Interview:
Sean McKeever
|
This interview was done through emails in January 2004
|
Matthieu-David:
Which artists influenced you the most ? And what
are your influences in general ?
Sean McKeever.: Which
artists? Interesting, never got that one before. I
suppose any artists who have a strong command of layout
and a striking style, like John Romita Jr, Bryan
Hitch, Sean Phillips, Steve Dillon, J.G. Jones, Frank
Quitely, David Lapham.
|
John Romita JR
|
Bryan Hitch
|
J.G. Jones
|
Frank Quitely
|
Matthieu-David:
by "Artists I also meant : " penciler,
writers, painters", Artists in a more general way ( sorry about my bad english )
S.M.: To one extent or another, my comics-writer
influences include Paul Jenkins, Warren Ellis, Kurt
Busiek, J.M. DeMatties, Garth Ennis, Roger Stern, David
Lapham and Frank Miller.
|
M-D:
Is there an artist you would you love to work with ?
(writer, inker or colourist )
S.M.:All
the ones listed above, obviously, plus (off the top of my
head) Adi Granov, Walt Simonson, Tim Seeley...sorry, nothing else
springs to mind right now. But there are plenty I'd like to work
with. And
I'd love to work with Mike Norton and Jason Alexander again.
|
|
M-D: On which comic book would you like to work or is there a specific
character that you would like to work on (
can even be a dream project )?
S.M.:
I used to say it was Spider-Man, and I still do
depending on how the question's phrased, but now I don't know that
there's a "holy grail" for me in terms of a character of
title. I mean, yes,
getting to write an issue of Amazing Spider-Man would blow my
mind, but it's
not like I'm dreaming up Spidey stories in my spare time. I'd rather spend
that time either sewing the seeds for future work
(where I wouldn't be
trying to kick someone else off a book to get the
gig) or pursuing
creator-owned material.
As far as a dream project...I wouldn't mind
orchestrating one of those big Secret Wars-type books for
Marvel. I also have
several dream projects that are creator-owned properties that I hope I one day
have the time and luxury to develop.
|
|
M-D: What type of
script do you write ? Highly detailed ones or very short ?
S.M.: I used
to write more detailed full scripts. Usually when it's a
new series I get more detailed, but as I get comfy with the series and
the artist the verbosity tends to dwindle to one- and two-sentence panels
a lot of the
time. I just want to concisely and accurately communicate
the story and the panels to the artist. I don't want to make the artist wade
through unnecessary excess
|
M-D: You worked
with Paul Jenkins on the Hulk : can you tell us what are
the advantages and disadvantages( if there are any ) of
writing with someone ?
S.M.: The
advantage can be that it takes a bit of the load off your
shoulders, maybe frees you up a little to pursue other
work or play catch-up or whatever. For a novice writer, a
definite advantage is that working with
someone who's established and producing regular work
is a great learning experience.
As far as disadvantages, there can be a loss of clarity to
the work because of the two voices involved in the writing,
especially if one or both are used to working alone. It
can actually make for more work as you try to fit
your voice into someone else's ideas.
|
|
M-D: is there a
title you would be very embarrassed to write ?
S.M.: Not
that I can think of off the top of my head.
M-D: Have you
noticed any storytelling changes since you started
writing ?
S.M.: It seems the one- and two-part story is
a rare creature these days. Sometimes that's for the best, and sometimes not,
depending on what the writer's trying to accomplish. The art of telling a story
of some sort every
issue seems to have gone by the wayside. When there's a
four-part or six-part story, I think it's important to view each of
these individual chapters as a unit unto itself in some respects, because
it is a unit unto itself, you know? It's a single issue of a
periodical.
|
|
I suppose I can blame myself for this problem with
SENTINEL, where each arc is an arc with some natural breaks but nothing all that
standalone from issue to issue. But, to me, that's what the story called
for: the
never-ending serial type of storytelling. It wouldn't have
worked another way, in my opinion. Whereas with INHUMANS I was pretty
well able to give a satisfying single issue from chapter to
chapter, but
that's always easier, I think, with an ensemble cast.
|
|
M-D: What do you think of the increase of length
of a story to make it more suitable for a trade paperback
release ? It seems to happen more and more lately.
S.M.: I think it's done a lot less often than
fandom tends to believe. Many of these complaints, to me,
are made over stylistic and atmospheric choices that
the creators have made--subtle pacing choices that put
more focus on
absorbing character and tone (or properly showcasing
an artist like, say, Frank Quitely on New X-Men) than on
getting the story over with as quickly as possible.
It's not intentionally drawing a story out.
I think that, if a writer does increase the length of a
story to make it graphic novel-friendly, then the writer
has a responsibility to thicken the story rather than
split each page into two pages and make liberal use of
splash pages.
I also think the interest in collecting serialized comics
into graphic novels has created a whole new writing
discipline where the writer is now writing for two
formats. One is a monthly serial, and the other is either
a
stand-alone graphic novel or a graphic novel serial.
It's a tricky thing to master. Brian Bendis is the king of
simultaneously writing for both.
|
M-D: If you hadn’t worked in comics, what would you have done for a
living ?
S.M.:
Well,
pretending that comicbook writing just wouldn't be an option
for me for whatever reasons, I'd probably still be working as a web
designer and feeling miserable and stressed. And I probably would be
writing spec screenplays.
|
M-D: "spec screeplays"
? What are those ?
S.M.:
That's a screenplay one writes "on spec",
meaning it's written without prior interest from a
studio. You write it and hope to either sell it or use it as
a showcase to get studios to hire you for other scripts.
Something like
that.
|
M-D:
If you were a comic book character, who would you be ?
and why ?
S.M.:
I
don't think I'd like to be any of them, honestly. I like
myself okay.
|
|
M-D:
What’s your favourite movie ?
S.M.:
A
single favorite? That's a tough call. One flick I can never seem
to get enough of is Swingers.
|
M-D:
speaking of movies, what do you think
of the scripts of some of the recent comic book adaptations into
films ?
S.M.:
Like
with anything else, some are great, some blow, and some
are meh. I really enjoyed Ghost World, Spider-Man (despite
some major hokeyness) and X2.
|
|
M-D: Could you
describe your typical day ?
S.M.: I get
up as early as I can without the alarm clock, watch some
CNN over breakfast, work out, maybe do some work, maybe go
ice skating, then I either work from home or run out to
the local Starbucks with the notepad. Spend WAY too much
time on the internet, rip CDs for my MP3 player--that's
quite a project. I have hundreds of CDs, and I'm at
Killing Joke - Pandemoneum now. Watch some TV, or whatever
else to procrastinate. Maybe do some work in the evening,
but rarely, then go to bed around midnight or one.
Really exciting, I know.
|
M-D: What’s your favourite song ?
S.M.: Right this
minute, it's "If I Ever Recover" by Basement Jaxx.
|
M-D:
Do you use music as an inspiration for your writing ?
S.M.:
Absolutely. Music is vital for getting
the juices flowing and for developing the proper pacing and atmosphere in my work.
|
M-D: What’s your favourite book ?
S.M.: I'll
assume you mean comicbook and say Gotham Central.
|
|
|
M-D: And
what your favorite book in
general ?
S.M.:
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
|
M-D:
What's your favorite alcohol ?
S.M.:
I'm a beer man. I usually swill down Sam Adams (love their
seasonals), Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Bass, Guinness and Blue Moon
Belgian White. Every one in a while I'll have a gin and tonic or
a Jagerbomb (a shot of
Jagermeister dropped in a tub of Red Bull). And artist
Jason Alexander kind of got me into scotch
|
M-D: Is there a comic book character that you really can’t stand ?
which one and why ?
S.M.:
Nothing comes to mind.
|
M-D: What is your best achievement so far ?
S.M.:
I
would say becoming a full-time freelance comicbook writer's been
my best achievement. As far as work I've done, I'm
especially pleased with The Waiting Place and how that turned
out.
|
M-D: readers may be
more familiar with your Marvel titles than with "Waiting
Place" . Would you mind pitching it to us ?
S.M.: Better
than any pitch I can write up is the website I built for
the series, which includes full previews of three issues: http://seanmckeever.com/thewaitingplace
|
|
|
M-D : Looking back
at "Sentinel" and "inhumans", Are
there things you would have done differently ?
S.M.: Nah,
I'm pretty happy with how they both turned out.
|
M-D: did you have
some hard times in your career ? which ones and how did
you deal with those ?
S.M.: Sure,
I've had plenty. I just went two months without work, for
example. That's the first time that's happened to me since
going full-time a year ago, and it was kind of scary.
You always have to be looking for the next job, because
you don't know when your current stuff will dry up. It's a
difficult balancing act.
|
M-D:
What’s the weirdest thing a fan asked you ?
S.M.:
I
don't think I've ever been asked anything weird, to be
honest. Unless I'm conveniently blocking something out of
my mind.
M-D:
So
more generaly What is the weirdest thing you saw in a
comic convention?
S.M.:
There was a female rap group dressed as ninja
superheroes who performed at Atlanta Comicon one year.
They had choreographed moves they did and everything.
Maybe not the weirdest thing, but it's the first really
bizarre thing that sprang to mind.
|
M-D:
Have you ever been to Paris
?
S.M.:
Never been, but I'd like to someday.
|
M-D: And since My
website is on Dr Doom mainly : How
would you describe the character : “DR DOOM” ?
S.M.:
He's the ultimate scheming
badass.
|
M-D:
Who do you think wrote the best Dr Doom ?
S.M.:I don't know if the best Doom has been written yet, but I
really liked the Dr. Doom/Dr. Strange graphic novel by Roger
Stern and Mike Mignola, and I dug Walt Simonson's Doom stuff in
Fantastic Four. I also loved his role in Secret Wars.
|
|
M-D:
Do you have an idea for a dr Doom story ? is he a character
you'de like to write ?
S.M.: I don't have a specific idea, no, but I'd love to make use
of him someday, sure.
|
|
M-D:
Who draw " Dr Doom" the best in your opinion ?
S.M.:
Jim Lee, followed by Mignola and Romita Jr.
|
Thanks a lot Sean !
Check Sean's website here : http://seanmckeever.com/
|
|
|