Off the Record...

John Ostrander has written just about everything in his last 20 years in comics. Still going strong, perhaps even stronger than ever, he is currently finishing up a few projects and has plenty more on the horizon.

John, recently, you had 3 titles come out at the same time. JLA: Incarnations, Lady Death: Last Rites and your ongoing assignment on the monthly Star Wars series. Three distinctly different genres and publishers. How do you stay so busy?

(Laughs). You basically take the work that is offered to you. I’ve always found the more the work I do, the more work I can do. For instance, if I have a problem with one story over here, I can put it down and work on the story over there. This way, I get more done and, in the meantime, my head is solving whatever problem exists in the first story. I come back to it fresher. Also, working in different genres at the same time helps me, rather than hinders me.

Whose idea was it to recap the many lives of the Justice League over the last several decades?

My idea. I felt that with Crisis and Zero Hour, there were stories in the old timeline that are no longer in the current timeline that needed to be explored. I thought it would be fun to look at the Justice League as it was, and that it was important for the younger readers to have an entryway to experience the League.

Was there some sort of stipulation on making sure everything was "Zero Hour" compliant?

No, there was no stipulation. But, if we were going to be working within the current DC Universe, I had to re-think how some of the older stories were. Certainly, they still exist, because, well, they were printed. You can see the archive editions of the old Justice League. So, it’s not as if these old stories don’t exist, it’s just that they are not part of the current DC continuity.

Years ago, you helped Len Wein plot the classic "Legends" mini-series. It revamped and re-energized the Justice League, among many other characters in the DC Universe like the Flash and Suicide Squad. Did you and Len realize at the time that Legends would have that big an impact?

That was part of the design, actually. Crisis had served notice that DC was willing to take a new look at what it has been doing. One of the things they realized was that the Justice League needed to be the premier team book, so the question was "How are we going to do it?" So, that actually became one of the prime reasons for doing Legends.

"I thought it would be fun to look at the Justice League as it was, and that it was important for the younger readers to have an entryway to experience the League."

You also played a big part in the launch of the post-Legends Suicide Squad. That was a nice 5+year run. Have you read any of the new series?

Yeah.

What is your thought on them deciding to bring it back?

Well, that’s their decision. That’s their right to do, since they own it. Like the Spectre, I did my version; other people are doing their versions. I had the freedom to do what I did, so they should have the freedom to do what they’re doing without me looking over their shoulder.

For example, when you brought back the Spectre and the Suicide Squad, they had already been done before, too.

Well, the Squad really hadn’t been. There was a version, but not like what I did. Actually, my negotiations for the Suicide Squad had pre-dated Legends. We just ended up using Legends to help launch the Squad, as well.

What I really had wanted to do was Challengers of the Unknown, but that book was already assigned to somebody else. So, Bob Greenburger, who was the first editor on the Squad, told me about another title called the Suicide Squad. I said "Suicide Squad? Who in their right minds would belong to Suicide Squad?" There had been an earlier version, but I just took the title and totally revamped the whole idea.

So, it was your idea to use criminals?

Right. I asked myself "Who would be a part of a Suicide Squad?" The answer was people who had no choice. And who has no choice? Well, Criminals. I then thought if heroes are constantly putting these criminals in jail, how are they getting out of jail so fast? Maybe it’s by pardon, sort of like The Dirty Dozen.

Also, I wanted to show these guys as being truly dangerous. Just because they are getting beat all the time, doesn’t mean they are losers. I mean, if they are just a bunch of dopes who are always getting caught, then they’re just a bunch of patsies. I wanted to make them more interesting so once they are in other books they would be more challenging.

Who would have thought anyone would fear Captain Boomerang?

Yeah, really. But if we were to make him a truly despicable character, he’d be a lot more interesting. Both he and Deadshot , from this series, started to get a lot more use in other titles, consequently. They became their own stars, in a way.

What about Amanda Waller? Was she your creation?

Yes. I wanted somebody who was tough and unlike anybody else in comics. I think she remains unlike anybody else to this day. She’s tough as nails. She doesn’t take any guff. Love her or hate her, she became truly unique. Some say she doesn’t have any moral background.

Who said that?

We used to get letters all the time saying she wasn’t a good person or a nice person. That she would do anything to anybody. I never believed that to be true. We used to get letters saying that she was as bad as the villains.

Did these letters inspire you to show a more personal side of Amanda?

No. The personal side was always a part of her already. However, sometimes I was encouraged to do more with her. I would think "Oh, you think she’s that bad? Watch what she does now!"

Speaking of teams and strong lead roles, characters like the Martian Manhunter seem to do well in teams, but not by themselves. Or, popular characters come together to form a team, like Heroes for Hire or Marvel Knights, and just don’t have the same following as an Avengers or a JLA. Why do you think some books fail?

I think there is any number of combination of things. And different people will give you different reasons. I think it depends upon the individual book. You have to realize, nowadays, unless it is one of the core or franchise characters, it’s going to have a shelf life of about 3-4 years. That is simply the reality of the marketplace. Martian Mahunter, for instance, lasted over 3 years. And in this market, that’s not a bad run.

"Given that September 11th has changed so much of American life, all of the characters should be looked at differently. Otherwise, it really has no purpose, or meaning, or vitality."

Does your theory of a 3-4 year shelf life go into your plotting of any new series?

I think certainly, these days, you need to have a pay-off sooner rather than later for the reader. If not, they aren’t going to be there. And anyone who tells themselves otherwise is just kidding themselves.

So, introducing a character right now, like a Wolverine, whom you don’t know the origin for years and years, would probably leave fans dissatisfied and they wouldn’t likely accept it.

Well, that depends. Wolverine, for example, was developed over the years in the X-Men books, until there was a big demand for him to have his own book. I think if you gave his origin away in his first appearance in the Hulk, I think no one would have cared.

I think the moral to the story is that there are no hard and fast rules. I think, as a guideline, if you are doing a new character, it is good to have some mystery. You want people to keep on coming back. The more answers you give, the more questions there may be. But, if you tell your readers "Stick with me for a few years and we’ll get to some really cool stuff", they’re not going to do it. You have to hook them from the start. Whether it is with their origin, with some kind of payoff. There has to be a clear statement on what this character is about, what he’s doing and an interesting story. The market is simply too competitive to putz around.

In Hawkworld #23 you have J’onn J’onz (Martian Manhunter) reveal that his weakness to fire is a psychological rather than physical one, and seemed to be over coming it. Is that still the case?

That was first suggested in a Martian Manhunter mini-series years back. That sort of became part of the law of the character. When I went to go the book, one of the instructions given to me was that they wanted it be not just psychological, but a physical one as well. So, how do we blend the two? We explained it be sort of like a telepathic virus.

Have you been faced with that before? Where something that may have been written much earlier, is given a new direction by the editors you are working with?

I think anytime you try to bring a character back, you have to show how it is going to be different this time. How are you going to make it work within the continuity, or, are you going to just reinvent the character all over again?

There are several different ways you can do that. You could put someone new in the suit, like Kyle Rayner becoming Green Lantern. Instantly you have a new hero with a new set of problems.
If you are going to stay with the continuity, then you have to pick and choose what parts of the continuity you want to emphasize. Any series that is based just on past continuity, or explaining away past continuity, really doesn’t engage the reader. You need to figure out what is important to the character. What is the essence of the character?

For instance, when we went to the Spectre, some people said he was a great character, but you can’t do him as powerful without pulling into formula.

So, the choice was to either follow the formula within six issues, or reduce his powers. I said "No we don’t!" I looked at what made him unique and once we found those elements, we built the story around those. Then we followed some items in continuity. We would take a little bit here and a little bit from there. So, the fans thought we were following all the continuity, but we didn’t really. I mean we tried to be as fair with the continuity as we could, by offering different elements of it and acknowledging it and not disregarding it.

Continuity is probably one of the hardest things that editors and writers have to deal with, simply for the importance to the fans.

Yes. I think it is more important to the fans. The reason I say that is because some fans, not all fans, but some fans are stickler for every chapter and verse of continuity. And you can’t tell stories that way. Characters have to be constantly re-imagined for the times that you are in, for the era that you are in. You have to re-imagine what is the character’s relevance today?

There is a big question that should be going on throughout all of comics right now. Given that September 11th has changed so much of American life, all of the characters should be looked at differently. How do we pitch the character now? What is important about the character now? How do we make the stories relevant to the times we are living? Otherwise, it really has no purpose, or meaning, or vitality.

Right. You can’t just take the same character and put them in different situation and expect to develop the character.

Yeah, exactly. Superman is a great example. He has been constantly re-imagined for his times. And there are those who always object. They say "I prefer the Superman of the 1950’s." Well, that’s great. Go back and read those stories. I have no problem with that. I’m not telling somebody they shouldn’t love that. Love what you love, by all means. But to say we need to produce those types of stories today… no we don’t.

We’re in a different era. We have to produce stories for this era. Now, what kind of stories should they be? Well, you can argue with us about that… but not that we need to keep the character the same forever.

Since the early 1980’s, when you first started writing comics, which story, or series, provided you with the most feedback from the fans?

Not too much one book, but in terms of one character, it has to be Grim Jack. I get letters every month, still to this day, asking me if there is any possibility of Grim Jack coming back.

Is there a possibility?

Yeah! Every since he went out of print I have been in negotiations one way or another to bring him back. The signs are hopeful. I’ll be in deeper negotiations early this year to see if we can resolve all of the legal questions. And, if so, then we’ll try to bring him back.

"...what’s fun is I understand that George Lucas actually does read the comics... and likes what we’re doing. But I always have an ear tuned to the reader, anyway, whoever it is – George Lucas or Joe Blow."

One of your on-going projects is the Dark Horse Star Wars series. Were you a big fan of the first trilogy when it came out 25 years ago?

Here’s how big a fan I was… I actually read the Star Wars novel before the first movie came out. I went "Wow! If they can get 10% of this novel up on the screen, it would be great!" Then I went to see it, and they put 110% of the novel up on the screen! The movie just blew me away.

Did you ever dream that, one-day, you would be contributing to the Star Wars mythos?

Oh, no. Not at all. Actually, what’s fun is I understand that George Lucas actually does read the comics. Reading comics was part of George’s culture growing up, so it’s my understanding that he reads them and likes what we’re doing.

Does that inspire you to work any harder on it?

Well, not harder, because I always put in a lot. If he’s reading it and likes it, then that’s terrific! I’m proud to be part of it. But I always have an ear tuned to the reader, anyway, whoever it is – George Lucas or Joe Blow. Because I, myself, have been a fan and I know what that means. I know what my feelings were as a fan. And there is a fan at the heart of me, still.

And I know when a fan buys one of the books that I do, that’s real money they are putting down. That’s money that they had to earn and they didn’t have to buy this book. So, I have a responsibility on my part to make sure that they are getting their money’s worth. If I’m not doing that, then I might as well be picking their pocket.

So every time I sit down to write a story, I am conscious of the fact that there is somebody out there that is going to be reading it. I am really giving it my all to make sure that, from the story alone, that they feel that they’ve gotten their money’s worth.

Have you been given any advance knowledge of the second movie (Attack of the Clones) to help you stay within certain boundaries?

Um… my answer is no. And even if I did, my answer would still be no.

Well, you don’t have to give us any clues as to what is going to happen in the movie ( we had to at least try!), but is there certain things that you have to do to stay within context that may be laid out there for you?

Everything that I do goes through Lucas Films Licensing. They scan it to make sure what I am doing is okay. If there is something that I can or can’t do, they tell me. Or, if there is something they want me to do more of, they tell me that. That’s just part of the territory. I will say, the folks over at Lucas Films are very enthusiastic and supportive of what myself and artist Jan Duuersma has been doing.

In the early to mid 90’s you were best known for your run on The Spectre with Tom Mandrake. You used to start out every issue with a quote, which best suited that issues theme or story. You would quote anywhere from Dicken’s Christmas Carol to Shelley’s Frankenstein. Did you ever find it difficult to locate a quote that would fit the particular issue you were writing?

Not especially. I’m fairly well read, but I also have several books of quotations. So, I would leaf through those and look them up based on the theme. It was something that I started doing, that I felt compelled to keep on doing it.

Did you ever wish you didn’t start it?

Every once in a while. In general, though, I thought it was a good idea, since it exposed people to some other thoughts. In some case, we came up with some very strange quotes.

Have you ever taken the role of editor?

No. [Laughs]. My joke about it is that, as a freelancer, I enjoy giving headaches, rather than getting them.

You’ve worked with a wide variety of big name artists over the years: John Byrne, Tom Mandrake, Jim Aparo, Graham Nolan, Carlos Pacheco to name just a few. What artist would you most like to work with in the future?

Hmmm… (pause). Well, here’s a personal answer. A person by the name of Mary Mitchell, who did Gotham Nights with me. But, that’s also because she’s my fiancée!

I would love to work with Tom Mandrake or Tim Truman again anytime, any
where. It’s not that I don’t want to work with new artists, but I would really like to go back and work with those two guys again, because they’re like brothers. We know each other so well, that it’s just a delight to work with them.

There are plenty of artists out there. I would love to work with John Severin, who is before your time. Not to disparage younger fans, but he is one of the older artists and he is someone that today’s fans need to know about. He’s incredible. Talk about a guy with a range of ability! I saw him recently doing Desperados and thought "He hasn’t lost a step!" I would work with him in a heartbeat.

What can you tell us about "Apache Skies," the follow up to your Blaze of Glory for Marvel Comics?

Well, in Blaze of Glory, we managed to kill off quite a number of the Marvel Western heroes. But one or two survived and we’ll see if they survive this one.

It takes place about a year later and focuses mainly on the Rawhide Kid, who, for me, has developed a wonderful personality. He’s very, very sharp in thinking of strategy. We also deal with the Apache Kid. Both the old Apache Kid, who is dead at the start of this, and the new one.

Did they have problems coming up with names for these guys back then?

Yeah! In Blaze of Glory we did a joke about that. We had Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt and Outlaw Kid all in a bar. Someone walks in and yells "Hey, Kid!" and they all turn around and go "Yeah?" [Laughs]

When is Apache Skies hitting the stands?

I would guess sometime between April and June.

Okay, now is the time for "2099" portion of our interview. This is where I ask you 20 questions in 99 seconds. It’s basically an "either/or" type of response, but you can answer whatever first pops into your head.

[Laughs] Okay, I’ll try.

On going or mini-series: On going.

Jim Corrigan or Hal Jordan (as the Spectre): Jim Corrigan (with a "as if I had to ask" tone).

Late night or early day: Early day.

Star Wars: A New Hope or Empire: Hmmm… New Hope.

Super Heroes or Super Natural: Super Natural.

Big screen or rent: Big screen.

Play with toy or keep in box: Play.

Life with computers easier or more stressed: Easier. And more stressed!

Fly or drive: Uhh… it depends on where I’m going. I usually drive.

Telepathy or Flight: Telepathy

First Print or TPB: Hmmm… trade paperback.

Flintstones or Simpsons: Simpsons!

Cell phone or E-mail: E-mail.

Sleep in or make deadline: [Sighs] Make deadline.

Tomb Raider or Raiders of the Lost Ark: ("as if I had to ask," tone again). Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not even a debate.

Squeeze in the middle or at the end: At the end.

Script or Plot: Hmmm… It depends upon the artist. Script, in general.

World Series or Super Bowl: World Series.

Lou Ferigno or Adam West: [Laughs] I wish I had a better choice. Lou Ferigno, and I don’t know why.

Buffy or Vampirella: Buffy… every day of the week!

CREDITS

FIRST COMICS
Sargon, Mistress of War back up in WARP -- Dogs of War
Starslayer -- issue 12 to end
Grimjack -- orginally a back up in Starslayer and then in its own book for 60+ issues plus graphgic novel
Munden's bar backups in some GrimJacks
Dynamo Joe

DC COMICS
Legends (plot only)
Firestorm -- from Legends on to issue 100
Suicide Squad (with Kim Yale later)
Gotham Nights miniseries, I and II
Detective Comics three parter
Hawkworld ongoing series
Hawkman series 1-8
Manhunter (with Kim Yale)
Blackhawk Special
Wasteland, sometimes with Del Close
Spectre
Martian Manhunter
The Kents
JLA:Incarnations

DARK HORSE
Into the Vortex
Star Wars Ongoing -- Twilight, Darkness arcs, Current: Star Hypserpsace War,
SW Tales

MARVEL
Bishop miniseries -- three miniseries
X-Man for about four or five issues
WOLVERINE ANNUAL (with Joe Edkin)
Quicksilver (with Joe edkin)
X-Men/Brood (two issue miniseries)
Heroes For Hire
Blaze of Glory

ELFQUEST
JINX -- 12 issues

CHAOS COMICS
Lady Death -- LD: LAST RITES, LD HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Upcoming:
APACHE SKIES at Marvel -- folow up to Blaze of Glory
More Star Wars including THE DEVARONIAN VERSION