-universes in comics – Valiant, Dark Horse’s ‘Project Black Sky’ superhero books, and now the Dark Circle. Is there a certain appeal, to you, to working in a setting that has the benefit of a larger continuity, but on a limited scale?
Duane Swierczynski: My idea of the perfect shared-universe story is Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit. Three characters in a room in Hell. Cross that over!
Seroiusly, though, I like shared universes when they are organic and story-driven, not marketing-driven. When Tarantino’s characters happen to smoke Red Apple cigarettes in a bunch of movies? That’s cool, and meant for fans to enjoy. When Michael Keaton shows up as Ray Nicolet in both Out of Sight and Jackie Brown? That’s very cool. When publishers break one story into 47 pieces? Um, not as cool. Valiant and Dark Horse were super-smart to limit the scale of their crossovers and make them story-driven, not market share-driven If a crossover ever happens with Dark Circle, I’m sure it’ll be organic and fun.
What is your history with the Black Hood? I don’t know if most people realize that his first appearance happened nearly 75 years ago – when did you first encounter the character?
DS: Ah, my first time with the Black Hood. I remember it clearly. I was carrying my bindlestiff, wandering the rails, when I happened to see this delightful pulp comic book on the wire newsrack! This was back in October 1940s, you see, the tail end of the Depression, so I dug down into my dungarees to see if any had any coins left…
Actually, I was one of those people you mention, Brian. I’d never heard of the Black Hood until Alex Segura at Archie approached me.
I mentioned the long history, but it isn’t exactly linear. Was there a particular past incarnation of the character that really spoke to you?
DS: The original, for sure. Though the reason for a cop donning a black hood in 1940 is going to be very different than a cop in 2015. And that was the appeal. What kind of situation today would force a cop to slip on a mask?
Greg Hettinger – the Black Hood of your run – seems to only really have one thing in common with a prior Black Hood; both he and the original Black Hood, Matthew Burland, are both police officers. Is the duality in his life as both a public and secret crime fighter an important aspect of the book?
DS: Oh yeah. The fun thing about this book is that it all blurs together, and allow us to raise some interesting questions. Is it possible to be both a bad cop and a good vigilante? What are the limitations of the badge, and the limitations of the hood? How long can you keep a double life going before you start to completely crack?
The character has a history as a superhero, but a lot of the press thus far has presented the book as more of a noir-crime story than a superhero story. How do you balance those two, at times, disparate elements of the character? Or, is this book a complete break from the superhero past of the character?
DS: Shhhh, don’t tell anybody, but I’m not writing this as a superhero book at all. I’m pretending I’m writing a crime novel that Michael Gaydos happens to be illustrating as we go along.
Michael Gaydos is a great fit for what I just described – an artist who has done a lot of work in the grittier, non-superhero comics world, and in the street level superhero world. What has Michael’s work brought to the project thus far?
DS: An amazing sense of hyper-realism. Gaydos has the tough job—he’s not just the director and cinematographer, but he’s all of the actors, too, and has to convey expression and emotion and spirit. Wait until you see what’s he’s done with this series. It’s going to blow you away.
Which of Michael’s previous work have his pages, thus far, reminded you of?
DS: “Alias,” for sure. I remember reading those early issues and thinking, Goddamn, superhero books can do this? Gaydos’ art had a lot to do with that.
How integrated is “The Black Hood” to the other Dark Circle books? When are we going to see other aspects of the Dark Circle pop up in this book, or see the Black Hood elsewhere in the Dark Circle?
DS: SPOILER: At the end of issue #5 I’m going to have the Black Hood wake up in Hell with Inès Serrano and Estelle Rigault, and the Shield and the Fox will have to team up to rescue him!
