MichaelDoran
11-06-2002, 02:53 PM
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/sd107.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/sd107_t.jpg" align="right" width="175" height="263" border="0" alt="Savage Dragon #107 cover"></a>October was a fairly eventful month for Erik Larsen. It began with the sell-out and 2nd printing of Savage Dragon #100, continued with the publishing of the fan-produced Savage Dragon Companion and wrapped with the trade paperback of Dave Johnson's SuperPatriot and Savage Dragon #101 which sets the stage for the next phase of Dragon and Dragon Junior's lives.
Dragon Junior?
Right – Dragon’s kid from way back, which was born to Rapture, and swapped with a deceased baby and then raised in secret by Dragon’s enemies. Been a while, huh?
After 100 issues and a decade of Image, Larsen is to be busier than ever on what brought him to Image in the first place – writing and drawing his own comic book. Newsarama spoke to Larsen about running the long run, continuity, Images' 10th Anniversary book, why he's handing over a quarter of his book to his fans, and controversy.
Newsarama: It's been a decade since you started the Dragon. Creatively, is the energy waning, or are you getting bored yet?
Erik Larsen: It's inconceivable to me that I'd get bored! Why would I? I created all of these characters myself, and they're everything I'd want them to be. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just getting started. This is my life's work - think Herge on Tin Tin - or Charles Schultz on Peanuts - I've found my calling.
Between reaching Savage Dragon #100, The Savage Dragon Companion,
the recent SuperPatriot: America's Fighting Force miniseries and the impending onslaught of Savage Dragon trade paperbacks and hardcover books, it's been a banner year. I'd certainly take this over being overworked, getting seriously ill and losing the feeling in my hands like I did last year.
NRAMA: And how are your hands now?
EL: There's residual numbness but I hardly notice it. It doesn't affect my work in any way.
NRAMA: Good to hear. Speaking to the series itself, after the events in issue #100, you now have two worlds to play in. Many fans thought you would use issue #100 to hit the reset button or ‘Ultimatize,’ or even renumber the series. Aren't you taking a risk in keeping the Dragon’s old, albeit slightly dense history, given the current trend to ignore or do away with continuity?
EL: Not really. My ultimate goal is to try and make it all more streamlined and the double worlds thing really isn't all that complicated. Often, I think trying to make things clear only muddies the water. I've got to rein myself in at times to keep from spewing out a long-winded explanation and often it just doesn't matter. Readers don't need to know who a given good guy is and his entire history--all that's important to a given story is that you know he's a good guy. To a long time reader they'll understand who that character is and why they're cool but to try and spill all of that history for a new reader is cumbersome and unnecessary. I'll show you why they're cool not tell you why. The end result is a book where you can come in at any point and not feel lost. I think that, after everything's said and done, is the real goal.
A new reader shouldn't feel lost. A big issue number on a cover shouldn't be intimidating. I started reading Amazing Spider-Man with issue #151 - I didn't feel as though I needed to have read all of the previous issues to understand what was going on. For those who need to know how it all fits together, things are explained pretty succinctly in The Savage Dragon
Companion and even more succinctly in Savage Dragon #100 but you shouldn't need that in order to enjoy the series.
NRAMA: We spoke with you earlier about it, but let’s just do a slight recap - The Savage Dragon Companion was put together by fans. How did that come about?
EL: It was something that had been suggested for years and with the advent of Savage Dragon's 10th anniversary and reaching Savage Dragon #100 the time just seemed right. A number of fans had written pretty concise summaries of Savage Dragon issues already and that was the real starting place. A number of really talented fans who had experience in writing and design pitched in to make this terrific book. I rewrote stuff and tweaked things and offered suggestions along the way but the bulk of the real work was done by Savage Dragon fans. I put it out for a mere $2.95 and at 64 pages, that was below cost but I wanted to have something so that newcomers would have 10 years of history and continuity without having to order back issues or buy the trades.
NRAMA: But still, didn't you think it was a little risky, both financially and creatively, allowing fans to write and produce the SD Companion?
EL: Not really. I was able to oversee it all so I had creative control and the work was very good. Most companies would never give fans a shot like this but I'm a fan myself-- I know what that's like, wanting to get a break. Wanting to get a letter printed or see my fan art or get a chance to see my work shown to the world. That's one thing I've striven to do over the years, let the readers participate in the book. Join in on the fun.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/savagedragonbert.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/savagedragonbert_t.jpg" align="left" width="175" height="263" border="0" alt="Savage Dragonbert by Karl Hörnell "></a> Early on I had a Character Creating contest where a reader's character got to appear in a story with Savage Dragon. I've had contests in which readers could vote to see if Dragon should marry his girlfriend, I had a random drawing where a fan got to be drawn into the story and get punched out by the Dragon. I like the idea of giving something back to the fans and to help them break in. I continue to run comics in the back of Savage Dragon. Chris Eliopoulos started off as the letterer of Savage Dragon, he wanted to do a comic strip. I let him do his strip Desperate Times in the back of Savage Dragon and later Chris took his strip and did a Desperate Times series.
Karl Hörnell did a parody of Savage Dragon in the back of the book called Savage Dragonbert and all of those strips were recently collected in a handsome 80 page collection. Currently Chris Giarrusso and Nick Derington are doing strips in the back of Savage Dragon. So I’ve always been open to letting fans come in and play.
NRAMA: Getting back to the continuity, and in part, some of the reason a Companion was needed in the first place, how vital is continuity in Savage Dragon? Can a reader really just start at any point?
EL: Well, continuity is important but it's a cumulative thing. If you read the book over a few years you see characters age and evolve. Characters die, lose limbs, retire, and the whole spectrum. This is an experiment of sorts.
Readers have often suggested having characters at Marvel and DC age in real time so that the characters can grow up with them. Now, it would be suicidal for them to do this--their icons would get destroyed in a number of years but as a single creator doing a single book, there's room for me to try it. It helps that my lead character is bald to begin with. But despite all of this, the book manages to be very reader friendly and we're making a real effort to get all of the back issues into print.
NRAMA: Playing devil’s advocate a little – at least why not start over the numbering? Marvel has had a lot of success starting over their numbering.
EL: Starting over is admitting defeat. It's saying to the readers and the comic book community that you can't get attention any other way other than slapping a big #1 on your cover. Marvel didn't ditch their characters' histories when they renumbered their books. They're every bit as tied into the history as they ever were so the renumbering is just a lie -- it's not a new beginning -- it's not a new starting point.
Since Savage Dragon #100 the readership is growing, I've gotten a number of letters from fans who are trying the series for the first time and coming on board as regular readers. I think it's a mistake to assume all readers are so dim that they need to begin with a first issue. Give them some credit. Not everybody that watched the last episode of Seinfeld were there to see the first episode but they caught on. It's not that big a deal. So your collection starts
with #101 instead of #1--there's nothing wrong with that, it's a perfectly
fine place to start.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/savageworld.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/savageworld_t.jpg" align="right" width="175" height="263" border="0" alt="cover to Savage Dragon: Savage World trade"></a> Honestly, I don't see a good reason to lie to the readers other than to grab some cash and I think that's a very dishonest way of doing business. I feel strongly that it's a better message to say to the readers and comic book community that I've been there for the long haul and I'm going to continue to be there for the long haul. For every book that's had success starting over, there are an equal number that vanished soon after starting over. You feel safe buying a title that's lasted a while. New books drop like flies after a handful of issues. Do you really want to get caught up in a book that's going to disappear in a few issues? The other side of this is, of course, do you want to come on to a book in the middle but I don't see that as an impediment. I'd love to discover a good book and then find out that there are more issues available. How cool is that? "You mean, there are more of these? Let me at 'em!”
NRAMA: Moving to another topic related, somewhat tangentially to the Dragon’s continuity, the character’s official origin was to appear in the Image 10th Anniversary book, which has yet to see the light of day. Is there any embarrassment about that?
EL: I'm more disappointed than embarrassed. I did my part. It was completely finished and colored in early January. At this point we're waiting on Todd, but Todd's a busy guy. He works like a maniac and does more work than any ten men but it's not all comic book work. I'd rather the book be everything it can be rather than one that's dashed out.
NRAMA: But you've finished your section and it reveals something your fans have clamored about for years, Dragon's origin. Why not just publish that yourself?
EL: The only reason I decided to tell the origin at all was because I wanted my contribution to the 10th anniversary book to be something special. I've been drawing Savage Dragon for its entire run, another Dragon story by me, as good as I could make it, just didn't seem to me to make it something worthy of distinction. Readers are excited about this. I don't think they'd be as excited about something less than this.
NRAMA: Savage Dragon #101 just hit the shelves, and it features two different
stories, one which seems to set the scene for the next phase of Dragon's life and another set in his previous world featuring the adventures of his son, are you hedging your bets as to what direction the series is going to take for the next year?
EL: Not really. Just doing the kinds of stories that I want to tell. Ever since I introduced Dragon's son Malcolm, I'd intended to have the issue after #100 be his first adventure. When that story grew, the idea of doing a split book like the old Tales of Suspense or Tales to Astonish occurred to me. In that, I could do two stories and one could be action-oriented while the other was somewhat more quiet. What this is leading up to is a story where both worlds have to cope with similar situations and I could tell the parallel stories from two different perspectives. It's really a lot of fun.
Ultimately, I'll be concentrating on Savage Dragon. It's his book, after all. When other heroes start participating in the Image Universe, Savage Dragon will be part of that. What is coming up that I'm excited about is a series of back up stories that Dragon fans will be helping to work on.
NRAMA: You're letting your fans draw the back-up strips? How will that work?
EL: It started with a young cartoonist named Mark Englert. There was a Mighty Man miniseries that the late Gil Kane was going to draw. After Gil passed away, my thought was that it would never be illustrated so I printed the plot in an issue of Savage Dragon. Enter Mark Englert, he read the plot and decided, on his own, to sit down and draw the thing. SuperPatriot scribe Robert Kirkman ran across the fellow's stuff and sent it on to me and I was floored. So floored that I talked to Mark about me making some changes in the plot to update it and work it into present continuity and print it in the pages of Savage Dragon. I'll be scripting and inking this serial which will start running in issue #109. There are other fans as well who have wanted a shot at getting their stuff in print and it just grew from there. My book is 32 pages long. I don't see any reason why it couldn't be all comics instead of a good number of ads. Comics are expensive enough - why not give readers the best possible value for their
dollar?
There aren't a lot of opportunities for amateurs to break into the biz these days. This way they can see their work in print, work out some creative kinks and get some valuable experience and I get more content for my book. Yeah, it's more work for me as well and no more income -- but so what? The ultimate goal here is a better comic book. I've got some pages to play with, what the heck.
NRAMA: Throughout your career you've been tagged as a 'controversial creator,' with flare-ups dating back to the very early days of Image, to the content you put into Dragon, and even your online comments. Why do you think people see you as a troublemaker of sorts?
EL: I tend to speak my mind with no thought or consideration for other people's feelings. I tend to think it stems from sitting in a room isolated from any outside human contact. My social skills have atrophied after years of neglect. In most fields, that could be considered a detrimental character flaw but in comics it something to be admired, I've found. Most people find it refreshing to talk to somebody who's willing to share an opinion rather than towing the company line and playing it safe. It helps that I'm actually a decent human being. Others who have tried to be as open have had it backfire because the world soon discovered what pinheaded pricks they are but somehow I've managed to maintain friendships despite occasionally saying something that ruffles a few feathers.
NRAMA: Why do you suppose that is?
EL: The underlying message in all this is that I love comics. That much is readily apparent--and I care about this industry. Part of that caring means striving to find ways to improve things. That can be done by helping create a comic book company where those involved aren’t trying to give fellow creators the shaft and part of that is trying to show by example of how to produce comics, and ridiculing others in the process is not only fun but helps in a way as well. I'm not interested in using comics as a stepping stone to Hollywood -- I'm interested in doing comics. Foil covers and gimmicks don't help comics. I think it's a good idea to say no to this kind of nonsense and to expose those that do perpetrate this crap as the greedy, short-sighted thieves that they are. I'm a fan. I'm passionate about comics. I'm extremely lucky to be working in this field. Often I just get caught up talking as one fan to another and forget that somebody's paying attention to what I have to say.
Recently, I've had comments pulled out of context from my message board and used as sound bites and it's gotten people bent out of shape. Nobody ever quotes me when I say I like something but if I dare to mention somebody swiping a few panels in a comic book published over a decade ago it's somehow deemed a worthy news item. Go figure.
NRAMA: Care to say something controversial so we can flag this as a controversial interview?
EL: "Marville was brilliant."
NRAMA: You sure you want that on the record?
EL: Okay, okay, Marville was embarrassing, amateurish and pathetic. See? I couldn't keep a straight face. If I come up with anything controversial I'll get back to you...
Dragon Junior?
Right – Dragon’s kid from way back, which was born to Rapture, and swapped with a deceased baby and then raised in secret by Dragon’s enemies. Been a while, huh?
After 100 issues and a decade of Image, Larsen is to be busier than ever on what brought him to Image in the first place – writing and drawing his own comic book. Newsarama spoke to Larsen about running the long run, continuity, Images' 10th Anniversary book, why he's handing over a quarter of his book to his fans, and controversy.
Newsarama: It's been a decade since you started the Dragon. Creatively, is the energy waning, or are you getting bored yet?
Erik Larsen: It's inconceivable to me that I'd get bored! Why would I? I created all of these characters myself, and they're everything I'd want them to be. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just getting started. This is my life's work - think Herge on Tin Tin - or Charles Schultz on Peanuts - I've found my calling.
Between reaching Savage Dragon #100, The Savage Dragon Companion,
the recent SuperPatriot: America's Fighting Force miniseries and the impending onslaught of Savage Dragon trade paperbacks and hardcover books, it's been a banner year. I'd certainly take this over being overworked, getting seriously ill and losing the feeling in my hands like I did last year.
NRAMA: And how are your hands now?
EL: There's residual numbness but I hardly notice it. It doesn't affect my work in any way.
NRAMA: Good to hear. Speaking to the series itself, after the events in issue #100, you now have two worlds to play in. Many fans thought you would use issue #100 to hit the reset button or ‘Ultimatize,’ or even renumber the series. Aren't you taking a risk in keeping the Dragon’s old, albeit slightly dense history, given the current trend to ignore or do away with continuity?
EL: Not really. My ultimate goal is to try and make it all more streamlined and the double worlds thing really isn't all that complicated. Often, I think trying to make things clear only muddies the water. I've got to rein myself in at times to keep from spewing out a long-winded explanation and often it just doesn't matter. Readers don't need to know who a given good guy is and his entire history--all that's important to a given story is that you know he's a good guy. To a long time reader they'll understand who that character is and why they're cool but to try and spill all of that history for a new reader is cumbersome and unnecessary. I'll show you why they're cool not tell you why. The end result is a book where you can come in at any point and not feel lost. I think that, after everything's said and done, is the real goal.
A new reader shouldn't feel lost. A big issue number on a cover shouldn't be intimidating. I started reading Amazing Spider-Man with issue #151 - I didn't feel as though I needed to have read all of the previous issues to understand what was going on. For those who need to know how it all fits together, things are explained pretty succinctly in The Savage Dragon
Companion and even more succinctly in Savage Dragon #100 but you shouldn't need that in order to enjoy the series.
NRAMA: We spoke with you earlier about it, but let’s just do a slight recap - The Savage Dragon Companion was put together by fans. How did that come about?
EL: It was something that had been suggested for years and with the advent of Savage Dragon's 10th anniversary and reaching Savage Dragon #100 the time just seemed right. A number of fans had written pretty concise summaries of Savage Dragon issues already and that was the real starting place. A number of really talented fans who had experience in writing and design pitched in to make this terrific book. I rewrote stuff and tweaked things and offered suggestions along the way but the bulk of the real work was done by Savage Dragon fans. I put it out for a mere $2.95 and at 64 pages, that was below cost but I wanted to have something so that newcomers would have 10 years of history and continuity without having to order back issues or buy the trades.
NRAMA: But still, didn't you think it was a little risky, both financially and creatively, allowing fans to write and produce the SD Companion?
EL: Not really. I was able to oversee it all so I had creative control and the work was very good. Most companies would never give fans a shot like this but I'm a fan myself-- I know what that's like, wanting to get a break. Wanting to get a letter printed or see my fan art or get a chance to see my work shown to the world. That's one thing I've striven to do over the years, let the readers participate in the book. Join in on the fun.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/savagedragonbert.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/savagedragonbert_t.jpg" align="left" width="175" height="263" border="0" alt="Savage Dragonbert by Karl Hörnell "></a> Early on I had a Character Creating contest where a reader's character got to appear in a story with Savage Dragon. I've had contests in which readers could vote to see if Dragon should marry his girlfriend, I had a random drawing where a fan got to be drawn into the story and get punched out by the Dragon. I like the idea of giving something back to the fans and to help them break in. I continue to run comics in the back of Savage Dragon. Chris Eliopoulos started off as the letterer of Savage Dragon, he wanted to do a comic strip. I let him do his strip Desperate Times in the back of Savage Dragon and later Chris took his strip and did a Desperate Times series.
Karl Hörnell did a parody of Savage Dragon in the back of the book called Savage Dragonbert and all of those strips were recently collected in a handsome 80 page collection. Currently Chris Giarrusso and Nick Derington are doing strips in the back of Savage Dragon. So I’ve always been open to letting fans come in and play.
NRAMA: Getting back to the continuity, and in part, some of the reason a Companion was needed in the first place, how vital is continuity in Savage Dragon? Can a reader really just start at any point?
EL: Well, continuity is important but it's a cumulative thing. If you read the book over a few years you see characters age and evolve. Characters die, lose limbs, retire, and the whole spectrum. This is an experiment of sorts.
Readers have often suggested having characters at Marvel and DC age in real time so that the characters can grow up with them. Now, it would be suicidal for them to do this--their icons would get destroyed in a number of years but as a single creator doing a single book, there's room for me to try it. It helps that my lead character is bald to begin with. But despite all of this, the book manages to be very reader friendly and we're making a real effort to get all of the back issues into print.
NRAMA: Playing devil’s advocate a little – at least why not start over the numbering? Marvel has had a lot of success starting over their numbering.
EL: Starting over is admitting defeat. It's saying to the readers and the comic book community that you can't get attention any other way other than slapping a big #1 on your cover. Marvel didn't ditch their characters' histories when they renumbered their books. They're every bit as tied into the history as they ever were so the renumbering is just a lie -- it's not a new beginning -- it's not a new starting point.
Since Savage Dragon #100 the readership is growing, I've gotten a number of letters from fans who are trying the series for the first time and coming on board as regular readers. I think it's a mistake to assume all readers are so dim that they need to begin with a first issue. Give them some credit. Not everybody that watched the last episode of Seinfeld were there to see the first episode but they caught on. It's not that big a deal. So your collection starts
with #101 instead of #1--there's nothing wrong with that, it's a perfectly
fine place to start.
<a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/savageworld.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Image/savageworld_t.jpg" align="right" width="175" height="263" border="0" alt="cover to Savage Dragon: Savage World trade"></a> Honestly, I don't see a good reason to lie to the readers other than to grab some cash and I think that's a very dishonest way of doing business. I feel strongly that it's a better message to say to the readers and comic book community that I've been there for the long haul and I'm going to continue to be there for the long haul. For every book that's had success starting over, there are an equal number that vanished soon after starting over. You feel safe buying a title that's lasted a while. New books drop like flies after a handful of issues. Do you really want to get caught up in a book that's going to disappear in a few issues? The other side of this is, of course, do you want to come on to a book in the middle but I don't see that as an impediment. I'd love to discover a good book and then find out that there are more issues available. How cool is that? "You mean, there are more of these? Let me at 'em!”
NRAMA: Moving to another topic related, somewhat tangentially to the Dragon’s continuity, the character’s official origin was to appear in the Image 10th Anniversary book, which has yet to see the light of day. Is there any embarrassment about that?
EL: I'm more disappointed than embarrassed. I did my part. It was completely finished and colored in early January. At this point we're waiting on Todd, but Todd's a busy guy. He works like a maniac and does more work than any ten men but it's not all comic book work. I'd rather the book be everything it can be rather than one that's dashed out.
NRAMA: But you've finished your section and it reveals something your fans have clamored about for years, Dragon's origin. Why not just publish that yourself?
EL: The only reason I decided to tell the origin at all was because I wanted my contribution to the 10th anniversary book to be something special. I've been drawing Savage Dragon for its entire run, another Dragon story by me, as good as I could make it, just didn't seem to me to make it something worthy of distinction. Readers are excited about this. I don't think they'd be as excited about something less than this.
NRAMA: Savage Dragon #101 just hit the shelves, and it features two different
stories, one which seems to set the scene for the next phase of Dragon's life and another set in his previous world featuring the adventures of his son, are you hedging your bets as to what direction the series is going to take for the next year?
EL: Not really. Just doing the kinds of stories that I want to tell. Ever since I introduced Dragon's son Malcolm, I'd intended to have the issue after #100 be his first adventure. When that story grew, the idea of doing a split book like the old Tales of Suspense or Tales to Astonish occurred to me. In that, I could do two stories and one could be action-oriented while the other was somewhat more quiet. What this is leading up to is a story where both worlds have to cope with similar situations and I could tell the parallel stories from two different perspectives. It's really a lot of fun.
Ultimately, I'll be concentrating on Savage Dragon. It's his book, after all. When other heroes start participating in the Image Universe, Savage Dragon will be part of that. What is coming up that I'm excited about is a series of back up stories that Dragon fans will be helping to work on.
NRAMA: You're letting your fans draw the back-up strips? How will that work?
EL: It started with a young cartoonist named Mark Englert. There was a Mighty Man miniseries that the late Gil Kane was going to draw. After Gil passed away, my thought was that it would never be illustrated so I printed the plot in an issue of Savage Dragon. Enter Mark Englert, he read the plot and decided, on his own, to sit down and draw the thing. SuperPatriot scribe Robert Kirkman ran across the fellow's stuff and sent it on to me and I was floored. So floored that I talked to Mark about me making some changes in the plot to update it and work it into present continuity and print it in the pages of Savage Dragon. I'll be scripting and inking this serial which will start running in issue #109. There are other fans as well who have wanted a shot at getting their stuff in print and it just grew from there. My book is 32 pages long. I don't see any reason why it couldn't be all comics instead of a good number of ads. Comics are expensive enough - why not give readers the best possible value for their
dollar?
There aren't a lot of opportunities for amateurs to break into the biz these days. This way they can see their work in print, work out some creative kinks and get some valuable experience and I get more content for my book. Yeah, it's more work for me as well and no more income -- but so what? The ultimate goal here is a better comic book. I've got some pages to play with, what the heck.
NRAMA: Throughout your career you've been tagged as a 'controversial creator,' with flare-ups dating back to the very early days of Image, to the content you put into Dragon, and even your online comments. Why do you think people see you as a troublemaker of sorts?
EL: I tend to speak my mind with no thought or consideration for other people's feelings. I tend to think it stems from sitting in a room isolated from any outside human contact. My social skills have atrophied after years of neglect. In most fields, that could be considered a detrimental character flaw but in comics it something to be admired, I've found. Most people find it refreshing to talk to somebody who's willing to share an opinion rather than towing the company line and playing it safe. It helps that I'm actually a decent human being. Others who have tried to be as open have had it backfire because the world soon discovered what pinheaded pricks they are but somehow I've managed to maintain friendships despite occasionally saying something that ruffles a few feathers.
NRAMA: Why do you suppose that is?
EL: The underlying message in all this is that I love comics. That much is readily apparent--and I care about this industry. Part of that caring means striving to find ways to improve things. That can be done by helping create a comic book company where those involved aren’t trying to give fellow creators the shaft and part of that is trying to show by example of how to produce comics, and ridiculing others in the process is not only fun but helps in a way as well. I'm not interested in using comics as a stepping stone to Hollywood -- I'm interested in doing comics. Foil covers and gimmicks don't help comics. I think it's a good idea to say no to this kind of nonsense and to expose those that do perpetrate this crap as the greedy, short-sighted thieves that they are. I'm a fan. I'm passionate about comics. I'm extremely lucky to be working in this field. Often I just get caught up talking as one fan to another and forget that somebody's paying attention to what I have to say.
Recently, I've had comments pulled out of context from my message board and used as sound bites and it's gotten people bent out of shape. Nobody ever quotes me when I say I like something but if I dare to mention somebody swiping a few panels in a comic book published over a decade ago it's somehow deemed a worthy news item. Go figure.
NRAMA: Care to say something controversial so we can flag this as a controversial interview?
EL: "Marville was brilliant."
NRAMA: You sure you want that on the record?
EL: Okay, okay, Marville was embarrassing, amateurish and pathetic. See? I couldn't keep a straight face. If I come up with anything controversial I'll get back to you...