John Rogers: Ordinary People in a Gods & Monsters World

By Tim O'Shea

John Rogers has started his second year writing DC’s Blue Beetle monthly series. Just as the character is facing new challenges and exploring vast possibilities, so is Rogers. SBC was fortunate enough to exchange an email or two discussing his work on the El Paso, Texas-based hero. Before launching into the interview, however, I’d like to congratulate Rogers for his Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer nomination from the 2007 Joe Shuster Awards.

Tim O’Shea (TOS): In a recent posting at your blog, you wrote: “In researching BB #14, I discovered that the Guardians of the Universe, the dudes who run the Green Lanterns -- their appearance is based on Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.” Two questions, where the devil did you get that bit of information? How much research do you for a typical issue?

John Rogers (JR): It's actually in the wikipedia entry, as quoted from Hadassah Magazine. So, you know, not a sterling example of my detective skills.

That said, I wind up doing a lot more research than some writers, because I don't KNOW these things. I came to superhero comics very late in life. I don't have that DNA-imprinted knowledge life-long fans have. Luckily for me, Mark Waid is a friend, as is Ross Richie of BOOM! Studios. So I can get any answer I need pretty quick. Mark will often answer before I finish the question.

The kind of cool by-product is that I come to these things with an outsider's eye. The research coughs up some interesting things. I'm writing Guy Gardner differently in #14 because I found out some interesting tidbits about his past most readers have probably forgotten.

TOS: Judging by issue 7, you love having the opportunity to have Jamie interact with Batman? What is it about the post-One Year Later, unclenched Batman that makes him clearly so much fun for you to write him?

JR: Batman is the ur-hero for me, as opposed to Supes. He's fun because he's scary, and capable -- and to me, the bit everyone overlooks is that he HAS to have a sense of humor. If he doesn't, then he's insane. I don't think he's insane, hence, I like writing the bits where he's very aware of who he puts himself out to be, how others perceive him, and the inherent ridiculousness of some situations he finds himself in. When you don't try to make Batman the adolescent power fantasy of grim and gritty, and focus on him as a real character, he's infinitely more interesting.

Weirdly, the Batman/Jaime exchange in #7 was very small, but it got the biggest and best response of the series so far -- its fun vibe was what inspired Waid to drop Beetle in Brave and the Bold. You never can tell what's going to hit.

TOS: How did the decision to tie this series to the Dan Garrett/Charlton era of the character come about? By doing this, what opportunities/possibilities in terms of storytelling has it opened the story and its characters to in the near to long term?

JR: Keith and I were very aware we were doing the third Beetle. Where Keith really wanted to establish this as an atypical DC book, almost a Silver Age teen book, I was intrigued by the history of the characters. Again, probably because for me this was all new, and all candy. I thought it would be cool to combine tying up thirty odd years of loose ends with establishing how a character from OUTSIDE the standard superhero world deals with inheriting one of the most INSIDE character legacies.

Creating Danielle Garrett, though, that's all Keith. I love how she's somehow charming and OCD at the same time. He's a character machine, that man -- you know, at one point, we counted up and realized we'd introduced something like twenty odd characters in the first three or so issues!

TOS: Many folks commend your ear for dialogue in the series. How many revisions/tweaks do you go through in a typical scene, to get all the myriad "voices" just right?

JR: Not a ton -- this comes from TV writing. I've kind of assigned each character a specific actors' voice in my head, and let it roll out. I have very few native gifts as a writer -- I'm still learning how to pace a comic, for example, that's kicking my ass -- but dialogue, that always comes easy. Peacemaker should be read as Clancy Brown, by the way.

TOS: I noticed that Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross are linked on your blog. Do either of those two sci-fi writers influence your writing approach on Blue Beetle?

JR: I think Charles, with his Atrocity Archives world, helped inform how I'd approach ordinary people interfacing with the fantastic. Why the Scarab, a tech object, can still process and detect magic, that definitely comes from Stross and my own physics background. But in general, they're typical of the sci-fi writing I like, and you see influences of in the Blue Beetle. They write about worlds where there are normal responses to abnormal stimuli.

TOS: Now that issue 12 has been released, can you tell folks a little bit about what "The Reach" is?

JR: As we learn in 12 and 13, the Reach is an interstellar race who's planted Scarabs across the galaxies in order to meet new young races at certain points in their development. They seem to be benevolent and peaceful traders -- almost mentors, to young races taking their first steps into space. How they interpret that relationship on their side is a different matter. And we know, at one point, the Guardians had a, ahem, very strong disagreement with their policies ...

TOS: How do you ensure that you maintain the flavor of El Paso in the book (given that the town's importance to the book has been acknowledged and the fact that it's located off the standard DC map)? Have you ever lived there, or do you have friends in El Paso that you keep on speed dial?

JR: I've been to El Paso and a couple of places in Texas, and nicely for me, from the blog, I have El Paso readers I can quiz on specifics. The Juarez bridge in #3, for example, that's photo-accurate.

However, what's interesting about El Paso is not, truly, El Paso, but what it's NOT. It's not Gotham, it's not Metropolis. This is not a place where the locals are used to superheroes, or there are any superheroes around to help Jaime figure out what he should be doing. The interesting character, for me, is La Dama, the local crime lord/lady. She's mid-level in the DC crime hierarchy, a way of showing how the dynamics of supers in the real world would affect such things.

TOS: Given the scarabs aversion of Green Lanterns, how does Guy Gardner end up meeting with Jamie in issue 14?

JR: Jaime's a loose end -- AND the Reach has just showed up. Guy Gardner, as Earth's One True Green Lantern, has responsibilities, mister!

TOS: In talking to readers on message boards, have you seen an increase in readers since the release of the first TPB?

JR: Oddly, not so much the TPB. But that issue #7 and then the New Gods/52 planet two-parter, #10-#11, we got a lot of positive message-board buzz, and I started noticing a lot of new names in the fan mail and postings. I get teased by other writers for going on the boards as often as I do, but for me, it's part of what makes comics writing attractive. It's a living, vital media.

TOS: What are you enjoying most about the collaboration with new series artist, Rafael Albuquerque?

JR: Rafael has this sort of raw energy to him -- both in his art and personally. He's this kid from Sao Paolo, he's banging away in his studio down there ... I've been very lucky with the artists we've had. Cully is fantastic, in the way he can make the characters "act", he's so clean and expressive, and a great fight/layout guy. Rafael has this sketchier, looser vibe, a little grittier, it really helps ground the character. He's a real find.

TOS: Are you looking forward to seeing how someone else writes Jamie, as when J. Torres writes issue 15?

JR: I just read the script for #15. It's a hoot. And kind of interesting ... J. Torres hooked into the big themes of BB very smoothly. Power as curse, self-doubt, family, inexperience, but trying to do the best ... I, personally, would say that's a real tribute to the original idea Keith had for the character, and how he executed it over the first arc. This may be a bit writer-geek, but one of the reasons I'm looking forward to seeing other writers tackle Jaime is to see if we did a good job in making him feel "real." So other writers know his voice, know his character, don't have to write into a void.

TOS: Metron in issue 11, Guy in 14, Superman in 15--are there are other guest stars or appearances of Beetle in other DC titles that you'd like to discuss?

JR: We're actually tying in with two big DC events this year, so I can't be as forthcoming as I usually am. But I will promise you -- not only will some big names be showing up, BB will continue to be a platform for DC characters nobody else is paying any attention to. We're the "working class" level of the DCU over here.

And what we have planned for #24 -- I will now personally promise that if you don't stand up and cheer during #24, I will refund your money.

TOS: As you've grown to "know" Jamie after writing him for several issue--what is it about writing Jamie and his supporting cast that you relish the most?

JR: This is a quirk of mine, but I love how Keith launched us into this sort of working joe world of the DCU. Jaime has no allies, no super-friends. Nobody's going to show up and take Jaime to the JSA HQ so Wildcat can teach him to fight. He's got to rely on his family, his friends, and his own common sense.

But this means that Jaime and his characters represent the REST OF US in the DCU. How ordinary people would cope with a world filled with gods and monsters. Oddly, my favorite bit in the book is a conversation between Jaime's Dad and Peacemaker. They're trading military histories, and we find out Jaime's Dad was 101st infantry, a military grunt, one of the anonymous normal guys who fought alongside and underneath the superheroes during the various alien invasions. These are the people the superheroes fight FOR, and we often forget that they are the ordinary heroes who drive the world, make it work.

Also, I'm finally finding Jaime's sense of humor, which is fun. How a character makes a joke is often as revelatory as what he jokes about. He's just a fun guy to write, and unlike so many other heroes, he's CHANGING over the course of the book. Oddly, I think that's what turned some people off -- they wanted a hero book from issue #1, bang bang bang. But this story's worth telling.

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