By Mike Luoma • 5/5/09

Declaration Of Independents: Dwight MacPherson

Dwight MacPherson has been declaring his independence as a comic book creator since the appearance of his four issue comic book series Dead Men Tell No Tales arrived from Arcana back in 2005, released as a trade in 2008. He's perhaps best known for his tales of the thought-progeny of writer Edgar Allan Poe, The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo, which began as a webcomic and was later collected and published in two trades by Shadowline/Image in 2007 and 2008. MacPherson is also one of the creators of the all-ages comic Kid Houdini and the Silver Dollar Misfits released by Viper Comics in 2008, and one of the writers behind the sci-fi pulp comic book series M-Theory, originally published by Shadowline/Image. He also has a new ongoing superhero series set in the opening days of World War Two, Interagents coming out from Th3rd World Studios, and more books in the works. CosmicBookNews' Mike Luoma chats with MacPherson about writing, independent publishing and his many projects, past present and future.

CosmicBookNews: When did you first know you wanted to write comic books?

Dwight MacPherson: The first time that I can actually remember thinking "I want to write comic books" was after reading Swamp Thing Annual #2. Up till that time, I was writing and illustrating my own comics in elementary and middle school. Reading Alan Moore's glorious work really made me decide to focus on storytelling rather than art. My goal was to attend Ringling College of Art and Design, but my plans changed when I decided to concentrate on honing my skill as a writer.

CosmicBookNews: Did you want to be a writer first, or was it “comic book writer” from the start?

Dwight MacPherson: That's a tough question to answer, because my earliest memories were of drawing superheroes and writing and illustrating strange little short stories. As a child and young adult, I wrote and illustrated my own comics, but I became serious about writing when I had a short story published in my high school literary magazine titled One Man's Dream. So honestly, I was doing both "from the start" as well as trying to hone my artistic skills.

CosmicBookNews: Dead Men Tell No Tales was some of your first published work. Can you tell me a little bit about how the story came together and how you made the sale?

Dwight MacPherson: My first published work was actually a Dead Men prequel that appeared in Ronin Studios' HOPE anthology. The Dead Men mini-series had already been picked up for publication, but we decided to do a short prequel to the story to be included in the (we hoped) eventual trade paperback. I wrote Dead Men while I was stationed at Camp Casey, South Korea. As you can imagine, I didn't have a whole lot to do when I wasn't on duty, so I began reading every pirate book I could get my hands on and filling several notebooks with notes and drawings. After my research was complete, I wrote an extensive outline, broke it down into a 12-issue series and wrote the first 4 issue scripts. When I returned to the states, I put together an artistic team and pitched it to Arcana Studio. Arcana really liked it, but told me I had to trim the series to 4 issues. I wasn't happy about it, but I managed to compact the story into 4 issues.

CosmicBookNews: As this is for “Cosmic” Book News, I figure I should ask about M-Theory. What's the current status of that? I've got the first issue, read the second on-line... is this still happening?

Dwight MacPherson: After leaving Shadowline, I began looking for a publisher. Shortly thereafter, I decided to help a friend get some attention (George Singley) and took my books to Chimaera Studios. Sadly, Chimaera made many promises to me that never came to fruition, so I decided to take Interagents to Th3rd World Studios and test the waters there. I am extremely happy with the way they've treated me, so I intend to take M-Theory to Th3rd World as well so we can finally finish the book and collect it in a trade edition.

CosmicBookNews: If Wikepedia can be believed, actual M-Theory is a sort of superstring physics where parallel realities could possibly exist separated by “membranes”... since your M-Theory has Nazis in space, maybe that's where you're going with it... what does “M-Theory” mean to you and how does it relate to the book?

Dwight MacPherson:: It was never my intention to make M-Theory an ongoing book. I intended to publish the first 3-issue mini-series and, sales permitting, follow it up with another 3-issue continuation. It's kind of funny how I came up with the title. I decided that I was going to create a science-fiction anthology, so I decided to call it M-Theory; the M standing for MacPherson. When this story idea came to me, however, I decided it would be the perfect title because the story takes place in several parallel dimensions. Oops. I guess that's a spoiler--isn't it? [laughs]

CosmicBookNews: With Edgar Allan Poo, Interagents, Dead Men, even Kid Houdini and M-Theory to some extent, you're writing about actual, historical figures, but you take off from their known realities and spin some pretty fantastical tales. What's the attraction of writing about actual, historical people in such a way?

Dwight MacPherson:: Honestly, I think including historical characters lends the stories an air of authenticity. Beyond that, I'm a huge history buff--and there are several historical characters I find fascinating. It's really a lot of fun to writing some of these amazing larger than life personalities.

CosmicBookNews: What writers have influenced you in the past? Who are you reading now?

Dwight MacPherson: Well, obviously, Alan Moore is a huge influence on my writing as is (H. P.) Lovecraft, Poe, Rod Serling, (George) Orwell and Kurt Busiek. I don't think anyone writes superheroes better than Busiek in his Astro City series or Moore's Watchmen, Wildcats or Supreme. These two amazing talents are my biggest inspirations when it comes to superhero books. I'm currently reading Fablehaven book three. It's a pretty nifty young adult fantasy series that I highly recommend. I also just completed God Killers by comic artist superstar Liam Sharp. Who knew the bloke was an amazing writer, too? Liam's just too talented. I'd hate him, but he's an incredibly nice guy and a good pal. [laughs]

CosmicBookNews: American McGee's Grimm is just coming out, based on the popular game. What has it been like writing for a character someone else invented? How many issues are planned?

Dwight MacPherson: It's been a blast! Grimm is a wonderful, fun character that I've really enjoyed writing. American McGee's Grimm is a five-issue mini-series, but I'm also working on something else with the ultra-talented American McGee that I can't talk about just yet. All I can say is that it's going to be amazing.

CosmicBookNews: You've recently announced that Interagents is going to be an ongoing series. What made you want to take on the superhero genre?

Dwight MacPherson: I grew up reading and drawing superheroes, so it's something I've always wanted to do. Being such a big fan of Astro City and Watchmen, I really wanted to take a stab at telling a complex story that readers of these series could enjoy. It's not a dumbed-down status quo superhero comic [like] you'll find on stands now.

CosmicBookNews: What can we look forward to from Dwight MacPherson in the next couple of years... that you can talk about?

Dwight MacPherson: I currently have three projects in production. One is an all-ages steampunk adventure story called SteampunX. The logline is pretty straightforward: "When teen genius Adam Graham traveled back in time to Victorian London, he never dreamed he’d be fighting for his life against robots, sorcerers and a dead Queen’s brain!"

CosmicBookNews: "Robots, Sorcerers and a dead Queen's brain”? Sounds cool!

Dwight MacPherson: Beyond that, I really can't talk about anything else. But I promise you this: you will see plenty more of my work in the years to come. I'm not going anywhere!

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