The Goon has been in the middle of a pretty big and nasty fight in the current story arc, Occasion of Revenge. With the fourth part of the story coming out in stores this week, there's quite a bit happening. It's a pretty heavy issue and, as Eric Powell stated in the solicit text, "Things will never be the same again."
We won't give anything away about the issue but we did talk to Powell to find out more about this story arc and what's coming up soon.
COMIC VINE: You’ve been working on other books lately. What was it like jumping back into Goon’s world?
ERIC POWELL: This story had been building up in my head for quite a while. I was anxious to get to it. It’s always hardest, for me, to come up with a story that I really want to do. The drawing is the easy part. It usually takes me a little while to come up with my story lines. With this one, it had been gestating for so long, when I finally had all the pieces, I was pretty excited to jump into it.
CV: Are you like your own worst critic when it comes to ideas like, “That’s not good enough” and keep pushing yourself?
EP: Yeah, I have a notebook so whenever I get an idea, I’ll scribble it down and let it sit for a little while and go back to it later. Very rarely do I actually think any of those ideas are good when I come back to them a couple weeks later.
CV: Do you ever run the ideas by anyone else or is it that you’re the final judge on these ideas.
EP: I run them by friends and stuff like that and talk about them. Usually those are the ones I have gone through the process of letting it sit for a little while and deciding, to myself, if I think they’re any good or not. Then I usually share them with somebody.
CV: You’ve hit the fifteen year mark with The Goon this year. When you first started the character, did you imagine you’d still be working on him for so long?
EP: I had hoped, but I didn’t know. I was hoping that I’d be able to have this character I could develop and have it be my thing. My expectations were pretty low. I tried to be realistic when I started out. But I set out with a definite goal of trying to maintain this book and focus most of my energy on it.
CV: How has the character evolved over the years for you?
EP: Quite a bit. He may have started out doing something at an idea. There’s obviously something about that speaks to you and you like it enough to invest time in doing it. As it goes along, you really start to hear the characters’ voices in your head. You can go, “How would he react in this situation?” You hear the exchange between them. They almost take on a life of their own. All you have to do is figure out the situation and you’ll know exactly how that character will react.
CV: OCCASION OF REVENGE has a slightly darker tone than past stories. What made you take this down the dark road of revenge?
EP: I always wanted to do different kinds of stories in the book and, again, this is something that sort of evolved over the years of doing it. There’s the theme that the town is cursed so there’s really no happy stories that take place in the town. As I was building it up and coming to the climatic moment in the story dealing with the Goon’s relationship to the town and also the coven of witches that have come here, the tone got pretty dark for OCCASION OF REVENGE and the follow up, which is ONCE UPON A HARD TIME.
CV: Despite the war going on, things were looking up for Goon with Ramona. How will he be affected by the outcomes in part 4?
EP: I won’t give anything away with part 4 since it’s a major part of the story, but the consequences of the fourth issue are pretty drastic for him. The story really comes in two big chunks, it’s OCCASION OF REVENGE and ONCE UPON A HARD TIME. ONCE UPON A HARD TIME deals with all the blowback from part 4. It’s pretty dark as well.
CV: The issue was really something. So the next story will have the same tone since it’s dealing with the outcome?
EP: Yeah. Basically the Goon is losing his soul. It’s coming down to choices between is he going to get wrapped in the curse that’s enveloped the town or is he going to be the person his aunt always wanted him to be. His aunt has always been the one decent character throughout the whole series. She was his moral compass. There’s always been this theme throughout the book of the person she wanted him to be versus this brutal kind of thug. But he has to kind of be that guy to get through dealing with living in this town. It’s coming to a major conflict between those two angles. Is he this brutal thug or is he going to be more a moral person that his aunt wanted him to be?
CV: Are there any updates on the movie?
EP: Not right now. We’re still in the process of doing final edits on the animatics that we Kickstarted for. We want to get it just right because we know we’re going to get one shot to throw this thing out there. We want to make sure it’s exactly what we want it to be. Right now, it’s looking pretty good. We just need to tighten some screws and get it all put together, do a little more editing, voice recording, and stuff.
CV: You’ve recently worked on BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, are you working on anything else?
EP: I have a couple of projects that haven’t been announced yet. My last issue of BIG TROUBLE will be issue 12. Following that, I have a couple other projects. In 2015, I’m going to have a lot of books on the shelf.
[Note: BIG MAN PLANS was announced right after this interview was conducted. Powell is teaming up with Tim Wiesch. The first issue is due on March 4, 2015 from Image Comics.]
CV: Will we ever see more CHIMICHANGA?
EP: …Soon. Soon, I hope.
THE GOON: OCCASION OF REVENGE #4 (which is really THE GOON #49) is on sale this week. Check out the issue (and story arc) to see what happens to the Goon.
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