Monday, April 16, 2018

GEEKING

Last week I appeared on the Geek To Me radio show, talking about the Usual Suspects (y'know, Spider-Man, Justice League, the Grateful Dead) and you can listen to the entire conversation below.  Enjoy!

8 comments:

  1. No post in honor of Action Comics 1000? O Superman's 80th anniversary?

    What happened? The old Demateis wouldn't do that?


    Jack

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a great idea but I've been very busy.

      The "old DeMatteis"? What am I? A clone?

      Delete
    2. I didn't say "original" I said old. The care free young comic writer in his late 50s who started this blog would have taken the time out to celebrate.

      This new Dematteis is just too jaded and buy to take time and pay tribute to men of tomorrow OR steel.

      I guess that is just the price of success.

      I will say, it was a pretty good issue. In al honesty, with the first major American comics to reach quadruple digits, DC was in a rough spot. There was a lot of expectations.

      Personally, I think they did a pretty good job. Worth at least the eight bucks they charged. And the comics worth four bucks is constantly slipping for me. Pretty good endorsement.

      Of course, I the aftermath, I realized the true threat the internet has n comics.


      Jack

      Delete
    3. Yeah, that's me. Jaded beyond all repair. : )

      I've heard good things about ACTION #1000. Nice to see Superman back in the spotlight again.

      Delete
  2. Great interview as always JM. I know you do a lot of these, and even though the generic question may be the same, I always seem to learn something new. A few things I'd like to mention:

    1) You referenced a Pete Townshend song. That song "Jools & Jim" is from the album "Empty Glass". "Anyone can have an opinion. Anyone can join in and jump."

    2) I know she confused you with Dan Slott (another one of my favorite writers) but the fact that you and Susan Eisenberg know each other is so great! I love the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated shows. All of my kids do too. Wait until I tell them you two know each other. What an incredible show. Of course, it was incredible because the episodes were written so well!!

    3) Whenever an interviewer asks you the works you think are your best, you always mention your creator owned works. I understand. Those are your babies. I love so many of them too (Stardust Kid). However, I'm telling you "The Spectre" must always be mentioned. You like your Sal Buscema Spider-Man more than your "Kraven's Last Hunt" work. I can tell. It's fine. They're both great (cough, Kraven is better, cough). However you need to start telling everyone about Spectre. I loved that series so much....and if you don't want to mention it, at least tell them that George says you should mention it.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, George. I know EMPTY GLASS well. It's probably my favorite Townshend solo album...and one of my favorite albums, period.

      I know Susan from Twitter—we've never met face to face—but she seems like a wonderful person. Very warm, very enthusiastic.

      Extra thanks for the kind words re: SPECTRE, which is a series that means a lot to me. I poured heart and soul into it. And, in its weird way, it was kind of a creator-owned series disguised as a DCU title.
      I would love to see DC collect. So, yeah, next time I'll mention it. "It's great! George says so!" : )

      Delete
    2. It's funny, I tend to see most of your mainstream work as filling this space that's not exactly one or the other (corporate or creator-owned) but also both.

      I think reading your independent work gives me a fresh perspective on the mainstream stuff (I did once write an academic essay looking at KLH through the lens of BROOKLYN DREAMS).

      I was revisiting ASM 400 recently, and I noticed that in the final panel on the page where Ben Reilly is mourning Aunt May on the rooftop, a star flies by overhead. Perhaps, just perhaps, it's Aunt May taking the journey outlined by Peter on her deathbed "Second star on the right and straight on till morning...") Or maybe it's just a coincidence. Either way, I think it's a powerful way to put a grounded, emotionally intimate scene against a cosmic backdrop.

      I'm not sure I'm getting my point across, and maybe I'm just rambling a bit. Or maybe that wasn't in the original script and Bagley added it! But it definitely feels like a DeMatteis kind of touch.

      Anyway, long story short, I'm not aware of any other writer that so consistently occupies that space between 'mainstream' and 'cosmic' or 'mystical.' At least not to my tastes. I'm not saying there aren't other writers who can do that.

      I mean, KLH fits comfortably in the Spider-Man mythos. Peter and MJ and Robbie's characterizations are perfect. But it's also the story of a guy who's over a hundred years old ingesting mystical potions and seeing things that may or may not really be there (but totally are).

      It's a really rare quality to be able to take larger-than-life ideas and make them easily accessible without losing their substance. It's something I strive for in my own writing and I look to yours as a model.

      Best,

      David

      Delete
    3. Thank you, David. I can't tell you how much that means to me. Really it.

      As far as Ben and that shooting star go, it's very possible that I indicated that in the plot—but it's been so long that I have no recollection. So maybe it was me, maybe it was Bagley. In any case, I'm glad the visual brought a deeper level to the scene.

      And thanks again, deep thanks, for your kind words.

      Delete