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  1.  (7178.221)
    Now this next december you will turn 54, What is your favourite food on Mondays?
    and, What is your favourite Richard Clayderman album?


    ladies and gentlemen, this is not a portrait of David Aja off his meds, this is, in fact, what david aja is like all the time.

    DAVID AJA! The man who added the sound effect KNECK! to the shot of a dude getting his neck snapped. DAVID AJA! Who added SHIRT! to a panel where a guy got his shirt sliced by a sword. DAVID AJA! If you didn't exist we would have to invent you. I love you. You complete me. Writing for you is a singular joy.

    Also bravo on teaching your monkey to wear hats and shoot things. People said you were crazy when you wanted to try, but i knew you could do it. congrats to you and mr. chimchim.

    (and now, to work. more later, gang. and thanks for your patience...)
    • CommentAuthoroga
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2009
     (7178.222)
    plotting/outlining is the fucking worst thing in the world and takes as long as it takes.


    I'm stuck on my outline. I can't seem to get it finished, and because it isn't finished, the writing sucks because it isn't focussed. Any tips you might like to share? Or are you a fan of Warren's direction to "just do it"? (and hope that it works out)
    • CommentAuthorales kot
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2009
     (7178.223)
    lady gaga has this to say.

    Right back at you.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy5JwYOlgvY
  2.  (7178.224)
    Ok, here's that "team" book question:
    (sorry, it's a bit ramble-y and vague)

    First off, a book like X-men, I'm not even sure how you juggle something like that-- seems pretty huge, especially at a point like now-- Anyhow: Was there any advice given to you by former X-writers or editorial about tackling something like this? Bendis (again) has talked about his difficulty when he started working on a team book (I think it was specifically Ult.X-Men, where he noticed that he'd always lose track of Colossus-- like, he'd just disappear from the story b/c Bendis didn't know what to do with him)--

    Obviously, Bendis got his groove with the team books and now he's basically become the Uatu of the Marvel U. (no bald jokes!)

    How's that working for you? I haven't caught up on your X-men work (sorry, they're in the read pile though), but how are you tackling such a huge cast? You've mentioned that you've got some massive wall-charts, what goes into that? Is it basically a list to track where the characters are in the storyline?

    Basically wondering if you can speak for a minute about what you've learned thus far about writing a big-ass team/universe book like X-men.
    •  
      CommentAuthorrickiep00h
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2009
     (7178.225)
    I can talk about what we all deserve, though: we all deserve a marketplace that allows for books that don't come with power rings or variant covers. we all deserve a marketplace that can sustain and support new ideas, strange ideas, weird ideas. we deserve an industry, as creators, that wants more than the same thing seven hundred times a year. we all deserve an industry that's healthy and diverse. and we don't have it.
    I love you, Matt Fraction. Casanova Vol. 1 is the only thing I have of yours so far, but that quote right there? That's what's selling me on your other stuff from now on. Thanks.

    In that vein, who do you think the impetus is on to change the system? Readers who get the books (often simply for completeness/collecting's sake), or editorial departments that are unwilling to make changes and take chances? Obviously there's some degree of chicken-egg in that argument, but which side to you think it would be more likely for change to come from?
  3.  (7178.226)
    I've recently cut back my pull list so that I could have money to go out and do other things, so my question is this. In the next year, is Uncanny going to be an x-book that can be read on it's own, or is going to have a lot of crossovers and events where I have to buy one-shots, x-men: legacy, x-force, dark-avengers so on and so forth.

    Also what is your opinion on crossovers, and major events? I've recently started reading the Amazing Spider-man comic from issue 1 and noticed that while an overlapping theme such as the Green Goblin or some mysterious villain might mask over several or even a dozen issues, each comic, for the most part, has a self-contained plot. Do you think it is unrealistic to have self-contained stories in an ongoing series or must every issue end with a cliff hanger?
  4.  (7178.227)
    Also, just wanted to say-- Since both Aja and Fraction are here:

    Daredevil #190 is pretty much my favorite comic of all time-- in fact the whole back half of that Janson/Miller run is pretty amazing, but 190-- the double sized one. I mean, as a kid, that issue blew me away- what's not to love? Stick and the Ninjas, Elektra is all globetrotting on the top of a mountain and in Japan, and a big ass fight scene in a flaming church.
    A lot of it has to do with the moodiness of Klaus' artwork-- (As i recall, by that point, Frank was just doing layouts and Klaus was pretty much doing all the rendering)-- It was both tight and loose at the same time. I don't want to ramble on a love letter to DD#190, so I'll just say this: To me, that issue is THE shit.

    When I picked up Imm. Iron Fist #1, I got a weird flashback to DD#190-- not anything in particular, mind you-- but something in David's tone (the rain, maybe the Hydra guys getting their asses kicked)-- something about it, well, made me feel like a kid again.
    Loved the hell out of that run, but that first issue, man-- took me completely by surprise and has become one of my favorite issues ever. Seriously guys, great job and thanks.

    Ok, "gush mode" off.
    • CommentAuthorMathias B
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2009
     (7178.228)
    Hey Matt Fraction, admire your work, thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
    I seem to recall you listing On Her Majesty's Secret Service as one of your favourite movies somewhere, and it happens to be one of my top Bond flicks as well.
    Here's what I'd like to know: Are you a fan of the franchise in general, or just that particular movie? And if you are a fan, what's your opinion on the latest entries, starring Daniel Craig?
    Thanks!
  5.  (7178.229)
    How did you go about making that first step into a published piece of work to hand out?


    I was on the WEF which, at the time, had pretty much every eyeball in comics on it; from there, I worked on a protoblog called SAVANT which was very much the same thing. So, back when you could do such a thing, I was socializing in circles in and around comics up and down the rack. And I was showing off the work we were doing at MK12 because, well, why the hell else are you doing it, yknow? So... in a very specific time and place, i was, in a way, a known quantity. Or at least an easily knowable quantity. And that was how it started: i quit SAVANT and said i wanted to make comics instead of just talking about how to make better comics. And someone had a short story that needed writing, and there you go.

    How did you track down the people you needed to track down to give them your piece?


    Conventions. Respectfully and non-stalkerishly looking for people whose work I knew and admired, shaking hands, giving DVDs or books, following up on Monday via email.

    What kinds of things were you really trying to show in that phase of the game?


    That I could tell a story, that i could meet a deadline, that i wasn't a looneytune.

    When I told you it was my first ever convention you told me "That's like having your first sexual experience be an orgy".


    well i apologize for the vulgarity of it but... yeah, no, i still stand by the statement.
  6.  (7178.230)
    I'll be back with another question later-- I've got a Q about how you go about thinking/writing a team book as opposed to a solo character book-- but I think I'm too tired to properly state it--
    I'll come back tomorrow (today?) and give 'er a go.


    no worries. i was posting pictures of tarkus i was so tired by the end of yesterday.
  7.  (7178.231)

    True enough... the reason I asked was that I've often found that creators do they're best work at Vertigo, and while I love your Iron Man & Iron Fist more than nearly everything else that's being put out, I'd trade it all for you to have a successful independent title going full steam ahead (i.e. please, please bring Casanova back!). And since I'm a wonky foreigner with no sense of what the real comic book market is like (Norway has something like seven fully devoted comic shops, and they sell mostly manga), I've always thought of Vertigo as the gold standard of independent work. So for me, it's like saying it's a shame you'll never have TV show on HBO or AMC as opposed to Fox or something (even though Grey's Anatomy & our version of American Idol are the heavy hitters over here, too, so I guess I'll just shut up now).


    AH! no, no, okay, now I understand what you were meaning. Yes: I am very much committed to creator owned/non superhero books, have been working on about a half-dozen here and there, and hope to, in the next year or two, get some of them up and off the ground. the nature of my exclusive would preclude vertigo, but i don't know anybody over there anyway, so that'd have been a long shot.

    anyway, sorry for my confusion!
  8.  (7178.232)
    I refuse to ask an artist to draw something that they would have to spend their own time researching... I do all the research myself and put it into the script. I try to save their sanity and also not have them spend their valuable time on google when they should be drawing and earning money.


    yes! yes. that's it. that's exactly it. totally and perfectly.
  9.  (7178.233)
    Will we be getting more Madame Mask in the book?


    Yes.

    She's got an awful lot of screentime elsewhere, too, but we're not quite done with her yet.
  10.  (7178.234)
    Hey, Matt, can you say a little more about that? Fom what I can see, Scott and Emma have been lying to each other about a lot of important things for a long time, and so I wonder how they can amplify each other in a relationship so marked with dishonesty? I was looking forward to your take on those two finally confronting each other, but it ended up happening in the "Confession" special by Yost. Nothing against another guy writing the characters, but I felt like I missed getting to read your ending to the story. Thanks!


    Well, we're sort of in the middle of that story... you're right, though; they have, and it's taken it's toll. especially now as she's stuck as a diamond ice queen and scott's completely off his game and unsure of himself. he needs her more than ever and she... doesn't know how to need anything at the moment. so NATION X addresses that: specifically, 518 and 519, Terry's next two issues, which deal explicitly with Emma's current state...
  11.  (7178.235)
    Do you honestly like Carlos Zambrano??? I have a hard time thinking of a less likable guy, but I am a huge Cub hating Brewers fan? Please don't allow your Cubs to sign Prince Fielder when his contract is up!


    I do; I mean, the pissy stuff annoys but he's like joba in that, when he's happy, it's so real and sincere and genuine as to be infectious. I mean, i get the complaints and get embarrassed by the guy but I really thing, on some level, that when the team gels, it's going to gel around him as he grows up.

    AND: fuck all that, he pitched the first no hitter in 30whatever years for us. GO BIG Z.

    Fielder. Hm... he could totally be bradley done right! a left hitting, right throwing, first baseman?
  12.  (7178.236)
    now that everyones super short attention span has dried up (already?) (already.) i gotz some random questions:


    too early for that noise. i'd like to resist the sando-style question entropy until at least thursday.


    (and i'd marry, fuck, AND kill both ivan AND jason)
  13.  (7178.237)
    Is there ever the urge for to include a character named Henry Leo in a story? Or to just include Elephants in an issue of Iron Man just to see if you could blow his mind?


    no, but i did pitch Monkey Dinosaur Elephant who could turn into a monkey, a dinosaur, or an elephant. nobody cared.

    And of course, the nerd in me has to ask the Marvel superfan question. While you were on the Punisher, you mentioned that the end of your run would culminate in a story called "King Frank". Which I didn't end up being the actual name of an arc. Was this story just shelved? Was it boiled down into the last issue of your run? If it was shelves, could you share a bit what it would have been about?


    yeah, that would've been my last arc. but... because of a thing that ended up not happening, a bigger thing, at the time we thought, well, let's shelve KF as it would've been happening at the same time. in the end only two pages had to change. axel and i both had each other giggling like maniacs in the bar when we came up with it (and charlie huston was embarrassed and mortified) and we both want to get around to it one day, most likely as a stand-alone series. we'll see; maybe it happens, maybe not.
  14.  (7178.238)
    (and i'd marry, fuck, AND kill both ivan AND jason)


    at the same time? the options are
    a) YESOFCOURSE
    b) YESOFCOURSE
    and
    c) YESOFCOURSE, SIR. WOULD YOU PLEASE TAKE MY TARKUS HAND IN MARRIAGE AS WELL?
  15.  (7178.239)
    to you what is the essence of Kansas City or what about Kansas City do you hold near and dear to your hearts?


    that it used to be the paris of the plains.

    and i miss gary lezak.
  16.  (7178.240)

    What was the most difficult comic script you ever wrote? difficult to write? difficult to read?


    CASANOVA 11. Hands down, without a doubt. CASANOVA is always hard but that was the hardest.

    And I can't go back and reread anything. Drives me crazy and makes me sad. (That we're all about to do it for CASS makes me wonder what we'll all think of ourselves when we're done...!)

    hey look everybody! it's the amazing Fábio Moon, who is HARD AT WORK while his brother the useless GABRIEL BÁ is FUCKING OFF ON VACATION FOR A MONTH.