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Topic: Devin Grayson (comics) (Read
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Devin
Grayson (comics)
«
Thread started on: May 28th,
2004, 09:29am » |
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Devin Grayson is the Writer on Nightwing and
of the much hyped fall 2004 crossover story arc 'War
Games'!
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| « Last Edit:
Jul 21st, 2004, 04:36am by /\/\att
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #1
on: Jun 11th, 2004, 01:35am
» |
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LoG: What can you tell the bat-fans
about the upcoming 'War Games' arc? How much
impact will the crossover have on the "Batman
Universe"?
Devin Grayson: I’m actually surprised
by how far they were willing to go this time. The
impact is so great that as we’re trying to plan the
issues that occur after the stunt, we have to
constantly rethink things because so much has changed.
To be perfectly honest, if anything, I think it may
veer towards too much change. There seems to be a real
strong “shake things up!” mandate coming both from the
Bat-office and the higher-up DC powers that be. Some
of it’s long overdue, some of it will be shocking, and
some of it makes even me uncomfortable. And all this
from what is really a relatively short cross-over as
such things go (War Games takes place over three
months). Even by the end of the 12 cent kick-off,
there are some pretty major changes, and it just
escalates from there. I’ve begun to jokingly refer to
it as “the spring cleaning stunt.” This is the third
or fourth major Bat-stunt I’ve participated in, and
every time I go in thinking “what could we possibly do
to poor Gotham City this time?” But I think every time
we’ve been quite successful in pulling together
something new and genuinely engaging, which goes to
show the power a group of creative people working
together can wield.
LoG: Overcoming a
lot of social misconceptions sometimes begins in the
media. In your opinion, will we ever see gay/bi
sexual characters accepted in mainstream
comics?
Devin Grayson: This is a great
question, and an important one. My sense from where
I’m sitting is that there will definitely be more
acceptance of gay/bi/alt-sex characters in this medium
over time, but that they will almost exclusively be
new characters who are non-conforming from the
beginning. You’ll never see the major publishing
houses “outing” pre-existing, iconic characters, even
if most of the readers suspect or allow for the idea
of some fluid sexuality where such characters are
concerned.
I’ve been amazed at the response
I’ve gotten, for example, to my Smallville novel,
City. I play pretty openly in it with the homoerotic
tension between the young Clark and Lex – a
subcurrent, of course, with nothing explicit ever
emerging – and yet since its publication I’ve gotten
no less than three letters a week from ecstatic,
almost exclusively straight women who are aroused and
intrigued by the energy between the two characters.
Some of them are what could arguably be called a
“fringe” population of C/Lex slash fan-fic writers,
but even more of them are totally normal (for lack of
a better word) young women who just seem to love
seeing an implicit emotional, romantic, and/or erotic
interior life depicted for these otherwise fairly
uncomplicated icons of young male power-fantasy.
Several of them have asked me why DC doesn’t do more
to exploit their interest and dollars (and again, this
isn’t even getting into the enormous longing and
support already established in the gay community for
more explicit and diverse relationships in comics),
and although I do understand why you can’t go
mainstream with Superman’s adolescent homosexual
flirtations, I also think the industry needs to really
examine its constant refrain of wanting to attract a
wide variety of readers. At this juncture we’re still
seeing diversity used as a quota or shock element, not
as a building block in a story genuinely designed to
be inclusive of and engage a larger readership.
LoG: What has your
greatest challenge as a comic writer been thus
far?
Devin Grayson: Hmm…my first thought
is along the lines of the technical: learning to
represent drama through visually depictable action,
learning to be succinct with dialog which, as I’m sure
you can already tell from this interview, is not my
natural tendency. ;-) But I think the greatest
challenge I continue to struggle with is carving a
niche out for myself in an industry that I am in many
ways not attracted to nor represented by. I’m
enchanted by many of the characters in comics and I
love the medium. I also feel deep allegiance to many
of the friends I’ve made in this business. But the
industry as an industry – as a corporate publishing
trade designed, as all trades are, to make money – I
have misgivings about some of our business practices
and I also feel vaguely repelled by a lot of the
material we create and – to an even greater extent –
much of the media we generate. I find myself having to
try to figure out, on a yearly if not monthly basis,
what I can realistically expect to contribute to this
industry, who that material is likely to reach, and
whether or not my creative, personal, political, and
vocational needs could be better met elsewhere. My
guess is, though, that everyone feels this to some
extent no matter what they’re doing. It’s important to
keep looking both at how you can best serve your job
and how your job is working for you.
|
"Matt, how do you get all the inside
scoops, sometimes (most of the time) you know stuff even
before me!?" - Jeff Matsuda
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/\/\att
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #2
on: Jun 11th, 2004, 01:36am
» |
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And now a few questions from your fans
on our message board:
from aneurysm:
Theres been alot of online debate about what actually
happened at the end of Nightwing #93. Was Dick raped?
Was it consensual? Did they actually do anything other
than a bit of dry humping? Everyone seems to be debating
this and coming up with crazy explanations (the weirdest
I've heard is that Tarantula drugged
Dick!).
Devin Grayson: Okay, let’s see if I
can clear this up while still retaining some necessary
vagueness. The facts: if you’re over seventeen, that
was way more than dry-humping. If you’re a younger
reader, well, they were just being friendly. ;-) There
were no drugs involved beyond the very potent chemical
cocktails of pheromones with which we all come
naturally equipped. The act was not consensual – Dick
did not want to be touched, as he stated, and physical
intimacy – especially with Catalina – was the last
thing in his head or heart. He was, essentially,
raped, though I think in an emotional and spiritual
sense even more than in the physical sense. He almost
certainly has the power to best Tarantula physically,
but she definitely overwhelms him in other ways.
What we were seeing on that rooftop that night
would not be easily defined by either participant.
Dick, all but catatonic with grief and remorse, was
momentarily overpowered by Catalina, who was joyously
celebrating what she considered to be a major victory
and an enticing partnership. There’s a powerful
connection between sex and death, and although the
meaning behind the link continues to be argued, the
phenomenon of “mourning sex” has been well documented.
But in that particular situation, the sex itself was
practically allegorical. I don’t mean it didn’t really
happen, but rather that it was a final physical
manifestation of an emotional violation that went much
deeper.
There’s a small flashback to that
rooftop in issue 94 – it’s the moment after the
intimacy, and Catalina is calmly waiting while Dick
stops to puke his guts out. He’s just lost. Everything
he’s been through felt like rock bottom, and then the
next thing would happen, and it would be even worse.
What happened on the roof was like the cell door
closing on the hellish prison he’s stumbled into.
Every single part of his life has been tainted now,
from the material to the emotional to the spiritual to
the physical.
from jedimario:
Having read the sample scripts on your website, I know
that you must put in a lot of work into writing them. My
questions are:
How long does it take you to write a
script for a single issue? For a crossover event like
Batman: War Games? What are some of the longest scripts
you have written?
Devin Grayson: Writing, for me at
least, is process with a few distinct developmental
stages. First you have to come up with an idea, and
this is usually the most time-consuming part, though
it’s also often the least concentrated. That is,
you’re often thinking about a story even when you’re
not aware that you’re thinking about it…it’s working
itself out in your subconscious while you’re talking
with friends, house cleaning, even dreaming. Once you
have some sense of where you’re going, the actual
writing part – the act of turning those intangible
thoughts into a physical, sharable form – usually
takes me a little less than two days, though, as I’m
fond of pointing out, being able to write one script
in two days doesn’t always mean you can write two in
four – the invisible part of the process, the thinking
and fermenting— definitely needs its space. Then
there’s editing and revisions, which usually goes
quite quickly unless you’re being asked to make some
outrageous change that comes with a horrible
structural domino effect.
Cross-overs tend to
go more quickly in the writing stage, since you
already have a pretty detailed outline to work off of,
but then slow down a lot in the editing and revision
stage, since you have to be so careful about lining up
your story continuity within the framework of the
event.
One of the longest scripts I’ve ever
written, both in terms of time and length, was
JLA/Titans. I was pretty drained by the time I got to
the revision stage, and the revisions requested for
that story were nightmarish, unceasing, and
counter-indicative, so it really felt like it went on
forever.
from NAMTAB: Do you
ever see Dick Grayson/Nighwing taking over the mantle of
the bat? If not, why?
Devin Grayson: This is a tricky
question, because there are two realities we have to
look at: his life as a character, and his life as a
corporate entity. I think if Dick and Bruce aged
normally, then yes, at some point Dick would find it
less painful to adopt the identity of Batman than to
live without Batman (or let anyone else do it), and
certainly no one would deny him his claim to the
mantle. But you may have noticed by now that Batman
has been in his late thirties and Dick in his
mid-to-late twenties for some time. The truth is that
we’re telling stories about legends – not detailed,
historic biographies – and in the legends, Batman is
always Bruce Wayne. These characters aren’t
exclusively our generation – they belong to the past
and to the future as well, and will continue to be
discovered and cherished for generations to come.
Obviously, we have already seen and will continue to
see some futuristic tales and elseworlds and “what if”
stories – these are a lot of fun and can encompass a
wide variety of theoretical scenarios. But in the
comic book “Batman,” I believe – and indeed hope –
that Batman will always be Bruce Wayne. Though I
believe that Dick “deserves” to inherit the legacy, I
believe even more strongly that the children and
grandchildren of my friends deserve to encounter the
amazing legend of Batman and Robin as it has persisted
for the last sixty years.
from JokerInc:
What was it like taking over Nightwing from Chuck Dixon?
Were you under any kind of pressure form DC?
Devin Grayson: Well, DC asked me to
take the book, so I’m not exactly sure what you mean
by being under pressure. There’s always pressure every
time you write anything – you have to please your
editors and the publishers, and you want to please
yourself and your peers and the readers. The only real
immediate pressure was that I was asked to choose
between Gotham Knights and Nightwing, since they had
other writers they wanted to incorporate into the
Bat-group.
I’m a huge fan of Chuck’s and have
always found him enormously supportive and generous
with his time and advice. I spoke with him either
directly before or right after I accepted the
Nightwing assignment, and we talked about where he had
been planning to go with various characters and story
threads. He also assured me that I could call him any
time with questions, an offer I took advantage of once
or twice. I know I don’t write the same way Chuck
does, but I have tried to honor what he created. As I
said when I first came on the book: if it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it. Chuck created an amazing world for Dick
to move through, and as intimidating as it was to step
into Chuck’s shoes, I was also really privileged to
have such great material already set up and at my
disposal.
from PPAIN: Any
plans to return to Gotham Knights?
Devin Grayson: I would love to,
actually, but was told by the current editorial
administration that they don’t want any one writer on
more than one Bat-book at a time
What can we expect
from you post-War Games?
Devin Grayson: I’ll continue on
Nightwing, and there’s a strong possibility that one
of the characters featured in War Games will end up
with a mini-series of her own. I’m also hoping to work
with John Bolton again on the sequel to SWITCH, and
Brian Stelfreeze is flying through Matador pages now,
giving me hope that we may be able to schedule that
project to come out either later this year or early
next.
I also hope to continue working on
licensed publishing novels – I found writing both
Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu and Smallville: City really
energizing and rewarding.
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| « Last Edit:
Jun 11th, 2004, 03:57am by /\/\att
» |
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"Matt, how do you get all the inside
scoops, sometimes (most of the time) you know stuff even
before me!?" - Jeff Matsuda
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/\/\att
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #3
on: Jun 11th, 2004, 01:39am
» |
|
A HUGE thanks to Devin for taking the time
to chat with us all here! I don't think us fans could
ask for more detailed answers!
Everyone please
take a moment to thank Devin for interacting with the
LoG!
|
"Matt, how do you get all the inside
scoops, sometimes (most of the time) you know stuff even
before me!?" - Jeff Matsuda
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Peev34
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #4
on: Jun 11th, 2004, 01:43am
» |
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Another FANTASTIC interview!!
It
was great of Ms. Grayson to put so much thought into
this!! |
| « Last Edit:
Jun 11th, 2004, 01:45am by /\/\att
» |
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #5
on: Jun 11th, 2004, 01:51am
» |
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Thanks so much for taking time for us!
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NAMTAB
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #6
on: Jun 12th, 2004, 02:57am
» |
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THANKS FOR YOUR ANSWERS, AND I HOPE YOU
STAY ON "NIGHTWING" FOR A LONG TIME, SINCE YOU'RE DOING
A GREAT JOB! |
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Josh:BALE
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #7
on: Jun 12th, 2004, 11:58pm
» |
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Thanks Ms. Grayson for the insightful
interview !
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| « Last Edit:
Jun 13th, 2004, 12:11am by Scarecrow
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"I seek the means to fight injustice, to turn
fear against those who prey on the fearful.
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Deadshot
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #8
on: Jun 13th, 2004, 12:06am
» |
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on Jun 12th, 2004, 11:58pm,
Mister
Wayne wrote:
Thanks Mr. Grayson for the insightful
interview !
| |
(says
real softly and quietly) - Devin's a girl
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People don't care how much you know -
they know how much you
care.
*****************
Please IM me your DEWU
caps - I am collecting them.
*****************
http://www.geocities.com/projectdewu/
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jedimario
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Re:
LoG Summertime Interview #2 Devin
Grayson
« Reply #9
on: Jun 22nd, 2004, 11:10pm
» |
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Thanks Ms. Grayson
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JotaEse
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Re:
Devin Grayson (comics)
« Reply #10 on: Aug 3rd,
2004, 12:48pm » |
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Thank you very much, and thank you for
continuing the great stories for my favorite
character!
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'Cause Everyone Has A Little Geek in
'Em!
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Gotham95
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Re:
Devin Grayson (comics)
« Reply #11 on: Sep 8th,
2004, 1:10pm » |
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Great Interview. Thanks Devin!
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Tell me something my friend. You ever dance
with the devil by the pale moonlight? -Joker
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Re:
Devin Grayson (comics)
« Reply #12 on: Sep 13th,
2004, 07:28am » |
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Thanks for your time. Great
interview.
PJ |
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