Welcome to OEMED!, a series of monthly interviews with various creators, both writers and artists, mayhaps even an editor or two. If you’re not familiar with my work, look me up on Google, I have enough to type already.

These interviews should be fun and informative; from the POV of one artist/writer getting into the mind of another creator, helping readers get into our mindset. I won’t be asking about specific projects, but about the process behind those projects. I will try and be as honest as possible about myself, and with whom I am interviewing, and I won’t pull any punches if I have them, while at the same time, remaining respectful.

I’d like to thank MATT WAGNER for his time…

OEMING: Hey Matt, thanks for doing this. How long have we known each other? It must have been the early 90s, I think; we met during the Con circuit through mutual friends like Rich Rankin, Neil Vokes and Bryan Glass.

WAGNER: I seem to remember first meeting you at a Con in Philadelphia. This was long after I had moved away from that area and you came over to my table show me some of your work. You were pretty young at the time and I seem to remember that we BOTH had a lot more hair in those days. Well, you did anyway. I remember that I was particularly struck with your stuff and regretted that I just didn’t have any Grendel project currently on deck that I could have offered you. I also remember that your work in those days, while tight and accomplished, looked NOTHING like what you’ve since evolved into. It was more of a standard super-hero style, but it still had a lot of flair. Had none of the brevity and boldness that exemplifies your work these days. Really nice to see someone go through such a growing process like that.

O: It’s been a long slow romance with you and I! I can’t think of a specific time I was like, “Wow, Matt’s my buddy!” — meaning most pros I become friends with, it happens at a specific show or Con; some shared experience. I think with you, it was simply showing you my work, talking with mutual pals and just slowly getting to know you over the years. I think I became most familiar with you through food, though! Baltimore has a great Con every spring, and we’ve had some really nice meals together. I was surprised to find you are as much into food as you are comics and art.

W: HA! Yeah, it might surprise people to know that, amongst my “civilian” friends, I’m far better known for my culinary prowess than for my story-telling abilities. In fact, I’ve often said that if I hadn’t learned to draw first, I might’ve become a chef instead of a comic artist. Still, my first love was comics and I guess I was just destined to go down that path. I’ve told this story before but this seems a good time to tell it again…my parents had a “School Memories” album/scrapbook for me when I was young. On the back of each page for the elementary years, it had a space to fill in “What I Want To Be When I Grow Up.” One year I wrote “astronaut” but EVERY other year, I wrote “comic book writer.” I guess at that point I just assumed that whoever wrote these marvelous tales must surely draw them as well, right?

O: Now, I’ve learned through some research that your cooking goes back to when you met your wife? Did you have skills before you met?

W: Well, I had a roommate whose dad was a good cook and we took some of those initial steps towards developing those same skills together. But then, yeah, I really started to “cook”, as it were, when I realized that there are VERY few better ways to romance a woman. Guys out there, get a clue and take it from me…women fucking LOVE it when you cook for them. Even if the results aren’t so great the first several times around, they soooooo appreciate the effort. It shows you fucking care. It’s better than flowers and it’s better than a box of chocolates. The very fact that you’ve created something specifically for THEIR pleasure and enjoyment is something that, again, shows you really care about them. And don’t worry, like anything in life, if you keep at it and learn from your mistakes, you’ll only get better and better as time goes by.

O: And at this point, you were working with Diana Schutz at Comico. We’ll get more into that in a bit. At what point did you decide that comics were something you wanted to do?

W: Like I said, pretty damn young. My mother was an English teacher when she was younger and from a very young age, she’d instilled in me a need and a desire to read, read, read. She always said that if you were a good reader—if you enjoyed reading and were adept at it—then you could accomplish anything you wanted out of life. She really saw it as the key to any and all success. As a result, to this day, I’m one of the most voracious readers I know. In fact, I often feel a certain sense of loneliness over that fact. Nobody…repeat, nobody…I know reads as often or with as much relish as I do. As a result, I’m often left feeling high and dry whenever I finish a book. I just want to talk to somebody about it—somebody that’s read it as well. I suppose I could go online and find a chat room or something but, for me, that’s just not the same thing.

O: And when did you begin drawing? Was there any particular reason you began to draw? Was it a love for comics, or did that come later?

W: Well, in addition to this need to read, I was an only child and I grew up out in the country. I didn’t have a parcel of friends who lived just around the corner and I should also mention that this was in the days before there was much in the way of TV or any other video entertainment. As a result, I drew to entertain myself. The wonderful thing about comics, for me, was that they combined both reading AND drawing. What a perfect match! It’s like in the old TV ads where someone’s chocolate just HAPPENS to fall into someone else’s peanut butter…

O: What were your earliest memories? Have any of those found their way into your work? Your writing in particular?

W: Earliest memories…jeez, I suppose listening to stories. I grew up in a fairly traditional religious family. I like to describe it as being surrounded by an “active mythology”. My parents tell a tale of how a traveling bible salesman who came to our door one day (I shit you not). He was offering a lushly illustrated bible for sale and he was quite amazed that, although very young, I could look through the various pictures and identify so many of them. Jesus, Noah, Moses, Daniel in the lion’s den, etc… The funny part came when I happened upon a picture of Adam and Eve in their loinskins. “Look, Dad!”, I proclaimed. “TARZAN!” Like I said, I guess I was doomed to this life from the start…

O: How about growing up? What was your boyhood like?

W: I’d have to call it fairly happy. I surely had all the same anxieties of any kid while growing up but my home life was pretty stable. My parents had been married for nearly fourteen years before they had me. As a result, they had worked out a lot of the bugs and kinks in their relationship that often have such a devastating impact on young kids. It’s really a drag to see your parents arguing all the time (like some of my friends’ parents seemed to do) but that just wasn’t the case in our household. Like I said, they were fairly traditional in their religious beliefs but they were also fairly progressive in how they thought those beliefs applied in day-to-day living. I didn’t grow up with a lot of repression or guilt.

Here’s another funny tale…when I was in second grade, some kids on the bus had told me that “to fuck” meant “to lie”. Ergo, a “fucker” was a “liar”. Now my parents were big horseracing fans (my dad, anyway) and they used to take me to this huge county fair every year, which would always culminate in an afternoon of sulky-cart racing. So, we’re seated in these huge crowded grandstands and my mom had just finished telling me that she couldn’t deliver on something she had promised me (can’t remember what it was—only the result). Anyway, pissed off, I leapt to my feet and yelled at her, “YOU FUCKER!” Now, most parents of that time period, or even today I might add, would’ve taken their kids head off for such an infraction. Instead, she grabbed my by the arm, firmly sat me back in my seat and told me through gritted teeth, “DON’T say that again! It obviously doesn’t mean what you think it does and we will TALK about this when we get back to the car this evening.” Well, I spent the rest of the day bewildered and confused and when the day was done and we finally made it back to the car, I hopped into the back seat and promptly asked, “Okay, so what’s it mean?” My mom turned around in her seat and just told me straight out. Not angry or anything…just honestly informational. That was my birds-and-bees talk and they obviously thought it was time that I know the facts of life. So, apparently, I sat in the darkened backseat—obviously somewhat stunned—as we drove home. After twenty minutes or so, I again leaned forward and gave my parents what I thought was some darn good advice—“You know, if you guys would’ve tried that a little earlier, you wouldn’t have had to wait so long to have me!”

O: What about school? For me, it was pure torture, in every way. I knew from kindergarten that I would hate it, and I was right!

W: No, I was okay in school. Again, my mom had been a teacher so I grew up with a fairly positive image of the schooling experience. It’s the same with my wife and going to the dentist. Most people HATE going to the dentist, right? Well, my wife’s dad was a dentist so she grew up with that being a positive experience, not a negative one. She absolutely LOVES having her teeth cleaned! I was a smart kid so I always got pretty good grades and, even though I was never the most popular kid in school, I managed to get along with most of the various cliques; the jocks as well as the stoners, the “A” crowd as well as the nerds. Now, I wasn’t Ferris Bueller or anything, but I think my main conduit to fitting into those groups was the fact that I was fairly confident in myself, coupled with the (bigger) fact that I could draw. Drawing is a HUGE common denominator, I’ve found. Most everyone who can’t draw finds it to be an almost mystical ability and they get a huge kick out of watching those of us who can. Eventually, my confidence grew to the point where I even became something of a school leader. I was my senior year’s class president, in fact. Even had to deliver a graduation speech before a couple thousand people.

O: Did you go from high school into an art school or college?

W: Yeah, I actually had the best of both worlds so far as the whole collegiate experience goes, even though I ended up going to school for four and a half years and STILL never managed to graduate nor obtain a degree! I went to a big, liberal arts university in Virginia for a couple of years and so I got to experience that whole side of coin; dorm living, frat parties, beautiful tree-lined campus, the whole bit…

And then I transferred to an art college in inner-city Philadelphia and got to experience an entirely different world of academia; elite intellectualism, crazy fucking art students, urban living. Unfortunately, the art college claimed that I had “insufficient art experience” (which was utter horseshit) and made me start all over as a freshman. Now that was a decision that we definitely should have fought, but my parents (bless their hearts) really did have absolutely NO art experience and so they just went along with whatever the college asked. I now realize those fuckers were only after another two years tuition and, as a result, I was stuck taking the same classes I had already finished at my former university. In the end, I just got too fucking fed up by being in school for so long and too fucking anxious to get on with my life. I dropped out, which was a huge blow to my very supportive parents, but I actually had a unique opportunity waiting in the wings.

O: What was your first real foray into comics? Was it creator-owned or did you try your hand at other works before Mage and Grendel?

W: Well, my first experience with actual publishing came at the first University I attended. They published an on-campus newspaper twice a week that had a huge circulation—something like 15-20 thousand copies! Anyway, they regularly ran a page of student comic strips and I eventually submitted and got one in there as well. It was titled “Our Hero” and it was a super-hero spoof that starred a fat, bald little super-hero named Max whose cape was always too long and who wore something that looked like a tutu. In a bizarre precursor to the fact that I would later create one of American comics’ most enduring anti-heroes (Grendel), Max was eventually overshadowed by his main villain; a particularly garish and cruel, costumed character named Nasty Muscle. This was my first experience with meeting real deadlines and that was invaluable. Like most high-school artists, I had drawn a lot of stuff over the years but this was the first time that I absolutely HAD to draw something—on time and repeatedly, no fail and no bullshit. If you missed your deadline and your strip didn’t run for an issue, all your friends and classmates would give you total shit—a strong motivator at that age. After about a semester or so of doing that, I also became the paper’s “Graphics Editor”, which was a high-falutin’ term for “spot illustrator”. This job meant that I had to show up at the paper’s offices two nights a week (Wed and Sun) around nine o’clock in the evening—after most of the next day’s edition had already been laid out. If there was any article for which they didn’t have an accompanying photo or enough copy to fill the allotted space, I had to whip up an illo on the spot. And I had to stay there until it was all done—usually until 2 or 3 in the morning. For that, I got a one credit “A” each semester and was paid about thirty bucks a month. Believe me, at the time that seemed like heaven! I felt tested, accomplished AND I had pizza money to boot!

Anyway, several years later I found myself at the Philadelphia art school and happened to run into some guys on the elevator who were wearing comic book t-shirts. These were the guys who later formed the initial core of Comico but, at the time, they were also publishing an in-school paper called Duckwork. Although nowhere nearly as accomplished and established as the other paper I’d worked on, Duckwork had a real indy sort of vibe and, while it DID feature some cursory school news, it was mainly a venue for budding cartoonists—often, but not always, with a “duck” theme. I quickly set up a niche for myself but doing duck styled take-offs of famous movie posters; Raiders of the Lost Duck, Rollerduck, etc…

Several years later, the main guys behind Duckwork (Gerry Giovinco and Bill Cucinotta) dropped out of school to try and form an independent comic company. They named it Comico (yeah, to clear up the YEARS of controversy…it was pronounced “Co-mee-ko”) and a year or so later, I left school as well to become part of that fledgling effort.

O: I first became aware of your work through a T-Shirt that I only recently, after many holes from my cats clawing at me and such, had to throw away. It was a Mage T-Shirt that said, ” WHAT IS THE COLOR OF MAGIC?”, though everyone at school thought it said “WHAT 15 THE COLOR OF MAGIC?” So that shirt must have been close to 20 years old!

W: Almost. 2004 was Mage’s 20th anniversary and 2007 is Grendel’s 25th. Yeah, I’m an olllllld fucker!

O: It was years later that I learned about Mage through a mutual friend, Bryan Glass, whom I would team up with often as a writer on my projects. He did some photo work with you on a cover? It was you and yet another pal and Comico alumni, Bill Cucinotta.

W: Yeah, Bill, Gerry and Gerry’s high school buddy, Phil Lasorda were the initial core of Comico. I had gotten to know Gerry and “Cooch” pretty well in school and, like I said, we all worked pretty closely together in producing Duckwork. When they both dropped out of school to get Comico up and rolling, it was always understood that I would eventually, somehow, be involved. Their first publication was an anthology that basically served as a testing ground for various artistic wannabes—the old “throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks” theory. My first actual gig for them was published in the second issue of COMICO PRIMER, a ten-page story that served as the world’s (and my) first introduction to Grendel.

Soon enough, Comico decided to launch four flagship books that they saw as the basis for an eventual line that would, one day they hoped, come to dominate the freshly forming world of independent comics. Unfortunately, none of the books were very good—and, yeah, I include Grendel in that description. We all had a lot of ideas but just had nowhere near the artistic chops to back them up, production-wise. Eventually, I also dropped out of school and was hired on by the guys as the all-purpose office boy. As a result of them all having to spend more and more time involved in the actual business of running Comico, I—just by default—was the one who could spend more and more time developing as an artist. Before too long, Comico realized that to really compete in the world of commercial comic books, they’d have to move into color production (all of our initial books had been b&w, a common trait of early 80’s indy stuff). They managed to sign a deal with a fledgling writer who was all but unknown at the time, Chuck Dixon. He and his then-wife/artist collaborated on a book about a nun who was actually a covert assassin for the Vatican in the far-flung future, titled Evangeline. It had created a lot of early buzz and Comico soon realized that they’d get a lot more mileage and a much better printing rate out of “gang-printing” Evangeline with another new color book. Since they had no one else on deck, the task fell to one of we four to come up with an all-new color title to be part of Comico’s grand leap into the world of color production. Since Grendel was the only one of the initial four books that had gotten ANY sort of positive response, the job just kind of fell into my lap. I set to work and eventually came up with a story of a mythic hero reborn in modern day as an unassuming everyman. This schtick has since become somewhat commonplace in pop culture (Buffy springs to mind) but, at the time, it was perceived as fresh and unusual. That book was MAGE.

O: Come to think of it, I think it was Bryan who introduced us. He thought very highly of you, and especially of Mage. In fact, we did a book together, QUIXOTE, a sort of modern day version of the story, in which at times we had to be careful to not tread on the same ground. Now, if Mage sucked, we wouldn’t have cared, but Mage is a milestone in comics. When did you realize it would be something special to the industry?

W: Yeah, see? Even you guys had a turn at the classic-hero-in-our-times motif. The funny thing is, I’d already tried my hand at this same story at an earlier stage of my life, but ultimately shelved it for a variety of reasons—the main one being that I was just nowhere NEAR ready for the rigorous demands of producing a full length comic book series. Several years earlier, I’d tried to develop a story that would feature the return of King Arthur in the not-so-distant future. Now, I should mention here that I actually HAD produced several comic books in my life at this point, which were all pre-Grendel as well as my involvement with Comico—all very fledgling efforts, of course, and all single issues. When I was a kid I had written and drawn GRANITE MAN (about a guy who develops a pair of wristbands that make his fists hard-as-the-shit AND enabled him to fly—yeah, don’t ask me to explain THAT one now!) and then in junior high school I had done a comic book as part of a science project—CAPTAIN ECOLOGY (who had a WAY froofy 70s do and sported a…shades of Mirth…cape-like poncho). A little later my dad, via his work, had access to one of the earlier Xerox machines and so, with his help, I was able to actually produce multiple, hand-stapled copies of a book called ZACHARY STARR—VAMPIRE HUNTER. This last one actually had some early elements that eventually showed up in GRENDEL—obviously, the vampires but it was also told in a combination of traditional word balloons as well as blocks of text. Sadly, I don’t have a single remaining copy of that book and I would surely LOVE to see it again!

Anyway, back to MAGE…I’d produced two pages of something that was ostensibly gonna be about the return of an unknowing and reluctant King Arthur. Other than THAT factor, it was NOTHING like what MAGE would eventually become. It looked FAR more like a traditional super-hero/fantasy comic and, if people think my earliest published work was (kindly, at best) crude and undeveloped…well, THIS piece-of-shit made THAT stuff look like a masterpiece! Anyway, I quickly shelved the whole idea when I read that DC announced it was producing a little project they were calling CAMELOT 3000—all about the return of King Arthur in the distant future…blah, blah, blah. “Oh well,” I thought, “Fuck this. It’s being done by the big guys.” And, besides, that Brian Bolland guy could maybe draw a LITTLE bit better than me at the time! The strange thing was, though, when CAMELOT 3000 eventually hit the stands, I found it strangely unsatisfying. Sure, it looked great but I found it all just so fucking OBVIOUS. It didn’t speak to me in any way and it certainly didn’t have any of the “everyman” factor I was looking for in my own version. Aside from the twist of Tristan being reborn as a woman, I found the story was just retreading the same ground as the original legends. I felt it added nothing new to the equation and it had none of the mystery and intrigue that meant good storytelling to me. Eventually, I decided there was room in this world for more than one version of this story and that—precedent be damned—I was gonna go ahead and do my own.

You asked when I knew that MAGE was going to be important to the industry. I just don’t think like that when I’m creating. I think about whether or not it’s going to be important to ME. And that’s what I felt was missing from CAMELOT 3000—it had no sense of the personal about it and so seemed only like product, not art. I felt that, in order to make this a truly mythic story, I HAD to personalize it. I had to make this a story that related to me, that came from me, that spoke to my concerns and confusions about the world around me.

O: Okay, so when I first read Mage — and I confess, I haven’t reread it in over 15 years –but it left SUCH an impact on me. It was the first time I was introduced to the idea of setting an old story within modern times. I was also unaware of the mythological tones at the time. How aware were you of mythology really playing out in Mage at the time? I’m assuming you were already reading Joseph Campbell back then?

W: Actually, no, I had yet to really delve into much of Campbell’s writings at that point. For those who might be reading this and have no idea of what Mike’s referring to…Joseph Campbell was a scholar and author who often referred to himself as a “mythologist”. He wrote many volumes concerning the commonality of human mythology and how every culture’s stories and legends all strive to achieve the same goals but are colored differently depending on that society’s physical and environmental realities. One of his most famous books is THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES wherein he discusses what he refers to as “The Hero’s Journey”, about the surprisingly identical stages of Hero myths throughout the world. Obviously, this train of thought means a lot to the structure of MAGE but, truthfully, at the beginning there…I was working out of pure instinct which, I suppose, only goes to further defend Campbell’s theories of a common human experience expressed through myth. I had been interested in myths, legends and comparative religions for quite some time but hadn’t yet discovered this brilliant man who seemed to distill all my many opinions into a cohesive whole until just AFTER I had completed the first MAGE series. I mean, listen to this…not only does he break the Hero’s Journey up into three distinct stages (MAGE is a planned trilogy and has been from the beginning), but here’s his breakdown of the narrative steps in what he terms the INITIATION stage: The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Supernatural Aid, The Crossing of the First Threshold, The Belly of the Whale. I mean, JESUS CHRIST, that’s like reading a thesis of the plot to The Hero Discovered!! I remember reading that, again after the fact, and saying to myself, “Whew! Got THAT one right, at least!”

O: Here’s an interesting argument I get into. People say that superheroes (tm Marvel/DC, please don’t sue us) are modern day mythology. I disagree. I think only a few are, but as a whole I disagree with the idea entirely. What do you think?

W: Why do you disagree with that?

O: I’m thinking only Superman and possibly early Marvel Stan Lee/Kirby/Ditko books really qualify as modern day mythology, but even those I think have stopped qualifying. I’m sure there are a few others off the radar, but as far as mainstream characters go, I think that was it, but they no longer have that standing. This is really unpopular to say and I’m going to get shit for it, but here it goes.

Mythology requires belief. Mythology and religion are hand-in-hand. In the days of Greece, not only did people really believe in these stories, but they didn’t ask those questions because it was so ingrained in their life.

Mythology is a reflection of ourselves, of our cultures, as are stories, and I think comics largely qualify in the second category. Story. I don’t feel comics qualify as mythology any more because they are a product of franchise, not as an explanation of life, who we are as a culture. Those aspects are there, but still it’s overridden by the fact that superhero comics are purely fictional and commercial. They aren’t created as mythology was, to explain why we are here, what the meaning of life is. Those early Marvel books and Superman clearly reflected and commented on what was going on at the time. The Jew coming to America, alien, must hide and reinvent himself, despite that his true self is a Superman, the chosen people of God. With Marvel it was the fear of foreigner, a reversal of Superman. Fear of mutants, Communist invasion and the Atomic Age. I just don’t see comics serving those roles anymore, especially in an era where everyone is afraid of political fallout. I think our society has in short, sucked the belief out of everything.

I think comics say a lot about society, but that doesn’t make it mythology.

W: Well, WHY doesn’t that qualify as mythology? Because there’s no shrine to Superman? Because people don’t get baptized in the name of Professor X?

I think you’re confusing mythology with organized religion. You mentioned that the ancient Greeks believed that the stories of their gods were true and factual. I don’t know that that’s necessarily so—at least not in the sense you’re describing. The priests who served at the various temples certainly WANTED their citizenry to believe that these tales were actually true because that furthered their own power in that society. But I suspect the average man on the street or on the battlefield viewed those myth cycles as a convenient belief structure that served to both quantify and qualify their everyday lives. They may have thought to themselves, “Oh, the gods do this…” and “The gods want that…” but, really, most of them realized that they had never really MET a god or seen a titan.

By the time the ILIAD was written, I think most Greeks knew that the gods who watched, wagered and dabbled in this narrative of the Trojan War were, in fact, dramatic devices used to reflect and underscore the actions of the war’s far more human participants. I think there are religious zealots the world over and that there always have been, but I think the vast majority of people hold their religions in their hearts as a metaphor, even if they don’t actively describe it to themselves in that fashion. For instance, I mentioned that my parents are very traditional in their Christianity. Still, my mother has no trouble reconciling the fact that most of the biblical stories that mean so much to her are metaphors created by a more primitive people. Thus, even though she believes God created the heavens and the Earth, she has no problem thinking of the “six days” scenario as a metaphor—a description of stages by a human mindset that couldn’t yet conceive of, much less describe, the billions and billions of years that were actually necessary for our universe to unfold. “Days” were a time frame that they understood and the description of God accomplishing all of creation in a matter of “Days” is a metaphor to describe his omnipotence. For her, creationism and evolution AREN’T mutually exclusive. Similarly, my mom clings a little more literally to the tales of Jesus’ various miracles but, whenever I challenge her on that, she admits that what is, in fact, most important to her is Christ’s message of compassion and peace and that the litany of his “magic tricks” or “miracles” (take your pick) are most likely tall tales meant to illustrate the elevating power of his philosophy.

Y’know, I proudly describe myself as an atheist and that often scares people or just downright pisses them off. Very often, I’m met with an indignant hostility about this attitude, as if my not adhering to any specific belief structure is an outright affront to those who do. Which confuses me…if I was a different religion from those objecting to my lack of faith, they’d have no complaints. It’s the fact that I don’t cling to something that’s readily and easily described by an established myth structure that deems my opinions as unworthy to many folks. And, believe me, I am sick to death of people lumping me into the category of “Atheists don’t believe in anything.” Not so. Campbell describes it thus: “Theists (mono, poly, etc..) believe that THEIR mythology is the one universal, cosmic fact. Atheists realize that ALL mythology is merely a grouping of metaphors.” Which, of course, doesn’t preclude a deep understanding of the moral lessons and realities that all religions espouse. Just because I don’t believe that Christ is my personal savior, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate his sermons and the tale of his sacrifice. Just because I don’t believe that Yahweh spoke from a burning bush and caused the Ten Commandments to be carved into living rock, doesn’t mean I don’t believe in a common code of ethics that shape and guide human interactions. So, I see mythology as something somewhat different than religion. To me, religion is the organized power structure meant to impose its views on the populace at large while mythology is the genuine expression of a culture’s core beliefs, hopes and dreams. Religion seeks to codify all of life’s mysteries into a series of concrete and dogmatic answers. Mythology seeks to pose all those eternal questions in the form of a metaphor.

O: I think my definition of Modern Mythology would fall into categories like UFOs, GHOSTS, CONSPIRACY, ESP, and Cryptozoology. To me, mythology has to be a mixture of fantasy, reality, solid facts and the intangible, and yet carry an internal truth. Comics come close, but I don’t see them approaching that level of Mythology. I think comics at best are a reflection of ourselves.

Stories like Mage, Powers, Bone, Maus, reflect our society, they make strong bold statements about who we are and what we believe, but I still don’t think that qualifies as mythology.

W: Okay, again, so your contention that a lot of superhero stuff isn’t modern mythology is based on the fact that there isn’t a group of “followers” who hold those narratives to be absolute reality.

O: That’s my contention, yes.

W: And I don’t think that’s what’s specifically necessary to make something mythic. Campbell wrote a series of four books collectively titled THE MASKS OF GOD, wherein he examined the world’s major belief systems from the beginning of time. The first volume covers PRIMITIVE MYTHOLOGY; the second, OCCIDENTAL MYTHOLOGY; the third, ORIENTAL MYTHOLOGY; and the last explores the future of human legendry, CREATIVE MYTHOLOGY. In the latter, Campbell maintains that codified myths structures arose as a result of many factors but that geography played one of the most significant roles. Religions developed as a way of banding the people of any particular region into a societal whole, answering their fears and lending support to their emotional needs. Different versions of religion arose because of human societies evolving in different areas of the world over years and years of history. In modern times, the bonds imposed on our sense of communication don’t really exist due to any geographical limitations. Nowadays, you can easily touch a button and instantaneously establish close contact with a person literally living on the other side of the world. So, Campbell contends, maybe the need to codify and limit the face of God in order to strengthen the cultural identity of any specific tribe is no longer a viable factor in the mythic experience. Maybe we have reached a stage wherein each and every person can paint their own particular Mask of God, describing in their own fashion the mysteries of life and what they, themselves, see as the limitless potentials of eternity. Sounds a bit Utopian, I know, but I really think we’re moving in that direction. The realities of mass communication have only existed in our world for a hundred years or so and just look at all the changes that have resulted. And, believe me, a mere century is nothing so far as societal evolution is concerned, a drop in the bucket. Now, I’d agree that most of DC and MARVEL’s various continuities don’t even come close to attaining mythic resonance. But the ones you mentioned (in addition to the more indy examples you gave) do, I feel, spring from that particular well in the human soul that cries out for expression and which finds its best and boldest release in the form of myth.

You mentioned how Siegel and Shuster’s Jewish heritage played such a significant role in their creation of Superman. This even comes out in the similarities between his origin and that of Moses, both cast adrift to escape certain death only to later deliver freedom from oppression via supernatural feats. Additionally, the names of Superman’s family are derivative of the Hebrew suffix “El”, meaning “Of God”. Thus, Jor-el and Kal-el are on a par with the mightiest archangels: Gabriel, Michael, Emmanuel, etc… Now, those are the cultural roots that influenced their seemingly timeless character, but their personal realities played a huge factor as well. Did you know that Jerry Siegel’s father was shot and killed by a burglar when the son was only sixteen? That fact explains a lot as to why the young writer would later create a bulletproof hero as his modern day messiah. So, yeah, I do think some (but certainly not all) modern comic book characters do qualify as myth. But not for the effect they have on their readers (or “followers”) but more for the reasons they sprang from their storytellers’ imaginations in the first place. Thus, SUPERMAN is an American myth while BOOSTER GOLD is just yet another bit of DC product.

O: I think that last sentence is a good middle ground, or as close as we can get to it. I spoke to Diana Schutz about how she met you in those early days of Comico. It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1985, right? I think it was issue 6 of Mage and there was a Grendel backup story she worked on?

W: Yeah, after Comico moved into color production (and started to finally show a profit) all the original b&w books were left in the dust. The owners finally realized that they just weren’t cut out to be professional comic book artists and settled into the roles of administrators and businessmen. Over the first handful of issues of MAGE, I was still very much finding my stride, but the response was good. MAGE was garnering a readership such as GRENDEL never had. Still, I did continue to hear from various readers who wanted the rest of Grendel’s tale. Since the b&w issues had basically stopped in the middle of what was obviously a finite storyline, I thought it might be a good idea to try and revive my earlier effort in the form of a backup feature that would run, now utterly redesigned and in color, in the remaining issues of MAGE (which was also a finite series). That premiered in MAGE: THE HERO DISCOVERED #6 and that was when Diana first came on board as an editor at Comico so, yeah, that was indeed our first experience working together. In fact, I remember her coming over to my studio one day and me showing her the first pages for the Grendel backup feature, which would eventually become GRENDEL: DEVIL BY THE DEED. I can still remember her unabashed enthusiasm over what I was doing at the time and that was a real thrill. It’s always good to be appreciated and my exposure to Di and her opinions of my work were a major motivator in the early stages of my career.

O: Diana said she first met you when she was working for Amazing Heroes. Incidentally, this is where my work was first published as a fan in the letters pages. She was out to interview a bunch of cool cats out there doing books like Love and Rockets, but she was beat to the punch by someone called Heidi Mcdonald (where have I heard that name before? Only kidding, Heidi!) So, she interviewed you, I don’t think she knew much about your work at the time. This was way early on in your career, right?

W: Yeah, that must’ve been around the fourth issue of MAGE. She later interviewed me in much greater depth for an in-store magazine that she edited when she worked at Comics & Comix in California.

O: Diana also said she had a hard time getting in touch with you; something about the Queen version of Metropolis was playing? Does that ring a bell?

W: HA! Yeah, and she’s never let me forget it! We had lined up a time to talk and when the time came I had, indeed, forgotten about the interview and gone to see the colorized re-release of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. And let’s just say I had a mighty good reason to be forgetful in those days }ahem{. Anyway, we eventually did hook up and the rest, as they say, is history. Well, my personal history, at least.

O: At the time, she had no idea that she would later not only be your editor, but your sister-in-law. What was your first impression of her; do you remember that interview at all?

W: No, I don’t remember the interview although I do remember the time we actually first met. Comico eventually became aware that they just weren’t prepared for their company to grow at the leaps and bounds that were, seemingly, just over the horizon. They knew they needed help and so they had recently hired Bob Schreck whom we had all known from his years of basically running the many shows for what was then the hottest circuit of comic Cons around, Creation Conventions. Bob was slated to start at the beginning of the new year (1985, I think) and had driven down with his girlfriend to attend Comico’s Christmas party. As most people know, that girlfriend was Diana and together they turned Comico from basically a fan press into one of the most successful and influential independent publishing houses at the time. My first impression was that Di was a gal who brooked no shit, had no fear of speaking her mind and who loved all sorts of comic books. And, over the intervening years, very little has changed. That’s still pretty much my opinion of her. I was right.

O: As Diana tells the story, it was Thanksgiving circa 86 when her sister came to Philly and needed someone to show her around the city and she volunteered you, not thinking anything more of it than someone to show her sister the city?

W: Oh, she is soooo fucking FULL of it! She had been trying to matchmake the two of us for YEARS!! YEARS, I tell ya! She was CONSTANTLY trying to convince Barb that she needed to meet this hot young comic artist she was now working with and vice versa to me. Of course, both of us resisted any such pairing just as a matter of pride. It was like, “Di, I don’t wanna meet your fucking long-haired, comic-geek buddy,” and, “Di, I don’t wanna meet your fucking weirdo, Canadian sister!” Trouble was, when we finally DID meet each other, that time you’re referring to, well…

Do you remember that scene in THE GODFATHER where Michael has gone into hiding in Sicily after having killed a cop back in the states? He’s out walking around the countryside with his two bodyguards and they happen upon a crowd of young locals. Michael locks eyes with his soon-to-be wife for the first time and–in an instant–they’re both struck mute, all but physically staggered by the immediate force of their attraction for each other. The Sicilians call it “The Thunderbolt” but it’s more commonly known in the States as “Love At First Sight”. Corny as it all sounds, that’s pretty much how it was when I finally opened the door of my apartment and there stood Diana with Barbara at her side. BOOM! Done.

O: And you’ve been married 20 years now. That’s great. How does she deal with sharing her life with an artist? Are you a workhorse; do you have trouble dividing your time between the love of your family and the love of your work?

W: Well, at this point in my career, I’m something of a well-oiled machine. Sure, there’ve been times over the years that my work has threatened to eclipse many other aspects of my life but we managed to cross those bridges unscathed. Nowadays, we share a pretty stable life together. Our kids are healthy and happy; we live in a beautiful house and each have our individual careers (Barb’s a middle school teacher). All good.

O: SO this early love of cooking started when you met your wife? You kind of took over that whole area?

W: HA! Yeah, she tried cooking for me once—and only once. We quickly decided where the division of labor lay in regards to THAT side of our relationship. Barb can literally NOT boil water. Its funny, when I used to leave town to go to Cons and such, the kids used to moan, “Daaaad! What are we gonna EAT while you’re gone?!” Now they’ve gotten old enough to realize that, when Dad’s gone, they’re most likely going OUT to dinner every night!

O: And your son, Brennan is also a “foodie”? Diana told me she took him out to see a play version of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” When he was like 8 or 9 and they had dinner; she gave him the kids menu, complete with crayons I’m sure, and he put it aside and asked if they had Chicken Marsala? Man, your kid eats better than me; I’m still all about spaghetti and meatballs. You two cook together?

W: Yeah, my son’s a foodie, but my daughter, not so much. Funny thing is, when I was a kid, I was more like my daughter–a very picky eater with a distinctly middle-American sort of palette. Eventually, I branched out and once those floodgates were open, I dove into the vast sea of culinary delights like a pig in slop (so to speak). So I have faith that she’ll come around one day. I try not to give her too much shit about it. An even funnier version of that tale about my son and his sophisticated tastes is this: when his fourteenth birthday was a few days away I asked him, “Hey, what do you want me to cook you for your birthday dinner?” Now, what would most fourteen-year old guys say? Pizza, right? Or hamburgers, etc… He thinks for a moment and then asks, “Can you make that African lamb stew? The one with the couscous, pistachios and mint?”

O: You’ve helped me a few times to order when we were out. I understand Diana would have starved to death in Hawaii if it were not for you. The thing that really impresses me about your cooking is that you cater to all tastes. I came by your place one time with Bendis, and you served the best Chicken Wings! You know, I don’t even know what Marsala is! I’m all about the Wings and or Spaghetti.

W: HA! Well, my very first job was as a short-order cook at a Howard Johnson’s. Now, while I wouldn’t exactly call that “fine-dining”, it DID give me my initial taste of cooking—how you put food to flame and let the heat do its work. Don’t worry and fuss at it so much. Additionally, it gave me, yeah, this attitude and ability to produce different things for different people all in the very same meal. I feel people oughta be able to eat whatever the fuck they want and I try to accommodate that as best I can. Admittedly, it does get to be a bit of a stretch whenever I’m with my wife’s family at holidays and such. JESUS, what a crowd! Diana won’t eat mammals while my wife does eat meat but isn’t all that crazy about it. Their dad, on the other hand, is an old-school-meat-and-potatoes sort who recently discovered he’s borderline diabetic, so he’s got to watch his starch intake. And my wife’s youngest sister and her husband USED to be super-holistic (although they have lightened up a bit in that regard). And, of course, they’ve all come to expect the absolute best outta me! Sometimes the rep of being a great cook is quite a fucking bitch to try and live up to.

And…HA…Marsala is a sweet wine that’s most often used in cooking and sometimes baking. Chicken Marsala is breast meat that’s sautéed with mushrooms and then the pan is deglazed with the Marsala wine, creating a luscious, rich brown sauce that goes over the whole shebang. Should you ever make it out here to Portland again, I PROMISE to make it for you! Believe me, you’ll love it.

O: So do you find any sort of connection between cooking and art? Cooking and writing? I mean, beyond the idea of writing or art “ingredients” and other bad puns.

W: Well, for me, its something creative I can do at the end of the workday; something to continue the energies I’ve been harnessing all day long, but something that leaves my career completely unaffected. If I fuck up dinner, no one’s gonna remember it ten or twenty years from now. But, yeah, I do think cooking is an art. It’s a highly specific medium that has many factors and appeals to many of the senses all at once. I remember Bernie Mireault used to give me shit about my love of a beautifully designed plate (Bernie gave me shit about many, many things). Anyway, his attitude was, what’s the point in food being beautiful? It’s a state that only lasts for a short period of time before being eaten. My attitude is that food is eaten with the eyes before it’s tasted by the mouth. If something LOOKS appealing on the plate, it only enhances the actual dining experience. And, besides, anyone who thinks that art has to last for any set period of time to be considered art is only kidding themselves. What’s the difference if a state of beauty lasts for five minutes or five hundred years? It’s all gonna crumble to dust in the long run. You know, Buddhist monks do these incredibly intricate paintings made of colored sand known as Mandala. They carefully pore, tap and brush these little piles of colored sand into the most beautiful designs. Then, once the (usually quite large) piece is finished, it’s consecrated by a priest and then scattered to the winds. It’s their way of acknowledging the impermanence of all worldly beauty.

O: Lets talk about stories. “Where do you get your ideas from?” Hah, only kidding, I HATE that fucking question!! Next time someone asked me that canned fucker I’m giving them a canned answer! But where do your ideas begin? At what point do you know it’s more than a passing idea, a part of something you might use one day and when you say, “I’m doing Grendel.”

W: My working experience is so instinctual at this point that it’s almost hard for me to pinpoint exactly how it happens. My entire being goes into creating comics and so I’m always gathering and distilling ideas that’ll later make their way onto the page.

O: When you are writing for yourself, what’s the first step?

W: Again, uh…I dunno. It’s all one big churn of ideation and realization. I hardly know where one ends and the other begins.

O: Do you go heavy into the pencils or are you doing more like breakdowns for yourself to go right into inks?

W: I suspect we’re much the same in this regard. I work from what most people would consider breakdowns. I feel a definite need to keep every stage of the artistic creation fresh and exciting. To do super-tight pencils and then merely, effectively, trace over them would bore the living fuck outta me.

O: What’s the most common mistake you see in your work? Both art and writing?

W: At this point, I find I’m a little less experimental than I had been earlier on in my career but I suppose that’s only natural. When you’re young, your reach should often exceed your grasp. As you get older, you realize the limits of your range and concentrate on the content of what you’re trying to express rather than how you say it.

O: The world was very different back in 1985. No Internet, and no distributor monopoly. We technically don’t have a monopoly now, but who are we kidding right? What kind of numbers did Mage sell in its first run? It was very different times, Neil Vokes and Rich Rankin had a creator owned book, Eagle, do 50k on the first issue of their black and white book. Amazing. I’m not comparing, I’m just saying it was very different times.

W: Jesus, I can’t remember those sorts of numbers that far back. I’d say MAGE probably worked its way up to that sort of circulation. If I’m remembering correctly EAGLE hit the market in the middle of the indy boom. In fact, I think MAGE had wrapped its run by that point. I will say, the cross-country tour I did to promote MAGE back in ’85 helped a lot. Me and a crew of my buds all piled into a van and hit the road to try and get the word out about this book. In the space of two months, we covered over 13,000 miles and did 26 signing appearances. Some stops were awesome and at some, the turnout was only myself, the shop owner and the crickets. Still, the effort worked and MAGE’s readership almost doubled as a result. It was certainly a hell of an experience as well, one I will never EVER forget.

O: When did you notice the Internet affecting how your work was perceived?

W: Back when the whole thing was up and running, I’d say. I used to sign in to the various AOL boards and do some chatting with fans. That’s when it was still on a smaller scale. It really is a brave new world since then!

O: When you look back on Mage and Grendel, the first runs, what comes to mind? Do you see the work objectively? Often when I look at my old work, I don’t even see the work; I see my life at the time.

W: Well, I do tend to look at my older work objectively but you’re absolutely right about seeing my own life reflected therein—especially with something like MAGE where I’m actually, consciously portraying various aspects of my life. Still, I’d say Grendel has been much the same. I created Hunter Rose when I was a too-smart snotty young brat, I moved on to Christine Spar after dating a woman who had a small child, I took on the Catholic church after marrying into a Catholic family, I conceived of Grendel-Prime after having to care and look out for my own children.

O: When I look at my Grendel story in Grendel :Red, Black and White, I see stage fright. I just tied myself up. When can I do a new Grendel story for you?

W: Oh, fuck man, relax! Your story looked great. If you wanna do another one some day, we will. But, why look back? I never do. Y’know, this ties in to the previous question a bit. There’s a popular misconception that I’ve never reprinted those early b&w issues of Grendel because I am somehow ashamed of them. No fucking way! That’d be like saying that I’m ashamed of the fact that I was once 13..or 22…or 31. I’m not. As I mentioned earlier, those issues were terminated in the middle of the story—a story that was later revamped and finished in DEVIL BY THE DEED. To me it’s all about the story and that was an incomplete story—so why reprint it? Just for the sake of a cheap buck? I’m not THAT much of a whore. I’ve always said that I have no aversion to those issues being reprinted if there was some worthy need for doing so—like a career retrospective of my stuff or something. And, actually, I AM thinking of re-issuing them in honor of Grendel’s 25th anniversary. Now, that’s a worthy milestone worth commemorating.

O: We drew Kevin Matchstick in our Powers Oni special; man that was fun! Love drawing him. When will we see more of Kevin, if ever? Will he be completely bald then? I love how he lost his hair over the years with you; it’s like some sort of revenge.

W: I gotta confess, I loved that too. And you don’t even realize what a fucking compliment that is! Now, obviously, I love to see other people’s versions of Grendel. Seeing that character reinterpreted by other artists is, to me, one of the real thrills of collaboration. But MAGE has always been more of a one-man show. Whenever I see someone else draw Kevin though, it’s just never the same. All I can think when I see another artist’s version of Kevin is, “That’s just not quite right.” All except for you. Your version nailed him. Again, I loved it. As to when we’ll see more of him…well, like I said, MAGE has always been planned as a trilogy, with the final part being subtitled THE HERO DENIED. And MAGE is a very strange creative experience for me. Very zen-like. I find I really can’t make the conscious decision about when I’ll work on MAGE. It’s almost like IT decides when I’m going to work on MAGE. Being such an allegory of my own life, its almost as if the story is sometimes writing me, rather than the other way around. And so far as the bald thing goes…Jesus, man, I’m probably the least regretful bald guy you’ll ever meet. I don’t miss having a headful of hair in the fucking least! I don’t shave my head but I’ve been sheering what hair I do have down to the nub for years and years, now—looong before it was hip and fashionable. I see all the care and fuss most people have go to with their coifs and I think to myself, “Good fucking riddance!” So, making Kevin bald…that’s not revenge. It’s just my reality…turned into myth!

O: I often think of my stories, especially Powers and Hammer, as taking place in some real world somewhere. Then I’m afraid about what I’ve done to these characters. What do you think they would say to you if they met their “God”?

W: Are you kidding? My characters speak back to me all the time!! At least the ones that are still alive…

O: Really? You should look into that. Do you think you would feel bad about what they’ve been through? I noticed in writing, I’m pretty ruthless. I objectify story to the point I can write against my own belief system. Do you write to push your world view or will you allow the story to go wherever it wants, even if it negates your own politics or beliefs?

W: Hmmm…that’s a tough one. I’d have to say I write to my belief system to a certain degree. It’s tough for me to write a character who’s a religious zealot with anything less than mockery and usually nothing less than contempt. Politically, I may be a LITTLE more flexible. Obviously, I wrote a long storyline about the world’s first worldwide dictator (Orion Assante in GRENDEL: DEVIL’S REIGN) and the approach was sympathetic. I even let him be the first Grendel to die a peaceful death (even though his life had been filled with tragedy and heartache), which is why his ripple effect in the Grendel timeline was one of the strongest.

O: I recently read your Sandman story. How did that come about?

W: Well, Neil and I had known each other for a while and he was looking for someone to do a fill-in issue of Sandman that would act as a bit of a story intermission in the SEASONS OF THE MIST storyline. It was a fun gig but I absolutely fucking HATED the ink job. It’s probably what made me swear off anyone inking my work for good. I even forget the inker’s name now…I know he passed away a few years ago. I really wanted the look of that issue to be rendered in stark blacks and whites (kinda like your stuff) to accent the ghost story nature of the tale. Passed that desire along to the inker but he just tried to ink it the way he’d inked every other issue of Sandman—lots of scratching pen hatching and shit. Trouble was, there was no place for that sort of approach in my pencils and so the results were just horrible. Ugh.

O: Clearly, you’re tight with Dark Horse and DC. How about Marvel; I don’t recall you doing much with Marvel? I would love to see you do a Daredevil Run.

W: Well, I did that first issue of ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP with Bendis and long, long ago I wrote a cute little short story for a Hulk annual. Still, I’ve just never felt appreciated over at Marvel. No one ever tries to solicit me to work for them or even says hello to me at a show. In fact, that Ultimate gig never would’ve happened without Brian. Which is fine…its not like I don’t have enough on my plate as it is.

O: We talked about doing a project together at some point. I don’t know what or where, the stars have to align and all, but lets say they do. Somehow the boards are clean and we have time, and we’re ready. You as writer, me as artist. What would we do? No boundaries, meaning no character too obscure, no project too lofty or silly. I’ll pencil it in my schedule for like 10 years from now, but lets start daydreaming…

W: Hmm… okay, you want to do an established character rather than something all new? And market potential’s not really a factor… Well, first I’d try and take you out of your Nordic comfort zone yet still try to stick to something that exemplifies your playful pacing and strong sense of shadow. And you know how I love the lone, masked vigilante sort of heroes…

Zorro.

We could do a bitchin’ Zorro together.

O: Holy shit, Batman; that would be fucking great.

W: Yeah, and to use that thought to boomerang us back to the whole “reading” thread from earlier…

There were two brand new books on the market this year that came from the pens of established, literary talents that oughta appeal to any and all comic fans. The first was written by Isabelle Allende, who’s a Spanish-American author and well known for her historical fiction. Anyway, eight or nine months ago she published a novel titled simply, ZORRO. And, yeah, there’s nothing coy or ironic about it…it’s a straight-on approach to the character, his origins and background from childhood. You could basically call it ZORRO: Year One, and its reeeeally fucking great. Very, very readable, it also has a wealth of historical accuracy. And, very similar to BATMAN BEGINS, it spends so much of its time examining the character of Don Diego de la Vega that, by the time he puts on the costume (waaay towards the end of the book) and adopts the persona of Zorro, its as a natural extension of his established history and internal motivations. She gives us strong support for his acrobatic derring-do, his sense of social justice, his mute assistant, his name, his costume, his sleight-of-hand AND his remarkable fencing skills. Again, just a great book and a really fun ride from cover to cover.

The other book is written by author Tom DeHaven, who’s best known for a series of novels set in the beginning of the 20th century and centering on the wild and wooly world of newspaper comic strip cartoonists: FUNNY PAPERS and DERBY DUGAN’S DEPRESSION FUNNIES. Anyway, DeHaven’s lastest offering is titled IT’S SUPERMAN. Officially sanctioned (and indeed copyrighted) by DC, it too is a straight-on telling of Superman’s early years and his first steps towards his later adventures in costume. The twist in this telling is that the story is firmly set in the mid 1930′s–the same time period the character originally appeared. I read this book over Xmas (in Hawaii, I might add..}ahem{) and I sucked it down like a man dying of thirst in the desert. It’s a truly awesome re-imagining of this, one of our first and most significant (yeah, I’ll say it) comic book myths. The book’s firmly set in reality so the depression is in full swing and New York is only metaphorically referred to as The Metropolis. Lois is a very spunky “modern” gal; Lex is fucking smart, evil and manipulative as shit; and Clark is, first and foremost, a total fucking farm boy. Again, this book is fun, fun, til the day is done and I especially loved where (and how) in the beginning of Clark’s career that De Haven chooses to end the book.

And, like I said, these will both appeal to any fan of comic books, the super-oriented as well as the snotty art-fucks. Now, get your asses out there and read!!

Okay, I’ll get down off the soapbox now…

O: You also do some lecturing for Diana’s class that she teaches called Understanding Comics at the Portland Community College once a year. Let’s talk a bit about that.

W: Well, I’ve done it for her class; I’ve done it for my wife’s classes AND for my kids’ classes. It’s funny, I do a bit of a lecture about my own work and then wrap it all up with a very interactive story-telling demonstration—which everybody loves. It’s a total one-size-fits-all demo that works for fifth graders as well as college-level students. But, that’s just a bit of a lark. I’m really not an educator at heart. I don’t mind speaking in front of people, which is a REAL fucking fear for some, but I just don’t have the wide-reaching patience. I think I’m too self-involved to be a very good teacher. Many creators are. Nature of the beast.

O: Nature of the beast, indeed Matt. Thanks much for your time bro.

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Matt Wagner is best known for his epic creation, Grendel, and his other, more personal allegory, Mage. He has also worked on a variety of established characters, including his ground-breaking work on the character of Batman villain, Two-Face, in the graphic novel, Faces, as well as a five-year stint spent developing and generating the stories for the fan-favorite Vertigo title, Sandman Mystery Theater. His most recent effort was the recently completed mini-series, Batman and the Monster Men. For more information on him and his work, check out www.mattwagnercomics.com

Check out more Mike Oeming at www.mike-oeming.com. Join the Oeming newsletter for previews and announcements via email to: oeming @ aol.com