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Conan #10

Ultimate X-Men #19

The Massive #7

makes me think of this:

Here’s a short interview re: The Massive.  I tried to be really candid with this one, and there’s interesting bits about research and writing and format, and also this:

HC:  There’s been so much post-apocalyptic fiction in recent years and wonder whether it’s because we are so anxious in an age when technology has advanced so far while ethics have not — intelligence run rampant, wisdom withering. Then part of me thinks that maybe it’s just a way for storytellers to find a wild frontier now that the western is gone…

BW: It’s certainly a rich genre for writers to tap into, and there is a real coolness factor to it. But for me what drives me to it is fear. Meaning, actual tangible, real-life fear, mostly as a dad of two little kids. I believe hard times are coming, and maybe I’ll grow old and die before it hits, but I bet my kids won’t, and it’s tough to think about the reality that they’ll probably not have enough free water to drink, or will suffer in some other way like that. Will they be able to spend time in the sun? For their entire lives they’ve lived in an America at war — ones of its own choosing. Will they never know a different America? Maybe I’m exorcising demons in writing about this. But maybe I just can’t stop thinking about it.

I’m going all-in on the print singles for The Massive.  See here.

Out today.

You may not have spied this post from Ryan Kelly, but in it he mentions a web comic he is starting called Cocotte.  Which implies food.  And I know for a long time now Ryan’s wanted to do a culinary comic series.  Me too.  But I am not writing Cocotte.

I wish him luck and good fortune.  My own culinary series, called STARVE, is something of a casualty.  Created for Vertigo almost two years ago, it hit too many of the same notes as that Anthony Bourdain book they got going on, and so it was ultimately not approved.  Another publisher, an indie one, also passed for similar reasons.  I guess there is a real glut of food comics coming.  STARVE now sits in limbo.  It may, probably, be heavily modified to be about water scarcity and the politics of food and serve as a sequel to THE MASSIVE.  If THE MASSIVE is a success, that is.

I mourn STARVE.  It was awesome.  It was funny, and really OCD with detail of food prep.  I did a lot of research, like Northlanders-level research.  But that’s the way it goes sometimes and repurposing is all you can do.

Although these days I think about writing STARVE as it was intended, but as a tv pilot.  My agent thinks its an insane concept for a story, though.  Maybe she’s right.

Random end of the year thoughts.  Go read Ryan’s post, its full of info.

I love linking to the French site Buzz Comics for these (more in link).  And as DMZ comes to an end, its stylistic successor ramps up.  Art by Kristian Donaldson, colors by Dave Stewart, letters by DMZ alum Jared Fletcher.

I’ve done a few interviews in these past weeks, linked below.  The one for CBR has a somewhat startling title, and I’m not sure it represents anything I said in the interview but in a practical sense I guess its true.  Although if anyone is saying goodbye to anyone, its not me to DC.

CBR: Brian Wood Bids DC Comics Adieu

That CBR one is also the first time I’ve been asked about Supergirl.

iFanboy has a two-parter here and here.

And The Beat quoted this from me here, with some commentary.

Yes and no. It’s the end of one era, I suppose, where I was doing all this work for Vertigo and not only earning a living but having that as a career — being a Vertigo writer as a career. I think the condition of the comics market these days, combined with all the recent changes at DC, I don’t think that exists anymore as an option for anyone. Well, certainly not for me. Vertigo’s output, as publicly stated by DC, is to be reduced, and I cannot expect to be able to write two plus books for them. Which breaks my heart, no exaggeration.
 

I’m heading upstate for a week for some much needed downtime after writing four scripts in two weeks.  I’m contemplating writing a web comic, similar in format to Freakangels.  Any artists out there?