As Part of The Galaxy’s Greatest Content on Hypergeek, I shall be conducting interviews with with script and art droids that have contributed to 2000 AD over the years. This feature will not be weekly, but part of a rotating list of features gathered together under the Thrill-Power Thursday banner. Once again, I apologise for the lateness of several of this weeks articles, and columns, we are currently undergoing a family crisis, which is taking up a lot of my time and energy.

Today’s creator interview is with the legendary Dan Abnett!

Dan Abnett is probably one of the busiest writers in the business. As well as working as one of Tharg’s humble, and regularly beaten Script droids, Dan has also done lots comic work with Marvel Comics, Marvel UK, DC Comics, Vertigo, Wildstorm, Dark Horse, BOOM studios, IDW, Malibu, Doctor Who Magazine, Top Cow… and many, many more!!

Dan has also written an incredibly large number of novels. For Games Workshop’s Black Library imprint Dan has written over 24 Warhammer 40,000 novels, and 9 Warhammer Fantasy Novels, which have sold over 1,150,000 copies. He has also written some Doctor Who and Torchwood novels, and he will release his first original fiction novels through HarperCollins’ Angry Robot imprint.

I recently wrote a rather in depth Profile on Dan and his work as a script droid for 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine. If you would like to know more, as well as see a complete bibliography of his 2000 AD/Judge Dredd Megazine work, then please head over here!

The following interview was conducted by email, so if some of the questions are asking about things that Dan has mentioned in a previous response, that is why. For ease of reading I have divided the interview up sections depending upon the subject matter being discussed.

Working at 2000 AD vs. U.S. Publishers

• Your first work for 2000 AD was the story Judge Anderson: “Exorcise Duty” in the 1991 Judge Dredd Annual, but you would not become a regular contributor till you started writing Judge Dredd stories for 2000 AD in 1994. At t his time you were a resident writer at Marvel UK. How did you first become involved with the publication, and what lead to you ultimately become a regular contributor to the magazine?

Back in the 80s and early 90s, a great many British comic book artists and writers followed the same career trajectory by beginning with 2000 AD. 2000 AD was and is an extraordinary proving ground for British talent. Back in the day, you would win your spurs working on 2000AD, and then graduate to the American market, usually DC. I was an unusual exception in that I started my work with Marvel UK in London. Although I worked with them as an editor, I started writing freelance, and the many stories I wrote for them led to work for Marvel US in New York, at which point, I went freelance as a writer.

I’d been a fan of 2000AD since its first publication, and us Marvel staffers knew the 2000 AD people (they were Fleetway then). There was a healthy and respectful relationship: Marvel UK staff teams would regularly play 2000AD teams at soft-ball, in the park. I think that Early Judge Anderson story was an almost accidental thing. I started working for 2000 AD regularly once I was already an established writer with a body of American work to show. I kind of went around the British comic book writer career progression, arse about face. It was my long time love of 2000 AD as a reader that meant, once I was writing for them, I didn’t really want to stop, and Tharg has been kind enough to keep me fairly busy since then.

• How would you compare working with the big U.S. comic publishers to working for 2000 AD & Judge Dredd Megazine?

Apart from the basic comic story telling skills involved, it’s very different. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that 2000AD work is as far away from US comic work as the novels I write. I enjoy both equally, for different reasons. Summarised very sketchily, the main differences are:

1. 

   Guardians of the Galaxy #15

   Content: Most US comics are about super-heroes, and 2000 AD is SF, therefore, the types of story you tell are very different. 2000AD has a greater capacity for humour, satire and general off-the-wall inventiveness. Creatively, I flex very different muscles when I’m writing 2000 AD to when I am, for instance, writing Nova or Guardians of the Galaxy.

2. Format: American comics are, generally, 22 pages per month, whereas 2000 AD stories are five or six pages per week. So, given your average month, a 2000 Ad strip will deliver approximately as many pages as it would if it was an American format, but with four times the beginnings and endings. In other words, the pace is different, and the story telling language is different. I’m not saying that one is better than the other: the luxury of 22 pages could, I suppose, be compared to a movie, in as much as, there’s space and time to develop themes and indulge in B or C stories. In 2000 AD, there is a different kind of luxury, in as much as, you can be punchy and pithy, and you can also afford to be quite experimental. A 2000 AD story delivers in short sharp regular shocks, and, if you decide to spend five pages doing something a bit crazy one week, you haven’t wasted or ruined a month’s worth of story. I think, for example, some of the best Sinister Dexter stories I have written are the ones that focus on some tiny detail for five pages. One of my favourites was a story called ‘Bullet Time’, which was an account of a bar room gunfight, but the narrative simply focused on the history of each bullet, its origin, its manufacture, etc. I still get people telling me they love that story.

• Most of your work in the states is co-written with Andy Lanning. What would you say are the major differences between your writing process in this partnership, and that of your solo efforts?

I write American comics with Andy, because that’s how we started doing it, and it’s so much fun that we never wanted to stop. I write plenty of things on my own, but writing can be a very solitary discipline, so to be able to spend a day or so a week brain-storming ideas with a very funny person, who happens to love super-hero comics as much as I do, is a shot in the arm. I still write all the scripts: Andy and I plot and invent together, and then I go away and write the scripts while he gets on with his inking. I think we’ve focused our work together on the American comic side because to work together on five page stories for 2000 AD feels a bit like over-producing.

- I had often wondered about the writing process in your partnership. That is really interesting to know that you co-plot, then you do the scripting. I can imagine you have great fun bouncing wacky ideas off each other:)

• Andy Lanning hasn’t done any 2000 AD stories for many years. Any chances of the two of you doing a story together for 2000 AD / JD Meg?

I’ll have to ask him.

- Fingers crossed!

• After finding success in the States, it’s not entirely unknown for many writers and artists to quit the British comic scene for the fame and exposure of Marvel/DC. What keeps you coming back to work for 2000 AD & JD Meg. Does Tharg have some special hold over you? It’s the regular supply of Betelgeusean ale, right?

I refer you to my earlier answer, regarding my back to front career path. I didn’t write for 2000 AD because I wanted to prove myself and get a gig in America. I write for 2000 AD because I love 2000 AD and I want to write for it. And that’s what keeps me there.

- Wow, as a constant reader, and huge fan,I have to say that is possibly the greatest answer you could have given. It shows a real love for your craft, and encapsulates for me what is so great about 2000 AD, the fact that all the writers and artists have a real love for what they are doing!

Sinister Dexter

• Your longest running creation for 2000 AD is the strip Sinister Dexter. What do you think it about these two characters that has such an enduring appeal with both you, and fans of the series?

It’s probably correct to say that I consider Sinister Dexter to be my greatest achievement. It’s an intensely personal creative output, and I love doing it. I love the characters, and the characters include Downlode itself. I’m immensely proud of the strip’s longevity, and the fact that nobody else has ever written it, and the fact that there’s probably more of it than of anything else I write. (I suppose the Gaunt’s Ghosts novel series might beat it in sheer word count). In common with Gaunt’s Ghosts, I hope to write Sinister Dexter for as long as I still have stories to tell about them.

• Once you feel that you can do no more with the characters do you plan to allow others to play with them, or are you going to give the series a definite end. Like how Pat Mills ended Nemesis the Warlock, in order to stop other people ever touching his creation?

I think I’d feel very weird about other people writing SinDex, and I’m not entirely sure that anyone would ever want to. If I ever get to that place, then I’ll probably retire them in some way that will close the book.

Kingdom

• One of your newest creations in the comic Kingdom. What was your inspiration behind this series?

I am extremely pleased with Kingdom. It’s great fun to write, and it’s marvelous to work with an artist of Richard Elson’s calibre. Kingdom was one of those ideas that came to me fully formed, right down to the speech patterns and the slightly lyrical narrative style. There’s a bit of Australian Aboriginal story telling in there. Richard and I had worked together, previously, on stories such as Atavar, and this was a natural progression for our creative relationship. We’ve been very careful to bounce ideas past each other as2 we’ve developed it. I think the thing I really like about Kingdom is that it feels, to me, like a proper, old-fashioned, traditional 2000 AD strip. It’s got a strong central character with a defined look and ready-made catchphrases, it’s simple high concept and the character and the concept together provide regular excuses for violence. It feels like it’s got the same essential ingredients as the classic 2000 Ad strips I loved when I was younger… Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, ABC Warriors, Strontium Dog etc. (By the way, just speaking tangentially, I think that, in Defoe, Pat Mills has just created another strip that fits that classic 2000AD template.)

- I agree with you completly on that. Kingdom really does have that traditional 2000 AD feeling, as does Defeo. Both strips are definitley some of my favourite new material out in the progs over the last few years. I also feel the same is true of the original stories that Al Ewing has been producing, like Zombo, Tempest, and Dead Signal. It’s definitely a great time to be a 2000 AD reader!

• The First series of Kingdom was focused on Gene and his pack traveling around the Arctic and destroying isolated pockets of ‘Them’. In the second series Gene crossed the land bridge, and discovered a small human holdout that he referred to as ‘The Promised Land’. Things didn’t turn out too well here though, and Gene was once again forced to move on and search for new signs of humanity. What can we expect to see in the upcoming third series?

The third series is called ‘The Call of the Wild’ and sees Gene reaching Australia. There are some great new characters to meet, and some shocking new revelations. I don’t want to give away too much, but I think people are going to love any story where the Call of the Wild is collect, and we meet a dog soldier called Will Feral.

• How many books do you have planned out?

Richard and I are still working on book three, but I already know many of the components of book four, Tharg willing.

• I just wanted to congratulate you on the name Gene the Hackman. You are indeed the master of the pun!

A psychotic ability to pun is the mainstay of Sinister Dexter. Where else but Downlode could you find a sandwich shop called Focaccia in the Rye, or a far-eastern/baked potato eatery called Jacket and Thai, or a 24 hour fire arms shop called Glock Around the Clock? The names in Kingdom are sometimes tortuous: I decided, early on, that all the dog soldiers should be named after famous people in the movie business, but that their names should have some canine or warrior connotation. Will Feral is so good it almost hurts, but I have to say Val Kilmore used to make me smile.

- HAHAH! How could I forget Val Kilmore? That is pure genius! I think you might have surpassed yourself with Will Feral though, that one is going to be hard to top!

Insurrection

• Recently, you just wrapped up work on a six part story for Judge Dredd Megazine called ‘Insurrection’. The comic was incredibly popular amongst Megazine readers, with many claiming that this is one of the best series that the Megazine has ever produced. Now, it’s been a while since you worked for the Meg, so how did you become involved with this story?
  

Tharg sidled up to me one day, and asked me if I’d like to write a story for the meg that Colin McNeill would draw. Tharg wanted me to bring to the Dredd Universe a hefty jolt of the shock and awe that I deliver in my 40K books for the Black Library. In other words, shooty-death-kill-in-space, or combat SF, as it’s otherwise known.

• Insurrection is a Dreddverse cosmic space battle epic. How much were you inspired by your own work on Warhammer 40K, and your Marvel cosmic comics?

See above.

• Do you have plans to do any more stories with the surviving characters from the story, or do you have plans for any further cosmic stories in the Dreddverse?

I think that a sequel to Insurrection is quite likely, and I’d love to get started. Tell Tharg how much you want to see it.

- You heard the man! Send your letters to Tharg and tell him you want more Insurrection! Gifts of polystyrene cups may also help the cause, Tharg is rather partial to those

Marvel Exclusivity

• You recently signed an exclusivity contract with Marvel Comics. As I understand it, this contract excludes you from working for direct competitors, but still allows you to work for publications such as 2000 AD and on creator owned properties. With your current run on The Authority coming to a close at Wildstorm, and with War of Kings, and the Ascension tie-in series soon to be wrapping up, that only leaves you with Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy. Will you be taking on additional Marvel series after the close of WoK? Will any of these be spin-off series of WoK, like how Guardians of the Galaxy spun out of Annihilation: Conquest?

Marvel is keeping me plenty busy after WoK. Realm of Kings (RoK) will involve at least two new mini-series, covering the Inhuman and Imperial Guard consequences of the Kree-Shi’Ar War. Andy and I will be back to a book a week on the Marvel schedule.

- Realm of Kings (RoK)?! You heard it here first folks, lots more cosmic adventures spinning out of the events of War of Kings!

• Will your new Marvel contract mean that you will be doing more work, or less work, for 2000 AD?

Deliciously, it has no effect on the work I do for 2000AD. I will very happily continue to do as much 2K work as Tharg will throw at me, and as much Marvel work as they like. Tharg just hinted that he wanted some more SinDex, and Simon Davis and I are planning something new.

• What would you say to readers who love your U.S. comic work, but have not yet checked out your work 2000 AD / JD Meg, in order to encourage them to start picking up the those titles?

Hey US readers! If you love my US comic work, why not pick up my 2000 AD / JD Meg stuff! It’s good, honest! It’s like my US work, but with added pith. Oh, and also, puns!

- I second that! If you love the humour the produces a team that includes Rocket Racoon, Cosm, and Groot, with his infamous battle cry, “I AM GROOT!” then you are guaranteed to love Sinister Dexter!

Novels

• You are currently writing a series of novels to be release through Harper Collins’ Angry Robot imprint. What can you tell us about these novels? Are the three books part of a series, or standalone titles?

The first novel for Angry Robot is called Triumff, and it’s a rip-roaring (and Sinister Dexter readers should know) pun-tastic alternate history, fantasy adventure with added swashbuckling. It’s set in the present day in a different now where the first Elizabethan age never ended an the Renaissance reinvented magic instead of art. Triumff is the heroes name and his disposition, and, again like Sinister Dexter, the city (in this case London, as opposed to Downlode) is a central character. The second book is a hard-edged combat SF book called Embedded that will take all the shooty-death-kill-in-space that I’ve done and push it to a new level. The third book is TBD!

• When is the first of the Novels planned for release, and will they be distributed in the U.S. as well as the UK?

Triumff has been sold globally and will be published in October (the same month as the release of Blood Pact, my new ‘Gaunt’s Ghost’ novel for the Black Library). I’m going to be doing a lot of signings and personal appearances that month, I can tell you.

- Excellent! I very much look forward to both of those Novels. I only recently started reading your Warhammer 40K work, as I haven’t played the game for many years.  I’ve loved the stories that I have read so far, and they bring back everything I used to love about the game!

Blood Pact

Angry Robot Logo

Thanks to Dan Abnett for taking time out from his no doubt heavy schedule to do this interview with me. Special thanks also to Dan’s wife Nik, who typed up hisrather lengthy dictated responses to my questions! I imagine that Dan was sitting with two laptops, typing a separate story with each hand, whilst on a hands-free conference call to New York, and also trying to eat his dinner I honestly don’t know how he finds the time!

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