Q1. Firstly, what's your history in the comics industry? What comics have you written, and which were/are your favourites?
DJ: Probably the easiest way to answer this is to give you the little biographical blurb that I sent to the conventions I attended last summer; it is as follows:
"Dan Jolley has been lurking around the fringes of the comics industry since 1992, writing obscure and/or never-published stories for Harris, Dark Horse, Caliber, and Valiant Comics. Not until the debut of the Marvel Knights mini-series “Dr. Strange: The Flight of Bones” in 1998 did anyone begin to
ask the question, “Who the heck is this Jolley guy?” Dan went on to have a story printed in “Star Wars Tales” #2, co-plotted and scripted the DC Elseworlds mini-series, “JSA: The Liberty File,” and co-owns and co-wrote the DC mini-series “Lazarus 5,” on sale now. Dan is currently writing a number of scripts for “Superman Adventures,” is co-scripting a JLA Prestige Format one-shot with Josh Krach, and has a number of other comics projects in development, among them (barring any unforeseen complications) a sequel to The Liberty File and an unrelated two-part Superman/Batman Elseworlds story. Dan currently resides in Georgia, where he often wonders exactly what he’s talking about."
Actually that's a few months outdated -- here's The List of stuff I've done:
• Vampirella #5 (Harris)
Annnnnd, on the "upcoming" list:
• "JLA: Gods & Monsters," a 64-page Prestige Format one-shot, co-written with Josh Krach
• "Cargo," a two-part 16-page Aliens in the anthology "Dark Horse Comics"
• "The Mummy," an adaptation of the 1932 Boris Karloff film (Dark Horse)
• Issues 9 & 10 of "Aliens: Colonial Marines" (Dark Horse)
• Promotional mini-comics appearing in Kenner "Aliens" action figures
• Inventory stories at Valiant for Secret Weapons, Bloodshot, Eternal
Warrior, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
• "Jumper," a 4-pager in "Negative Burn" #46
• "Dr. Strange: The Flight of Bones" (Marvel)
• "JSA: The Liberty File" (DC)
• "Lazarus 5" (DC)
• Three one-issue stories for Superman Adventures, titled "Poker Face,"
"Ghost Flowers," and "Magic Wand" (the first of these should appear around April of 2001)
• "Superman/Batman: The Hell Machines," a two-part 48-page-each Prestige Format special (totally unrelated to The Liberty File)
• "JSA: The Unholy Three," the sequel to The Liberty File.
Q2. What comics do you currently read? What have been your favourites over the years?
I actually don't read all that many comics; the ones I'm keeping up with these days are "The Authority," "Planetary," "Promethea," "Top Ten," "The
Punisher," and all the regular Superman titles.
There was a period of several years when I simply didn't buy any comics at all; part of the reason was that I had sort of drifted away from the medium professionally (there was a two-year patch in which I got no work at all, so I decided to write a novel -- finished but as-yet unpublished), and the other part is that for a long time I was so broke I couldn't afford anything but the bare essentials (food, rent, etc.).
My favorites over the years... hmmm... I don't know if I could pinpoint any one title or character. Things change so much depending on the creative team... I think it'd be much easier to list my favorite creators over the years, and even then it's a tough choice to make. Alan Moore would top the list, followed closely by Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar, and Garth
Ennis.
Q3. Have you always been a fan of the JSA?
I haven't always been a huge, rabid fan, no, but the more I learned about them once I actually started paying attention -- which would have been about ten years ago -- the more I became intrigued with them. They were the first ones, the originals, and yet because of the decades-long waning of their exposure during the Silver Age, now that they're back they have a sort of novel, retro-nifty appeal. Aside from that, they were excellent characters in their own rights; for instance, it's always made much more sense to me that a Green Lantern ring might not be able to affect something substantial and tangible, such as wood, than something as vague as the color yellow. And Dr. Mid-Nite -- with his built-in ability to conquer and control one of the basic sources of human fear, darkness -- is a well-spring of potential (Despite what happened to him in Liberty File).
Q4. Your work on JSA: The Liberty File was seemingly well received by fans. But how did this series come about?
Well, to begin with, it was going to be called "Batman: The Liberty File." 'Cause Tony Harris called me up one day and, as has happened on more than one occasion, said, "Hey Dan, I've got an idea I'd like you to help me flesh
out." And he sketched out the bare bones of a story involving Batman as a secret agent in World War II (a period with which Tony is practically obsessed), fighting an albino smuggler called "Smilin' Jack." (We had to change Jack's name because of a copyright problem, so I tossed "Jack the Grin" off the top of my head, and Tony liked it, so we went with it.)
So we started talking... and as we talked, over the course of two or three conversations, the story started to get bigger. Suddenly we had some guest stars: Hourman and Dr. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific. We had some cameos: Black Canary and Robin. And somewhere in there, one of us suggested that the Big Secret our heroes were going for had to do with a Nazi "super-man"... which we had planned, at the time, to explore in the sequel, 'cause we had thought this would be a one-shot, about 48 pages long.
Well, Scott Peterson at DC got our proposal for it, and just about flipped his wig. It was good enough, he said, to go ahead and tell the super-man story as part of this one. And it was big enough, he said, for it to be a two-volume, 64-page-each project.
Tony and I lodged no objections to that. : )
But then we had to come up with the villain for Book Two, and since Tony and I both have a sort of twisted side, we settled on the Rogue's Gallery member who was most about fear: the Scarecrow. But we got hung up on a story point -- the Scarecrow is just a little bookish guy and, as the story stood, would
have gotten mangled by The Bat and The Clock. Then something occurred to me: "Hey... how about if we make him one of the undead?" So the incarnation of the Scarecrow you see in Book Two -- all decaying and red-eyed and generally unpleasant -- was hatched out of my pointy little head. I'm hoping, if DC decides to do a TPB, that you'll get to see the origins I wrote for him and the other characters. We were hoping to fit those in in the original project, but ended up not having room for them.
SO... I was all set slap the finished scripts down on DC's desk, so to speak, when they came back to us with a request for a title change. They were just about to get into what they called "the JSA push," and since we'd selected co-stars for Batman who were all in the JSA, they wanted to call it "JSA:
The Liberty File." We said, "Yeah, okay." And there you have it.
Q5. What was it like working with Tony Harris (of Starman fame)? Were you pleased with his artwork?
Tony and I have actually known each other for about ten years now. I met him when I was 19 and he was 21; at the time, I was a college student, and he had just done his first comic book, a self-published effort called "B.L.A.D.E.,"
from his own Buccaneer Press. We knew each other for about two years, though, before we got the chance to work together, doing the Mummy adaptation for Dark Horse.
He and I have always had a really smooth, flowing synergy when it comes to inventing stories. We can get on the phone or, if I'm in town, go out and sit on Tony's porch and just start talking. And we can always tell when a story is starting to work, 'cause one of us will suddenly say, "Ooh! Ooh! I got
it! How about THIS--" It was a pleasure working with Tony on Liberty File, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what he'll do on The Hell Machines and The Unholy Three. (He and Ray Snyder are doing the art for both
projects.)
Q6. In JSA: The Liberty File, you portrayed Charles McNider (Dr Mid-Nite) as a real 'ladies man', yet in past JSA-related comics, this aspect of him was never dealt with. Furthermore, some fans claim Mid-Nite played for 'the other team'. What is your take on this, and why did you choose to portray him the way you did?
I was actually unaware of this "other team" speculation until I read the above paragraph. But the reason I chose to portray him as I did isn't very complicated; I've always thought of him as a very strong, confident character -- and women, in general, find confidence very attractive. Now, as to why he chooses to dash from one woman's arms to another's, that's a whole story in itself, which I plan to explore if Tony and I ever get to do the Liberty File prequel we've been discussing.
Q7. Regarding the JSAers who starred in The Liberty File, why were those particular characters (Hourman, Mid-Nite and Mr Terrific) chosen? Why not other JSAers, such as Sentinel, or the original Flash?
We chose those characters, their own coolness aside, primarily because they did not have the kind of Earth-shaking super-powers many of the others did. Realistically, if you've got someone with the kind of power Alan Scott had, the war would immediately be over (Note what J'Onn J'Onzz did to the Nazi forces in Book Two.) These guys are spies; they do have abilities above and beyond what the average Joe has, but they're not super-men. And we wanted to tell an exciting, intriguing, but above all HUMAN story.
That said, I can say that you'll see more of the JSA members in The Unholy Three. That book won't be out till sometime in early 2002, though, so I can say practically nothing about the story as yet. Close to the time, though, I'll be happy to spill some beans.
Q8. What other series' are you currently working on, or plan to work on in the near future?
As I mentioned above, the two I'm working on right now are "Superman/Batman: The Hell Machines" and "JSA: The Unholy Three." And I still can't say much about Unholy Three... but Hell Machines I can be a little more loose-lipped about. It's sort of a throw-back to the old Fleischer Superman cartoons; it'll have a really groovy 1950's sci-fi movie feel to it -- except, of course, a good bit weirder, coming from us as it is. : ) And while the story has absolutely nothing to do with The Liberty File, I think it'll attract many of the same fans, 'cause it has sort of the same flavor, if you will, that Tony and I like to put on the Elseworlds projects we do. So you can expect some familiar faces, but you can also expect some familiar things flipped on their ears. It'll be a lot of fun, and a real visual treat.
Many thanks to Dan Jolley for taking part in an interview for "JSA Returns!", and giving such generous responses. If anyone would like to contact Dan, his e-mail address is: DanJolley@aol.com
Thanks,
Petar
JSA Returns - http://zap.to/jsa