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Your Future Nostalgia. Today. | ||
| www.asmzine.com / www.alteredstatesmag.com | |||
| July 25, 2008 |
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Interview by Matthew Karpowich, Reporter, and
Andrew Sorohan Part 4: Current ProjectsMatthew Karpowich: In late 1998, it was announced that Bench Press Comics was in negotiations with Hasbro to produce a new Transformers comic, and had - or was going to - approach you about coming on as writer. Given current standings, the deal apparently didn't go through. Do you know what happened there? Were they victims of bad timing? Simon Furman: I've no idea what happened to Bench Press and the deal. There was a sustained bit of dialogue (between BP, myself and Andrew Wildman) at one point, with all sorts of grand plans, but evidently it came to nothing (it certainly descended into silence). Often these things come down to money, but like I say, I don't know for a fact one way or the other. Andrew Sorohan: The Transformers Universe comics, and those entries printed in the later issues of Transformers are often considered by fans to be one of the most important parts of the Transformers fiction. Is there any chance of Titan doing a collected volume with all the TFU entries? (Possibly with corrected colours?) SF: Almost certainly not, now that Dreamwave are doing their own (new) version. Matthew: The later Transformers Universe entries printed in the TF comic seemed to have some obvious gaps - only two members of the Terrorcon combiner team got write-ups, and only one of the two Decepticon Clones made it to print. Do you know if there were many unpublished TFU entries at the time of the original comic's cancellation? SF: I don't. I really wasn't involved with that side of things. Matthew: It's almost a given you'll be using "big name" transformers such as Optimus Prime, Megatron and Grimlock in your current project with Dreamwave. However, you made excellent use of Outback in series of UK stories, and praise for your characterizations of Nightbeat, Thunderwing and Bludgeon knows almost no bounds. Is there any chance you'll utilize some lesser known characters in The War Within? SF: I'm very much sticking to classic Gen 1 characters. I can only ask so much of Don. Matthew: The Dreamwave Transformers comic had been the number-one listed seller in Previews for many months, outselling the likes of Spider-Man, the X-Men, and other popular titles. Had that put you under any pressure on you for "The War Within"? SF: In a way, yes. But I can only do the best I can and hope people like it (and more importantly, continue reading it). There's no way I expect to do Gen 1 #1 numbers, but I'd hope to be in the Top Five, certainly for issue #1. The main thing for me, is that a large percentage of the people who pick up #1 come back for #2-6. If they don't, then I haven't done my job. Matthew: To my understanding, the comic market has lately been performing less than stellar, relying on licensing to help stay afloat. If sales continue as they have been, do you feel that Dreamwave's recent success might be able to help revitalize the industry? SF: I don't see how this can be a bad thing for the industry. If it brings in younger/new readers, who don't often pick up comics at all, then that's the best result of all. It's kind of nice that there are some comics that kids can enjoy. They're very thin on the ground, which I think shows a narrowness of thinking on the part of the management of the big companies. Andrew: How did Titan Publishing decide what order to print the Transformers Graphic Novels in? The first, All Fall Down, covered material from near the end of the Transformers' US run, while Target: 2006 is a story from the middle of the UK's. SF: Titan started with All Fall Down on my recommendation. That and End of the Road contained a reasonably self-contained storyline, that -- if the series went no further -- could stand alone. Of course, it sold excellently, beyond even my expectations, and so Titan went back, and with 2003 they'll go back to very start. As for the UK editions, the idea was to collect the main movie continuity stories first. Andrew: Finally - after a hundred different interviews - is there anything you haven't told Transformers fans about yourself that you've been busting to get off your chest? SF: I'm not as young as I used to be!
ASM would like to thank Simon Furman for taking the time to answer these
questions. We would also like to thank The Obscure Transformers Website
(http://www.obscuretf.tk)
for their help with this interview. And be sure to visit It's Walky!
(http://www.itswalky.com)
for daily fun and angst.
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