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No, I don't. If I'm ever stranded on a desert island, I don't think I'll have the chance to pack for it.
I'm sorry to disappoint, but I just don't do that sort of thing. I don't come up with playlists for the stuff I write, even.Bonus question: What's your soundtrack for each of the above comics?
There isn't one.Bonus Bonus Question: In Astro City, who is the Phil Sheldon?
He's been mentioned in ASTRO CITY, or at least one of his daughters was (in ASTRO CITY vol 2 #1), but there isn't an analogue of him in the book.
I mean, you could choose Elliot Mills, because he's a newsman, or Ben Pullam, because he's the father of two daughters, but they're not really all that much like Phil. I already wrote about 350 pages of Phil; I didn't need to create another one. And if I ever did, I'd make him different.
kdb
Visit www.busiek.com—for all your Busiek needs!
Wouldn't you rather I used that time and energy to write more comics?
I mean, five DC comics I love wouldn't be that hard. Five I'd take with me when planning to get stranded on a desert island, so I bring those rather than a radio and a boat, and have to stick to them for the rest of my life just seems odd -- I'd rather bring a fat-packed Kindle and a solar recharger. Plus the radio and the boat.
I don't do soundtracks, seriously. Never have.
kdb
Visit www.busiek.com—for all your Busiek needs!
Superman: Secret Identity starts out with Clark Kent not being a fan of Superman and over time coming to appreciate the concept as his own powers manifest. Batman: Creature of the Night in contrast starts with Bruce Wainwright being a massive Batman fan, until he starts to see the darker sides of the character manifest. Was that a deliberate contrast from the start or something you did unconsciously over time?
Superman with trunks or without it? What do you think of superman's propensity for violence? Maybe not the violence, but i do believe superman loves the physicality of doing feats. (i mean, strongman suit and all).Your opinion.The reason i ask is an old comic, Action comics #368
Well, I didn't plan to do two of them at the start, so it wasn't deliberate, no.
SECRET IDENTITY was partly inspired by a babysitter we had when I was very young, a guy named Kent Clarke. His parents thought it would be funny, and he got really tired of the jokes. So that's where "my" Clark started.
CREATURE, on the other hand, needs our Bruce to fasten onto Batman as an idea, so it makes sense for him to be a Batman fan before tragedy strikes. And Batman, as an origin, is pretty much a horror story, so starting happy and plunging into darkness makes sense, too.
But we did notice that it worked as a mirroring, and weren't at all unhappy about it.
kdb
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I think he needs something to break up the blue, whether it's trunks or an extra-wide belt shape or something.
I think Superman isn't naturally violent, but he enjoys being able to use his abilities -- and many of his abilities are physical (and he's in an action-adventure series, to boot). But he's just as happy using them to stop a forest fire or save people from an avalanche as he is to biff a killer robot in the snoot. The violence isn't the attraction. Getting to do what his body and mind can do, that's fulfilling.
kdb
Visit www.busiek.com—for all your Busiek needs!
In your perspective what made comics from the 1970s worthy of note?
From my perspective? I started reading comic books regularly in late 1974, so they're the stuff I started with. I liked the way the Marvel Universe was interconnected, and was caught up by the adventures of Daredevil and the X-Men (in back issues) first, and expanded out to most of the superhero line.
I was hooked the most by work by Steve Englehart, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan, George Perez, Steve Gerber, Len Wein, Roy Thomas, Frank Robbins, John Buscema and others. I got pulled over to DC when Steve Englehart went to DC for a year or so, and that led me to another universe and other character and other talents, and from there I just kinda branched out to whatever I could find in comics that looked interesting -- ELFQUEST, STAR*REACH and so on.
I liked the mix of action and characterization, and I really liked the continuity connections -- I liked series novels as a kid, and the idea of multi-series, interlocking universes was just great to me.
kdb
Visit www.busiek.com—for all your Busiek needs!
Are there other artists, contemporary or all time you feel a kinship with? Do you say to yourself, "That's the kind of stuff I would do!" "Their stuff on this book reminds me of me!"
I forgot that you did the book Arrowsmith and the Autmnlands! I was getting Autumnlands at the LCS but missed issues on the run. The main character was great. There was a book you did way back where a character got his powers by being popular, getting fans made him more powerful,,, that was another book where I got the first couple of issues and then missed a few.
How do you feel about the future of X-men comics in general? I think mutants as a metaphor for ethnic, religious, sexual, or even political minorities has long stopped being apropriate, but I think it might be really interesting to write them as a representation of various disabilities. Focus on the idea of mutation and evolution. How different bodies bring with them a difficulty in adjusting to the life dictated by most of society, with some barely suffering while others need constanr help from another human being. It could even argue that while there is a legitimate problem with people that are bound to a wheelchair technology is reaching new levels that make it so some disabilities might one day not even be noticable. And even then how much do you change what a person is if you "fix" a disability she has had since birth. This is both a social question and a science fiction quandry that reminds me of how you describe your first experience with the x-men, with the mutant master story. I don't know much you know about incel culture (I hope nothing at all) but it says something interesting about how people cope in unhealthy ways with their physical restrictions.
Don't be sorry, I'm sorry. I'm the goof who asked a question for you on Mark Waid's QA on DC Universe and asked a question for him for you. I had so many tabs open I just forgot who did what and said you wrote KC. Oh well, hopefully you got a chuckle out of my stupidity.
There’s a Marvel thread to ask any Marvel related questions, just as a heads up: https://community.cbr.com/showthread...sk-Kurt-Busiek