Questionable Comics is a comics creator survey series, with Dan Hill presenting sets of questions to professionals from all corners of the comics industry. Today’s first Questionable Comics features legendary writer Joe Casey, who has written for everyone from Marvel to DC to Image to Dark Horse and beyond, as well as for Cartoon Network in his role as one of the co-founders of Man of Action, a media collective that is responsible for such mega franchises as Ben 10, Big Hero 6 and much more.
What current projects are you working on?
SEX monthly from Image Comics. The new BEN 10 series for Cartoon Network. In the final stages of post-production on the Officer Downe feature film. Plus a million other things that will blow your fucking minds one day in the very near future.
Use one word to describe how you work.
Indefatigable.
What’s your workspace like?
The real “workspace” is located deep inside my brain. That’s where most of the actual work happens. As to what it’s like… it’s even more surreal than you could possibly imagine.
What do you listen to when you work?
Just the voices in my head, mainly…
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
It was, and I quote, “Never answer questions asking you about the best advice you’ve ever received.”
A page from Joe Casey’s monthly Image series Sex, art by Piotr Kowlaski
How do you get into writing mode?
Generally, as long as I’m awake, I’m in writing mode. It doesn’t turn off.
Full script or Marvel Method?
I write exclusively in the patented Joe Casey Manner.
What’s the one thing you wish you could improve about your work?
That the final product more closely matched the initial buzz I experience when I first think of it.
When’s the best time to work?
I wouldn’t know… I’m always working.
Who do you consider to be inspirational creators in your field (classic and modern)?
You mean, inspirational to me, personally? In my field? I work in a few fields, actually. But for the sake of argument, let’s just stick with comicbooks. Let’s see… Mike Baron, Don McGregor, Jack Kirby, Steve Gerber, David Michelinie, Howard Chaykin, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Matt Wagner, Walt Simonson, Steve Ditko, Robert Loren Fleming, Trevor Von Eeden, J.M. DeMatteis, Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy, Jim Starlin, Bob Layton, Paul Pope, Michel Fiffe, Benjamin Marra, Steve Rude, Peter Milligan, George Perez, Keith Giffen, Kyle Baker, Paul Chadwick, Dick Giordano, Dave Gibbons, Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Christopher Priest, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Mark Waid, James Robinson, Bill Mantlo, Roger Stern, John Ostrander, Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, John Byrne, Denny O’Neil, Mike Mignola, Frank Robbins, Will Eisner, Alex Toth, Archie Goodwin, Los Bros Hernandez, Mike Allred, Jeff Smith, Eddie Campbell, Dan Clowes, Charles Burns, Peter Bagge, Robert Crumb, Harvey Pekar, Chester Brown, Daniel Torres, Sergio Aragonés, Bill Sienkiewicz, Frank Quitely, Rian Hughes, Kevin O’Neill, Paul Smith, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Kevin Maguire, David Mazzucchelli, John Totleben, Harvey Kurtzman, Dave Sim, Alejandro Jodorowsky. I could actually go on and on…
Also joining us this week is Alex de Campi, a veteran comics creator who also has an impressive background in music video direction. Like Casey, Alex de Campi has worked for most of the major comics publishers and currently releases most of her material through Image and Dark Horse.
What current projects are you working on?
Ugh, so much. Mostly creator-owned. The third arc of my Image series No Mercy with Carla Speed McNeil. Finishing up my spy book Mayday (just lettered Issue 2). Prepping my sci-fi mini with Saladin Ahmed. Like four other things that haven’t been announced yet.
Use one word to describe how you work.
Intensely.
What’s your workspace like?
I don’t have a dedicated workspace. My best writing is done on the sofa or lying in bed. Usually I start writing in a notebook first then when the idea is pretty well hashed out, I move over to the laptop.
What do you listen to when you work?
Nothing. Silence.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
“Nobody cares how hard you tried.”
A tense sequence from Alex de Campi and Carla Speed McNeil’s No Mercy
How do you get into writing mode?
By circling the idea for half a day like it’s a wounded but still dangerous buffalo and I’m a starving wolf who can’t quite believe it’s down for the count and weak enough for me to take it on.
Full script or Marvel Method?
Full script. Always always always. The line artist is always free to ignore/modify the script, but they have it all there for days when they need it.
What’s the one thing you wish you could improve about your work?
I’d like to change the crippling sense of anxiety and nagging self-doubt that constantly whispers in my ear that I’m no good at all.
When’s the best time to work?
I do my best comic scripts in the morning, before I get too fractured by the day. Strangely, I do my best prose late at night, like 1am. I always promise myself I will get up earlier so I can get writing earlier (first I take the dogs on a hike and then I go running), but then I stay up until 2am writing prose aaaaand that’s me ignoring the 6.30am AND 7am alarms.
Who do you consider to be inspirational creators in your field (classic and modern)?
Comics edition: Naoki Urasawa, Junji Ito, Takehiko Inoue, Moyoco Anno, Moebius, Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips, Jeff Smith, Carla Speed McNeil, Enki Bilal. Film edition: Melville, Cocteau, Peckinpah, Sorrentino, Friedkin, Antonioni. Book edition: Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon, Dave Hickey, and a bunch of others my mind has blanked on because this is like when you meet someone hot in the pub and they’re like “what’s your favourite band?” and your traitor brain is like “bye! outta here!”
joe casey lists no female creators – not a single one. it’s weird how the mind works