Christopher Golden is known by many readers as a novelist, while an equal multitude know him as a comic book writer with a variety of unique titles to his name. Today, SBC is focusing on his most current comic work, the DC Comics 5-part miniseries, Dr. Fate. After reading the interview, please remember to peruse issue 3, which goes on sale today, October 8, 2003.
Tim O’Shea: In the first two installments of this five-part mini, you've done a nice job of balancing the "normalcy" of Salem, Massachusetts, to play off the magical nature of Doctor Fate and the main story. Was your intent to avoid the cliché of "magic powered fellow living in a magic replete town" or if not, what was your storytelling intent?
Christopher Golden: It just seemed to me that far too often in comics, and even more often in magically themed comics, the main character is cut off from any sense of ordinary community. The Flash has been a longtime exception to that. Spider-Man is a classic exception. But with previous incarnations of Dr. Fate, and with Marvel's Dr. Strange, it has seemed to me that the creators wanted to enhance the sense of awe and wonder by showing how apart from the world the characters were. What I'd hoped to bring to the series was the idea that there's big magic, sorcery, that sort of thing, and then there's small magic, which comes from every day life, from people who care about each other and the small pleasures we find every day. I thought that Hector Hall was the sort of character who could learn to appreciate BOTH types of magic. There's awe and wonder in being part of the world, too.
TO: I'm wondering in certain scenes, did you specify in the script for artist Don Kramer to give the tower an MC Escher vibe, or is this something he injected in the visuals himself? How does Kramer's art best compliment your writing in general?
CG: Well, the Escher vibe for the tower was something established in previous appearances, but yes, I certainly asked him to keep it up. Escher was mentioned. The one thing I didn't want, and this was extra work for Don, was for it just to be stone and mortar in the Tower's central core. I wanted different architectural styles, different windows, different doors. As always, Don was more than up to the task.
TO: There have been myriad incarnations of Dr. Fate, by many creators. Did anyone in particular (other than clearly the Goyer/Johns template) influence your approach?
CG: I've enjoyed them all, but the short answer is no. Geoff and I talked at length about what our feelings were about Hector Hall AS Dr. Fate. Geoff was instrumental in the formulation of the story and themes for THE CURSE. Certainly the idea that Hector SOUNDS different when he's wearing the Helm does not originate with me. Otherwise, the person Hector is becoming in this story is just my extrapolation. That said, I'm HUGELY influenced by previous stories, but exploring the past incarnations of Dr. Fate was not what this miniseries was about. If we get a monthly, or even if there' s another miniseries, I certainly think we'll be connecting with the past continuity a little more. We didn't want to be weighted down by it this time. We wanted to make certain that a reader who had never even heard of Dr. Fate could pick it up and get on board. Now that we've got the foundations, there are lots of things I'd like to explore. Dr. Fate's place in the mystical hierarchy of the universe, his interest in learning about the legacy left by Kent Nelson, all of that.
TO: In terms of writing Hector Hall/Dr. Fate, how hard is it to strike the balance between his new found strong-self confidence as it struggles with his deeply rooted insecurities?
CG: Well, carrying on from the previous answer, Hector's BECOMING confident. He's BECOMING, miracle of miracles, a genuinely kind, sweet man. More than anything else, he's BECOMING ordinary. How strange is it that he had to live through (and die through) everything he's been through, in his various incarnations, just to become an ordinary guy? I really appreciate that about him. It takes incredible peace of mind to have the power he wields and the expectations that are heaped upon him, and still be able to be ordinary, to walk down the street and get a cup of coffee. He's not completely comfortable with who he is, yet . . . but most people aren't.
TO: Other than Hector, the story's lead, which are your favorite characters to write and why?
CG: Well, The Curse, of course. By the time this is posted, # 3 will have come out. The Curse is just one happy go lucky fella. And I enjoyed writing Caitlyn a great deal. She's just a girl with a crush, in a little college town in Massachusetts. But she's also got more spine than a lot of characters you'll read, and I liked that. Most people are stronger than they think they are. If the worst happens, most people really shine in those moments, as we've all learned to our horror in the last couple of years.
TO: Given that you only had five-issues to tell your tale, were there any elements you wanted to explore that ended up on the editing floor? If there were enough interest in a Fate monthly, would you be available, or do your demands as a novelist preclude the ability to take on a monthly assignment?
CG: Oh, I would MAKE time. I'm about as busy as any human being can possibly be, but I would love to do Dr. Fate monthly. I'm just getting started. First up, there's that whole You-Shouldn't-Have-Pissed-Off-The-Phantom-Stranger thing from issue # 1. But that's just the start. As to elements that I wanted to explore . . . just loads. I would like to have shown more of the ancient Egypt stuff with Nabu and The original Curse. I would like to have explored a lot of the questions that the fans are asking. But that wasn't the mandate this time around.
TO: Is there anything you'd like to discuss that I may have not asked?
CG: Just a couple of shameless plugs. My next novel, The Boys Are Back In Town, hits in February. My online animated serial Ghosts of Albion (co-created and co-written with actress/writer/director Amber Benson, best known as Buffy's Tara), is at BBC’s website. And in the latest Previews, Digital Webbing has solicited a trade paperback collecting my creator-owned Thor series Thundergod, with a cover by Mike Oeming. Check 'em out!
