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‘Batman is all about contingency planning’: an interview with American comic-book writer Chuck Dixon

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 5; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/21504857.2014.889731

2150-4865

Jeffery Klaehn,

Cinema and Media Studies

Chuck Dixon has been working for more than 20 years as a full-time comic-book writer. His first regular assignments were Airboy for Eclipse and the lead feature on Savage Sword of Conan for Marvel Comics. Since that time he has written well over a thousand comic scripts for a range of publishers, including Eclipse, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, CrossGen, Dynamite Entertainment and IDW. His writing credits include acclaimed runs on Batman, Detective Comics, Catwoman, Robin, Birds of Prey, Nightwing, Green Arrow, The ‘Nam, The Punisher, The Punisher Journal, The Punisher War Zone, Sigil, Crux, Simpsons Comics, G.I. Joe, and a range of other titles. In addition, he is the co-creator (with artist Graham Nolan) of Bane, the Batman villain featured prominently in Christopher Nolan’s film The Dark Knight Rises (2012). This interview explores a range of questions and topics, including important influences on his career as a professional comic-book writer; the origins of the comic industry; elements that make for great superhero comics; continuity as an instructive framework for both comic-book readers and writers; how the idea of ‘creator rights’ has changed over the past 10–15 years; the business of publishing and the emergent dominance of the graphic novel and trade paperback formats; the direct market and the significance of Diamond’s distribution monopoly; Batman’s relationship to Superman and the rest of the DC Universe; and, of course, what elements make for a ‘classic’ Batman story.