Today we have a treat for all of you comic fans. We have a true legend of the industry. We have Mark Waid! You’ll recognize Mr. Waid from his work on such things as Kingdom Come, Impulse, and more recently on the fan and critical darling Irredeemable as well as Amazing Spider-Man. When not writing Mr. Waid is also the EIC of Boom! Studios. A company that is growing larger and better month in and month out it seems. So are you a fan of Mr. Waid like we are here at Multiversity Comics? Then you’ll probably want to check out this interview after the jump!
Burpee: Mr. Waid thanks again for agreeing to this interview. So as not to waste any of your time let’s proceed.
BB: When did you know that you wanted to work in the world of comics?
Waid: Gosh, surprisingly late. I’d been reading them since I was four and never stopped, but I never grew up thinking I had the talent for it. It was only after college when I began working for the fan magazines such as Amazing Heroes that I thought I might have a talent for editing. Once I went on-staff as a DC editor in the late 1980s, I began to realize I might also have a knack for writing fiction.
BB: What attracted you to Boom!?
MW: My long friendship with the guys putting the company together. I certainly trusted Ross Richie and his in-office team and saw it as a place where I could teach new talent as well as keep writing my own material.
BB: Boom! has put together a very diverse line of titles. How do you as a company go about choosing the books that fans eventually find on the shelves?
MW: To be perfectly honest, that’s the Ross Richie part of the equation (as it should be since he’s the publisher). I can advise and I can champion certain projects (as I did with books like Unthinkable), but as Editor In Chief, it’s more my task to give what is being published a professional look to it.
BB: I’ve seen this asked of Marvel a lot but not so much of Boom!. How if at all will Marvel’s being purchased by Disney effect Boom!’s line of Disney books?
MW: Hasn’t so far and I’ve heard no word that it will. BOOM! enjoys a very good relationship with the Disney folks.
BB: Boom! has picked up some excellent licensed books. Are there plans for Boom! to pick up anymore licenses?
MW: We’ve got a few queued up, but nothing we can announce right now (though our recent press on DARKWING DUCK seems to have lit up the blogosphere!).
BB: How are the Stan Lee projects coming together? Are they still on target for a launch this year?
MW: Yep. Moving along nicely. I can’t yet announce who else we’ve tapped to be part of this, but I’ve been swapping emails with one of our other writers just today, in fact, and his name will knock you back on your heels. And Stan’s a total delight to speak with about this stuff. This is going to be big!
BB: On top of your writing duties, you’re also Editor-in-Chief at Boom! and one of the guiding lights of that fast rising company. What’s the day-to-day life for Mark Waid, EIC?
MW: Ha! Honestly, the office editorial staff, led by managing editor Matt Gagnon, does ALL the heavy lifting and they handle almost all of the administrative tasks, freeing me up for freelancer relations and helping Ross set a vision for the company (and writing a full workload’s worth of comics, to boot). I’ve never, ever seen a harder working crew.
Continued belowBB: So what was your inspiration for Irredeemable?
MW: It’s been rattling around in the back of my mind for a while, this idea that there’s a truly dark story to be told about someone with a traditional superhero’s power but not his emotional stability. That Ross set me free to tell it however I see fit, alongside the criminally underrated Peter Krause and Andrew Dalhouse, is a true blessing.
BB: Irredeemable is a pretty heavy work, in terms of disaster and death. What’s it like to write a book where your central character is so off balance?
MW: It’s tough, honestly. There are days I just can’t turn over all the rocks to look for all the ugly stuff underneath, days I’m just not emotionally able to step into the minds of any of those characters. It’s tough especially because I think I’m pretty good with humor in my work, and there’s just no room for it tonally in this book.
BB: Considering how twisted the Plutonian is how exactly do you get into the mindset of writing him?
MW: I go on the internet for five minutes.
BB: How far ahead do you have Irredeemable planned? Do you have the end of the title planned out?
MW: Yeah. It’s not coming up anytime soon, but I have a pretty concrete plan for Year Two and a back-of-the-envelope outline for Years Three and Four. And an ending.
BB: How did Incorruptible come about, aside from just a spin-off from Irredeemable? Are the two books going to actively intertwine? Perhaps in a crossover?
MW: Sooner than later, you’ll start to see some cross-pollination between the casts. We keep TELLING you that Max Damage and Plutonian were enemies–it’s time I showed you.
BB: With Irredeemable and Incorruptible sharing a single universe are you actively working to create your own universe much like Robert Kirkman has done with Invincible and some of his other titles? If so, is there any chance of more Irredeemable spin-off titles like Incorruptible?
MW: It’s always possible–I have a third one in mind that I’d love to get to by year’s end, but the more important task is making sure the Stan Lee books are home runs.
BB: Aside from Spider-Man, you haven’t done much for either of the major two in a while. Any plans to, or are you preferring to stick to creator owned work?
MW: I’m always open to more “Big Two” work–I still have a FEW hours free most nights–but no concrete plans.
BB: You’re very well known not just as one of the greatest comic writers, but also one of its most well versed historians. Now here’s a tough question for you: do you have a favorite comic/arc/story, and if so, what is it and why?
MW: First off, you’re very kind. Secondly, I have a couple of favorites. On a professional and craft level, it’s Watchmen, a textbook example of how to use the comics form. On a more personal, visceral level, my favorite comics story may be “To Kill A Legend” from Detective Comics #500, written by Alan Brennert and drawn by Dick Giordano–just a beautiful Batman story that’s note-perfect to me. Ask me again in five minutes and I might have another answer, but right now, that’s my desert-island comic.
BB: 52 is one of our favorite series here at MC, and the fact that four A-List writers came up with such an incredible comic without killing each other astounds us. How difficult was it to pull that project together, and were there any particularly humorous stories that came from it?
MW: None that we haven’t recounted endlessly since, I’m afraid, other than some of the escapades we all had in Vegas that weekend we all met there (with Steve Wacker) to celebrate our completion. Greg Rucka insisted we go to a gun range so he could try out some firearm that was, I swear, shot ammo the size of golf balls, and Geoff Johns schooled us all in craps. And Grant was just sage. And I ended up drunk and alone at four a.m. winning literally thousands at the blackjack table and because I was on Ambien at the time, I don’t remember a moment of it.
As far as difficulty goes–it was challenging, but Steve Wacker put together a clockwork system, and once he departed, editor Michael Siglain kept it running. What made it easier was that there were no egos in the room at any time–we were just four guys who utterly respected one another’s work and talent.
BB: You’ve been working in the industry for a long time and worked with every creator and character I can think of. Are there any characters or creators you haven’t worked with that you still dream of?
MW: Sure. I’d still like to get my hands on DC’s Captain Marvel someday, but I think he’s all that’s left of the guys I’ve not yet written. Creators? Dozens. Dean Haspiel, David Finch, Ethan Van Sciver, anyone named Romita…it’s a huge list.
BB: Your role in comics has changed over the years. You have done it all. So when you finally walk away from comics, we hope this never happens, what do you hope you will be remembered for? What do you hope will be your legacy?
MW: I’d love to be remembered for something big I’ve not yet written, but with my luck, I’ll just be remembered as the guy who invented grayed-out lettering to represent whispering and as the guy who got the “continued on second page following” captions taken out of comics. What do I hope my legacy will be? Again, a tough one. I just hope if there’s any takeaway for others from my career, it’s “it’s not about you, it’s about the characters.”
BB: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. I hope to be able to touch base with you at some point and do this again.
MW: My pleasure!
Don’t forget to check out Mr. Waid’s work on Amazing Spider-Man as well as his titles at Boom! Studios such as Irredeemable and Incorruptible. Hell you should probably check out Boom! Studios in general people! So click the link and go to it!
Multiversity Comics and myself would also like to again thank Mr. Waid for agreeing to do this interview as well as Boom! Studios and Ivan Salazar for setting it up.
