Christopher Golden has written a few comics. Quite a few actually, X-books, Bat-books, lots of good franchise names. But how? Why? Who is this mysterious man? Well, he's made a name for himself of late writing Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel novels... which have given him an added push into handling company's characters. Mike Mignola even trusts him with Hellboy. So how does all this franchise thing work? How do you deal with so many corporate concerns? And what about an original voice? Christopher Golden speaks...

RICHARD JOHNSTON: With the licence ruling the roost at comic companies these days,is it a golden time to be Chris Golden? For someone with your background in reliably delivering work based on external corporate properties?

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN: Maybe it would be. I confess I don't really know. That'd be nice, though. The reality is that I tried breaking into comics around the same time I was breaking into writing novels. The novel end of things was far more successful. I've gotten a good bit of work over the last eight years or so in comics, but a lot of that--the higher profile stuff particularly--suffered from the chains that were put on me as a relative newbie. I've often wondered if I was just starting to get into comics now if things would have been different. Despite some of the things that I've been extremely proud of--like Batman: Realworlds, BPRD: Hollow Earth, and Doctor Fate--I think some editors still view me as that newbie. Also, I think it's a mistake to assume that anyone in comics is necessarily aware of my career as a novelist. And, all of that said, I haven't really had the time to make an effort to find out if it's a golden time. I stopped actively pitching comics projects a long time ago. Things come up, of course, but it's not my focus. There was Dr. Fate. I hope to do another one of those if sales warrant it. Tom Sniegoski and I are doing a creator owned series called THE SISTERHOOD for Avatar, which I think is very cool and has amazing art work. Mike Oeming and I are developing a creator owned series called NEVERMORE, but that's one of those things we work on when we have the time, and we're both incredibly busy. I hope we'll see it out by the end of next year.

RICHARD: Not having the time... sounds familiar. How do you find your time is eaten up? Have you found that the means to whatever end you have in mind for yourself have become the end in itself?

CHRISTOPHER: There certainly is more time in my day given over to the business end of things than I'd like. GHOSTS OF ALBION, for instance, is this thing Amber Benson and I created for the BBC online as an animated web series. Well, now we're doing novels and stories and possibly an RPG and another hour long series of animated episodes, and the damned business that's needed to take care of all that eats up too much time. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. That said, though, the hope is always to earn enough money doing what I love to make a living and take care of my family. I've been able to do that for over ten years. That's not bad. I just hope that eventually I'll be able to do it easily and comfortably. For now, well, I feel very fortunate.

RICHARD: Go on. pitch me Sisterhood and Nevermore. Imagine I'm a willing publisher with oodles of cash flowing out of my pockets.

CHRISTOPHER: Ah, well, they've already got homes, don't they? I feel odd giving away much about either one of them. THE SISTERHOOD is an action thriller about a secret order of exorcists who imprison the demons they exorcize inside themselves, and a mystery story about one member of the order who is assigned to investigate when members of the order are being murdered. That's very much just the tip of it. NEVERMORE, well, there was a preview in the back of HAMMER OF THE GODS # 3, but let's just say, Oeming and I have talked about it as Scooby-Doo meets The Beatles meets Edgar Allan Poe, on crack.

RICHARD: Wasn't he always? Do you ever find it a hindrance getting your own created properties off the ground? How have the likes of Strangewood and The Shadow Saga fared in comparison?

CHRISTOPHER: Not especially. Of course my own books have never sold as well as, say, some of the more successful Buffy books I wrote. But OF SAINTS AND SHADOWS, my first novel, was up there. Subsequent novels have been all over the scale in terms of sales. Bantam is making a wonderful publicity push for my next one, THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN, which hits stores in February. This is what I mean. My work as a novelist is what I consider my real job. I love comics, so I'll always want to do them if given the chance. Right now, for instance, now that Geoff Johns has left, I'd love to write HAWKMAN. But the creative effort and ambition that went into THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN are my real focus. And, of course, having your own property is better, because then when Hollywood takes an interest, it's you they have to flirt with.

RICHARD: Are you the flirtatious type?

CHRISTOPHER: Oh, terribly, yeah.

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