From the desk of Ed Brubaker

But first, a quick announcement -- I suck. If I answered your questions in the last few newsletters, your prizes are still stacked by my desk, but they will go out this week, I promise. When you're buried in deadlines it's hard to leave the house, I'm afraid.

And for those of us just joining us, the deal is, send in interesting questions to: criminalcomic@gmail.com -- ask me about anything you want. If I pick your question and answer it, you win a free signed book. And I forgot to mention, this is US and UK only, because international shipping is very costly.

So, let's get to our first question...

I've noticed as of late that you've started to become attached as a writer for movies and TV shows. The one that excites me the most is Maniac Cop (which I believe is one of the most underrated slashers ever made) What led to you becoming attached to a remake of a fairly obscure slasher?

-- Jeff

Thanks for the question, Jeff. I also loved the original MANIAC COP movies, the first two, at least. Larry Cohen and Bill Lustig made something very weird, almost a callback to classic monster movies, but with a really gritty feel, too. And of course, as a nerd, I'd watch anything with Bruce Campbell in it.

How I got involved was very simple, I wanted to work with Nicolas Refn. We'd been talking about a few ideas and then out of the blue, he just offered me this job. I don't think I'd have set out to write a slasher/horror film, but to do one with Nic, I felt like I could try and bring something to it, make it like a hybrid of a crime and slasher movie, like the original was, but with a more modern edge. And of course, the week I started writing it, LA had a real Maniac Cop gunning down innocents and posting a rant online and the entire city was on high alert. So, yeah, the whole thing felt very relevant, and obviously still does.

Not to imply this is anything but a horror film, but horror reflects society as much as sci-fi or noir does. I don't have an update on the film, though. I think it's supposed to shoot soon, but with film, you never count on it until you're actually on-set filming. The director is John Hyams, who is pretty brilliant at visceral scary action scenes, so I expect to be terrified, even though I wrote it.

I was curious if you have any go-to authors or references for your works? Where do you turn for inspiration for your crime and spy stories?

-- James

I read a lot of non-fiction, basically. And I read the news a lot, looking for stories about real people involved in crime. You can find fascinating stories about anything from a soccer mom framed by an enemy to a man pretending to be a teenager to abduct kids in the news, and there are lots of great books about criminals from the excited and cool to the horrifying and give you nightmares type. Here's a pic of one of my reference shelves, in my office bookcase:

But even with all that, most of my inspiration just comes from my own life or friends lives, or stories I've heard, or just something that hits you when you're out, watching the city do its thing. Crime writers look for crime everywhere, really. And for me, it's always about what do you want to write about, what is the story really about? Is it about the father and son road trip, or the crime? Usually it's really about the characters, and the crime is just icing.

Do you have any regrets about leaving Marvel Comics?

-- James F.

No. I miss working with some of the people I used to work with, and I miss hanging out with Hickman and Fraction and Bendis and other friends three or four times a year in NYC, but I left when I should have. I had a good time there, and got to play with Cap and DD, and me and Steve got to create the Winter Soldier and me and Aja and Fraction got to make Iron Fist popular for maybe the first time ever... But at the end of the day, I'm not one of those people who wants to write stories for other people's characters. That's not my passion.

It can be fun for a while, but writing to me is a kind of therapy, I think. Writing about Bucky helped me exorcise some demons and deal with my own military brat childhood. That's probably why the Marvel work I did, when I did it well, in my opinion, had an impact. Because you have to put yourself into everything you write. Writing isn't "I have a great idea for Spider-Man." Writing is "I have to write."

I also feel, on a moral level, like work-for-hire writing is just hard on the creators. You earn a living, but you knowingly allow yourself to get exploited. So you have to be really careful knowing how far you're willing to take that.

FROM THE DESK OF... ED BRUBAKER