John Wagner interview

 

John Wagner is inextricably linked to the history of British comics and 2000AD in particular but has also written Batman and other American comics.

This interview was conducted by email by the 2000AD writer James Peaty in December 2020. Thanks to John and James for permission to publish the interview as a supplement to the discussion James and I had about the Wagner, Grant & Breyfogle run on Detective Comics on episode 143 of the Mega City Book Club podcast.

You had co-written/co-created one DC Comic (Outcasts) before this run began. How did the transition to American comics come about and how easy/difficult was that change?

In my case it was more of a dabble than a transition.  It was just something we felt we had to do.  Everyone was working for America, a good run on Marvel or DC comics could turn out quite lucrative, so why not.  It wasn’t that hard writing in the American format, what was difficult at first was getting them to take any notice.  The Dredd ‘Kenny Who’ story was a commentary on our efforts.

When and how did the opportunity to write Detective Comics arise? 

I guess Denny O’Neill had seen our work in 2000AD, or Outcasts, and was looking for a new writer and thought we’d be worth a shot.

How did you approach writing one of the most recognisable characters in comics?

You’re probably labouring under the misapprehension that I played more of a part in the writing of Detective Comics.  In fact I co-wrote five or six of our first efforts and from then on it was all Alan.  I don’t thnk our approach was that different to the way we did Dredd.

What was your connection to the character prior to working on the title? 

I knew Batman but I wasn’t a big fan or even a reader.  Alan was more into American comics, so I relied on him to keep us straight on continuity and the character.

The late, great Norm Breyfogle was the artist on most of these stories. He was an emerging artist at the time, but would go on to become - arguably - the definitive Batman artist of the late 80s/early 90s. What was he like to work with Norm?      

Alan handled all the communication. I barely knew Norm, but on our one meeting he seemed like a very decent fellow.  I loved his art, one of the greats.

Your run mainly focused on new villains rather than the classic Bat-rogues such as The Joker, Two-Face etc. Certainly some of these new characters - specifically Scarface and The Ventriloquist - feel like they could very easily fit into Mega City One. Was it part of the brief to ‘Dredd up’ Batman’s world when you took the job?

 Scarface and the Ventriloquist sprang from a set-up we used briefly in a 2000AD story - just a couple of throwaway frames that we decided not to pursue because it struck us as an idea that needed a much broader canvas.  So we put it aside for later use. The very first Detective story we wrote proved to be the perfect place.

This move into US comics came around 10 years into the life of 2000AD. Did this shift into working for US publishers on longer form stories influence the solo work you would subsequently do for both 2000AD and The Megazine in the late 80s/early 90s? I’m thinking specifically here about stuff like The Dead Man/Necropolis and America. 

No, don’t think so. Good practice though working in a longer format.

Around this time your full time writing partnership with Alan Grant came to an end. Why were you happy to let Alan continue to write Batman solo? 

Yes.  He had more affinity with the character and Dredd was mine anyway, so it was a natural division.

Why do you think Alan found such success writing Batman on his own? 

He was very good at it.

When you look back on these stories - and this period of your career - what do you think? 

I wish I could be that young again.  Seriously, it was interesting but with a few exceptions I’ve always preferred working for British publications.

How significant was the experience of working on Detective (as well as Outcasts and The Last American). What did you learn that stayed with you as you moved into the 1990s?  

I worked on quite a few other US stories after those - Boba Fett, Star Wars, The Crow, Punisher, Aliens, Chain Gang War and others.  So I suppose I became comfortable working for the US.  But like I said, British comics – especially DC Thomson ones of the 60s and 70s – is where my heart lies, as you may be able to tell if you’ve read ‘Rok of the Reds’ or ‘Rok the God’ (copies available from rokofthereds.com!).

 

Thank you to James and John for this interview.