Mark Waid is a long time comic book veteran who took the Boom EIC
position almost a year ago. He's also one of the new Amazing Spider-Man
writers. In this telephone interview we talk about his working for Boom,
the mini-series he did for them called Potter's Field, his upcoming work
on Amazing Spider-Man and his involvement with the lawsuits against
the deadbeat publisher Rick Olney.
The audio of this interview can be downloaded here (18.7mb, 20:26).
Coville:
First Question. Let's start with Boom. When did you first meet
Ross Ritchie and Andrew Cosby?
Waid:
I think it was in a Spanish jail. (laugher) I think it was about
10 years ago. I know I met Andy a little bit before I met Ross. I can't
remember which one of them drank my whiskey first. But it was about 10
years ago at San Diego. It was at the Hyatt watering hole that we'd
always end up there and we got to know each other through that.
Coville:
You've no doubt seen a lot of small publishers come and go over
the years, some of them even well funded. You get kinda cynical about
new publishers coming around and announcing great big plans. What makes
you think Boom has the ability to stick around and be successful?
Waid:
Well, one was by the time I came aboard Ross had been up and
running for a couple of years and shown a very conservative growth
pattern which I had been really in favor of. As you've say I've been
watching guys come and go pretty quickly over the past 20 years or so.
Guys pop up with big plans and big expansion and Ross is also a
notoriously frugal man. Which is a pain in the ass when you try to get a
parking space because he won't pay for valet but as a publisher it makes
you feel he's a guy you can get behind because he's not going to blow
all his cash in the first couple of months.
Coville:
Selling full colour comics without well known creators is quite
difficult in the comic industry. As the EIC what is your plan for doing
that?
Waid:
(Laughter) Short of slapping Secret Invasion Crisis on every
Cover, I not sure if there is a sure fire way to do it. We're taking
advantage, that at the moment, the life cycle of the market seems to be
cycling against Superheroes and more into, what you'd call the indy
stuff. DC and Marvel sales are sliding and yet the industry on the whole
is on a growth pattern. It'll change again in 10 or 6 months or a couple
of years, whatever happens from time to time in the industry. But if we
can get peoples attention with non-superhero stuff right now I can't
think there's been a better time.
Coville:
There was a couple of things announced, one of them called
Zoom! which was supposed to be a children's imprint. What's going on
with that?
Waid:
We're getting ready to make a big announcement about that in San
Diego. (Editor's note: See News from San Diego)
Coville:
Okay so there is something going on with that.
Waid:
Coville:
The other thing was a mention of a Godfathers license.
Waid:
That is still sadly pending. What happened was the writers strike
froze the whole town for a few months. During that period the Paramount
regime we were negotiating with when the strike began was not the
Paramount regime we ended up when the strike ended. So while everybody's
best intent is to get this up and running at some point, it just became
a whole new logistical nightmare which we could not possibly foresee
before the strike. So we're still trying to make it work but it has
become one of those projects that is perhaps a little further on down
the year.
Coville:
As Boom's EIC I'm sure you're getting a ton of pitches for new
series. What is it you're looking for when people pitch a new series to you?
Waid:
First and foremost I look for an ability to write. I can't tell
you how many people come in with a really clever high concept or really
clever 1 paragraph pitch but then you look at the work and it's evident
that they don't understand the comics form or the language of the comics
medium. Because Ross is in Hollywood, we get our fair share of screen
writers that want to debut their screenplay as comics. An idea is an
idea and it's great if it can cross both mediums, but when it doesn't
and it's just a guy trying to get his screenplay on paper, that's the
kind of stuff that makes me throw them out on their ear.
What will sell me is if not only do you come in with a big high
concept, and frankly it helps if it's a bit commercial, if you can,
we're not adverse to publishing more esoteric material but given as
you said, every inch of shelf space in this industry is a hard fought
battle. As a start up young publisher we have to be conscientious of the
fact would like stuff to have some sort of mass appeal. So stories about
16th century Amish priests are probably out. It's not as sexy to us as a
high concept thriller. But what sells me is when guys come in and have a
clear high concept, an interesting commercial property and they make me
care about the characters right off the bat and interested in what their
characters are invested in. A lot of guys have a plot and an idea but
have no idea about characters.
Coville:
On that same note, I'm sure there is some stuff that might
appeal to you personally but you wonder if it will appeal to the general
audience. Do you go with projects that tend to appeal to you personally
versus what you think might be commercial?
Waid:
I try to strike a balance. I know that sounds like a BS answer but
it's true. I can't only put books about Elvis Presley on the stands or
whatever might be holding my interest at the moment. I think the worst
thing you can do as editor in chief no matter where you are, is confuse
your own personal taste with what's good. I do think as an editor you do
have to have a vision for your line of books and standards by which you
judge the artistic and commercial merit of the material. You need to
find the balance between what's salable and what you can live with. We
could do a lot of books with bad girls with guns on the cover and that
would be more marketable but it just makes me flinch. On the other hand
I can see how, perhaps, Zombie tales are not necessarily my favorite reading material in the world on a personal level, but they do really well for us and lets us do a bunch of
different kind of stories. So as long as the stories are good, whether I
personally choose to read them on my off hours is not what's at issue, the
issue is are we providing material that the fans find exciting.
Coville:
Just thinking about Boom, I know some small publishers try to
make a niche for themselves and focus on a certain brand of content but
with Boom you've been publishing from superheroes to gritty crime to
supernatural horror. Are you interested in shaping Boom or do you still
want to just go with whatever is pitched to you and that you like?
Waid:
The idea is.. I've been doing this for about 10 months, coming up
on a year. So the first year was throwing a bunch of stuff out there and
seeing what the market responded to. And seeing what I personally
responded to. Now that we have a year's stuff under our belt we can
chart some legitimate trends, get a reading on what worked and what
didn't based on sales. That, with Ross and Andy, helps me shape year
two. I would like to mold the company a little bit more to the genres
that we do well in, rather than oh, Boom just publishes anything. That said,
I don't want to just pin us down to being the horror company or the
crime thriller company. It's a very difficult position and we fight over
it every day. We don't want to limit our genres to the point where we
become a little corner of the market, but at the same time trying to be
everything to everybody is also suicidal. So, good question. It's trying
to find the middle ground.
Coville:
Okay, as your job as editor in chief, I know Boom is a
small company and doesn't have a huge staff like say Marvel does. Do you
just deal with creative stuff or are you involved in when stuff gets
published as trade paperbacks and dealing with budget and promotions? How
far does your job go? I'm sure the EIC job is different in every company.
Waid:
It is, I can say this definitively after 25 years in the industry. The
Editor in Chief job title is different in every place that I've ever
worked. It does extend to all those things and more. I'm more
comfortable paying more attention to creative than to budget and/or to
the promotions end just because there are only so many hours in a day
and I have to concentrate on things that I specifically can do well.
That said, one of the things I really like about the smallness of Boom
is that everybody is pitching in on everybody's else's business in a
good way. Chip (Mosher) does the press releases but I proof read them
for him because I'm a better proof reader than he is, but he's a better
press release writer than I am. Or we'll talk about projects and I'll
talk creatively about how to stretch a dollar here and there with the material
that we do and the resources that we have available to us. I do try to
keep up with everybody's business frankly but so far, so good.
Coville:
Speaking of promotions and advertising, are you doing anything
outside of normal comic related channels?
Waid:
Oh God yeah. The biggest thing we had going was, and Chip started
this with the MySpace initiative where we put up the first issue of
Northwind about 6-8 months ago the same day it came out to retailers.
While there was some understandable blow back from retailers about how we
didn't give them sufficient notice that it would be out the same day it
was out in print, and I can understand their being upset about that, it
was an unfortunate set of timing circumstances. But that did really well
for us and we're taking advantage the connections that we have in other
web spaces and other electronic media. That to me is the key to it all.
We can advertise in comic shops all we want, but and the end of the day
those are still basically Marvel and DC stores. They have to be in order
to survive and while we love our retail partners in the direct sale
market, this is the cliché of clichéville, a riding tide floats all
boats. If we can get more people interested in comics that will steer
them into comic shops.
Coville:
Okay yeah, I was just thinking I know with small publishers
there is always a struggle between what's good for them and sometimes
what's good for the direct market. While we like the one and two to be
the same sometimes there are things that's good for the publishers that
retailers don't like, like selling to customers directly during
conventions or doing digital downloads.
Waid:
And it's going to continue to be a struggle. Obviously at the end
of the day nobody makes any money if Boom goes out of business.
Retailers or us. It's a lose/lose for everybody. So in those hard
situations where you have to choose between what's going to make the
retailers happy and what's going to benefit us sometimes you just have
to hope for the best, choose self preservation and worry about the fall
out later. Which is unfortunate and it shouldn't come to that but it
does for every company. We try to look at the long game, that our health
is beneficial to the health of the whole industry.
Coville:
Recently you just made a joke about John Byrne drawing
something for Boom. What was going on with that?
Waid:
(Laughter) Oh what happened was I made some earlier crack about
John Byrne on the state of the industry panel and then 5 minutes later I
was talking about how we were going to have somebody write the Farscape
book, somebody that would blow your mind. Erik Larsen leaned in and
whispered "John Byrne!" and I laughed and repeated the joke and the
audience was in on it. They were there for the set up and there was
laughter. Next thing I know it got reported all over the web "John Byrne
to write Farscape?!?" (laugher) Oh man, so even the jokes get taken
seriously sometimes.
Coville:
Speaking of writing, you did a book called Potters Field for
Boom that was quite different for you. I understand it was originally
supposed to be called John Doe from what I was reading online.
Waid:
Coville:
When did you get involved with it?
Waid:
Oh, I had it in my back pocket for about 10 years. It was just an
idea I had in the 90s from when I was living in Brooklyn. Jimmy
Palmiotti and I were sitting around in my house one day, I think Gareb
Shamus was there too and we were talking about Gatecrasher back in the day
that we were doing at Black Bull. Somehow the mention of the
graveyard that's called Potters Field came up in conversation and I
didn't know anything about this. I immediately logged it. I got an image
in my head of a faceless character moving from unmarked grave to
unmarked grave chiseling names in one at a time. I held on to that for a
while and tried to develop it as a ongoing series and just never had a
whole lot of time to devote to it. But that was part of coming to Boom
was being able to do that as a 3 issue mini with Paul Azaceta and
hopefully do another few issues this spring and relaunch it.
Coville:
When you relaunch it do you plan on doing another mini or an
ongoing or do you know?
Waid:
Coville:
Not sure yet, okay. Are you writing anything else new for Boom?
Waid:
Yeah but it's all in the stockpiling process right now I got a
couple of 3 (issues) series that I'm building within the company that
I'll be writing and editing myself but first priority is just getting
through San Diego for God sakes. Once San Diego is over with I can dust
my hands a little bit and hand some of the other small editorial duties
over to the other staff, go home and spend more time with the keyboard.
The plan is to roll out this stuff next year.
Coville:
I know you're writing Spider-Man. Do you know which issue of
Spider-Man will be your first?
Waid:
I think 578 is the first one.
Coville:
I know other Spider-Man writers were being told, or were at
least creating their own villains at the start of Brand New Day. Are you
doing this as well?
Waid:
Actually not so much with the villains because the villain in the
way my first story is structured, isn't really an important part of the
story. It's more of a situational crisis where Spider-Man and a bunch of
innocent people are caught in a horrible situation that doesn't have
much to do with villains. That said I am creating some interesting new
characters to put in it but I can't talk about that in great length
right now.
Coville:
Do you know how long your first story will be? I understand
everybody is bouncing around on different lengths on their stories.
Waid:
I'm not sure, 2 or 3. Hopefully then I can get back into rotation
very soon after that.
Coville:
Are they letting you play with any of the major villains yet?
Waid:
If I asked. I didn't think to go there yet.
Coville:
Dan Slott was telling me before that they wanted to put away
the major villains for a bit and bring them out when it's really special.
Waid:
I think that's a smart idea. I think there is only so many Dr.
Octopus stories you can write that are good.
Coville:
Yeah you see them over and over and over again and it's really
no big deal when they come out again.
Waid:
Coville:
Are you going to reveal that Spider-Man is a Skrull?
Waid:
(laughter) *I'm* not going to reveal Spider-Man is a Skrull. *I*
have no plans of doing that. Other than that, no comment but don't quote me.
Coville:
One more question, this was well over a year ago you offered to
pay for any lawsuits involving that deadbeat, so called publisher Rick
Olney.
Waid:
Coville:
Has anything come from that?
Waid:
A couple of things. A couple of guys filed and won in small claims
court which I'm very proud of. As long as his name is spoken in public
and that he is actually still interested in some day putting on
conventions, I don't think I really need to comment on that. I'm very
excited about the fact that people actually took me up on my offer. My
heart went out to guys who were out a thousand or a couple thousand
dollars because of this complete lowlife scum who is taking advantage of
people and ripping them off. If you're in a position where that loss of
money is a life or death situation for you then you're also in a
position where you can't afford the few hundred dollars it takes to
actually file a claim to get that money back. So my offer to a lot of
those guys was look if you're willing to do the paperwork and legwork,
I'll fund you, I'll stake you. I can't do anything more than that,
that's the best I can do. So a couple of guys (did that) and I think
there is at least one other case still pending so there has been some
money gotten back which is good.
Coville:
There actually has been some money gotten back?
Waid:
At the very least judgments have been filed.
Coville:
Well I guess that's about it. I had about 20 questions and you
answered them all real quick. Thank you very much.
