The Spooky Six with Matt Wagner and Willow Croft

I was very tempted to turn this interview into a recipe-swap event, but the only horrifying thing about that is my tendency to scorch the bottoms of all my pots and pans, and that’s not very interesting, is it?  Read on to learn more about this eminently more interesting author and his new release, which promises to be a perfect read for Halloween night!

Matt Wagner has enjoyed a career in comics for over thirty years.  Born and educated in Pennsylvania, his first published work was a short story that would introduce one of comicdom’s most respected creator-owned characters–the mastermind assassin, GRENDEL. This epic, Eisner Award-winning creation has seen Matt collaborate with a host of the industry’s most significant talents and was recently compiled in a six-volume Omnibus edition that totaled more than 3000 pages.  He’s also renowned for his more personal allegory, MAGE—a contemporary fantasy trilogy that spanned thirty-five years in the making.

Matt has also worked on a variety of established characters.  These include his ground-breaking portrayal of the Batman villain, Two-Face, in the graphic novel FACES, a five-year stint authoring the fan-favorite Vertigo title, SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE, as well as the re-booted DR. MID-NITE mini-series for DC Comics and serving as the regular cover artist on both the Kevin Smith-penned relaunch of GREEN ARROW and a subsequent stint for the monthly BATMAN title.

Known for his character-driven stories and his obvious love of world history and mythologies, Matt has also enjoyed the distinction of being one of the only writer/artists allowed to team his own creation with one of DC’s flagship characters in two successive BATMAN/GRENDEL crossover series.

Matt has also written and drawn several high profile projects for DC including a highly successful, three-issue, prestige series starring Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, titled TRINITY and a year-long project comprised of two mini-series that chronicled some of the earliest aspects of Batman’s career in BATMAN & THE MONSTER MEN and BATMAN & THE MAD MONK.

2020 saw the 40^th anniversary of GRENDEL and a special project to commemorate this significant milestone, an expanded and newly redrawn version of the original story arc, GRENDEL: DEVIL BY THE DEED—MASTER’S EDITION.

Some of his other efforts, variously writing or drawing, have included MADAME XANADU for Vertigo, ZORRO, GREEN HORNET: YEAR ONE, THE SHADOW: YEAR ONE, THE SHADOW: THE DEATH OF MARGO LANE and THE SPIRIT RETURNS for Dynamite Entertainment.

Matt also teamed with renowned film-maker Quentin Tarantino to co-write a DJANGO/ZORRO crossover series that was co-published by Dynamite and DC/Vertigo.

He continues to add new stories to the GRENDEL universe with the current DEVIL’S CRUCIBLE—DEFIANCE.  His latest work is collaborating with maestro horror artist Kelley Jones on an ambitious and well-received series of graphic novels unveiling the secret histories of DRACULA.

WEBSITE:

https://mattwagnercomics.art/

SOCIAL:

https://www.facebook.com/matt.wagner.3158652

https://x.com/MattWagnerComic

BOOKS: 

Grendel: Devil by the Deed Master’s Edition https://a.co/d/5HwX6Rf

Grendel Omnibus Volume 1: Hunter Rose (Second Edition) https://a.co/d/eIMjZ9R

Grendel Omnibus Volume 2: Legacy (Second Edition) https://a.co/d/i7kdY2J

Grendel Omnibus Volume 3: Orion’s Reign (Second Edition) https://a.co/d/cRUZKXC

Grendel Omnibus Volume 4: Prime (Second Edition) https://a.co/d/bnU18fZ

Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey https://a.co/d/8KTcp5j

Mage Book One: The Hero Discovered Part One (Volume 1) https://a.co/d/1bw3SJJ

Mage Book One: The Hero Discovered Part Two (Volume 2) https://a.co/d/16meIF0

Mage Book Two: The Hero Defined Part One (Volume 3) https://a.co/d/hMXqiYd

Mage Book Two: The Hero Defined Part Two (Volume 4) https://a.co/d/dmnALWn

Mage Book Three: The Hero Denied Part One (Volume 5) https://a.co/d/gv6Gtdo

Mage Book Three: The Hero Denied Part Two (Volume 6) https://a.co/d/8U6QTFS

Legends of the Dark Knight: Matt Wagner (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight) https://a.co/d/1v7ZClU

Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman – Trinity Deluxe Edition https://a.co/d/hGvEv6J

 

Willow Croft: “Hey, look at that derelict Victorian mansion . . . let’s go explore it!” What’s the most unusual setting you’ve read about in a horror/thriller book, or included in your own creative works?

Matt Wagner: I’m a big fan of author Grady Hendrix. PAPERBACKS FROM HELL, his incredible compendium of the cover art from the golden age of horror fiction is a must have and THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB’S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES is one of my fave tales of the undead. And while I’m not usually into haunted house stories, I think his first novel—HORRORSTÖR— is really terrific. It’s about a haunted Ikea-type store that had a lot to say about consumer culture and America’s somewhat sordid history with incarceration. I found that location really clever and unique and the book is accompanied by chapter-break illustrations that look like the isometric drawings from an Ikea catalog.

Willow Croft: “It was a dark and stormy night . . .” What are your go-to comfort foods, drinks, or other ways to wind down after a long day (or night) of writing? 

Matt Wagner: In my civilian secret identity, I’m a gourmet cook who handles all the meal-time chores for my family. So the culinary possibilities are pretty broad in our household. I’m not exaggerating when I say that we can go a month or more without eating the same meal twice, with everything being fresh and made from scratch. So, since that’s one of my super-powers, my comfort foods vary based on my whim and what’s in season…but no meal would be complete without a sample of some fine bourbon to kick things off.

Willow Croft: “Did you hear that noise?” Everyone, even us horror/suspense writers, have our night terrors. What is it that frightens you the most?

Matt Wagner: My family’s safety is one of the only things that truly frightens me. So far as personal fears…I get really queasy about heights. There was a film a few years back about the French high wire artist, Phillipe Petit and his rogue 1970s stunt of crossing between the World Trade Center towers in NYC. I couldn’t even bear to watch the trailer!

Willow Croft: “I’m sure it was nothing. But I’ll just go outside and check, anyway. Alone. With no weapons.” Have you ever gotten writers’ block? If so, how do you combat it? Do you have certain rituals or practices that help get you into the writing (or creating) mindset?

Matt Wagner: I’ve always been real good about smacking my muse back into action when things get stale. As soon as I recognize the familiar grind of my creative gears slipping their sprockets, I change things up and step away from the routine of the moment. I’ll go run some errands or exercise or read a book or watch a TV show or play a game of some kind (crossword puzzles are a fave)…anything to temporarily break away from the process of ideation. And I find that it usually doesn’t take long to reset the creative mindset and come back to the writing (or drawing) table refreshed. Artistic ennui can be a self-perpetuating black hole and it helps to be able to recognize that trap in its earliest stages and take steps to walk around the abyss. In the case of our newest project, DRACULA: BOOK II—THE BRIDES, I’m also faced with a decent amount of research, both from the original novel and from the historical context as well. Learning not only how to incorporate all that I uncover but also how to hone that information down to what’s useful form my purposes is another skill that I find I need as a writer. And then, of course, I need to figure out how to best communicate all of these aspects to artist Kelley Jones. The Kickstarter campaign for DRACULA: BOOK II—THE BRIDES is now live and you can check out samples of the project on the campaign page.

Willow Croft: “Don’t go into the basement!” Are you an impulsive pantser or a plotter with outlines galore? What other writing/industry advice would you share with your fellow writers & creators?

Matt Wagner: I’m not an extensive pre-planner when it comes to storytelling. Quite a few years back, I spent a night at famed WATCHMEN author Alan Moore’s house. At one point in the evening, he took me up to his writing studio and showed me the graph/chart for a series he was working on at the time, which was effectively his notes and outline all cobbled together on one huge sheet of paper. The paper was absolutely covered from one corner to every other with tight, hand-written scrawl detailing every chapter and every character and everything that happened to every character in every chapter. I remember commenting to him, “Wow, dude…we don’t work alike at all!” I tend to veer more towards the process that Stephen King presents in his professional memoir ON WRITING. I come up with characters and then the general basis for a tale…and then I follow those characters around through the narrative and its settings, effectively discovering the story as I’m going along. This method always keeps things fresh and interesting for me as an author.

Willow Croft: “Ring ring!” It’s the middle of the night and the phone mysteriously rings. Which notable writer, or person from history, would be on the other end of the line?

Matt Wagner: I learned long ago not to harbor too many expectations when it comes to my creative heroes. The old adage of “Trust the art, not the artist” is generally pretty true. I’ve had way too many instances over the years of eagerly anticipating spending an evening or enjoying a meal with an artist or writer whom I greatly admired…only to find them to be rude or egotistical or even downright boring in person. That said…I did have an encounter a number of years ago wherein I became completely tongue-tied. I was at a guest at a comic-con and a friend stopped by my table, saying he wanted to introduce me to someone…who turned out to be Tom Waits. As I said, I was momentarily stunned and stammered out some sort of garbled greeting. But luckily, I quickly recovered and enjoyed a brief and pleasant conversation with Tom and his wife. Their fifteen-year old son was with them so we spent some time sharing parentisms.