“I don’t know about moral or immoral,” [Mark] Waid began, “but I do know about escapism in the sense that I have no use for it whatsoever.” He believes that there are plenty of opportunities for escapist entertainment available, and he reacts negatively to fans and readers who admonish him because his comics remind them too much of the real world. “You can’t tell a story with any significance whatsoever if you’re going to go out of your way to make sure that it doesn’t touch on the human condition.”

“I tend to shy away from writing topical stuff,” admitted [Allen] Heinberg. “I feel an immense responsibility to be entertaining and to provide escapism, but at the same time, because of who I am, I tend to only write about the questions that I have about life and love, and the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do.” He went on to say that he was “allergic” to the kind of topicality of sending Batman in search of Osama bin Laden, referring of course to Frank Miller’s controversial “Holy Terror, Batman!”

Waid suggested that “when a medium’s been around for 75 years, no one’s going to break it at the point. Not even Frank when he tells his Batman vs. Osama bin Laden story.”

Comic Book Resources has a detailed write-up of a comics panel from last weekend’s West Hollywood Book Fair, which featured Mark Waid, Allen Heinberg, Brian K. Vaughan and Devin Grayson, that’s well worth your time and attention.

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