Comics Interview — Issue #102

Collins discusses her approach to scripting Swamp Thing, drawing on Southern Gothic folklore, Cajun and Creole legend, and real New Orleans history to give the series a "white trash from Hell / Twin Peaks" feel. She explains her decision to drop first-person narration, her plans for Chester, Abby, and the baby Tefe, and the introduction of an inter-racial gay couple and a new Elemental character she calls Dame Verte.

Byrne reflects on his return to the X-Men franchise as scripter (working from Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio's plots), running down his take on each major character and flagging Gambit's Cajun dialect as his chief challenge. He outlines his long-term goals — including a major "mutant massacre" to thin the overcrowded mutant population — while discussing the concurrent projects he is phasing down or handing off. Byrne also speaks at length about Next Men, his creator-owned Dark Horse series intended as an attempt to build a "Fantastic Four" for a virgin universe, and voices frustration with an industry driven by event-publishing and fan spending habits over storytelling.

In part one of a two-part interview, Australian cartoonist John Dixon traces his career from 1950s black-and-white comic books (*Tim Valor*, The Crimson Comet, Catman) through the creation and 28-year run of the internationally syndicated adventure strip Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors. Dixon discusses his cinematic, Caniff-influenced draftsmanship, his gruelling output of fifteen pages a week in the early years, the strip's cast of characters, and the research required to accurately depict the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Australian Outback settings.

DAK presents a selection of reader survey responses from issues leading up to #100, cataloguing what fans like most about Comics Interview, including the in-depth interviews, original artwork reproduction, and uncensored coverage. A follow-up instalment on what readers dislike is promised.