Nice Blue Beetle Interview
Since I've taken it as my personal mission to pimp DC's Blue Beetle book at every possible chance, I thought I'd post a link to this fantastic interview with writer John Rogers.
Rogers frequently posts about writing techniques and process in his blog, and I always find that enlightening. In the interview he drops this bomb along those lines which grabbed my attention:
Blue Beetle is actually plotted out, both issue and arc, on a wiki page. The artists, writers and editors can all access and rewrite the page whenever they want. Joan will post a question, I'll rewrite one of the issue plotlines in response, she'll check and tell me if a villain's available or not ... and that all updates live online, so the latest version of the year-long breakdowns are always a click away. That software is idiot-proof and free for small projects (it's Backpack, if you're interested).We use a wiki pretty heavily at my work, and I find the technology to be quite effective in enabling collaborative projects. So, I was fascinated to hear about it being used in developing a comic book. Plus, you know, I'm a huge geek, so this just set off all my usual geek alarm bells.
Anyway, this is one of the most fun and intriguing reads out there at the moment. I love the whole "outsider" perspective that's used to inform the character (go read the interview to see what I'm talking about), and it sounds like there's going to be a lot of great stuff coming up in "year two."
Read. This. Book.
1 comment:
I sooooo want there to be a year two for Blue Beetle. I know the sales are on the bottom rung of the DC charts, but it really is such a great book. I think Rogers has done an excellent job with the book since Giffen's departure. He seems really sharp and witty, and clearly loves the character. While they are completely different, I think that Blue Beetle is every bit as great as Manhunter, and the fans successfully convinced DC to keep that one rolling.
Very cool that a wiki is being used in the ongoing creative process for a mainstream comic. Really a perfect idea given the interconnected continuity in modern superhero comics. Maybe Didio should fire one up for the whole company!
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