DF Interview: Marc Guggenheim promises espionage intrigue in the ‘Too Dead To Die’ OGN

By Byron Brewer

In the 1980s, Simon Cross was America’s top super-spy. In Too Dead To Die, he faces down today’s very different world and a past that has come back to haunt him, forcing him out of retirement for one final adventure.

The writer/artist team of Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin (Blade, Wolverine) reunites for an original graphic novel in the forthcoming Too Dead To Die. This all-new story promises classic spy novel suspense and is set to hit shelves from Image Comics this December. Whose espionage-loving motor wouldn’t be revved by the mention of these two comics creators? I sat down with my friend Marc Guggenheim to discuss the OGN.


Byron Brewer: Marc, Coronavirus and the pandemic affected all of us in many ways. Tell readers how this was instrumental in your coming graphic novel, Too Dead To Die.



Marc Guggenheim: Well, I locked the sound mix on my first directing efforts (Legends of Tomorrow, Episode 514) and the next day was lockdown. The shutting down of all production meant that I was able to focus on writing things that I wouldn’t otherwise have had time to work on. Among those projects was a push back into creator-owned comics. I had had the idea for what became Too Dead To Die for several years, but never had the time to actually work on it. Suddenly, I did.



Byron: And before we get to the book proper (well, kinda), relate the very ironic/amusing story of how artist and frequent collaborator (Blade, Wolverine) Howard Chaykin got involved with the OGN.



Marc Guggenheim: Howard and I had worked together on four projects previously: Blade, Wolverine, a four-page story for an anti-bullying special, and an unpublished eight-page Spirit story. Like I said, what became Too Dead To Die was something I’d been kicking around in my head for a number of years. The pandemic gave me a chance to finally work on it. I just started writing the first issue. This was, obviously, before I knew it would take the form of a graphic novel. But halfway through writing those first twentysomething pages, I realized I was picturing Howard’s art in my head as I wrote. When I finished the script, I sent Howard an email -- we’ve kept in touch over the years -- and asked if he had any interest in reading it. He said he did and evidently he liked what he read, because we were suddenly off to the races.



Byron: Introduce us to Simon Cross. Who was he, who is he, what challenges does life hold for him today?



Marc Guggenheim: I like to describe Cross as a super-spy who is as close to James Bond as I could get without being sued. He’s basically America’s answer to James Bond: Like Bond, he likes women and the finer things in life, but being American, he’s more coarse. He’s less proper. He has a tendency to break the rules. I don’t think he takes orders as well as Bond does.

I’m using the present tense here, but the truth is that that’s all in the past for Cross. When we meet him, he’s in his seventies and long since retired from the field. He has a collection of medications that have been prescribed to manage all the conditions decades of hard living have left him with. His liver is a mess. His back is in shambles. He has STDs. He’s basically falling apart when we meet him.


Byron: Talk a little about Cross’ world in the 1980s. And did you or Howard do any research for the period?



Marc Guggenheim: Howard and I both lived through the Eighties, so I don’t think either of us felt an overwhelming need to do too much research on that score. In any case, the majority of the graphic novel unfolds in the 21st Century. Although there is a prose short story in the graphic novel that’s set in the Eighties which I had to do a fair amount of research for. All I can say is, thank God for Google. It’s truly amazing how many specific facts are right at your fingertips.



Byron: Can you let us know about any important characters aside from Cross in the book, maybe introduce a few of them here?



Marc Guggenheim: The most significant co-star is Cross’ daughter, Lily. As more than one character points out, it’s statistically impossible for Cross to have had sex with so many women without siring at least one child. That’s Lily. But the important thing to know about her is that she’s no damsel. She’s smart and formidable and has her own point of view on things. At the same time, I worked hard to avoid the expected cliché of her having resentment towards her father which Cross has to overcome. Their relationship is much more nuanced -- in fact, Lily’s surname is Nuance -- than that.

There’s also Olivia Goodlay, who was a former co-worker of Cross’ and, yes, a former lover. Today, however, she’s a Director at the CIA. I was interested in seeing how a two-dimensional “Bond girl” would grow and change over time. Her interactions with Cross are among my favorite in the graphic novel. She’s got his number and has no compunctions about giving him the business.


Byron: Can you give readers an elevator pitch for the book (without spoilers, of course). And what sort of difficulties does a former 1980s Cold War superspy have operating in the 21st century?



Marc Guggenheim: The elevator pitch is that Simon Cross was America’s preeminent super-spy in the 1980s. But it’s now 2022 and the world has passed him by. All his heroism and sacrifices have been forgotten. He never settled down. He lives a rather sad and lonely existence. But all that changes the day he learns that one of his many assignations produced a daughter. The fact that she’s in danger draws him out of retirement for one final adventure.



Byron: Discuss your collaboration(s) with Howard in depth. Your story about how he got with this graphic novel says a lot about you guys as a creative team.



Marc Guggenheim: When I write a comic, I’m always seeing the art in my head as I go. With Too Dead To Die, I was seeing Howard’s art in my mind’s eye, as I mentioned. What’s interesting, however, is that I often don’t see Howard’s layouts -- how the art is arranged on the page -- and that’s actually an aspect of Howard’s art that he doesn’t get enough credit for, in my opinion. The way he’ll arrange close ups or tight shots of characters’ faces in panels that are confined to the left or right side of the page -- leaving the middle of the page for wide or action shots -- is really rather ingenious. And wholly original. It’s the most quintessentially “Chaykin” thing about Howard’s art, but nobody notices because his style -- his voice as an artist -- is so wonderfully specific. When you look at a piece of Howard’s art, you have no doubt who drew it.

Also, just by the design of the cover of the OGN, I get the feeling this may NOT be the last time we see or hear of Simon Cross OR the team of Guggenheim/Chaykin. Do we have more Simon coming to our lives in the future?
Well, to quote the title of Sean Connery’s last turn as James Bond, Never Say Never Again, I’d say “never say never.” I love working with Howard and I believe the feeling is mutual. And, yes, the story is built such that there can be sequels and prequels. It all depends on the success of the OGN, to be honest. In success, all things are possible. At the moment, I’m working on the screenplay for a feature film adaptation of Too Dead To Die -- Howard and I sold the rights recently to a major Hollywood studio. In my perfect world, we’d publish a follow-up OGN -- which, I promise, will not be called 2 Dead 2 Die -- contemporaneously with the release of the movie. But you never know what fate has in store…


Byron: Marc, I know you are active in all types of media, everything from comics to the screens big and small. What projects to you have coming, inside or outside comics, that you can tell readers about?



Marc Guggenheim: “That [I] can tell readers about” is the key phrase in that question. For the past few months, I’ve been writing a weekly newsletter -- LegalDispatch -- on Substack (marcguggenheim.substack.com) and I feel like many editions are just a laundry list of project codenames because I haven’t gotten the greenlight to talk publicly about them.

In terms of television, I’m just in the development phase on several projects. These days, a show can take four years between conception and streaming, so I’ve buckled in for what I know will be a long process on all of these. It’s not like the old days where you would pitch in June, shoot the pilot in March, and be on the air in October, unfortunately.
Right now, most of my public-facing (i.e., announced) work is in the comic book space. The trade paperback edition of Last Flight Out, the pre-apocalypse father/daughter story I published through Dark Horse, hit comic book stores on November 16. The week after saw publication of the first trade collection of Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca on November 23. That same day, we dropped Star Wars: Revelations -- a really ambitious 40-page one-shot which previews events that are happening across the Star Wars line in 2023. Speaking of 2023, on January 25, we’ll release another OGN through Dark Horse called Fragmentation, which I describe as “what if Christopher Nolan directed a family drama?”
Like I said, LegalDispatch is the place to go for teases of all my heretofore unannounced projects, including Project Artery which will be animated. I also talk a lot about the state of the entertainment industry and how it’s been contracting of late -- which probably seems strange given how busy I am, but it’s a strange time…

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Marc Guggenheim for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. The Too Dead To Die OGN from Image Comics is slated to be on sale on December 14th!



For more news and up-to-date announcements, join us here at Dynamic Forces, www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/, “LIKE” us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/dynamicforcesinc, and follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/dynamicforces.

Another day, another milestone for “Avatar: The Way of Water.” James Cameron’s blockbuster sequel has generated $623.5 million at the domestic box office, taking down “The Avengers” ($623.4 million) to become the 10th-highest grossing domestic release of all time.Now that “The Way of Water” has cracked the top 10, the sci-fi tentpole’s competition to move up the list includes “Jurassic World” (at No. 9 with $653 million), “Titanic” (at No. 8 with $659 million) and “Avengers: Infinity War” (at No. 7 with $678 million).Globally, “Avatar: The Way of Water” stands as the fourth-biggest movie in history with $2.128 billion. It ranks behind only “Avatar” ($2.92 billion), “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.7 billion) and “Titanic” ($2.19 billion) in terms of worldwide ticket sales. For those keeping track, three of those four movies were directed by Cameron.Thanks to stratospheric interest among international audiences, “The Way of Water” became the second-fastest movie to surpass $2 billion after “Avengers: Endgame.” It’s earned a monster $1.5 billion at the international box office, ranking as the fourth-biggest overseas release. Outside of North America, the top earning territories include China ($238 million), France ($137 million), Germany ($125 million) and Korea ($103 million). (via Variety)  

BOOM! Studios revealed today a first look at SPECS #4, the final issue of the mysterious new series from highly acclaimed writer David M. Booher (Canto, All-New Firefly), artist Chris Shehan (House of Slaughter), colorist Roman Stevens (Batman Fortnite), and letterer Jim Campbell (Giant Days), about a pair of misfit teens who mail-order a pair of novelty glasses, and realize they’ve received much more than they bargained for, in stores February 2023.

In the midst of Ted still being a suspect for murder with the town against him, a sequence of events following Skunk’s disappearance could change things forever. But what consequences will one final wish have for Ted and Kenny’s present?

SPECS #4 features main cover art by highly acclaimed artist Skylar Patridge (Trial of the Amazons) and variant cover by fan-favorite illustrator David Talaski (Nightwing).

SPECS is the newest release from BOOM! Studios’ eponymous imprint, home to critically acclaimed original series, including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera; Once & Future by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora; Eve by Victor LaValle and Jo Mi-Gyeong; The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade; Wynd by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas; Grim by Stephanie Phillips and Flaviano; Briar by Christopher Cantwell and Germán García; Stuff of Nightmares by R.L. Stine and A.L. Kaplan; The Approach by Jeremy Haun, Jason A. Hurley, and Jesus Hervas; Damn Them All by Simon Spurrier and Charlie Adlard; Behold, Behemoth by Tate Brombal and Nick Robles; Once Upon a Time at the End of the World by Jason Aaron, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Leila del Duca, and Nick Dragotta; Know Your Station by Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas; A Vicious Circle by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo; Mosely by Rob Guillory and Sam Lotfi; and the upcoming Harrower by Justin Jordan and Brahm Revel; The Neighbors by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Letizia Cadonici; and The Seasons Have Teeth by Dan Watters and Sebastián Cabrol. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties, including Dune: House Harkonnen from Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Michael Shelfer; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice; Magic from Jed McKay, Rich Douek, and Ig Guara; and The Expanse: Dragon Tooth by Andy Diggle and Rubine.

Print copies of SPECS #4 will be available for sale on February 22, 2023 exclusively at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one) or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Kindle.

Fans and readers can purchase copies of SPECS SC, collecting the entire four-issue series, in local comic shops on August 16, 2023 and in bookstores everywhere on August 22, 2023.

Next month, writer Erica Schultz and artist Edgar Salazar will take fans back to X-23’s days as mutantkind’s fiercest assassin in X-23: DEADLY REGENESIS! Set during the X-Men’s Utopia era, the five-issue saga will present a key adventure in the life of Laura Kinney that sheds new light on her transformative journey into the hero she is today. In addition to going up against an iconic Marvel Comics villain, X-23 will also face off against her bitter foe, Kimura, as well as a brand-new enemy!

Kimura, Laura’s sadistic former handler from the Facility, is back with a vengeance to try to break X-23’s spirit and this time, she’s recruited a mysterious figure from Laura’s past to help her do the job—HAYMAKER! A skilled fighter with a personal vendetta against Laura, Haymaker is more than a match for X-23 and will earn their spot as X-23’s new archnemesis. After Haymaker (Jordan Gastin) makes their first appearance, readers will learn more about their backstory throughout the series. In the meantime, check out the character for the first time on the newly revealed design variant cover by Marvel’s Stormbreaker artist Jan Bazaldua for X-23: DEADLY REGENESIS #1 and the main series cover by Kalman Andrasofszky for May’s X-23: DEADLY REGENESIS #3.

“I'm really excited to have gotten the opportunity to work with Jan Bazaldua and Edgar Salazar in adding Haymaker to the Marvel Universe,” Schultz said. “Between Haymaker (aka Jordan Gastin) and Kimura, Laura's got her work cut out for her in this one.”

Don’t miss this exciting new chapter in Laura Kinney’s history and the debut of HAYMAKER when X-23: DEADLY REGENESIS #1 hits stands on March 8!

Plans have begun to formulate for James Gunn and Peter Safran’s slate of DC Studios films, with filmmaker James Mangold in early talks to take on “Swamp Thing.”

Variety is reporting that Mangold is a longtime fan of the DC Comics supernatural hero and approached Gunn and Safran with his idea for the forthcoming project.

Of course, Mangold is a comic book veteran after writing, directing and executive producing the R-rated superhero movie “Logan,” the third “Wolverine” film starring Hugh Jackman, which is regarded as the pinnacle of the “X-Men” movie franchise. However, the filmmaker has a particularly busy dance card, with “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” set to hit theaters in May and Searchlight’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” starring Timothée Chalamet, up next.

News of Mangold’s interest in “Swamp Thing” comes just 24 hours after Gunn and Safran announced the first 10 film and TV titles within the rebooted DC Universe on Tuesday morning. The co-chiefs explained that these films make up Chapter 1 of the DCU, which they are calling “Gods and Monsters.”

“Pennyworth” has been canceled at HBO Max after three seasons, Variety is reporting.

The third season, officially titled “Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler,” was the first season of the show to originate on HBO Max. The series originally debuted on Epix in 2019, with Season 2 airing on that channel in two chunks in 2020 and 2021. Season 3 launched on HBO Max in October 2022.

“While HBO Max is not moving forward with another season of ‘Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler,’ we are very thankful to creator Bruno Heller and executive producers Matthew Patnick, Danny Cannon and John Stephens, along with Warner Bros. Television, for their brilliant, unique, gripping depiction of the origin of Alfred Pennyworth, one of the most iconic characters in the Batman world,” an HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement. “An incredible blend of action, drama and humor, for three seasons, ‘Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler’ has taken fans on a mind-bending ride into Alfred’s eccentric world and the beginnings of cutting-edge super heroes and super villains.”

If the title did not make it clear, the series told the origin story of Alfred Pennyworth, most famously known as Batman’s butler. Jack Bannon starred as Pennyworth, a former SAS soldier who forms a security firm in 1960s London. During this time, he begins working with a young Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge) and Martha Wayne (Emma Paetz). The cast also included Paloma Faith, Ryan Fletcher, Dorothy Atkinson, Ramon Tikaram, Harriet Slater, and Simon Manyonda.

Emma Thompson is set to star in Brian Kirk’s upcoming action thriller “The Fisherwoman,” Variety reports.

In the feature, Thompson is set to play a widowed fisherman who, while trapped in a Minnesotan blizzard, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenager and soon finds she is the young victim’s only hope.

Kirk will direct from a screenplay by Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb, who have just been tapped to write the “Hot Wheels” movie for Warner Bros and Bad Robot. The duo are also currently working on “The Fall” for Amblin and Blackmaled Productions.

Greg Silverman of Stampede Ventures, who are co-financing the film alongside Augenschein Filmproduktion, Film und Medienstiftung NRW and German broadcaster ZDF, announced the project on Wednesday.

Legendary Entertainment — Hollywood’s high-profile producer and co-financier of big-budget studio fare — has inked a deal to turn Syd Hoff’s classic kids’ picture book series Danny and the Dinosaur into a live-action feature film, THR reports.

The movie adaptation will be produced with Caroline Fraser of HarperCollins Productions, HarperCollins Publisher’s in-house production company. Danny and the Dinosaur follows Danny and a dinosaur he meets at a museum and the adventures they have together.

Those include Danny and the dinosaur spending their day playing together, going on a trip to the big city, visiting the zoo, eating ice cream and allowing other children to jump on the dinosaur as a slide.

The comical book series, which has sold over 11 million copies in 12 languages, was first published by HarperCollins in 1958. Legendary acquired the book series rights from the Authors Guild Foundation, with the Anti-Defamation League Foundation, ORT America, Inc. and the United Negro College Fund.

After nearly two months of uninterrupted glory, this may be the weekend that “Avatar: The Way of Water” gets bumped from No. 1 on box office charts.

That’s because M. Night Shyamalan’s newest thriller “Knock at the Cabin” is poised to open to $15 million to $20 million, which looks to be enough to claim the top spot from “Avatar 2.”

“The Way of Water,” which has towered above the competition for seven consecutive weeks, is estimated to bring in roughly $11 million during its eighth weekend of release. So far, the blockbuster sequel has generated $620 million in North America and $2.117 billion globally to stand as the fourth-highest grossing movie in history. “Avatar 2” will compete for second place with Paramount’s new comedy “80 For Brady,” which hopes to touch down with $10 million or more from 3,800 locations.

For “Knock at the Cabin,” a debut in the mid-teens ranks on the lower end compared to past Shyamalan films like “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable.” His latest mind-bender was 2021’s “Old,” which opened to $16.8 million as the omicron variant of COVID was surging. After notching the lowest start of the filmmaker’s career, ticket sales for “Old” eventually climbed to $48 million domestically and $90 million globally. However, Shyamalan takes the unusual step of self-financing his movies while keeping budgets low, so they don’t require a ton of coinage to turn a profit. “Knock at the Cabin” cost $20 million to produce. (via Variety)

BOOM! Studios today revealed a first look at HARROWER #1, the premier issue of a brand new four-issue limited series from Spread creator and co-creator of The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, writer Justin Jordan, with highly acclaimed artist Brahm Revel (Guerillas), and letterer Pat Brosseau, about a horrifying ancient legend that lurks within a small, forgotten town, available in stores February 2023.

There’s nothing to fear in the quaint town of Barlowe, New York–except, that is, for the Harrower. The children wish this boogeyman was just an urban legend, but this purveyor of puritanical vengeance against the unrighteous is very real, and there's no escape, because the Harrower seems unkillable, and spans generations, always returning…

What secrets will Jessa Brink, a teenage girl obsessed with the Harrower, uncover, and will she be able to escape the pull of her morbid fixation?

HARROWER #1 features main cover art by series artist Revel, and variant covers by highly acclaimed artists Erica Henderson (Creepshow), Michael Walsh (Carnage), and InHyuk Lee (Venom).

HARROWER is the newest release from BOOM! Studios’ eponymous imprint, home to critically acclaimed original series, including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera; Once & Future by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora; Eve by Victor LaValle and Jo Mi-Gyeong; The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade; Wynd by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas; Grim by Stephanie Phillips and Flaviano; Briar by Christopher Cantwell and Germán García; Stuff of Nightmares by R.L. Stine and A.L. Kaplan; The Approach by Jeremy Haun, Jason A. Hurley, and Jesus Hervas; Damn Them All by Simon Spurrier and Charlie Adlard; Behold, Behemoth by Tate Brombal and Nick Robles; Specs by David M. Booher and Chris Shehan; Once Upon a Time at the End of the World by Jason Aaron, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Leila del Duca, and Nick Dragotta; Know Your Station by Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas; A Vicious Circle by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo; Mosely by Rob Guillory and Sam Lotfi; and the upcoming The Neighbors by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Letizia Cadonici. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties, including Dune: House Harkonnen from Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Michael Shelfer; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice; and Magic from Jed McKay, Rich Douek, and Ig Guara.

Print copies of HARROWER #1 will be available for sale on February 8, 2023 exclusively at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one) or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Kindle.

Tuesday was a huge day for DC fans with DC Studios announcing the first half of the DC Universe's Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters slate, but while there were several new film and television projects to get excited about, co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran also had some news about existing projects as well — including Harley Quinn. At the press event outlining the slate, Gunn and Safran were asked about the fate of the fan-favorite HBO Max animated series and Gunn made it clear that Harley's adventures will be continuing.

"We're going to keep forward with that," Gunn said.

Safran noted that the show is "fantastic", and Gunn added, "Yeah, considering I'm on the show."

Harley Quinn had already been renewed for a fourth season on HBO Max back in August of last year but given the numerous changes at Warner Bros. Discover — particularly in terms of HBO Max — there was a great deal of uncertainty about the series' longer-term fate. Gunn's comments seem to make it clear that, at least under this new direction for DC, Harley's adventures are far from over. (via ComicBook.com)