Awesome Brian K. Vaughan Interview

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

On a quest to find anything Brian K. Vaughan has said since the ending of Runaways (a post-mortem/elegy is coming soon, I promise), I found this relatively-recent-but-undated interview with him on Ain't It Cool News (http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=17832) (crap for news, but great interviews), where he delves into comics in general, his books in particular (all of them except Swamp Thing), and "writing for the trade."

Consider: the man's written Y the Last Man, Runaways, Mystique, Spider-Man/Doc Ock: Negative Exposure, The Hood, and now Ex Machina. If you read any of those, check out the interview.

If you haven't read any of those, then you MUST HATE COMICS!!! :).

Be aware that he uses some naughty words and talks about some adult topics -- his comment involving Sherilyn Fenn and Barbara Bush is absolutely hilarious and deeply disturbing.

Choice quotes:


"Do you have a "showman" personality as a result of your interest in magic or are you the more typical introverted writer personality?

The only showman in comics is Stan Lee. The rest of us are introverted weirdos."

"Y is sixty issues, that's it. It'll be over before you know it, kids, and then you'll be crying that it went by too quickly. And yes, I know the last panel of the last page. It's 99% preordained, though I do occasionally take some unexpected side trips, especially when Pia comes up with brilliant ideas.

And there are seriously no pains to the process at all. Writing this story has been the best experience of my life.

How do you balance realistic (but potentially boring) dialogue with dramatic (but potentially unrealistic) dialogue?

I don't know. Bendis always says that he goes to the mall to listen to the way kids really talk, but I'm pretty sure he's just a pervert.

Roger Ebert once said Hollywood should try remaking bad movies that had a germ of potential rather than good movies. Would it be fair to say this characterizes what you're doing with Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse?

Absolutely! Thank you for seeing that. I mean, how can you write an "ultimate" Dark Phoenix Saga? Claremont already did it! I'd much rather take characters and situations who didn't quite fire on all cylinders when they were first introduced, and do something new and different with them.
:D

-- Ed/Ace

[Eddie G.]

There are some fantastic insights on writing. I'm glad this wasn't a cliche stupid interview with general answers about how much he loves the characters he writes about. Also glad to hear of his upcoming marriage, for the record his girlfriend is as I recall very cool. Anyway great interview, thanks for posting it Ace.

[randomguy]

Wow. Thanks a lot, Ace... that was a really great interview. What's amazing is that, just from reading it, you get a lot of insight into why Vaughan is such a great writer. It really gives you a good idea of what distinguishes this guy from all the other writers out there. Personally, I think Vaughan is the best comics writer of the modern age, but that's a pretty hefty statement.

I'll try to touch on some of my favorite bits from the interview here, although I don't have time to go into everything I found interesting. One thing I noticed is that Vaughan seems to have a diversity of interests, experiences, and influences. I think that's a big part of what makes him such a well-rounded scribe. The comics world can be very insular at times, and I think a lot of writers are hampered by the fact that 90% of their influence come from within comics. For the medium to grow, it has to pull in new ideas from outside itself, and that's where a lot of Vaughan's strength comes in. You can most clearly see that in Y, where he peppers the book with fascinating trivia and anecdotes.

Another big strength of his is the ability to really surprise you. I'm pretty sure Ace has described him, a handful of times (and I'm paraphrasing here) as "a writer who writes lots of little interesting things that add together to blow your mind", which is about as good a description as you could ever hope for. Ex Machina #1's final page is a damn good example, as is this quote in the interview:


It would be a concern… if Mystique were a woman.

That's all I'm saying.
My mouth was hanging agape after reading that. The best twists are always the ones staring us right in the face. I think he was just joking, but it still represents an incredible ability to think outside the box, bring a 100% fresh perspective to established properties.

So yeah, very neat interview.

By the way, Ace, you really should give Ultimate X-Men a shot. I know, it's an X-Men book, it's an Ultimate title, and it stars Mr. Sinister, so it has three strikes against it. But it really is the best writing I've seen on a non-fringe X title since Claremont's glory days. At the very least, give the The Tempest TPB a shot, since it's nice and cheap.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

How much of a comics geek am I? I know the interview predates this year's San Diego Comicon because I remember the news item that said Vaughan skipped out on a day to marry his girlfriend.

I am Hopeless Comics Nerd. Hear me geek out :).

I also don't think you paraphrased my description of Vaughan's writing, randomguy -- I think I've probably used those exact words :D. That is the one consistent thing I can find about everything Vaughan's done so far.

The only Ultimate X-Men I've read that Vaughan did was the one that's available for free on line (lessee...Ultimate X-Men #50 (http://www.milehighcomics.com/firstlook/marvel/ultxmen50/cvrpage.html)) and really mean to get the TPB, mostly 'cuz his name's on it.

(EDIT: and, as of today, BKV has set up his own website (http://www.bkv.tv/pages/news.html) complete with blog and complete comicography. The description for the JLA Annual is rather amusing.)

-- Ed/Ace

[Pyro]

That was a pretty cool interview. I got to know a little more of this writer I'm not too familiar with. Actually, the only thing I've read by him is Ultimate X-Men. Runaways sounds good, I'll check that out. Hearing people talk about comics makes me feel too young, though. I'm fifteen and I probably wouldn't be interested in things like Ex Machina or Y the Last Man.

[randomguy]

Hearing people talk about comics makes me feel too young, though. I'm fifteen and I probably wouldn't be interested in things like Ex Machina or Y the Last Man.
Eh... you never know. It's not like Ex Machina or Y are dry, thoughtful deconstructions of Eastern philosophy or anything like that. They're great reads for the same reason that Ultimate X-Men is... cool characters, strong dialogue, and interesting situations. When you get right down to it, that's all that really matters. They may not have established superheroes, but that doesn't mean they're harder to read or "get".

I tell you what, I'm feeling super-generous today, so I'll make you a deal. Drop me a PM, if you're comfortable, and I'll send you a copy of Ex Machina #1, no strings attatched. It's that darned good, and I believe you just might enjoy it more than you'd think.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Spotted a discussion on the Brian K. Vaughan forums regarding the last page of Ex Machina #1 (http://www.bkv.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=43), which might be of interest to people who read the issue.

Major, big-time, massive spoilers for the issue. Anybody who's read the issue knows exactly what I'm talking about.

I'd offer my copy of Ex Machina for someone interested but, well, I'm greedy :). When the TPB comes out, on the other hand...(yes, early next year, BKV confirmed it somewhere else on the forum).

-- Ed/Ace

[HeavyHitter]

Thanks for posting the great interview Ace! It's good to know that someone else on this board is givin' Runaways some lovin'. When I first got into comics (about a year and a half ago), Runaways #1 was one of the first things I picked up, and I've been hooked ever since. I can't wait until Season 2 in January. Meanwhile everyone else ought to go out and pick up the cheap, digest sized trades for Season 1 and be caught up when Season 2 hits!

Currently I'm also reading Ex Machina,which I'm loving. I've only read half of the first Y trade, but I plan on picking up all the trades as soon as I can (hey, cut me a break, I'm a college student on a tight budget). Looking over Vaughan's comixography makes me want to check out his Mystique run, The Hood, and his 3-issue Batman stint. And one of these days I'll start Ultimate X-men from the beginning and be able to catch up on his issues. Vaughan's definitely become one of my favorite current writers, and his name pretty much guarantees I'll check out a title.

- HeavyHitter