An DCU:NG Email Interview with Peter David
Peter David may be second only to Frank Miller in stirring up fan ire. He's the type of creator who speaks his mind and lets the stuff between the lines speak for itself, and as such, most fans either love him or hate him. He brought the waterlogged Aquaman back to a pinnacle of interest (although with a slight appendage deficiency) and gave us a human Supergirl whom we could identify with (as opposed to the protoplasmic being she used to be). And the busy Mr. David was kind enough to share a few words with DCUNG (all that and he's pretty funny too, but you'll find that out as you read the interview).
DCUNG: What first got you interested in comics, both as a hobby and as a career?
PD: Barber shops. I first came across comic books when I went for haircuts as a kid, and the barber had comic books lying around. That was my intro to Gold Key comics. Also, I was into the Superman TV show. At the end of the show the announcer would say, "Superman is based on the character appearing in Superman magazines." And I said, "Wow...there's a magazine?"
DCUNG: What was your first professional work in comics?
PD: I was a researcher for the Marvel Universe Handbook and associate editor for the original Marvel Age magazine. My first comic book story published was in Amazing Spider-Man #266.
DCUNG: I just heard an internet rumor that you were leaving Aquaman with issue #46. Is that true?
PD: Yes.
DCUNG: Why?
PD: Creative differences.
DCUNG: Will Califiore stay on?
PD: Dunno. Ask him.
DCUNG: I guess that means that a Supergirl/Aquaman crossover written by you is out of the question then?
PD: Well, it's more problematic than I originally envisioned, yeah.
DCUNG: Let's settle this one once and for all (a dangerous statement to make in comics, I know) -- Are Koryak and Deep Blue teens? Ages?
PD: Yes and no. Koryak is a teenager, about eighteen years old. Deep Blue is about forty five years old...but she does not develop at normal human rates. Developmentally she's about seventeen.
DCUNG: Did you catch a lot of flack from fans after having Arthur's hand chewed off ? Has you found that readers have embraced the new look yet?
PD: Usual fan reaction: Some people loved it, some people hated it, almost everyone was intrigued enough about it to read it.
DCUNG: Now onto a few Supergirl questions .... After her guest-shot in Teen Titans and her Double Shot with Prysm, was there ever a possibility of Supergirl joining the Titans again?
PD: Hope not, but it's not up to me.
DCUNG: I'm with you on that. My guess is that Linda Danvers and Supergirl are early twenties. Am I right?
PD: Yes. I write her as about twenty-two.
DCUNG: How has her recent change affected her relationships with the rest of the Superbunch? With Superman? Superboy? Steel? Lex?
PD: I'm sorry, that's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
DCUNG: Holy horseshoes, Batman? What's up with the new Comet? Is 'it' a horse who turns into a man, a man who turns into a horse, or something even stranger?
PD: See the answer to previous question.
DCUNG: Without a doubt, you have created one of the coolest ideas in comics today -- a child who thinks he is (or really is) God. Where'd you get the idea for that? Is he God?
PD: People keep asking me that. C'mon...you don't want me to answer that. Marvel had Cable around for years and no one *ever* knew what was up with him.
DCUNG: Why do you think teen characters are becoming popular again?
PD: Easier for teens to identify with.
DCUNG: What books or characters would you most like to write?
PD: Doc Savage. That, and I'd like to write a Tarzan vs. the Phantom cross over.
DCUNG: Any upcoming projects we should be looking out for?
PD: The New Frontier books.