Our exclusive interview with Evan Dorkin!

San Diego Comic Con - circa 1992

Our conversation starts as I?m setting up the audio tape recorder . . . .

Evan: Just don?t ask me if I?ve seen the first movie.

Interviewer: No, that?s okay.  Have you seen the second movie?

Evan: Yes!

Interviewer: Okay.  Finally!  ?Cause last year you hadn?t seen either.

Evan: Well, it was free.  And I saw one episode of that TV show which was uh . . .

Interviewer: Pretty, uh . . .

Evan: Yeah, if it was a piece of paper I wouldn?t wipe my *** with it.

Interviewer: For kids.

Evan: I don?t even think it?s for kids, I think it?s for tax write-off.  I really think that thing is a complete mess.

Interviewer: I know the writers of the movies were very upset about it.

Evan: I don?t blame them!  It?s like cat litter.

Interviewer: (Regarding the comic books) You did it for a year, it?s over now . . . how did you feel about it?  Are you happy with your work?

Evan: Yeah, I?m happy with most of my work on it.  I?m actually kind of sad about it ending because I came up with a lot of characters in it.  I didn?t want to just have them time travel, I just decided to make it a real fantasy and I wanted to make it a kid?s book for adults and an adult book kids could like.  I?m upset it was kind of pushed not at all, and if it was it was pushed as a kid?s book.  You know, the sales department actually did try to do stuff within Marvel but really, the retailers didn?t want to see it.

Interviewer: They put it in the kids? section.

Evan: Or if they ordered it at all.  I mean, it sold as bad as some independents sell!  It?s very sad.  If 0.05 (percent) of the people who saw the movies bought it, it would have been the best selling comic around but it just doesn?t happen that way, I don?t understand that.  But the thing is since (the studios) own everything I did I can?t even write or draw any of the characters again.  But the book itself was a lot of fun.  I?ll be quite honest about it, I did it initially just for commercial purposes.  But I grew very fond of the book.  I put a lot into it, I put a lot of characters into it, I told stories and I don?t think I talked down to any people in the audience.  And the sad thing about it is if it was not cancelled I could go back to it in a few months after burning out.  That would be the perfect thing to go back to and get a few months checks out of it but have a good time.  I didn?t really have too many more stories . . . I was supposed to only do it for five issues . . . then I ended up just having more stories.  And I enjoyed working on it.  They gave me a free hand.  They didn?t b**** that I drew the characters not exactly like them or like the animated ones . . . (those who own the licensing) actually stopped complaining too much after a while.

Interviewer: Yeah, ?cause at first they were kind of coming down on you.

Evan: They didn?t really seem to like anything I was doing but I think after a while they realized it was getting cancelled so to h*** with it.  I don?t know what the deal was, but you know I almost wish they ripped off stuff and that people, you know, did they take anything to the TV series, because they do that sometimes . . . they have the right to . . . and I wouldn?t complain.  I?m not egotistical enough to think my work was worth stealing, but I almost wish they did take something from it so I could at least see it, it would have been funny.  The sad thing is it?s a completely dead comic project now and that?s sad. It will never get revived again.

Interviewer: You?re about the only (Bill and Ted licensed) thing still out there.

Evan: Yeah, I know what it?s like to be into something that a lot of people forgot about.  Some of the music I like and stuff . . . it just skates along, it?s not a big industry.  I think I really did my best on the thing and I really had a free hand.  I improvised last minute a lot of the pages and stuff.  There will be a Fight Man spin-off even though it?s not Bill and Ted, so what I?m thinking of doing is I?ll have to stick Bill and Ted in a panel somewhere to sc*** (the license holders), man, because they were just really cheap about certain plots.  Like Issue 11 was supposed to be very different, I don?t think it?s been out yet ? the Lincoln issue.  And it just kind of got washed out.

Interviewer: And that was an early idea, wasn?t it?  I?m surprised they did it at all.

Evan: Yeah.  I held onto it hoping that they?d let me do it towards the end of the run . . . that?s the only one that the plot was redone, (another person) redid it and I was happy with what he did but it?s not what I would have done.  I just didn?t have time to redo it.  What I ended up doing was I put in a plot and then I wouldn?t stick to it, that?s really what it was.  I put in a lot of comments in there that they haven?t caught.  I had a really good time with it.  I?m glad it?s over ?cause I?m burnt from the monthly schedule.  But out of every book at Marvel I think that was the one I was most adept at doing.  And a lot of people really, I mean . . . it got nominated for an Eisner award . . . a lot of people have been coming over and saying "Look, I?m sorry to see it go."  The nicest comment was a lot of people who read Pirate Corp$ and my other books, they got it because it was my style and I don?t put out that many books and they said "You know, look, I?m really surprised I liked it."  I?m surprised I liked it, that I liked working on it so much.  That?s why I did that big two-page spread with every character in the book saying goodbye.  It was basically thanks from all of us who were in the book, thanks a lot, they were real vocal, the letters were really good and the fans seemed to really like it, ?cause it?s not a book that would ever be worth money.  It was a really good experience and it?s a shame the book didn?t do better.  I felt it was a real different book for Marvel.

Interviewer: Well, they?re great characters to work with.

Evan: Well, they were pliable.  It?s not so much the characters so much as how they react to everything going around, so if you provide a lot of really stupid things that they deadpan . . . I like the deadpan aspect of the characters.  I?m not a big fan of Bill and Ted, I don?t even like the music, but I really found the characters easy to write.  You just make them see something amazing that would make the average person drink a beer or drop dead and then they just go "Whoa, cheap looking . . . "  You know, like they see the big bang and they think it?s dumb.

Interviewer: What?s your favorite issue?  Which one are you most proud of?

Evan: Nine.  Nine and ten.  Nine because it was the best self-contained . . . well, I can count the DeNomolos ones ?cause I really like those a lot ?cause DeNomolos was actually the best character to write.  Whenever I wrote him I used the character from the movie because they used him well.  They could have used him a lot more . . . that actor?s very funny.

Interviewer: Oh yeah.  They threw him away.

Evan: I like anything Death.  Death was great and DeNomolos was great.  And I guess nine because it was the most bizarre but it had a really nice ending and it was real self-contained . . . I think that was the most successful.  I think the coloring evened out on that one because the coloring was choppy here and there.  Marie Severin inks really well.  And I think ten because it made fun of the superhero comics that killed the book.  So nine and ten . . . and twelve!