Interview: Paul Cornell on “Knight and Squire” and “Action Comics”

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BONUS QUESTIONS! We did a brief e-mail interview with Cornell before Comic-Con, touching on his early experiences with comics and the Soldier Zero series he’s writing for Boom!; here’s what he had to say.

What was the first comic book you ever read? What do you remember about it?

The very first comic I read was probably something like Pippin and Play Hour, for very small children. Then the Bash Street Kids in the Beano.  But the first superhero comic was issue one of Avengers Weekly, reprinting part of Avengers #4 with scary Ditko Dr. Strange in the back. It seemed so obviously made for me, an explanation of the adult world!

What comic book has made the deepest impression on you?

I think a lot of my writing even now is influenced by the Asterix stories. The storytelling is so swift and precise, the translation so witty. I find myself copying their moves all the time.

Who were your favorite creators when you started getting into comics?

I think Stan Lee is still undervalued as one of the great children’s storytellers. The way he takes you by the hand and walks you through the world is just timeless.

Did you make your own comics as a kid?

Oh yes! Drawn in biro, very George Perez, with sparkly bits all over, then very Frank Miller. I wasn’t very good at all.

You’ve written prose fiction and TV scripts; how do your experience with those and your comics writing inform each other?

I think working in comics improved my TV writing.  You have to keep prose at arm’s length when writing a comic, and enjoy the contribution of the artist.

What was your first published comics work? What’s your impression of it now?

A short Doctor Who story in Doctor Who Magazine.  The editor, John Freeman, was consciously helping me sort my craft out. I’ve got a lot to thank him for. Thanks to him, unlike some of my later stuff, it reads pretty smoothly.

What can you tell us about your work-in-progress on Soldier Zero?

One of the things I’m loving about this book is getting the input of wheelchair users like the great comics artist Al Davison. I’m hoping we’ll make this story of a wheelchair user who interacts with an alien soldier something that community can embrace.

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