Brian Wood

Brian Wood's career is a decade-long overnight success story. You can find out more about him at his website if you don't already know who he is.

You've suddenly exploded in the last 18 months or so, thanks to the success of Demo and launching a high-profile Vertigo series, DMZ, concurrently with Local. Do you find that your target audience has changed or are you still doing what you've done before, just to a larger audience?

I wish I could say for certain... I wish I could point to hard numbers that prove this is true, but I can't. I can say that more people are buying and reading my books, from DMZ on down to Local and Supermarket. In late 2004 I made a deliberate move to increase my readership, to break out of the comfy little box I had constructed for myself, to work with as many publishers as I could, to get something going at Vertigo, because I really thought I could do better than I was. Demo was a big hit for me and for Becky and AiT, but I wanted to move to the next level. I was pretty sure my work had more mass appeal than I was getting at the time.

I still feel like I'm doing what I've always done, stylistically and thematically, just progressing naturally. There's not a lot of money in comics, but there is a lot of freedom, so I figure that if I'm going to commit to this medium, to this industry, I should stick to my guns and do what I want, on my own terms, as much as possible. Not to be overly dramatic, but when I'm an old man, I'd like to be able to look back on my books on the shelf and feel as proud about it all as possible.

I'm sure DMZ has got me a bunch of new readers. Its monthly orders quickly stabilized at a modest level for a Vertigo title but still double what Local (my next highest selling book) is doing. And with some luck, my next round of projects will build on that success.

This "deliberate move"—what prompted it? Were you just restless with your niche, the whole "near future not-quite-cyberpunk thing?" I remember the first "big" thing I saw you doing after Channel Zero, that whole Counter X/Generation X thing with Ellis back in '98-'99, but then, you know, X-Fans… did that push you back a bit, as it were?

I think I just outgrew the niche, the little box I was in. I did a whole series of projects that were fun, mostly one-dimensional action romps that, while I love them dearly and they sold well for what they were, just weren't going to keep me interested in the long run. I had to move forward, ya know?

Some of the later Gen X issues I did were strangely progressive. I had a chance recently to go back and read the last story arc I wrote solo, the one called "Four Days", which was #71-74, and they were very Demo. Single issue, day-in-the-life stories, each one about how one of the kids spends his or her day off from the academy. The one with Chamber hooking up with a deaf girl was probably the best of the bunch, but all of them, in retrospect, really serve as an indicator of things to come. And it was fun. I introduced bubble tea to the Marvel Universe in #72.

I followed up Gen X with Couscous Express and then The Couriers and Pounded. Fight for Tomorrow came around that time, and I think that was me testing my own boundaries, trying something different. Fight For Tomorrow, despite being a kung fu book, was actually very complex and human and really downbeat, about abuse and lost relationships. I don't think my writing chops were up to the challenge at the time, though.

I don't think Gen X pushed me back at all. Gen X is what got me to be a writer, as opposed to a writer-artist. I'm not sure I would have made that move otherwise. I wrote 13 issues of that book—most of it bad, but it was good training, and working with Warren Ellis and learning how to script from him was invaluable. I was still so oblivious to fandom at that point I don't think I was set back in any way. Still very much learning my way around.

I wasn't referring to the actual content, I was referring to the whole "Working with Big Editorial" mandate, or did Ellis's name and presence help keep you away from writing "Mutant solves problems with punching" stories? Speaking of, Ellis is probably the most obvious touchstone for you, since he works in the medium and all, but what other writers showed you the way?

Well, I think most of my stories did end up in at least a little bit of punching. But being hand-picked by Warren did seem to shield me from a lot of the editorial nonsense that other writers seem to struggle with, thankfully. I don't recall a lot of revisions, or editorial interference. Some of my dialogue was tweaked, though, I remember, to make it sound more "Warren" and less me. But the whole job was really just a diversion. I never seriously wanted to keep writing work for hire books as a regular, ongoing thing.

I think Warren was the only writer that showed me the way. Other people in comics helped me, got me crucial deals, like Heidi MacDonald, Jim Valentino, Larry Young... but Warren was the only person who helped me directly with the craft of writing comics.

Ellis has certainly become quite the teacher and mentor, especially with The Engine. Is that something you've had a good experience with?

I think Warren gets a bad rap. I know when he opened The Engine people accused him of just creating a venue for his supposed massive ego, but he spends as much of his time and energy fostering new talent and helping people out as he spends on his own promotion. It's not just me, it's a lot of people he helps, and I love him for it. Who else in comics does that?

He's been there for me from day one, providing me a cover quote for Channel Zero #2, helping me with my old Delphi forum, writing an intro for Channel Zero, showing me how to self-promote, writing a web comic for me to draw (which never came to fruition), setting me up on Gen X, giving me the Global Frequency cover job, and hyping virtually all my projects on his mailing list and replying to any career-related question I have. He's never asked for anything in return, although I try and return the favor any chance I get.

Speaking of the Global Frequency covers, let's get into the whole design and art aspect. You're big on creating an individual look for your own titles that still follow the modality you've established—you're not afraid of white space, for instance. What process goes on in your mind when you're putting something together? What elements do you think catch a potential reader's eye?

I don't have a very clever answer for that. Basically, I do what looks good to me. I go on instinct. And I try and envision whatever I'm doing as sitting on a bookshelf—not a comic shop shelf, but a real bookstore. I aim for that level of sophistication and clarity. And I find the most crucial skill in cover design is knowing when to stop before it becomes overworked and cluttered beyond repair.

My single issue comics, like Local and Demo and DMZ, are very traditional, very deliberate. Huge bold logo, consistent from month to month and visible from 20 feet. Designed solely for the direct market.

Going into more detail on the direct market, you do material that Larry Young’s called "the true mainstream," but with the big two taking up more and more space with superhero crossovers, do you find yourself ever feeling marginalized?

That's the inherent nuttiness of this industry - anything that's mainstream to the rest of the world is completely dominated by the sub-sub-genre that is superhero fiction. Warren Ellis said famously that walking into a typical comic book shop and gazing at the shelves of capes and spandex is like walking into a Borders and seeing virtually nothing but nurse romance books. Or Civil War-specific historical fiction. Or football hooligan pulp novels. Or anything else that's super, super niche. It's impossible to imagine. But here we are.

I don't think I ever feel marginalized. At times I feel vaguely embarrassed. Often frustrated. But I don't really aspire to be a Wizard Top Ten creator, so most times I never think about it. I'm happy to have my audience and to have publishers willing to spend time on me, so I'll keep doing what I do and slowly increasing my readership. I pay my bills and I have some money left over, so it’s working out for me.

Does the impulse to whip up a story where, I dunno, Thor, beats the crap out of someone or something strike you on occasion now that you’re in a more thoughtful mode?

Of course. Funny you should say Thor because I am working on a pitch for a Viking book. But in the past when that impulse does strike me it tends to result in something like The Couriers or Pounded.

I have the Demo scriptbook, where we see your techniques vary from issue to issue and that you trust the artist quite a bit. What can you tell me about your scripting process for others versus yourself? Do you actually fully-script your own works prior to doing the art or work Marvel-style?

Well, I don't write for myself much at all, so it's a difficult question to answer. On Demo, Becky [Cloonan] and I quickly attained a comfort level with each other so I didn't sweat the scripts so much, and if you look at the Scriptbook, you can see how "Bad Blood", the first one I wrote, has a level of panel direction that virtually none of the others have. I was very nervous going into Demo, not really know what it was going to be like, but after seeing Becky bring that first story to life, I relaxed a lot.

Ryan [Kelly, artist on Local,] is a little different, as he's spent years on Lucifer for Vertigo, so I knew he'd probably be able to make sense of my scripts however I presented them, so I just wrote them as I would write for Becky: relaxed, conversational, giving him control over the direction. No worries whatsoever.

I am getting ready to start writing the script to DMZ #12, the issue where I am my own fill-in artist, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes, writing for myself for the first time in a great many years. DC'll no doubt require a full script out of me, whereas my "script" for Channel Zero was a jumble of notes on pieces of scrap paper. At best.

You craft dialogue that I'd say is certainly strong without being overly flashy or idiosyncratic. Are there any specific models or techniques that you follow with this or do you just type until it "sounds" good?

It's mostly on instinct, but there are a few tricks I use. I sometimes "cast" friends of mine into the roles of the characters. For example, if I think that Zee in DMZ might talk like one of my friends, I'll imagine how that friend would speak the words, and write that down. So a lot of my characters speak with less-than-textbook-perfect grammar, using words like "gonna" and the word "like" too much, as well as talking in run-on sentences, etc. which is how I feel most people speak. I also read all my dialogue aloud to myself afterwards.

I also really study writers like Garth Ennis, who have such a mastery of dialogue.

Ennis's dialogue always manages to capture a character more than the writer himself. Not everyone speaks the same and I see that in your work. Did you take any formal classes in screenwriting or the like?

Nothing at all, just a lot of observation and practice. My first published writing, Channel Zero, was all done as an afterthought, just words I put in to support the art, basically. I didn't consider myself a writer. The next writing job was working with Warren Ellis on Generation X, and that was a great education, because I got to look at his scripts and see how he did it. After that it was all trial and error. Nothing makes you a better writer faster than having books published and subsequently picked apart on the internet!

Back to The Internet. You've got a very forthright homepage design where your product is at the front and center, so it's obvious you've thought of its importance. Do you think that it's improved discourse and discussion among comics fans and creators?

In general, yeah, sure. I actually wasn't at all involved in comics, as a reader or professionally, pre-internet, so I don't have anything to compare it to. But as someone trying to make a career in creator-owned comics, I can't think of a more important tool. That's its primary use as far as I'm concerned.

Outside of comics, you're well-regarded as a graphic designer. You've worked with Rockstar on Manhunt and the GTA series as well as doing covers for some of the AiT books. Have you looked at doing a design book besides the Channel Zero one? I'm not just asking because I'm addicted to design books or anything...

I'd love to do one, but I always tell myself to wait for a few years down the road when I have newer, better, and more work to put into such a book. I'd also like this book to be mostly new material, and that takes time to produce. Time is something I tend to have very little of these days.

And yeah, Rockstar Games. I was miserable there, but it was like design boot camp. Or I should say, design special forces. I was there 3 and a half years and worked on something like fifteen titles, as well as a lot of corporate identity for the parent company, Take-Two Interactive. I designed their annual report one year, of all things (not fun). It was good in some ways, mostly in that I was able on a few occasions to give freelance work to some comic professionals. Jacen Burrows did a lot of illustrations for Oni and GTA: Vice City, one example. After I went freelance, I also did all the print and packaging design for Eidos Interactive's Backyard Wrestling 2 video game. I actually art directed a photo shoot for that with Insane Clown Posse and Sunrise Adams, noted porn star. It's that sort of moment where you step outside yourself and think, "Am I actually doing this right now? Me??"

I've done a lot of covers for AiT books, and was actually on staff at the company for a little under a year. Working with Ryan Yount (ex-production guy for AiT) on some of their books was a lot of fun - we made a good team. My favorite designs were for Bad Mojo, 1000 Steps to World Domination, Tales from Fish Camp, and the covers for Steven Grant's Badlands books. I also fully designed the logo and corporate identity that AiT uses currently.

The video game industry is notorious for chewing people up. Talk about a burnout rate. Who're your favorite designers in or out of comics right now?

I actually don't pay a lot of attention to design, not in the last year or so. I've been focusing almost exclusively on writing, mine and others. But I do have a tendency to buy a lot of Jason Munn's screenprints, which I think are beautifully done.

Thanks so much for your time, Brian. This is where I tell everyone that the first DMZ trade hits shelves this week and you should totally buy it!

This interview was conducted by Kevin Church.