I have been following the adventures of the apocalyptic ocean traveling world of The Massive since the first issue. Growing up on the Gulf Coast, I have always been interested ships and boats, and of course the mysteries of the sea. It was easy to see that when Brain Woods created this near-future world where the rag-tag crew of a ship, searches the seas for their lost sister ship, The Massive, it would be a natural fit.
Of course, anyone who is familiar with graphic novels or comics has heard of Brain Wood. He has worked on his own series DMZ, Anthem, and Mara, as well as Star Wars and Conan The Barbarian for Dark Horse and The X-Men for Marvel. I recently had a chance to catch up with the creator Brian Wood, and talk a little about The Massive and some other stuff.
Sims: It seems that you are one of the hardest working folks in comics. Where do you get all this inspiration?
Wood: I'm a very practical, pragmatic type of writer and I like to map out goals and longterm plans and work towards them. I don't have the luxury of waiting for inspiration, which can make this quite hard and I don't always love my job. But at the end of the day of course its worth it. But the workload I have going on now is a serious amount of work and is often quite difficult to stay on top of it. I was under contract at DC Comics for a long time, a few years back, and I was fully locked into a couple projects for years, and during that time I generated close to a dozen pitches and treatments and pages of notes for other comics series I'd like to write, or TV shows I'd like to try and get off the ground, so that right there is my inspiration for the next few years. I have all this work sitting there waiting for me.
Sims: I am a huge fan of The Massive. Where did this come from, for you?
Wood: It's pretty hard for me to nail down precisely where an idea comes from. Generally its mentally pieced together over time, usually from a lot of different places and often subconsciously. In the case of The Massive, I was looking for something similar to my DMZ series, similar in the sense that its an action-driven socially conscious thing set in a speculative future. But I wanted to get away from war and urban environments and from the overt politics in DMZ. So from that I went to environmentalism, end of the world concepts, and my persistent theme of identity and history.
I think something might just be in the air, because The Massive is not alone, in comics or in TV, in dealing with some of this stuff.
Sims: For our readers who have not yet picked up an issue, or were waiting for the Trade Paperback version, how would you describe The Massive?
Wood: It's and end of the world story that focuses on a small group of environmentalists as they do two things: try to reconcile their individual histories of violence with their lives as activists, and the fact they now have to live in a ruined earth they failed to save. There's really big aspects to the story, dealing with renegade navy flotillas, a drowned Hong Kong, and a massive (heh) and resurgent shark population, but lost of smaller ones, human dramas about terminal illness, post traumatic stress, and ideological clashes. That's far from a perfect soundbite, but its a complex story with a lot of moving parts, and more than its share of mysteries.
Sims: Do you have any views on the environment, that you would like to share?
Wood: I think my views are pretty mainstream and ordinary, and in recent years I've gained a bit of anxiety when I think about certain specifics, mostly dealing with scarity of resources, water specifically. I take, as someone in his 40s, everything for granted. I've never lived during a time of scarce ANYTHING, but in 35 years when my kids are my age, can they say the same? Will they have difficulty finding healthy water? It blows my mind to think about it, but its more than possible. I suspect its pretty likely.
Sims: Can you tell us what is next for The Massive?
Wood: The aforementioned renegade navy flotilla, really a rogue US Navy Battle Group gone pirate. A nod to my recent viking series Northlanders with a story about whale hunters who've gone back to traditional methods. A return of our main character Callum Israel's enemy from his days as a mercenary solider, and a couple twists, one small, and one so big that I dare not even utter the slightest hint, since its an end pivot that will reframe the whole series into something no one will see coming.
Sims: Who is you favorite character (of The Massive or any other works) ?
Wood: I really love my current Massive characters, since they are sort of the perfect "Brian Wood characters", possessing all the traits that I love to write about, but since they are also almost exclusively all non-American, its something new and interesting for me. I also love the four girls in my New York Four/Five books, I really miss writing them.
Sims: Which do you prefer, your own worlds or others', like Conan and Star Wars?
Wood: Its sort of an unfair question since always, always its going to me my original work that claims that preference. There's just no contest.
Sims: What is next for Brian Wood? What are you working on?
Wood: What I have on my plate at the moment is: Star Wars, Conan The Barbarian, and The Massive (for Dark Horse). I'm writing Ultimate X-Men, and well as the upcoming relaunch of the iconic X-Men title, for Marvel. I have a couple possibilities in the television realm, but its early days on those. So all that keeps me plenty busy.
Sims: What are you reading currently?
Wood: I go back and forth between fiction and non-fiction. So much of what I read has to do with what I'm writing, either straight research or just mood material. I finished up a couple books about Ruby Ridge for something I'm developing. Before that I burned through the new Dave Grohl biography, and the recent Junot Diaz. And I re-read some old Star Wars novels for a little inspiration.
Sims: What are you playing?
Wood: Do you think I'm going to talk about playing videogames in a public place where my editors can see it?? BUT, when I do get hold of this fictional thing called free time, I'm strictly a first person shooter and skateboard game kind of guy. if EA ever makes a Skate 4, I'll lose weeks of my life to it.
Sims: Anything else you would like to add?
Wood: Just the usual: check out my work, specifically The Massive, which I think its a story that rewards the reader over time. It's the best work I'm capable of right now, and I think will be one of my proudest career moments.
As an added bonus, and as I mentioned in the title, the Intro to the trade paperback (available April 2, 2013) is included here.
Life after the Apocalypse by Jamais Cascio (Downloadable pdf)
