Jumping into comics

The Philadelphia Inquirer chats with Brad Meltzer, Mat Johnson and other writers from other mediums on making the jump to comics:

"Growing up in Philly, I went down to Fat Jack's on Samson Street every week to buy comics," says Mat Johnson, 35, the award-winning novelist (Hunting in Harlem) who is writing the Papa Midnite voodoo series for Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics.

"From the time I could read, I've been devouring these things," says Meltzer, who is 35. "I had a $5 allowance growing up in Brooklyn and I spent the whole thing every week at the Nostrand Avenue Comics shop."

As a consequence, getting to dabble in the colorful realm of comics is like fantasy camp for many writers.

Of course, it benefits the publishers as well. "We get compelling storytelling and a fresh outlook on over 40 years of character continuity," says Ruwan Jayatilleke, director of development at Marvel, in New York. "And obviously we're going for a crossover audience. Increasingly we're seeing these [comic] books collected into graphic novels.