Candor with Cooke

When I first started interviewing folks for SBC a few years back, one of my editors was Markisan Naso. Markisan had a way of reviewing my questions for creators and totally dissecting/bolstering (what I thought to be solid questions to begin with) the line of questioning to a substantial degree.

So whenever Markisan has a new interview at SBC, I make sure to check it out, as I know he's going to get the creator engaged quickly and effectively. His latest with writer/illustrator Darwyn Cooke is no exception. Consider the following exchange, where Cooke reveals the high level of candor he's comfortable with displaying in an interview. Now realize, when I commend Cooke for his candor, it's because I've done so many interviews over the years, where I know the creator (despite the fact he or she may have been enjoying a level of success that Cooke now has) is holding back with their answer for fear of that next assignment possibly being compromised. And with that, consider the following:

"NASO: For a while now, people have been talking about the troubles of the comic industry, from the lack of mainstream acceptance to failed marketing to decreased sales. But historically there have been spikes in general public interest in comics. Does the change in the way people view heroes have anything to do with the fluctuations in the health of the comic book industry?

COOKE: Hmmmmm, I don't think so. There hasn't been any real spike in outside interest since the early 1990s, and it wasn't fueled so much by new readers as it was new club members and speculators. I firmly believe every other so-called spike was simply a spike within the existing market. That is, sucking more money per month out of the same customers. Both of the Big Two are terrified of the Mass Market for two reasons:

1. It would take a major investment and risk to regain the mass market.

2. Comic creators, editors and publishers would actually have to do their jobs — sell populist fare by the truckload that appealed to the mass market. They would have to give up this tight little circle where people care more about Bruce's feelings than they do whether there's a Batman story actually taking place. They'd have to work all ages with public light cast on the book's actual content, they'd have to compete with better written and produced entertainment from other media. Books that didn't sell would die. "Creators" who couldn't meet a monthly schedule would be restricted to specials and one-shots. Public taste and trends would have to be embraced. The precious superhero would have to share the stage with other more relevant genres like Romance, Crime, Horror, Humour and the like. Dicks like Kevin Smith would have to save their juvenile, oral-sex innuendo for something other than a mainstream DC comic.

The comic book industry in America is a cottage industry aimed at a very exclusive audience. That's why they don't sell. For 20 years, Hollywood has been making millions off comic properties and the zombies chant about how it will translate in sales... and it never does. Because the comics are cryptic, inaccessible, overpriced and aimed at anything other than a mass market."

Like I said: candor. And I'm not talking the bottle city that's spelled with a "K" either.

There's plenty of more insight from Cooke in the interview, including his take on the comparison of his Superman (in DC: The New Frontier) to Frank Miller's Superman (in Dark Knight Returns).

As editor of TGC, I won't always be hyping SBC items (though you really should have already read my recent interview with Owly creator Andy Runton), but when an interview if this quality comes along with the added bonus of "an exclusive look at three pages from the upcoming Green Lantern: Secret Files 2005" by Cooke, I'll be sure to make TGC readers aware.