Comments on: If you could ask one question…

By: saintash

saintash — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:03:11 +0000

if they hadn’t lost the right to superboy would you have but him your legion?

By: Hercules in NY

Hercules in NY — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:59:06 +0000

How much does the visual element sway your writing, at least in the early establishment phase of starting a take on a character? Does knowing you will be working with Alex Ross, for instance, affect your writing in a different way that if you were working with Ron Garney?

Thanks, I’m a big fan!

-Hercules in NY

By: Lifeisaglitch

Lifeisaglitch — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:05:31 +0000

If you were a tree what tree would it be?

Who are your great writing inspirations outside the comic book industry?

By: Baal

Baal — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:54:29 +0000

I loved Mister Waid’s Marvel work and would want to knwo if more is on the horizon? I know he has something Spider-related but I was wondering if he’d be doing anything I’d read. I have a strict policy against buying comics where heroes make deals with Satan analogs.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:32:57 +0000

Q: Who is the most underrated character in the DCU?

By: Mark I.

Mark I. — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:41:27 +0000

Real question!!!

Mr. Waid: Which regular series story arc (from any company, but not counting graphic novels or minis) do you look back upon and say “Damn, I REALLLLLY wish I’d come up with that run.”?

By: DrStrangeCubicle

DrStrangeCubicle — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:24:55 +0000

Paper or plastic?

If you could write any book from either of the two major companies, what would it be?

By: Cory

Cory — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:31:01 +0000

Mark Waid, If you could revamp and write a Marvel character and/or team and/or monster with NO RESTRICTIONS and Full Creative Freedom what would it be? (and very roughly outline the storyline you would pursue)

By: Mark I.

Mark I. — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:13:18 +0000

(I meant to shut up, but Maximus asked)

I know BND was a Marvel thing, I was referring to how comic companies “reset” the status quo to simplify their characters back to their template. Sometimes it’s done well enough (original Crisis) and sometimes it leaves a lot to be desired (BND, Zero Hour.) It’s pretty much the companies telling us “our core readers are idiots who won’t understand character growth and new readers are idiots who will only understand the most basic version of the character–you know the ones from movies and cartoons.” Which is why Spider-Man is a teenager living with Aunt May again; why the Hulk is no longer Green Scar and is back to “Hulk strongest one there is!”; and why Batman is about to be turned upside down all over again. It’s why Final Crisis and Secret Invasion exist: RESET.

Where’s Power Girl’s baby, anyway?

By: Mark I.

Mark I. — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:04:40 +0000

(beating it into the ground…)

Yes I’m fully aware Mr. Waid wrote KC. I just think the character concepts are being overexploited because DC likes the reaction they get to Ross’s depictions of the characters…which um, is justified by sales figures. But in my unwanted opinion, making KC an in-continuity alternate earth rather than a self-contained Elseworlds tale took a lot of shine off the apple.

(Shutting up now.)

By: Lifeisaglitch

Lifeisaglitch — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:04:18 +0000

I don’t car what you ask him Stephen as long as you get him to talk about Kingdom Come, talk about creating a classic.

By: Maximus Rift

Maximus Rift — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:00:12 +0000

Isn’t BND a Marvel thing, Mark?

Anyways, my question would be what he thinks about the reactions to his latest run in the Flash book.

By: Mark I.

Mark I. — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:57:21 +0000

You know, maybe I’ll wait until Final Crisis is over before asking a question like that. For all I know Bart is going to pop out of a Speed Force burp as a kid again, Barry will bite the big one saving the world again, and Wally and Linda will live happily ever after.

But with the Ross-ilization of the DC universe, it wouldn’t surprise me if Barry, Wally, and Jay were all smooshed together in a Multiverse-saving feat of heroics into the Kingdom Come “Mercury” Flash for about, oh, a year or so. In fact, I’d bet money on it.

By: Mark I.

Mark I. — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:44:56 +0000

With regards to the Flash Family, does it feel like DC just sledgehammered what you helped build to establish or re-establish a somewhat unnecessary status quo (ex: bringing back Hal Jordan, Brand New Day, etc…) ?”

(Rhetorical question, but unless you’re going to kill him again in the Final Crisis, why bring Barry back at all? If there’s any major-league hero that became more dynamic and interesting not just after he was dead, but BECAUSE he was dead, it’s Barry Allen.)