The DC3 decided to take on the Herculean task of covering DC’s weekly books! Our coverage will rotate between creator interviews, issue reviews and annotations, and long-form pieces on featured characters. This, friends, is the DC3kly!
To kick off our secondly weekly column, we are chatting with 1/4 of the writing staff behind “New 52: Futures End,” Mr. Dan Jurgens!
Dan, you were part of the art team for “52,” another weekly series. How does your experience on the writing side of a multi-headed project change the process?
Dan Jurgens: As an artist, it’s always easier to understand what you’re being asked to draw if you’re part of the planning process, or even better, part of the writing process.
Most every artist has a number of questions after they’ve read a script for the first time. So it’s a real luxury to be part of the writing process and understand what the overall goal of the story and motivations of the characters happen to be.
And if I happen to be penciling a section of the script that I wrote, I can even tweak the story as I draw, which is a nice option to have.
You were a driving force behind one of the largest crossovers/comic events of all time, “The Death of Superman.” How does a project like this compare? At that time, there were 4 Superman books, essentially creating a weekly schedule, so how do the two projects differ, in terms of execution?
DJ: When we were doing the Superman books, each of the writers had their own title in which to tell a story. In other words, everyone had a single 22-page chapter each month. For example, I was generally responsible for one script the third week of each month.
For “New 52: Futures End,” Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Jeff Lemire and I are taking each issue and dividing it into four segments of five pages each. Sometimes one of us will take more pages if necessary and we’ll also divvy the book up differently, where Keith might get the first three pages, as well as the final two, with the rest of us handling the middle. It’s a much more intense way to work without the nice downtime I’d get on the Superman books. This is more of a constant flow.
Talk about the challenges of writing with three other writers with such different styles/aesthetics. Although all four of you came up at different times, it almost seems like there is a clear division of styles – you and Keith more represent a certain era of comics (the classic pre and post-Crisis DC), while Brian and Jeff represent a different (the last 5-10 years of DC expanding their feel and scope through influences from independent comics), although obviously all four of you come from very different perspectives and experiences. Has part of the challenge been bridging the gap between the different eras you guys came up during?
DJ: I’ve always looked at it a bit like band. We have a drummer, lead guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboard guy. We understand each other’s jobs and all but the trick is to learn the different approaches and styles we all have and synthesize them. That took awhile but I think we’ve hit a pretty good stride.
In all seriousness, it’s often the difference among the group that make any ensemble work and we’re no different. There have been several points where one of us has said, “No. Not that. What about this?” as we’ve pushed the story along, which is really important. That different perspective often gets us past the obvious and easiest solution into something deeper. That’s a huge plus.
How has the breakdown of story worked so far? Is everything batted around in a bullpen-like situation, or are there “Dan characters” and “Jeff characters,” so to speak?
DJ: We all dreamed up the overall arc and parameters of the larger and story and then divvied up a cast of characters to move through the story. So, yeah, I have a group of 5-6 that I’m focusing on now, as do each of the other guys. But as the story moves along we’ll start to cross the characters over a bit more. Jeff and I have a particular issue in mind where I move a character from my cast into his realm. It all builds to a great finish!
Three of the four writers on the book have extensive experience as illustrators as well – what does having artist/writers on the team bring to the process? Do you feel the writing process has become more visuals-based because of that?
DJ: We tend to think in visual terms and might find it a bit easier to describe.
Of course, we also like to tell Brian that, one way or another, we’re all going to do an issue where we each contribute a page. Or even a cover– him included!
Ryan Sook is the cover artist for the series, and due to the weekly schedule, will be the only consistent member of the art team, week to week. How important, to you, is the tone Ryan sets? Does he have more or less latitude than he might on a monthly book when it comes to designing his covers?
DJ: Ryan has done a great job, not only on the covers, but of coming up with the character designs as well. He’s remarkably conscientious, reads whatever we turn in and really tries to find out from each of the writers what they want their characters to embody.
His covers are remarkable, not only in terms of design and illustration, but the way they represent the story inside.
It seems that a number of the characters that feature prominently in the book are the stars of books that met a premature end in the New 52 – Firestorm, Frankenstein, Amethyst, Mister Terrific, OMAC, etc. Was this a conscious decision, or did those characters just feel right for this story?
DJ: It’s a little of both.
Since they don’t currently have their own books, they offer more freedom and flexibility.
At the same time, they still have a tremendous amount of worth. We just have to find a way to capture that and show it to the readers.
It’s also fair to say that we’ll be seeing more familiar DC characters as the series unfolds.
Because of the announced September 2014 event, where all the monthly books flash forward to “Futures End” times, how involved with the “Futures End” team be in consulting the other writers of the DCU, as to what is on or off limits? Have you guys created a “series bible” you can share with the rest of the DC team?
DJ: We’ve tried to be very accessible with all the writers and editors of the 5YL books in order to help them reflect the world we’re building and what might work for their characters. At the same time, the idea is to give them enough freedom to tell the stories they want to tell. They know where they want to take their characters, after all.
What character will people in May of 2015 be talking most about from the book?
DJ: I’m pretty sure I know, but if say who it is now, I’d be blowing a major secret and story point!
I’m sure many of our readers are interested in a series like this, but are probably apprehensive to drop the $12 a month that a weekly series will cost them. Convince our readers – why is this (potentially) worth taking the place of four books on their pull list?
DJ: There are books that tell stories and books that build something.
“New 52: Futures End” is telling a story with major developments that build to something that goes well beyond the final page.
I’d say that’s a pretty good reason!
