RICHARD: I guess I'm looking for a particular reason you've survived, prospered even, when Byrne, Claremont, David, DeFalco, Priest, Busiek, Waid, Wood, Grant, Edgington, Weinberg, Lobdell, and others have either fallen, been moved or had their books threatened under New Marvel... yet Jurgens pushes through.

DAN: I wish I could give you a particular reason, but I can't. Joe has told me he likes Thor...maybe it's as simple as that. For me, it's as simple as writing the book the best way I know how while trying to find something new to say about the character.

Of course, the incredibly compromising photos I have of certain Marvel editors have nothing to do with it whatsoever.

RICHARD: Oh, you should see the ones I have of Axel Alonso and Felicia. Who'd have thought she was really Bill Jemas in a dress after all? What do reckon to our mystery informer anyway?

DAN: All I know, is that I'd like to meet Felicia. It's the biggest mystery since "Name Withheld's" letter first surfaced years ago. In a slow summer of news, it's nice that "she's" given us something to yak about.

RICHARD: So how do you see the differences between Marvel and DC, through your history with each, and specifically right now?

DAN: Right now, Marvel seems to have a sense of direction and energy that DC is still trying to find. In many ways, what Marvel is doing now is capitalizing on the things it's always been able to do. It can make and implement decisions faster than DC can, and as the market place changes, that can be quite an advantage.

CAPTAIN AMERICA 225TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE LITHOGRAPH - SIGNED VERSION

I haven't done a lot with DC over the past couple of years so I'm hardly the authority, but I get the impression they're waking out of a bit of a slumber to do some of those things as well.

Marvel has always been a more "in your face" company while DC has always been a more "reassuring" company. They're a bit more polarized in their approaches than usual, but that's fairly typical. In some ways, they're just building off the same traits that have existed for years.

RICHARD: There have been comments from some creators on increased levels of editorial... let's say, involvement, coming from higher up the hierarchy than your editor. Have you found Marvel editorial in whatever form it takes to be more hands on of late? And is it a blessing or a curse?

DAN: I don't know that I've been subject to a different creative process on Thor than what we've always had. Tom Brevoort and I have always discussed ideas and notions. Sometimes he'll like an idea that I don't or he won't be crazy about something I like. It's an exchange of ideas. This is a collaborative medium, after all.

Of course, we're all aware that Marvel is moving more and more into TPB territory. I don't see that interest as editorial interference.

In all honesty, I'm unaware of time in which anyone above Tom has stepped in and said, "Have Dan do this," or "Don't let Dan write that." I suppose it's possible that it's happened, but I'm unaware of it.

Captain America was a bit of a different story and situation.

RICHARD: Can you talk about that at all?

DAN: Cap was a bit of a strange situation from the moment I took it on.

Mark left in something of a hurry and Bob Harras called me up and asked me about writing the book, as did Bobbie Chase who was editor at the time. Harras wanted to see a different type of story in the book, including some Cap-specific villains, while Bobbie wanted me to pick up on some of Mark's subplots, one of which was a talking dinosaur. Another was the matter of Connie's brother.

In retrospect, I should have left that stuff alone and just started clean. But I wanted to play fair with the readers, y'know? Particularly since they seemed to like Mark's work on the book...a sentiment I agreed with, by the way. In any event, I tried to satisfy both Bob and Bobbie in terms of what they were looking for.

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