What's the hardest part about working on a big crossover event?
Jeff Lemire (Writer, FLASHPOINT: FRANKENSTEIN AND THE CREATURES OF THE UNKNOWN): Doing these questionnaires.
Dan Jurgens (Writer, BOOSTER GOLD #45): Making everything as seamless as possible. When you have a number of books that fit into a particular universe there should be aspects of an undercurrent that are somewhat consistent throughout.
Mike Carlin (Writer, FLASHPOINT: THE CANTERBURY CRICKET): Trying to do something cool AND pertinent in a one-shot that plays off the main story but doesn’t blow any important elements of that story.
Scott Kolins (Writer/Artist, FLASHPOINT: CITIZEN COLD; Writer, FLASHPOINT: REVERSE FLASH): Letting go of some of the cool ideas I have. I’d need about 6 issues to tell it all.
Tony Bedard (Writer, FLASHPOINT: EMPEROR AQUAMAN): Being the editor. It's not that bad if you're one of the writers, but the poor editors that have to keep track of all the moving parts -- they've got the hard job.
Peter Milligan (Writer, FLASHPOINT: SECRET SEVEN): Not allowing one’s head to explode. In truth, FLASHPOINT is more liberating than constraining.
During the build up to the release of issue one of FLASHPOINT, we've been teasing our fans with leading questions. The first of those questions was, "whatever happened to the world's greatest superheroes?" How would you answer that question?
Sean Ryan (Writer, FLASHPOINT: GRODD OF WAR): It’s complicated.
Dan Abnett (Writer, FLASHPOINT: WONDER WOMAN AND THE FURIES): They never happened.
Lowell Francis (Script, FLASHPOINT: PROJECT SUPERMAN): They fell like dominoes in another direction. (I hope that sounds as zen as it did in my head…)
Jimmy Palmiotti: War.
Jeff Lemire: Many of them never came to be, because Frankenstein finished the job for them in 1945.
Dan Jurgens: In some respects, that's what BOOSTER GOLD will be all about. As for how I'd answer it... There weren't any.
Adam Schlagman (Writer, FLASHPOINT: ABIN SUR; FLASHPOINT: HAL JORDAN): FLASHPOINT is a world where the Justice League never formed. And because of that, the world is a very harsh and dangerous place. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are vastly different individuals.
Rex Ogle (Writer, FLASHPOINT: THE WORLD OF FLASHPOINT): I’m not spilling the beans on anything. What I will say is, the hero in my story is less renown than I think she deserves to be. She’s got this rich history with both Superman and the Teen Titans, and I was lucky enough to launch my comics career writing her. In FLASHPOINT, she’s not quite as sun-shiny as she in the DC Universe. She’s known great loss, and it has changed her.
Gene Ha (Artist, FLASHPOINT: PROJECT SUPERMAN): Geoff Johns put his hands around Superman's neck and said, "There's nothing wrong with you I can't fix. With my hands."
J.T. Krul (Writer, FLASHPOINT: DEADMAN AND THE FLYING GRAYSONS): Nobody knows who the world's greatest superheroes are, because they don't really exist.
Scott Kolins: A whole lot of craziness that was never allowed before. The creative doors are wide-open!
It appears that in the world of FLASHPOINT something has happened to alter the destinies of the world's greatest superheroes. What pivotal moment in your own life would need to be changed in order to prevent you from becoming the person you are today?
Rex Ogle: Wow. I wasn’t prepared to get all personal and philosophical. Hehe. There have been so many moments in my life where things could have gone one way or the other. Some I got to choose, others not so much. But to tie it back to the story I’m writing, I lost several loved ones all in a row when I was young, and it gave me this unique perspective others my age just didn’t have. It pushed me to live my life to the fullest, not just for myself, but for those I had lost. That’s kind of what my hero does in her story. Well, that and try to save the lives of 112 million people.
Dan Jurgens: Strange as it sounds, if there had never been a Batman TV series, I don't think I ever would have bought a comic book. Which means I wouldn't be answering these questions right now!
Mike Carlin: If only I’d made that game-winning pass!
Adam Schlagman: If I was never CHOSEN to join the amazing family that’s been created at DC Comics, I would be an entirely different person.
Dan Abnett: A school friend giving me a pile of American comics to read when I was about nine.
Pornsak Pichetshote (Writer, FLASHPOINT: GREEN ARROW INDUSTRIES):: The time I [censored] [censored] [censored] with a [censored] [censored] [censored] in [name withheld by request]’s [censored]/
Scott Snyder (Plot, FLASHPOINT: PROJECT SUPERMAN): Wow, that's tough. I think the beauty of Flashpoint is that in a lot of ways, it's a meditation on how these little differences in our actions - tiny choices - can cause drastic change. And yet the core of who we are - that stays the same.
Gene Ha: I had an older brother who was one of the toughest kids in school. If he hadn't been the Superman in my world, I hate to think how I would have turned out.
Jimmy Palmiotti: That's easy...when I turned 30 I walked out of my job and decided to make comics my life.
J.T. Krul: Just after college, I took a leap of faith and drove to LA without a friend, a job, or business contact whatsoever in the city. Everything I've built since that day, from work to family to friends, would not be part of my life had I not made that move. That and buying my first comic in a liquor store at age 10. Who says superheroes can't change people's lives?
Tony Bedard: If I'd never met my wife I'd still be a waiter in Atlanta. She's the one who got me to move to New York and follow my dreams.
Peter Milligan: I was on holiday years ago and one of my brothers and I were climbing around some steep cliff faces near where we were staying. We came out of some bushes and I lost my footing. I was falling towards the rocks and sea far, far below. My brother managed to catch me and I hauled myself back to safety. We were laughing the whole time but afterwords we realized how close I’d been to death or serious life-changing injury. I never did thank my brother. And I don’t intend to start now.
Who in the world of FLASHPOINT is your favorite character to work on? What surprise character will have fans talking?
Scott Snyder: I'm having a blast on Superman, and I think a lot of characters are going to have fans talking, but I love what's going to happen in the Bat-world.
Adam Schlagman: ABIN SUR – Sinestro is by far my favorite! He’s one of the greatest characters ever created. And Abin Sur will have people talking. He’s just so cool!
Jeff Lemire: Griffith, the werewolf Creature Commando has become my favorite. He has a surprisingly sweet personality and a big heart. I think fans will dig him.
Sean Ryan: GRODD.
Dan Jurgens: You're asking me about the last page of BOOSTER GOLD #44! Can't talk about that yet!
Dan Abnett: Lois. She’s a super hero without super powers.
Mike Carlin: I’m a Jinny Greenteeth fan!
Jimmy Palmiotti: Deathstroke is my world right now...along with a new character introduced in the series.
Lowell Francis: I’ve come to love the key new character we’ve come up with, but I think that’s all I can safely say about that…
Scott Kolins: I am having so much fun with Cold. Geoff and I have talked many times about how great it would be for Cold to have his own monthly series. Surprise character? Flash fans will be very interested in a mysterious masked character who plays a crucial part in the story.
J.T. Krul: Dick Grayson for sure. And I can't say the surprise character in my book, but you'll know it when you see it. Trust me.
Tony Bedard: He's such a cool alternate version of himself, but what may surprise readers is that in many ways this tyrant Aquaman illuminates the character of our Aquaman. In other words, this militant, murderous Aquaman will make you appreciate the real Aquaman all the more.
Peter Milligan: I don’t know if he’s a surprise, but Batman will probably get people talking. However the character I’m most into working on is the one I am indeed writing about: Shade The Changing Man, a character with whom I have an intimate relationship, a changing man and therefore a perfect vehicle for exploring the changing world of FLASHPOINT.
FLASHPOINT is an international adventure with a huge cast of characters and a lot of action, but it's also, at its heart, a collection of very personal stories. What can you say about the personal conflict that drives the series you are working on?
Dan Jurgens: Ours is a very personal story of loss. Everyone Booster loves is gone.
Mike Carlin: FLASHPOINT: CANTERBURY CRICKET #1 is about a good looking bad man who gets a chance to become a good man— in spite of what he looks like now!
Sean Ryan: Well, FLASHPOINT is a world with Flash. And since my one-shot is about one of Flash’s greatest villains, Grodd, the conflict is what does Grodd do without his archenemy. He gets everything he’s ever wanted, but there’s no more challenges in his life. He’s got everything he wants, but he’s miserable.
Adam Schlagman: ABIN SUR – Abin Sur is on a mission to protect all life in the universe, but how can he when hundreds of sectors have already fallen to the forces of chaos? Abin will need to overcome a terrible tragedy if he has any hope of saving the cosmos.
HAL JORDAN – Ace test pilot Hal Jordan has never been the responsible one, but in a time of crisis, he must become the hero and lead his squadron to victory
Jeff Lemire: My book is all about getting home. Its about four people who had really terrible things done to them, and all they want is to escape the madness of this world and find a quiet place where they can be at peace. But getting there will cost them all dearly.
Peter Milligan: Though Shade and Enchantress –(or rather, that witch’s alto ego June Moone ) are the ‘stars” of my story – are they in love? Are they both insane? Is one of them a killer? – it’s Amethyst who brings home the human, vulnerable aspect of the tale. At the heart of the story is Shade. He doesn’t want to be a leader of any team. He doubts he’s fit or sane enough. But only by calling this strange group together is he going to be free of the M-Vest, which is much more than just a vest….
Pornsak Pichetshote: What if deep down you knew that you were a better person than you are right now? And then you finally got a chance to prove it?
Rex Ogle: That’s easy. It’s about a girl and her father. They’ve shared a terrible loss, and while it drives her one way, it drives him to a far darker place. In the end, she wants to save him from himself. I think a lot of people can relate since not every person agrees with choices their parents make. I certainly don’t. I mean, my parents always get me socks for Christmas.
Lowell Francis: In our series we have the luxury of covering a wide sweep of years. That gives us the opportunity to really see how those personal conflicts evolve and change over time.
Scott Kolins: It doesn’t get more personal than CITIZEN COLD. Can a hero with a bad secret fall in love?
J.T. Krul: It's about family and loss and carrying on in a world wrought with incredible adversity. It's about people who keep on keeping on.
Scott Snyder: Our story is, in a lot of ways, about what makes Kal-El Superman. If his life had gone differently, would he still become one of earth's greatest heroes? Could he become its greatest villain? It's about the strength of the human character.
Tony Bedard: Aquaman was once going to marry Wonder Woman. Now he has a very personal score to settle with her. Any love he once felt for her has completely turned to hatred, and if he has to kill millions to get her, then so be it.
Why will fans be telling their friends to read the FLASHPOINT stories this summer?
Dan Abnett: Because they will not BELIEVE where the story will take them.
Mike Carlin: Because everything they know will be turned inside out!
Dan Jurgens: Because it MATTERS.
Scott Snyder: Because it's one of the best event stories I've ever read. I can't wait for people to see it.
Adam Schlagman: The entire series is incredible and though they can all be enjoyed separately, together they build an amazing cohesive universe with an ultimate epic tale.
Scott Kolins: Geoff Johns.
Rex Ogle: That one is easy. There’s not going to be anything like it. :-)
Pornsak Pichetshote: Geoff has come up with the coolest story involving the biggest characters in the DC UNIVERSE. It’s big and touching all at the same time.
Peter Milligan: FLASHPOINT will be one of those game-changing, epoch-defining events that people will talk about for years to come. Those who weren’t a part of it at the time will lie and say they were, and wish they had been. So why set yourself up to be a liar?
