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28th October 04

Matt Smith

First off Matt, tell us how you got the job?

I was working in the book publishing industry at the time. I saw the job advertised, applied for it and got it. I was Andy Diggle’s assistant for 18 months, and when he left, I got the job.

Andy Diggle is credited with turning around the fortunes of the comic, what was it like taking over from him?

Very daunting. But Andy was a lot of help, he was there to give me advice, and I tried to continue to bring the energy he gave to the comic.

I should add that, with these first two questions, your intrepid reporter hadn’t his tape recorder on, so the answers are from memory.

One of the things you have been doing with the comic is bringing back older characters, like Savage and Robo Hunter...

It’s not really a conscious decision. In some cases it might seem like a good idea, or it might be somebody’s suggestion. In the case of Savage, which might be of interest to 2000AD Review readers, is the fact that I saw a poll on 2000adreview asking which characters you would most like to see back. Top was Ro-Busters and second was Savage.

That got me thinking about where we could go with Savage, initially I was thinking of doing something slightly comical. Bill as this demented character who’s still reeking revenge for his wife and kids.

Savage by Mills and Adlard

In terms of Robo Hunter, Samantha Slade has always been mooted as a character. Ian Gibson has had the character designs on his website for ages. John Wagner called and said ‘Have you thought about doing this Samantha Slade thing?’ He wasn’t interested in doing it, but was happy for Alan to write it. I would never have done Robo Hunter without Ian doing the artwork.

I enjoy it. It’s light fun, and works as a counterpoint to the grim and gritty tales.
I am conscious of the fact that we can’t rely on the past too much. I do wonder sometimes if there is too much reliance on bring characters back, when they should be put to rest.

But on the other hand, it can work to our advantage. I’ll sometimes get letters saying ‘I haven’t picked up 2000AD for ten years, but bought it because I saw Sam Slade on the cover.’ So in that sense, it’s great to bring a character back that has a strong resonance with the readers. But on the other hand, you don’t want to put the nail in the coffin of a character, and just let them go with dignity.

It’s hard to get the mix right, of classic characters and new stuff. You’ve always got that bedrock, Dredd, Slaine, Nikolai Dante is on the way to becoming one of those classic characters, so that you can put in new stuff, that might be slightly different, and if people don’t like it, they’ve still got these classic characters.

You try and do your best.

Are there any other older characters you’d like to see brought back?

Not really no. I mean, there are some stories you’d like to see. I would like John Smith to write more Indigo Prime stories, but I am conscious of the fact that maybe it’s time to draw a line under some of the older stuff.

I think Rogue has pretty much run it’s course. Durham Red has finished her story
So no, I can’t think of any other I’d bring back.

You mentioned there about seeing the poll on this site. Do you look around the fan sites a lot?

Yeah, I usually take a look at the 2000AD message board, mostly when the new prog comes out, I have a look and see what the reactions are. And the reviews on 2000AD Review, I read the comments. Not always do I agree with them, but you pays your money you takes your chance. I sometimes take a look at alt.2000ad to see what scojo is saying.<laughs>

The web fans tend to be the most vocal. Do you pay attention to them?

Well, it’s difficult. There must be something like two dozen regular posters on the message board, and that accounts for the tiniest fraction of the readership. So just because they hate a story, it doesn’t mean to say the whole readership does. Sometimes the views that come in on regular letters are completely different to those of the message board. I take note of criticisms, but that’s not to say they influence my decisions. But it’s changed with the advent of the internet. Suddenly people can put up their opinions within minutes of reading the prog. And also they can put up their theories, about stuff that might not necessarily be true, might not necessarily have any basis in fact. Not just about the stories, but about the way things are done in 2000AD, the way it’s are put together. You put this up on the internet, and suddenly it’s considered as fact.

So it’s changed, now readers are much more vocal.

The unfortunate Valkyries

Synnamon’s coming back for a new series. I felt it was a character that could develop. I like a character that can come and go in a nine part series, or a shorter story of a couple of parts. Like the great way Strontium Dog, in the old days, would go from a long story to a shorter story and always have a presence in the comic. So I try to have series that can do that. Low Life is one, Cabballistics Inc as well. And Synnamon is another one. Colin and Chris have got strong ideas about where they can take the character, so I think there’s some mileage in her.

As for Valkyries. It was an unpopular story, but that’s the way it goes. It was in the comic for six weeks, and then it went away. We’ll always try different things, try new artists, otherwise things will get stale. You’ll have the same characters, the same artists...

I think one of the problems with comic fans is that they don’t want change..?

That’s true yeah...

But at the same time they complain when you don’t do anything different. Which is something illustrated perfectly with things like Siku’s Dredd.

In the end it all comes down to subjectivity really. It just happens that some artists are more popular that others.

But yeah, readers are reluctant to see change. To a degree.

It can be frustrating, it certainly was for Graham, who was the designer, he’s now left. He came from a background of magazine publishing, and didn’t have a lot of interest in comics. But he brought a good design sensibility to 2000AD. He wanted to broaden the ideas on the covers and things like that. He was very involved in the Durham Red photo covers, he was very much interested in creating something different than the standard 2000AD cover.

While the comic will look the same week on week, there will be this branching out, trying something different. We print so much material that you’ve got to chance things occasionally, because that one little thing might bring somebody new in.

Could you take us through the day to day assembly of a prog?

Well, scripts are written months ahead. But if we take something like a Dredd script, John Wagner will e-mail it to me. Usually with a John Wagner script it’s pretty much perfect.

Then find an artist who suits the subject matter, and who’s available. The artist will have two or three weeks to do the artwork. The art is sent in, sometimes as physical artwork, but more often than not on CD. The art is imported into a Quark Xpress file, the script is edited and subbed according to how the artist has interpreted the script. Sometimes an artist will do something that is not necessarily on the script, maybe take a panel onto the next page... Then lettering, adding logos, next prog line, letters page if it’s needed, then it’s up to the printers.

The genius that is Droid Life

Story matter is a prime concern. If it’s slightly comical, it’ll go to someone who does comedy well, if it’s slightly dark, again you get an artist who can do that.

A lot of it just comes down to availability. Sometimes the artist you want can’t do it on time. Sometimes, and this isn’t a big problem, it comes down to budget as well. I have a budget I have to stick to, and if you find you’re running out of money, then sometimes you have to go for an artist who doesn’t cost as much as another.

As an aside, the reason that Droid Life hasn’t been in 2000AD for a while, is that it’s usually about this time of the year that I have to look back at the prog and see how much money I’ve spent out of the budget, and realise I’ve got to save some money quick.. Every time I put a Droid Life in 2000AD it has that little more cost, so I’ve been saving some money by leaving Droid Life out of the prog.

Then I’ve got the Christmas prog coming up, so I’ve got to keep enough money in the budget to cover the cost of that.

Who do you think is the best new writer or artist that you’ve brought in?

Emmm...<thinking really hard> I think Dom Reardon has really flourished in Cabballistics. From his very first story, he’s gained strength and confidence in his artwork. And Boo Cook, who I think is going to be the new Frank Quietly.

Simon Spurrier has gone from strength to strength in his scriptwriting. He had a few Future Shocks under his belt, and his first longer story The Scrap gave him that extra leeway to tell a longer story... Lobster Random obviously, it seems to have gone down very well.

I think of the newer writers, I think Al Ewing is doing good stuff.

What advice would you give to anyone sending a submission? What are you looking for?

With art work, always send in a strip submission, sequential art. Too many submissions are pictures, which don’t say anything about how well you can tell a story.
Always send in black and white. If you ink your own stuff fine, if not you can send pencils. But always black and white, because bad colouring can ruin a submission. And just send photocopies.

In terms of what I’m looking for, remember that 2000AD is an action comic. I want to see a sense of drama and fluidity. Sometimes submissions are very flat, or just a series of head shots of characters talking.

Script submissions must be for one off, five page stories. Don’t try and write a Dredd story. Try and be original if you can, think of something that hasn’t been done before. But there have been so many stories over the years, you might right a fairly conventional story, in terms of the setting, but if you give it that tweak it might make me pick it up.

A lot of scripts that come in are just, you know, ‘Two guys having a fight’. I want to see a plot unfold, something that will draw the reader in. Give it some subtext too, so it’s not just ‘Guy lands on planet, planet explodes’.

Andrew Lewis and Gary Crutchley recent Future Shock

You shouldn’t have enough room in the five pages to cram in all the plot that you’ve got. Write the script, revise it, go back and trim it some more. Don’t infodump the reader with captions, make the back story reveal itself through the action.

So what about the DC deal, do you think it’s going to help the comic in the States?

I hope so! It’s a great opportunity having DC distributing in America. We can get into places that don’t normally pick up 2000AD.

2000AD is known in America, They are aware that it’s this comic with a tremendous amount of history, but getting hold of it weekly, and the fact that it’s an anthology as well... it helps that they’re collected into books.

It not only helps with getting people to read them, but with film opportunities. It’s great that you can just give them a collected book. What I’ve heard is that a lot of the American producers have a hard time understanding 2000AD's format. They’ll read a story, and go, ‘Why’s it gone black and white? It’s a different story? I don’t get it.’
It’s great to have it out there, and I think it really stands up well to a lot of the American comics.

Among the DC reprints will be a collected edition of the Dredd/Batman team-ups. Is there a chance we'll see more of these, or crossovers with other DC and 2000AD characters?

It’s been suggested that we do more crossovers, though nothing’s definite. Dredd vs Superman seems to be top of the list, but we feel it’s important we do crossovers that make sense, rather than just pitting characters against each other purely for the sake of it.

Are there any 2000AD properties, apart from Dredd, which are attracting the interest of the movie industry?

Rebellion are continuing to pitch properties to studios, and an interest has been shown in some – but if I say anymore I’ll incur the wrath of The Mighty One!

Matt's forthcoming novel

Black Flame publisher Marc Gascoigne asked if I’d be interested in writing one, and the idea appealed. It had been an ambition of mine to write a novel, so this was an ideal opportunity. Drawing on elements from the short story that I wrote about five years ago and that won the Random Literary Abuse comp that appeared on the Class of ‘79 website, I wanted to write a very grounded Dredd story, heavily influenced by one of my favourite writers, James Ellroy. Love all that stuff about corrupt cops seeking redemption, and Pete Trager, the Wally Squad Judge in ‘The Final Cut’, has crossed the line more times than is healthy... It proved quite an exhausting experience, writing a 72,000 word novel as well doing the day job, but I’m glad I did it and will be interested in seeing the response to it.

Have you plans to write any more novels?

Once the Dredd one was done, I was glad to have my evenings free again, but I’ve been recently thinking about a Strontium Dog novel. I’ve got a plot forming... But maybe I’ll see how ‘The Final Cut’ goes down first!

You've written a few of the Metro Dredds, what about writing a strip for the comic?

Ever since I’ve been at 2000 AD, it’s always been considered frowned-upon for the editor to write for the comic. A certain predecessor in the late 1980s used to publish a lot of his own material with – how can I put this politely? - not entirely successful results, and it ends up harming the quality of the comic. You can’t be objective about your own work. Plus it’s not as if there’s a shortage of freelance talent. And it tends to be the route that editors goes freelance, anyway – Pat Mills, John Wagner, Alan Grant, David Bishop, Andy Diggle, etc – so if I wanted to write for 2000 AD I’d have to pitch something to my successor and take my chances with everybody else. Writing some of the Metro Dredds was born out of necessity to turn out a lot of scripts quickly, as we needed to get the artist working on six months’ worth of daily strip.

Coming soon - American Gothic

It’s all good! Squaxx dek Thargo demand no less! OK, there’s Synnamon and Red Seas mini-series to take us up to Prog 2005, which features complete Caballistics, Samantha Slade and Dredd tales alongside the start of new series for Nikolai Dante, Slaine, and future sport Thrill Second City Blues by Kek-W and Warren Pleece. February sees more Low Life and the debut of Tiger Sun, Dragon Moon by Steve Parkhouse; March sees the return of The V.C.s and horror Western American Gothic by Ian Edginton and Mike Collins... Pencilled in for Summer is the return of Shakara and Savage, not forgetting epic sci-fi saga Leatherjack by the Firekind team of John Smith and Paul Marshall... It’s all Thrilltastic!

Special thanks to Mike Carroll, and to Matt for his patience.