Matt DiCarlo wrote…
Even as a reader of the blog for years, I've found you to be relatively reluctant to talk about your current work. That means that even a few years later, sometimes we don't get the same sort of stories and insight on the level of what you did in the 80s. I know you're not doing this for self-promotion but now that we're a few years away from something, like, in this case, your collaboration with Scott Kolins on the Darkseid Special.
I'm curious if you'd be willing to discuss some of the nuts and bolts of it, how you were approached, how you broke the story, what it was like to work with Mr. Kolins, if you'd been familiar with his work prior, even just how you found producing something for DC in 2017 relative to prior years, what was easier, what was harder, etc.
There's not a whole lot to tell here. An editor at DC, Jim Chadwick, called and told me they were doing a bunch of comics featuring Kirby characters and they wanted me to write one. I think I had my pick of several and I picked Darkseid. Jim lined up a Very Good Artist to draw it. I came up with a story. I ran it past Jim. He told me to proceed. I wrote the script. Before I'd even sent it in, that Very Good Artist became unavailable so Jim called and said, "I think I can get Scott Kolins to draw it."
I'd never met Scott. At least, I don't think I had. But I knew his work so I said, "Oh, he's a Very Good Artist, too." Scott drew the story. Everyone whose opinion mattered was happy with it. I didn't really collaborate with Scott since the script was done before he was on the project. I prefer to have some contact with the artist but I thought it came out fine.
See? Not a lot to tell. That's how it is with a lot of projects.
