Richard
Morgan - How did you get involved with the Buffy comics?
Scott Allie - Jamie S
Rich was working at Dark Horse, and had encouraged our boss to pick up the
license. Then Jamie quit while in the midst of getting the first
creative teams together. I'm a big horror aficionado, and thought it
would be cool to pick up a book with a built-in fanbase. I hadn't
seen the show at the time, but some of my friends had been recommending
it.
RM - Buffy is just
one of the many media tie-ins that Dark Horse publish. Is Dark Horse
interested in picking up the rights to produce any of the new hit
fantasy/sci-fi shows like The WB's Charmed or Roswell in
comic form, or is it now more focused on building its own heroes like
Spyboy, Ghost & Hellboy?
SA - We went after Buffy
for two reasons: It was successful enough to guarantee us a decent-sized
audience from the word go. More importantly, to me, it is the
perfect basis for a comic. Lots of energy, lots of actions,
monsters, beautiful women, tough heroes. It's perfect. We're
not going after Roswell because, though it's a popular and good
show, it wouldn't make much of a comic. While it's fantasy based, it
doesn't pack a lot of visual punch. Someone at Fox told me it's a
little too Dawson's Creek, not enough X Files.
Friends could be
the hottest TV show in the world, but who needs a comic. And if
Rachel suddenly turns out to be an alien parasite - which I've always
suspected - but we only see her kill someone once every third episode, and
that guy still loves her, you still don't have much of a comic. Buffy's
a great balance. All the teen drama of Dawson's Creek with
all the weirdness of The X Files, plus action. So until TV
comes up with something else as perfect for comics as Buffy, I
don't think we should be picking up other TV licenses.
RM - For those out there
who may be unfamiliar with the production of a comic book, can you explain
to us exactly what your job as Editor is?
SA - It's really
different for every book. You hire people, you fire people, you come
up with ideas and tell other people their ideas suck. It's a good
job for an orge.
RM - Previews and
other magazines advertise each issue 3 months ahead of schedule but
exactly how long does it take to put each issue of the comic together?
SA - Angel 1 just
hit the stands this week. I still haven't seen any pencils on Angel
3, but I've got scripts all the way up to Angel 6. So I guess
that means it takes six months, but sometimes it's a lot longer. On Buffy
it's quicker than, say, Hellboy, since Buffy is done by a
team of five or six, but only three people work on Hellboy.
RM - What is the
relationship between Dark Horse and Fox, is there someone checking every
stage of production to make sure there are no spoilers and characters
behave as they do on the series?
SA - We love Fox.
There's nothing I look forward to more every day than talking to my
contact at Fox. As far as checking the thing, we've got Debbie at
Fox reading it and Caroline at Buffy The Vampire Slayer, as well as
sometimes George Snyder, Doug Petrie, David Greenwalt, and Joss himself,
depending on what it is we're talking about. I love it when Joss or
Doug get involved, because those guys really know comics. Then
again, I've become more of a Buffy expert than I ever bargained
for, and with Chris Golden writing, it's a safe bet we're not going too
far off the mark.
RM - How much plot info
from the new series do you get in advance, i.e. did you know about the
fate of Doyle before the official press statement was released?
SA - Oh, I know so many
things...I guess I knew about Doyle dying back in early September.
First of all, I get scripts once they're done. Also, Caroline or
Doug give me early warnings about upcoming turns, if they're going to be
really major. You'd be surprised, though, how little time there
sometimes is between a finished script and air time.
RM - Speaking of Angel,
now that the first issue is out, will the Buffy comic also be
jumping into its fourth season timeline, or will Cordy & Angel still
be popping up in Buffy too?
SA - Nope. A while
back, I decided I wanted a real involved, ongoing story in Buffy.
Andi Watson and I mapped something out to start in issue nine, and end in
issue nineteen. Those plans were made before we knew for sure
there'd be an Angel show, and way before we knew about Cordy going
to LA. So that entire story is set in Season Three. The way
the show is, it would really suck to have a story carry over from one
season to another. Three months gap, disappearing characters.
So Buffy 19 will fit comfortably in Season Three. Then issue
20 serves as a bridge. I wanted Angel leaving the Buffy
comic to be a big deal, so we have a cover by J Scott Campbell,
boy-superstar, showing Angel and Buffy and the whole crew. Doug
Petrie, writer of the show and newlywed, wrote us a story which begins
with the last images of the Season Three finale, and follows them as they
go their separate ways. Then issue 21 starts up in Season Four, with
another big story arc, though shorter and more direct than the 9-19 story.
RM - Lots of editors have
at one time or another been involved in either writing or drawing their
own comic book, any plans on writing a tale for the Buffy comic
yourself?
SA - Nope. I have
some other stories to tell, but nothing that fits in the Buffy
world.
RM - Some of the fan
opinions on one of the early Buffy artists was quite negative, yet
everyone seems to really like the work of new Buffy artist Cliff
Richards. Is it hard to find an artist that can capture the likeness
of actors and actresses of already established TV shows?
SA - It'd be easy to
get guys who could do good likenesses, but most of them would do pretty
boring comics. I love Cliff's work for being able to do easily
recognized likenesses but still having a comfortably loose drawing style
and clear storytelling, which I think are among the most important talents
in a comics artist. Christian Zanier's likenesses are more
photographic than Cliff's, which some of the fans really like, and he also
has a darker style than Cliff does, which I think is right for Angel.
Christian's probably the best likeness guy we're using, but he never
would've got the job JUST based on his ability to draw the faces.
It's the style and the power in his work I care about more than the fact
he can draw a perfect image of Buffy. Then there's Ryan, who some
fans positively hate, but who I think perfectly balances many of
Christian's strengths with many of Cliff's. His likenesses are
definitely the weakest of these three, but I think he makes up for it in
other ways.
RM - One
of the most popular comic books, both with fans and a certain producer,
has been the Spike & Dru one shots. Any plans for more of these
in 2000?
SA - There'll
be one more in October or November 2000. I think we'll call it quits
there, and think about something else to fill that spot. Spike
and Dru is my favorite thing we've done too, which is why I want to
keep it short and sweet. Leave 'em wanting more, baby.
RM -
Since James Marsters and Doug Petrie have both penned tales for the
series, do you have anyone else lined up from the series to write a comic?
SA -
Honestly, nothing I
can talk about. I'm not going to pursue any of the other actors, but
if one of them came to us, I'd try to make it happen. Seth's the
only one I could see doing it, as he likes comics. He goes to the
San Diego convention sometimes, and when I met him, he started talking to
me about Watchmen and Dark Knight. I think he was
doing it to be nice, but he did know what he was talking about.
RM - What
about the other specials and mini-series, it's just been made public that
there's a Buffy/Angel 80 page giant in the works, any more details?
SA - The
Buffy/Angel graphic
novel is hopefully going to be the new highwater mark. The first 1/3
is written - by Doug Petrie, that is - and it's pretty much what you might
get if they did a big budget movie. Really dramatic stuff, great
things happening to the characters, at a very interesting time in their
history. It takes place back when Angel was evil, right after he
killed Jenny Calendar. Giles is really torn up about it, and you've
got the whole vicious love triangle between Spike, Dru, and Angel.
And Ryan Sook is drawing it. Going to be phenomenal.
RM - And finally
what are your comic plans outside the Buffy field, any new media tie-ins
on the horizon or work on some of Dark Horse's other titles?
SA -
Well, my main focus
is always on Hellboy, another of the comics I edit. I also
get to work with Sergio Aragones on his stuff, including upcoming Star
Wars and Blair Witch spoofs. I'm also looking at
developing some new things for Dark Horse to own itself, since we're the
only company that makes most of its money from books other people or
corporations own.
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