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Radiation Interrogation: John Ostrander
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Location: Blogs Atomic FalloutRadiation Interrogation |
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| Posted by: Atomic Online |
Saturday, April 21, 2007 2:22 AM |
World War III just hit stands this week. Both you and Keith Champagne wrote two issues of the miniseries, and being a spin-off of the regular 52 title, I’m sure that the ideas of several other writers were in the mix. Was there ever any danger of having too many cooks in the kitchen?
I don't think so. We started with a lunch with Keith , myself, and our editors. We already had issue 50 of 52. At lunch, we got all the basics covered. there were some adjustments made as we went but, thanks to the miracle of modern communications, we were able to iron them out pretty fast. It really went pretty smoothly.
Communication is an absolute necessity. The editors has story points for us to hit. As I said, we already had issue 50 of 52 as our road map. It was more a matter of not stepping on one another's toes and not contradicting anything. The biggest trick was weaving WWIII into the events of issue 50.
In addition to writing a sweet Black Adam vs. the World story, you needed to incorporate all of the significant character changes that took place in the One Year Later DC Universe. Was there a full time editor assigned to checking on consistency or were you left with a stack of books and a lot of research?
Mike Siglain and Pete Tomasi, along with Elisabeth Gehrlein, took editorial point. Anything relating to a character in an ongoing series had to be run past the editor in of that series. We did have certain books to check the characterizations so we had a feel for how the characters acted and sounded. A bit of research but nothing killer. What I would do anyway if I was writing characters that I didn't usually write and weren't mine to play with.
What is your favorite part of the project?
The cammaraderie. Working in the trenches. Might as well use war metaphors but its true.
The success of 52 begat Countdown another weekly, large scope comic. What is your opinion on weekly vs. monthly comics and how will they affect the comic book landscape in the long run, if at all.
Its success is its own argument and justification. The sales, insofar as I can see, have been strong and so has the audience acceptance. Not every comic can be a weekly nor should be; the strain of the personnel and the production people is incredible. It has to be there every week. Weekly books can provide a context for what's happening in the DCU while the monthlies provide specific focus of a given character or team or series of events.
You’ve had notable runs at both DC and Marvel on such titles as the Suicide Squad and X-Men, but perhaps your most notable contribution to comics was redefining former Batgirl Barbara Gordon as Oracle. What was your inspiration for creating a character steeped in communications technology that keeps all the heroes informed and linked, and why did you decide to place Barbara Gordon in that role instead of creating someone new?
There was no-one fulfilling that function at the time in the DCU and it seemed to me to be a useful character to have, not only in Squad (where she first appeared) but for the entire DCU, which she has proven to be. I--and my late wife Kim Yale--also wanted to do something more with Babs Gordon. We wanted to explore the effects of her having been shot in The Killing Joke. We felt there had to be ramifications and--since she was no longer going to be Batgirl and the Bat-office had no plans for her at the time--we wanted to transform her and show how one could be in a wheelchair and still be not only useful, but vital and remain a hero.
I think Babs is more successful as Oracle than she ever was a Batgirl. Of course, I'm biased.
What can fans of yours expect in the way of upcoming projects?
Well, I'm also doing Star Wars Legacy over at Dark Horse and that's going like gangbusters. The first arc in that book, "Broken," will be out in trade paperback soon and it's both everything you may love about Star Wars and different at the same time. We've jumped down the timeline and it's a whole new batch of Jedi and Sith. Jan Duursema, my partner and the artist, is doing the work of her career. Just great comics whether you're into Star Wars or not.
At DC, I'm going to be doing a new Suicide Squad miniseries and if I talk too much about it just yet, editor Joan Hilty will send me on a mission from which I won't return! But I love the chance to play with the Squad again and the initial fan reaction has been overwhelming. for which I am very, very grateful. I'm going to try and make it everything you hope for, gang.
Finally, there's my own creation Grimjack. I'm working on a new story with co-creator Tim Truman. Can't tell you where or when it's going to appear just yet (although I know the where), but keep your ears open.
And, as always, I have a few more projects on the drawing board, but nothing I can talk about just yet.
Oh, I've also done an article about writing licensed and/or franchised characters that will be appearing in the next issue, #15, of Danny Fingeroth's Write Now! magazine, due out soon. |
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