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David
answers questions submitted by fans from all over the world. He's
answered questions like, "What made you decide to become
a writer?" Or, "Of the books you've written, what's
your favorite?"
This section
of the David Morrell Network takes you up-close-and-personal with
David as he answers fans' most Frequently Asked Questions. Simply
click on each of the questions to learn more.
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| What's the background of your comic-book series, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE CHOSEN? |
Athough Captain America is a superhero, I treated him as a real person. Those of you who aren’t familiar with his background need not worry. During the series, I provide the essential history, although Captain America experts will find that I looked at key incidents in a new way, exploring their psychological depths and trying to provide new insights into the character.
The theme is the burden of being a superhero in today’s troubled world, especially a superhero named after the United States. The story takes place in real-world Afghanistan and involves a Marine unit, in particular a Marine corporal named James Newman. Throughout the story, these words function as a constant refrain. “Courage, honor, loyalty, sacrifice.” Those are the military virtues, and in my opinion, the world would be a better place if all civilians practiced them. There’s action, of course, but there’s also a lot of emotion. There are also explicit references to 9/11 and later terrorist bombings in Madrid and London.
Every panel of every page was written by me. I described what happens in every image. I provided dialogue or a caption if the image required. I tried to keep the latter to a minimum because comic books are by nature a visual medium. The technique is stop-action storytelling, a little like story boards for a film. The average number of panels per page is six, but sometimes, I wanted only two and sometimes only one. Sometimes the image covers the top of two pages. I varied the number of panels, based on the type of image I wanted to emphasize.
A comic book begins on page 1. You need to turn the page to see page 2 and every other even-numbered page in the book. Each time you turn the page, I have the opportunity to surprise you. I frequently took advantage of that. For example, my script asked the artist Mitch Breitweiser and the colorist Brian Reber to make the early pages emphasize muted yellows, browns, and blues to show Afghanistan after a dust storm. Then a battle occurs. Bright orange and red are introduced. But only half-way through the first issue when Captain America finally appears (you need to turn the page) do we finally have eye-opening brilliant colors—the red, white, and blue of Cap’s uniform. I asked for a full page so that the character could have a grand entrance.
The artist Mitch Breitweiser then interpreted my script, adding various visual details to dramatize my description. For example, when Cap finally appears, he holds a helmet toward the viewer. On the helmet, there’s photograph of a young boy—Corporal Newman’s son. This is a brilliant touch that is Mitch’s. In the script, I only mentioned the helmet, not the photograph.
Marvel editor Andy Schmidt recruited me for the project and coordinated the artwork, coloring, and lettering, the latter by Cory Petit. As you can tell, there are many talents involved in producing a comic book. Andy left Marvel in July to be a stay-at-home dad, but he’s still involved in the comic-book world, and on his blog SHOOTING THE SCHMIDT, he posted a comprehensive essay about everything that was involved in getting CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE CHOSEN into stores.
It’s a wonderful essay that discusses how brilliant Mitch Breitweiser’s art is and how revolutionary Brian Reber’s coloring is. Here’s a link to the essay, which includes several pages from the first comic book.
http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=39;t=000271
I hope you agree that the pages look wonderful. But please remember that you won’t get an appreciation of the story unless you start on page 1.
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| How many books have you written? |
| In the BOOKS section of this website, you’ll find my personal descriptions of all my books (just click on the title). You'll also find a button that gives you access to a complete list of everything I’ve written along with citations for some of the articles that have been written about me. It’s very long, which isn’t surprising when you consider that I’m into my fourth decade as a writer. If you’re interested in the list, you might want to print it rather than strain your eyes reading it on a screen. Some of the magazines in which my stories and articles appeared are no longer in business. However, if you’re interested in a particular item, you can contact the Special Collections division of the library at the University of Iowa, where I used to teach. I send the U. of I. Library a copy of everything listed in my complete bibliography, including foreign editions. My collection there also includes various movie materials, including drafts of the script for THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE (by me and other writers) and numerous Rambo movie scripts that other writers prepared. |
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