The Authority, written by Mark Millar, soon became Wildstorm's best selling title, and one of DC's best selling titles. Yet it's reported that the title was micromanaged by DC, on some occasions by Paul Levitz himself, causing a dilution of the factors that brought the title so much attention, and the disillusionment of Mark Millar with both the title and the publisher. Are you happy about decisions made by DC concerning your company's then flagship title, and would you have preferred to see events occur differently?

JIM: Hey, I thought you weren't going to ask me all the same old questions I always get! [laughter] I think I've answered this several times in different interviews--the most recent being on Newsarama if I recall.

RICHARD: I don't know. I was going for actual answers here, based on questions that were a bit more specific than may have been put before.

JIM: I have to disagree--I thought Michael Doran was pretty specific, but I haven't reread that piece in some time. And maybe Keravin didn't read it. So just for him...first off, I do think there are some matters which are private and the working relationship between editorial and talent falls into that category. For me at least. I know not everyone feels that way. But I don't know how you build effective working relationships with talent by airing dirty laundry when things go awry.

RICHARD: I'd argue that there is no current effective working relationship with Mark Millar, to build or otherwise.

JIM: Rich, I was speaking in general terms. And even despite best efforts--people often chose to go their own paths rather than working to a resolution. But I certainly would not have a problem working with Mark again. He may feel differently--his prerogative. But going public with disputes has never been my style... and I'm unfortunately not going to start now, because in essence, it all boils down to a "he said, she said" type of discussion and ya know what--there's always two sides to a story and frankly, no one wins those battles; it brings both parties down. But I know that's just my opinion.

RICHARD: Yeah, but where's the fun in that?

THE ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY VOLUME ONE HARDCOVER

JIM: I guess I like my sport in ballparks. But, yes, as the Authority's content became more and more "adult" and because it was a WildStorm all ages book (which is more permissive still than say a regular DCU comics coded title), there were a number of problems which came up during Mark and Frank's run on the book. Does that mean I don't like them? No, I think they are some of the finest, most talented creators out there, and I'm still friendly with both of them. Am I embarrassed by the work they did? No, absolutely not... as a 38 year old comics fan, I love what they did, and I think they made their mark on the title without invalidating the equally fantastic run Warren [Ellis] and Bryan [Hitch] had on the book.

But was it incongruent with how the book started out? Yes. I think as the stories became more sensational and in some respects, brutal, I think it no longer felt like a book I would feel comfortable handing to a 14 year old and say, hey check this one out. Towards the end of their run, yes, there were meetings where lots of changes were passionately argued for and against. Sometimes things were "fixed" just by doing little things like altering lighting/coloring schemes... other changes were asked to be made. And we tried to include Mark and Frank in as much of this as possible. But not to the degree they would have liked I am sure. But that kind of give and take happens on nearly every book we publish; however, 99% of the time, whatever issues come up are amicably or at the very least, professionally resolved.

RICHARD: I know Mark argues that there was nothing in his run that was written and indeed initially passed by Wildstorm editorial before DC stepped in, that didn't have an equivalent comparable moment published in Stormwatch. And, of course, it was racing up the charts to the top, almost unique for DC at the time.

JIM: That's an arguable point. I don't recall people using women as ashtrays before, but my memory may be faulty.

RICHARD: In a related issue, you yourself have been known to self-censor titles in ways that might concern readers. I understand than in an early issue of Gen 13, you objected to a woman kissing another woman in a way that you did not object to with a man and a woman? Why did you think the former scene was problematic, but not the latter?

JIM: I wouldn't call it self-censoring. Am I self-censoring when I change a scene around to make it better? That story was like 10 years ago... If memory serves me correctly and honestly, there is a very good chance it doesn't... that's what 3 kids will do to you... I thought the girl on girl kiss came out of nowhere and trivialized the character's sexuality. Now people may argue that having a "token" lesbian in Gen13 may have already crossed that line, but I think we were very conscious of trying to deal with it in somewhat a realistic way... or as realistic in a way as Gen 13 would allow.

If we had run it as is, we would be blasted because the kiss came out of left field and had no bearing on the story, honestly it didn't make a whole lot of story sense, so I made the decision to have Jeff [Campbell] come up with something different. As the publisher and owner of the company, that was my call to make and I seriously did not think it a big issue. And of course, when it became known something had been changed, there was this uproar of censorship, which is a crock, really. Lots of things in comics get changed for a variety of reasons; people seem to be fixated on the ones connected to sex and violence. But if it makes critics feel any better, we routinely asked for and continue to ask for changes in scenes involving heterosexuals as well.

I think as a whole, WildStorm has had wide success with a broad range of material, and we're certainly proud of the books we have been fortunate enough to publish. Books ranging from WildCats 3.0 to Zero Girl to Danger Girl to Astro City to Gen 13 to Tom Strong to the Authority. Show me another small company with that kind of range.

RICHARD: AiT/PlanetLar?

JIM: They would come the closest, but at the risk of pissing off Larry [Young] and Mimi [Rosenheim], it's not to the same scale. Great, solid publisher though.

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JIM: Certainly Automatic Kafka isn't for everyone, but there are fans who love the book. I think the EOTS is producing some of the best comic book stories right now.

I think everyone would like to have better initial numbers, but when analyzing material created for an older audience, just looking at the monthly numbers does not paint the entire picture of a book's success or lack thereof. To complete the picture, I think we have to take a look at how well the trades do on these titles and how evergreen their sales are. My hope would be that they would sell well and more importantly, consistently over time. That's the formula for success we've seen for books like 100 Bullets and Transmet. And despite low initial numbers, I'm encouraged by their reception. The reviews and online response to Wildcats 3.0, Sleeper and Stormwatch:Team Achilles has been phenomenal. People really do like the different take, the new premises running with these characters.

It's not the MAX line. And it's not Vertigo either. It's something in between, and I think once we have the Authority up and running, things will hopefully pick up as the good word of mouth about the line spreads. If not, I suppose I will have to go back to delivering pizzas for a living.

RICHARD: Meaty Feast, extra onions, deep pan. And a sketch of Rogue on the box please.

JIM: Meaty Feast? Is that like a Fudge Finger? And as far as sketching on pizza boxes... done that already.

RICHARD: I'll look for them on eBay. While you're best known for your work on Punisher, X-Men and now definitely Batman, you do seem to have a genuine ambition to create and innovate personal projects- your Max Faraday series was seen an example of this. What is it that stops you continuing in this vein?

JIM: I can't tell if you are being sincere or sarcastic here, [laughter]

RICHARD: Would I be sarcastic to you? Okay, well probably, but not right now.

JIM: Hmm, but I will take you at your word. Yes, I do. My own personal tastes for material is very different from a lot of the work I actually do. In fact, my personal artistic preferences for art tend to lean more towards the artists who are "uncommercial." Guys who are terrific designers, great illustrators. Both of which I am not.

Don't get me wrong--I love drawing comics--but you have to understand, when I do superheroes, I'm tapping into my past. My childhood, my adolescence. That's when superheroes were the be-all, end-all. Again, not to say I don't have a blast drawing superheroes. I do--it brings out the kid in me--but today, I enjoy a good crime comic (like 100 Bullets) or historic comic (like Frank Miller's 300) or an EOTS title (like Stormwatch: Team Achilles) more than your regular monthly superhero fare. I guess I'm showing my age...

But as to Divine Right, it was not intended to be a superhero comic. It ended up that way as I started to second guess myself. It was an opportunity for me to learn and practice combining my art with my writing and having fun with some ideas I had about life, reality and the universe. Little subjects like that! The core of the premise was supposed to be that in the future, as technology becomes more and more powerful, more advanced and more complicated, its power and use will in effect resemble magic. The common man will be unable to understand how things work because the technology will involve processes he has no understanding of. That kind of awe and ignorance will, in effect, allow some to use technology to "inspire" new religions. Throw in a little time travel and you have a different take on the Old Testament. I know fans of the book will be scratching their heads and going, "WTF--I didn't see that in the book, but it's true!" [laughter] Ultimately, it was too ambitious for me to handle for my first writing gig but a great learning experience none-the-less.

What's stopping me from doing more? Myself really. Archie Goodwin was the editor who gave me my break into comics over 15 years ago, and every time I would run into him, he would challenge me, no matter how well my books were selling, "Hey, when are you going to do something... more personal." He knew there was more to a career than just selling kajillions of comics. And I haven't forgotten his challenge.

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