The Big Question with Matt Wagner
Interview with: Troy Brownfield

Welcome back to The BigQ! We caught our next guest as he was about to depart for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Cruise, and we’re very grateful he took the time with us. You primarily know him from his amazing creator-owned work on his varied and epic incarnations of Mage and Grendel. Aside from a mountain of other cool projects like Sandman Mystery Theater and reinvigorating Dr. Mid-Nite in last year’s DC mini-series, he’s about to see one of his creations realized on the big screen. The BigQ is proud to welcome the great Matt Wagner.

THE BIG Q&A

Q1. The Mage project is build strongly on the themes of legends, myths and religions from all over the world. How massive an undertaking was the research for that project, and what were some of the sources that you most relied upon?

A1. I’d have to describe my research as continual rather than massive. I take a great delight in the world’s religious legendry which most people would find at odds with the fact that I’m an atheist. Still, I continually try to convince others that my belief in mythology as metaphor as opposed to cosmic fact doesn’t preclude me from enjoying, perceiving and even being moved to tears by the moral lessons and implications therein. The sources I use are all around, not centered in any one tome.

Q2. What made you decide to release Grendel: Devil’s Legacy in its new form after so many years since the original project?

A2. We’d been wanting to make this and all the other incarnations of GRENDEL available to readers ever since bringing the title to Darkhorse nearly ten years ago. Trouble was, the smouldering aftermath of Comico’s demise left us no access to the printing negatives vital to any publication in the pre-digital age. Now, the current technology has so advanced that this isn’t as much of a problem. Ultimately, we plan on re-issueing as many of the original story arcs as possible. With Devil’s Legacy, I’m particularly struck with what a precursor to many contemporary styles that the Pander Brothers’ work entailed. The long, hard-bodied women, the frenetic, panel-bursting lay-outs seem to be somewhat “proto-Image”.

Q3. What’s your target date for the next installment of Mage?

A3. HA! And so begin the “When’s MAGE III?” questions. I promise it won’t take another ten years. The events depicted in The Hero Defined occurred to me nearly a decade ago and so, at this point, I do have the emotional distance and necessary life experience to move onto The Hero Denied. Still, producing MAGE is a rather draining undertaking and I’m not quite ready to move onto the final installment.

Q4. It’s widely understood/rumored that Mage is in development as a feature film. How much are you able to tell us at this point?

A4. The film is being produced by Spyglass Entertainment (The Sixth Sense ) in conjunction with Critical Mass Productions. We’ve just received the final draft of the screenplay written by John Rogers (Jesse James ) and everyone involved thinks it just rocks the fucking house. Very exciting. The screenplay is truly a fine adaptation in every sense of the word, which means that it embraces a necessary group of “adjustments” for the translation to film. Still, I applaud (standing O) John for his brilliant interpretation. It is by no means a panel-by-panel film version and yet so captures the heart and soul of MAGE that even the most hardened fan will delight in the familiarity of it all while still encountering excitements in the film that are not to be found in the comic.

Q5. Your writing on Sandman Mystery Theater was outstanding! What are your favorite noir works, and will you be tackling works in that vein in the future?

A5. Favorite noir…hmmm. Well, I’d have to go with some of the classics…Chandler, Hammet, Cain, Thompson, Willeford, Ellroy. But I also like noir that doesn’t fit into the typically niche. For instance, I loved AMERICAN PSYCHO. It had been years since I’d read a book that made feel dirty and stained. A horrifying experience. I’m also a big fan of a book called TOPPING FROM BELOW by Laura Reese. Its an S&M murder mystery that is really provocative and intriguing and has a great pay-off. Again, parts of it made me feel icky and uncomfortable which is how Chandler’s work originally affected its much less jaded audience.

ShotgunReviews.com would like to thank Matt Wagner for taking the time with us, especially when he had a boat to catch! Follow his work diligently as it issues from various sources; Grendel: Devil’s Legacy is out now, and the reprints of the first Mage series are readily available. Get to it. As always, direct questions, guest requests and brickbats to Troy Brownfield at psikotyk@aol.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2000 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Comics, Interview, The Big Question (Interviews), Troy Brownfield. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.