NILES QUESTIONS
Epilogue #1 will see a full release shortly after your Fright Night visit, but Atomic will be provided with a special Atomic Fright Night exclusive cover thanks to Kyle Hotz and IDW! Can you tell us something exclusive about your new IDW book?
SN: It started out as a simple question; what if a vampire became a superhero? They have the power. All they need is the right motivation. In Epilogue we have a young father, Ethan Smart whose family is murdered by ruthless vampires. He escapes with only an injury but one that changes him into the very same dark creature who took everything from him. Ethan vows to destroy his own kind and to justify killing to survive; he hunts only those who hurt others, criminals.
Batman: Gotham after Midnight is your most recent story set in Gotham City! What’s your favorite aspect of being able to write such a famous character as Batman? What do you feel you bring to the character that other writers have not?
SN: I love writing Batman because he’s such a naturally dark character. He’s the one character I can write that seems like horror, but isn’t. Batman’s exits to frighten bad guys so he takes on the guise of a monster, but he’s the most human of all superheroes; What’s not to love? But I think the real star of Gotham After Midnight is the art. Kelly Jones is amazing and his work is so completely different than anything anybody’s doing with superheroes these days. I get a kick coming up with things, knowing he’s going to draw them.
Dead, She Said is pretty awesome! Any plans to continue working with Bernie Wrightson?
SN: Absolutely. Bernie is wrapping up Dead She Said right now and then we both have things to do for a month or so, but we are already trying to figure out what to do next. We did City of Others and now Dead, She Said, so we’re deciding if we should maybe take on a known character next or do another creator-owned series. Both have pros and cons, but the idea of working on a character with Bernie is very appealing.
Simon Dark looks to conclude the first story really soon, do you plan on continuing with the character after that conclusion? If so, do you have plenty of ideas to run with next for Simon?
SN: Scott Hampton and I have already completed the first arc and moved onto the second. I’ve just now written the first of several stand-alone-story issues starting with issue #13 so I think we’re safe until then. I’m really happy and relieved that people are responding to such a strange character and we’ll keep doing it as long as DC lets us.
What other Marvel of DC Characters would you love to tackle if given the opportunity? Personally, I’d love to see you write a Spectre story.
SN: The Spectre would be great. DC has some pretty great supernatural characters. Love to do a book that features them all someday. There are a lot of great character I’d love to take a crack at for both companies someday. At Marvel I always say the Hulk. I don’t think that one will shock anyone. I’d like to try some less obvious characters like Machine Man or the FF too. There are a bunch. Marvel has some great dark characters as well. I like the idea of working with lesser known characters. DC has allowed me to do that a couple times now with Sargon and The Creeper. DC has a really deep vault. I’d love to take a shot at more.
Any possibilities of seeing Cal McDonald on the big screen? It seems like you’ve been promoting the possibility of that with Thomas Jane being a Cal model on the covers of the books lately.
SN: Mike Richardson at Dark Horse loves Cal McDonald and is actively pursuing getting Criminal Macabre on the big screen. I’ve been writing Cal as long as I’ve been writing comics (a very long time) so I think he’d be great as a movie. I mean who doesn’t want to see a drug addict, ex-cop, private detective who beats up monsters? Tom Jane would be perfect as Cal. That’s why Bradstreet uses him as Cal on the covers for Criminal Macabre comics. We figure maybe we’ll subconsciously hypnotize the studio who makes the film (fingers crossed!) into casting Tom.
Did you ever think that 30 Days of Night would take off the way it did and spawn 9 Graphic Novels and a Movie?
SN: No. I’m as shocked as anyone. You never know what’s going to spark with fans, but that one took us all by surprise. Like you said, who could have foreseen comics, films, webisodes, toys, and novels to spring from a three issue horror comic?
What title of yours do you feel deserves a little more attention then it’s received?
SN: It’s hard to say. I’ve had pretty good luck with some pretty odd ideas and I feel very fortunate to have the readers I have. I suppose I wish titles like Fused and The Creeper did better so I could have written more. Those were characters I really enjoyed writing but for whatever reason, didn’t sell as well as they could have.
So, seriously, what’s with this Malve guy?
SN: I have o idea. I was hoping you could tell me.
What are you looking forward to the most about finally being able to attend an Atomic Comics Fright Night event?
SN: I’m excited to finally get a chance to check out the world famous Atomic Comics, and get a chance to meet some friends and fans and talk about comics and horror movies.