I hate writing introductions. So, I think I’ll just tell you what I told Matt Fraction when I approached him about doing this interview:
I can’t tell you how much I love Casanova. Seriously. I don’t know how. I didn’t make the connection until later, but right after I started reading it, I went out and got copies of Steranko’s Nick Fury stuff and Neal Adams’ Batman. Same amount of fun. Cannot wait to get further into Punisher and Iron Fist.
In addition to writing some really cool stuff, Fraction’s married to Kelly Sue DeConnick, another talented writer who’s currently co-writing a 30 Days of Night mini-series with… Steve Niles. See how this all ties together?
Who’s your personal hero?
Casanova Quinn. I like my heroes pretendy and fictional. Less chance of being let down that way.
What do you always have at your bedside?
A book. Probably one of the cats, thinking about putting a paw in my mouth.
What’s your retreat?
I dunno. I need one, though. Maybe New York City. That place energizes me like no other. California trips always get my batteries recharged, too. Something about sunshine and the Pacific ocean, man. It’s no wonder to me the counterculture revolution started up and down the PCH.
Do you play a musical instrument?
I play guitar enough to annoy the shit out of people that actually can play guitar.
What’s your morning routine?
Woken up by cat. Find glasses. Drink coffee, check email, eat cereal, organize day’s business. Make calls if needed, go to gym if going, get to work.
What’s your favorite item of clothing?
I find inordinate comfort in wearing workshirts. Especially if they have patches and name tags on them.
What’s your greatest artistic strength?
I’ll try anything twice, and I’ll try it like a motherfucker.
What’s your greatest artistic weakness?
The first time will be lousy and I won’t realize until it’s too late.
What’s always in your refrigerator?
Hm. There’s a jar of crazy-hot pickles my friend Nikol gave us that Kel has been rationing off one at a time. It seems like that’s always been in there.
What’s your favorite food?
Don’t have one. Have favorite places to eat, but no particular favorite food. Today I’ve been thinking that I’d love to take Kel and our friends Hector Casanova and Renee Laferriere to a little French place called Le Fou Frog for a nice quiet holi-date.
Unless coffee counts, then it’s coffee.
Do you collect anything?
Oh, sure. Books, comics. Paul Pope prints, I realized the other day.
What’s your best memento from your work?
A drawing of the cast of Last of the Independents that Kieron Dwyer drew for me as a birthday gift, the first time I’d ever seen someone draw something that came out of my head.
That or a little Stilt-Man hero-clix that I keep on my desk, just to remember everybody is somebody’s favorite character.
What are you always asked at parties?
“What comics? Do you draw them, too?”
What do you always have with you?
My wedding ring, and my dad’s lucky spoon ring.
What’s your favorite place in your home?
Right now, the living room. Xmas tree is up and smells so good I don’t think I’ll ever leave.
Do you have any hobbies?
I drink coffee.
What do you obsess over?
Technique and strategy. Also, right now, the show Scrubs.
What’s the best recent gift you’ve received?
My wife got me a book called The Book of Bond that was surreptitiously written by Kingsley Amis as William (Bill) Tanner. It’s a kind of codified playbook with bits of Bondian behavior pulled from the Fleming books exclusively and compiled with what can only be described as very Amis-ian wit. Want to know the order in which Bond reads his morning paper? Let this be your guide.
What’s your fitness routine?
Forty-five minutes elliptical/fifteen-twenty strength training or an hour elliptical, three to four days a week, ideally. Near-daily walks with the dog.
What talent do you covet?
Patience.
What’s your evening routine?
Write, eat, write until the day is done. Then spend time with wife, read, get coffee, walk dog, whatever, etc.
What’s the greatest misconception about your life?
That writing has an on/off switch.
What movie have you seen more than any other?
Mr. Coolguy says The Apartment. But I know it’s actually Star Wars. I’d have to watch The Apartment once a day for the rest of my life to make up for how many times I watched Star Wars in my first 18 or 19 years on the planet.
What book have you read more than any other?
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.
What household chore do you absolutely hate to do?
Washing dishes.
What obsolete item can you not part with?
A handful of Zippo lighters, I guess. I stopped smoking a year and some change ago, but still have, I dunno, a half dozen Zippos floating around.
What’s your travel routine?
I am the very definition of a lean traveler. My wife, however, packs for any trip of any duration as though she were preparing for a holiday on a slow boat to China. This creates a lot of the kind of wacky situational comedy that’s wholly appropriate for Nancy Meyers vehicles.
What’s the worst thing about traveling?
Sitting next to the Farty Sick Guy that thinks he deserves both armrests.
What superstitions do you have?
I believe that if I can accomplish task x while holding my breath, the outcome will be y.
What do you do to procrastinate?
Revisit the same 9 websites waiting for something to happen.
What’s your biggest self-indulgence or guilty pleasure?
Leaving the laptop closed.
What gadget can’t you live without?
The laptop.
What’s your most prized possession?
Hm. My wedding ring and my dad’s lucky spoon ring, I guess.
What kind of vehicle do you drive?
A black honda CRV. It’s got enough room for me, the wife, the dog, a compliment of groceries and, eventually, a baby seat.
What’s your next big purchase going to be?
A research trip to LA, I suspect.
Which historical figure would you most like to meet?
Right now? Abraham Lincoln. I have questions.
What are you going to work on tomorrow?
Punisher War Journal #8. Immortal Iron Fist #4. I need to send an email to Gabriel about Casanova V2, too, but he’s cranking on Casanova #7 at the moment so I might wait until he’s done.
December 18th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
that boy’s got some funny.
December 20th, 2006 at 2:46 am
Wow, it’s hard to believe this much sexy shows up at a comic con.
December 27th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I know, don’t they look one of the hippest couples around, and a comic con no less!?