BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO It's funny how things work out for people. Years ago, Steve Niles busted his hump trying to get breaks at DC Comics or Marvel, but to no significant avail. However, had he become a flavor of the day then, he might not be the Steve Niles we've all come to know and enjoy now.
The rejections from the mainstream was the push that Niles needed to focus on works of his own creation, and bring his horrific worlds to life. Niles worked on dozens of horror tinged thrillers like King of the Dead, Fused, Criminal Macabre and Bigfoot, to name a few. Those series, as well as 30 Days of Night, perhaps his most famous creation - at least at this point in time - might never have seen the light of day, if Niles had landed that steady gig at DC or Marvel.
Although Niles might have been very frustrated twenty years ago trying to break in, now the talented writer is busy working on dozens of creator owned properties in comics, television and film. That goal he had to work for the mainstream on icons is also a reality. Niles has already worked with the Dark Knight Detective in the pages of Batman: Gotham County Line, but now he and Kelley Jones are taking Batman back to his '70s roots, by showing him and his city after dark, in the pages of Batman: Gotham After Midnight.
And it's all because he never gave up on his dreams. However, he told THE PULSE that his new "status" is kind of unbelievable. "You never get used to people suddenly saying 'yes' after 20 years," Niles admitted. "I'm at the point now where I actually have to turn down work. It's crazy."
Niles likened his current workload to a circus juggling act. At any given point in time, the creator seems to be working on four or five projects. Right now, just in the comic book field, he's working on the aforementioned Batman County Line, Simon Dark, Criminal Macabre and a few IDW projects.
"I pounded the doors at DC and Marvel for a long time," Niles recalled. "Finally, I just resigned myself that if they don't want to hire me, I'll do creator-owned stuff. I kind of had no choice. As much as I hated it at the time, now I own more of my own creations than a lot of comic writers. It sort of worked out for me. But I'm so happy with DC now. They have really embraced me and welcomed me. I've got to do all these weird little things. We were all so surprised when Simon Dark took off. People really enjoyed The Creeper. Plus, Batman: Gotham After Midnight with Kelley Jones is so beautiful. Anyone who loves Batman will just be knocked out by this stuff. He's really hitting a home run here."
"Kelley and I immediately became fast friends," Niles continued. "We're buddies from doing Cal MacDonald at Dark Horse, we've both got a love of 'B' movies, horror and comic books. We can talk for hours, just as fans. We're really challenging each other in Gotham After Midnight. I've done a few spreads and had to write apologies in the script, because I have so many details going on every page. I love challenging Kelley to get as much going on in a panel as possible, without losing the story thread. It's a game we play back and forth to test and push each other."
Niles told THE PULSE this Batman is going back to some of his solo roots -- the iconic things that made this character shine in the Golden Age, and that intrigued a whole new generation of readers in the 1970s, after Dick Grayson graduated high school and left Gotham City for college. "It's a spooky Batman, because it's all at night, but I think Batman is spooky anyways or always should be," He said. "In a way, we're working on a very straight forward Batman -- not the raging, angry back-breaking Batman. This is more like the '70s Neal Adams Batman, right after Dick Grayson went to college -- very dramatic, very scary. I was six years old then .... If you loved the stories at the end of Batman from the '30s to the '70s, you'll love this!"
"There will be a new villain every single issue," Niles continued. "I want to make every single issue worth picking up. We're not doing an event comic book here. We are giving you a lot of stuff every month. Conceivably, if someone picks up only the third issue or seventh issue or any other issue, they will know exactly what is going on. People are stretching out concepts over a series that used to be done in one issue. Kelley and I didn't want to stretch any of this out. We wanted to do a bunch of done-in-one episodes that leave readers wanting more. The best stuff is the stuff you don't get enough of. I'm really against stretching things out. In some cases, I love it, like with Simon Dark, this is the first ongoing I've had the chance to do. I never hit an issue six in an ongoing before, but, even doing Simon Dark, I'm not unnecessarily stretching anything out."
Niles said his thoughts on how to pace a comic book series came from the era that he grew up reading comic books. He noted his "comic book year" was 1975. "The whole time period of the < B>Marshall Rogers and Steve Englehart working on Batman is one of the best runs of the series, but it got overshadowed. Those stories were some of the best ever written, but they just didn't get the attention that the Neal Adams work did. I write comics the way I like to read them and pray others enjoy what I'm doing."
"I think Batman works better in Gotham," Niles continued. "He's one man, ONE man! I go to that all the time. I don't see him as this global figure at all. I think it's so personal with him and Gotham City. Gotham is his passion. It's his child. It's his family. To me, Gotham is just as important a character as Commissioner Gordon or Alfred or anyone else. The best example of how much I like Gotham is that's where I chose to set my ongoing, Simon Dark."
Niles said, "Just by setting Simon Dark in Gotham, it gave the comic so much energy. It was a big help. It was a big head start. I love it, because it automatically makes there be so much tension in the series. I really like it. It's a great place. I grew up on Marvel, with the real cities as settings. Now, I'm really embracing these 'imaginary' cities based on elements from 'real' cities. Gotham is the place where you have the best of all worlds. Everything you could possibly need is right there."
"Simon Dark is really going strong," Niles continued. "Scott Hampton's art is fantastic. It's the surprise of my life that the book took off the way it did. The reaction has really been great. If anyone at THE PULSE hasn't read it yet, the story's about a dead kid made up of different body parts. That might sound kind of gross, but people are really enjoying it. Scott and I are up to the tenth issue in the writing."
Simon Dark's an ongoing, but right now, the plan is just to have Batman: Gotham After Midnight be a twelve-part series. However Niles said he wouldn't "complain" if it became an ongoing series. "I would love it," enthused the writer. "I'm having such a great time at DC. Everyone is being so wonderful. I'd love to do more work for them, and, if it's Batman, it's a dream come true."
"If DC did want us to do Batman: Gotham After Midnight on a regular basis, I'd have to cut back on some of my creator-owned stuff, though," Niles continued. "But I can always do my creator-owned projects."
It seems DC likes what it's seen so far from Niles and Jones. The series was set to come out several months later, but, once a few issues were in hand at the publisher, the series was moved up on the production schedule. "Everyone saw some potential, so it was moved forward," Niles said. "That made it a little tough on Kelley, but he's working on finishing issue # 3 now."
The first issue of Batman: Gotham After Midnight is due in stores this month. In Part Two of our interview, we'll showcase some of Niles other works including 30 Days of Night and Criminal Macabre, to name a few; as well as his upcoming scripts for the television series Fear Itself.
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