Dynamite's new volume of DOC SAVAGE has kicked into full gear. Writer Chris Roberson has Doc Savage and his world-wide network squaring off against a hacker terrorist organization. Chris talked to Franco about his work on this book and the character.
FRANCO: CHRIS!!! Long time no see pal! How are you?
CHRIS ROBERSON: FRANCO! It has been TOO long, my dapper friend!
FA: Okay. Let’s dive right in! Doc Savage! That’s gotta be cool, right?
CR: Shoot!
FA: We’re talking about Doc Savage. This is a character that’s been around for a while. How do you tackle all of the history involved here and bring it to this new modern age we are all living in?
CR: Pretty much the same way you’d approach writing a long-established character like Superman or Captain America or even Sherlock Holmes. So long as you don’t contradict all the stuff that came before, you don’t really have to mention it. Readers just need to know the essential setup of a character and his world, the kind of stuff that used to appear above the title on the opening page in the comics when we were kids. That bumper sticker of a few sentences that boils it down to the essentials. With Doc, it’s just been a question of establishing the basics of “man trained from birth to be perfect physical and mental specimen, has dedicated his life to fighting evil and pursuing knowledge.” Then you just run with it.
FA: It’s probably safe to say Doc Savage has had an influence on a bunch of modern day characters, or what made them into what they are known as today. How does that influence your approach? What you are going to put him through?
CR: It’s a good point, because arguably he served as one of the primary sources of inspiration of everyone from Superman to Batman to Mr. Fantastic to James Bond. What I’ve tried to do is go back to the original Lester “Kenneth Robeson” Dent novels and see if I could distill the core essence of the character and his supporting cast, and then used only the other bits that I felt served the story at hand.
FA: What would you say to someone that’s never thought about picking up an issue of Doc Savage? What would be your selling tagline?
CR: This is the original article, friend. The one that came BEFORE all the stuff you thought came first. Accept no imitations.
FA: You are awesome sir! Thanks for your time!
CR: No, sir, YOU are awesome! Hope to see you again, soon!
Make sure to check out DOC SAVAGE from Dynamite! Issue #6 is available at your LCS right this moment!
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