Two things I love most about comics are Mark Waid and Crossgen. Along with being a great writer, Waid is also one of the nicest people in comics. At a convention, he took the time to draw a terrific Batman for my sister.
And I have talked extensively about my love of Crossgen in the past.
So when I heard Waid would be coming back to Ruse, I immediately had some questions for him. I was allowed to ask ten questions, and here are his answers.
1) To those who haven’t heard of it, could you explain what Ruse is?
A Victorian-era mystery series in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes, Jacques Futrelle’s “Thinking Machine” series, and early Poe. Ruse chronicles the adventures of Simon Archard, a brilliant detective with the social skills of a lawnmower, and his assistant Emma Bishop, the real heart and humanity of the team. Between the two of them and Archard’s other agents scattered throughout England, they solve the impossible crimes that have an extra hint of the supernatural to them.
2) Will this Ruse book be stand alone, or will Marvel be doing some kind of shared Crossgen universe? How accessible with Ruse be to new readers? How familiar to old readers?
No to a “universe,” which is wise. It makes the series more attractive to new and casual readers. It was as Marvel’s request that I do a soft reboot, which was fine with me; that Emma had secret cosmic superpowers in the original series is one of the elements of the original series that was forced on me and that I couldn’t get far enough away from fast enough. So this Ruse series is geared towards new readers–but certainly, you can read these as “continuing adventures” if you’re so inclined. All you have to do is know that here, Partington is firmly set in England, not on some alien world called Arcadia.
3) What’s the same about this series to the original? What’s different?
It’s very much the same, minus the shared-universe connnection. But the chemistry between the main characters is that which we all remember and love.
4) How different is it writing a stand alone Victorian-era detective story than doing something in a more superhero-filled shared universe? Which do you find more satisfying as a writer?
This may be a little more satisfying in that it hones my snark-writing skills to a razor’s edge.
5) Malcolm Lightbourne was definitely my favorite character in the original, please, please, please tell me that he’ll be back!
I wouldn’t count him out. He was great, wasn’t he?
6) Will Miranda Cross be showing up? The Enigmatic Prism? Were these elements even something you wanted in the original or did Crossgen push them into the book?
Those elements we may want to save for a sequel series if the market demands one. With only four issues, I don’t want this to read like a “greatest hits”; it needs to be its own story.
7) What did you think of Scott Beatty’s work on Ruse after you left? Was it true to what you had planned?
Honestly, with all respect to Scott, whom I consider a friend, I never read it. No offense intended–it was just too emotional for me to go through at the time.
8) Will we see more Ruse mini’s in the future? Perhaps some Archard’s Agents one-shots?
Sales will tell!
9) Will you be working on more Crossgen books in the future? I’d love to see Crux return in some form. I thought it was a pretty original idea.
Thanks. I thought so, too. But, again, that’s a question for Mighty Marvel.
10) Do you have any other projects current or upcoming that you would like to plug?
I encourage readers who’ve not yet sampled IRREDEEMABLE or its sister series, INCORRUPTIBLE, to join us; each issue is a jump-in point, and I’m proud of both.
Huge thanks to Arune Singh, Director of Communications, Publishing & Digital Media for Marvel who facilitated these questions getting to Waid and back to me.
And of course, to Mark Waid for taking the time to answer them. You heard the man, BUY IRREDEEMABLE AND INCORRUPTIBLE!
Ruse #1 goes on sale March 2011. Definitely something worth checking out.
