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Home ¦ Features ¦ Dan Abnett Interview Part 2

18th September 04 Back to part 1

Ramone Dexter by Simon Davis

Harder, I suppose, because of the number of different things I’ve done with them. But easier too in a way - the strip is easier to write because the characters have become so well defined to me. And by characters, I include the city of Downlode itself.

Interesting that you include Downlode. When did you realise that the city was growing to become a character in itself? Do you find the city surprises you with what it throws up at you?

Right from day one, I wanted to make Downlode interesting, and textured. The texture comes from the names and places, the visual style. I’m not sure when that all translated into a personality, but it was intentional, and I enjoy Downlode’s behaviour: it’s like a functioning alcoholic... needy, friendly, loveable, capricious, sly and ultimately unreliable.

When you first pitched the strip, did you have any inkling of how it was going to take off?

No. I actually pitched five strips. I expected (the ex-editor inside me expected) the editor to reject at least one, so Sinister Dexter, much less well formed than the others, was tacked on the end, kind of to give them something easy to shoot down while they considered the others. And lo and behold, it was the one they liked the most. Once they went for it, I put some real thought into it, and the series came out pretty much fully formed. I still have the original pitch document somewhere: everything is there: the car, the setting, the clothes, the weapons, the style of dialogue. It all came out in one lump, spot on.

Finnigan Sinister by Greg Staples

Matt (sorry, Tharg) usually tells me what he wants these days - a six part SinDex, a few SinDex one offs, and then I go off and come up with scattershot ideas to throw at him. He then chooses the ones he likes and I develop them into a pitch or beat sheet, no more than a page or two, even for a six parter, and go to script once he’s approved it. New stuff would be much the same, except for the cue from Matt. If I’ve got an idea, or I’ve come up with something with an artist, I make a courtesy call to Matt to make sure he’ll consider a new pitch, then send in a four or five page treatment for a new series.

Veejay is a character dipped in mystery. Are you going to let us in on what, if anything, he’s up to?

I’m glad Veejay is proving to be popular. Matt and I thought the cast needed a little expansion, so I came up with him. He does have a few secrets in him, but I have to say he’s pretty much what he appears to be. It’s what he’s going to DO that's the eye-opener. Trouble does like him.

Veejay (Kal Kutter) by Andy Clarke

The last Sin Dex adventure left the reader hanging, with its hints of major things to come. Are Sin Dex getting another epic tale, and if so, what can you tell us about it?

You could say that, though not in one big hit like Eurocrash. Although stand-alone, the next few stories have links that build a momentum concerning Veejay, Senor Apellido and a few other elements. Simon and I are just now getting geared up for a seven parter that will start that ball rolling.

Have you plans to do anymore Downlode Tales?

Nothing set. In the upcoming major story line there are going to be episodes and short arcs that might have been considered Downlode Tales, but unless Matt has a preference, they’ll probably all come under the SinDex masthead.

Simon Davis more or less, made the characters his own. Then Andy Clarke came along with a radically different style, yet somehow, he has done the same thing. Why do you think these two completely different styles of art work so well on the strip?

Si is tremendous at character and atmosphere - in fact, I can think of few better. He deserves full credit for making them into real, rounded persons in those earlier long stories. Andy, on the other hand, is one of the best storytellers I’ve ever come across, and so wonderful at location and detail. They each bring those strengths to the story, and so you get stories that work on different levels. I try and tailor the scripts: Andy gets the most action oriented (or the ones with the most complex action), and Si gets the mood pieces, the colourful ones, the outlandish ones. Who else but Si could have done Murder 101 or The Off-Lode Experience? Who better than Andy Shrink Rap or Mission to Mangapore?

Durham Red

No. Mark Harrison was doing a fine job, and it was decided to bring a new writer in to freshen things up. Mark asked for me, and I jumped at the chance to work with him.

Why did you decide to set the story in the far future, so far from her established continuity?

Both Mark and I felt that everything had been done as far as the standing continuity went, so we decided to pull a radical makeover, make her something new instead of a version of something else, whilst remaining true to the original spirit.

Have you written your last Durham Red strip?

Mark and I have done everything we planned to do, let’s put it that way. At some point, we might get the urge to revisit her, or just be struck by a great new idea, but for now there’s nothing planned. It was a good ending, I think.

Like all good vampires, she has risen again in a series of novels from Black Flame. Where you not tempted to take her there yourself?

To be honest, I couldn’t fit it into my schedule, and besides, as I said, I’d written all I was intending to write about her. Creatively, I had more going on about the novels I was already writing: the Gaunt’s Ghosts series, the Ravenor books. Anyway, Peter picked my brains and checked things past me, and I think he’s done a fabulous job.

Have you plans to write any 2000AD novels?

For reasons too complicated to go into here, it suits me better in almost every respect to do the novels I’m already doing. HOWEVER, I understand that I have first dibs of Sinister Dexter as a novel, and that’s so mine that I probably will when I can fit it in.

The VCs

On a similar vein (ho ho) to the Durham Red question, could you tell us the genesis of the VCs return?

Simple - the VCs was one of my all time faves as a young 2k reader. I petitioned various Thargs for years for the chance to revive it, and finally got a yes. I wanted it to be absolutely a sequel to the original rather than a reboot, an expansion... like the way Aliens takes everything that was great about Alien and just runs a little further with it without contradicting a thing.

When can we expect the next series, and what’s in store for them when they do return?

A return to boot camp and a major conspiracy thing, leading off from the Diderot story strand. Oh, and Ryx is seriously bent out of shape with revenge.

Traitor General

The answer to the second part of that is “I don’t know”, and it’s finding the time for a better answer than that which explains the delay. I’d love to see it functioning properly, but I just don’t seem to be able to find the time I need to commit to it. Soon!

What are you writing now and next?

For 2K, the VCs, Atavar book 3 and SinDex. For the US market, Andy and I are busy with Majestic for Wildstorm and DC. For Black Library, I’ve just finished the eighth Gaunt novel, Traitor General, which is out now, and I'm working on the second Ravenor for the autumn. I’ve also written them a bunch of short stories, and I’m about to start on the text and plan of what will be a large format colour art book, a campaign guide to the Sabbat Worlds, the setting of the Gaunt novels.

Special thanks to Marc at Black Flame for his help with this interview.
You can buy the latest Sinster Dexter book, Gunshark Vacation from Amazon.co.uk.