Here we have the other half of the writer-to-writer interview with Fred Van Lente, writer of Magnus: Robot Fighter #12, talking with Ben Acker and Ben Blacker about KING: Flash Gordon #2, both on sale March 11th. Interior art by Lee Ferguson.
FRED VAN LENTE: Wow. I mean Lee Ferguson, right. Right? I know that’s not a question, but, wow.ACKER: Totally agree!
BLACKER: We were smitten with him when he did the Flash Annual and hoped we’d get him for our run on Flash.
ACKER: And then we got him for our run on Flash!
FVL: I remember finding the Flash Gordon movie embarrassingly cheesy as a kid (not that I had any taste when I was nine) and viewing it as an adult while stoned improved it greatly. Which one of me was right?
ACKER: You’re both right!
BLACKER: And Defenders of the Earth was the inverse: being a kid improved it greatly but watching it as an adult in any state renders it embarrassingly cheesy.
ACKER: But the ingredients are there: three in-over-their-heads humans fighting an intergalactic warlord while the greatest band in history scores it? And the bits of humor: the blimp in Ming’s wedding and the self-seriousness despite utter cheese. There’s great stuff that is great largely because of the ‘terribility’ of the rest.
FVL: I imagine you guys have gotten a million questions about transitioning over from Thrilling Adventure Hour, which is a radio (podcast) show, to comics, so I’ll try it in reverse — how has writing for a visual medium like comics influenced your continuing writing for the show, if at all?
ACKER: Nice switcheroo.BLACKER: Classic Van Lente switcheroo.
ACKER: Let me answer your question with a question: What is the answer to your question?
BLACKER: That’s not gonna work. This isn’t a correspondence.
ACKER: Fine. The comics writing as a medium hasn’t really had a strong influence on how we write the show except that it makes us really appreciate the collaborations we do in the show – the actors bring our scripts to life in ways that are analogous to how the artists do in comics and having worked with the actors for ten years we rely on them in ways that we are newly finding with the artists. Does that make sense?
BLACKER: Yes. Also writing the comic and the show – it’s our goal to make them complimentary experiences so we are setting things up in one medium and paying them off in the other. That counts as an influence.
FVL: What would be the ideal Sparks Nevada/Flash Gordon crossover?
ACKER: Man. That could actually really happen.
BLACKER: The ideal crossover is it actually happening.ACKER: Let me answer our answers with a question: Do you think there’d be a market for that? Beyond us, I mean.
BLACKER: He can’t answer. This still isn’t a correspondence.
ACKER: It STILL isn’t? Let’s get the kinks worked out, people!
FVL: Zarkov is such a great character, beginning with the way Parker built him up in the previous series. What’s it like writing him?
ACKER: It is the best!
BLACKER: Parker laid a great foundation – all the characters, tone and worlds that had as much to do with our wanting to write Flash as the history and the movie. If someone asks you if you want to play with Parker’s toys, say yes.
ACKER: That said, Zarkov might be-slash-is my favorite. He’s the smartest, drunkest guy in the room with limitless ego and the brains to back it up.
BLACKER: His tirade against Ming’s soldiers was a joy to write.
ACKER: He’s in his underwear this issue. How many issues did Parker have him in his underwear?
BLACKER: Not a correspondence.
ACKER: Fred: Follow us on twitter: @Bnacker and @BenBlacker! Get back to me on this stuff!
For more on King: Flash Gordon #2, click here.