Exclusive Interview with Jack Briglio
[Date: May 2008]
By Adam Dechanel.
Jack Briglio is a writer who has written various issues of "Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century" and "Scooby Doo" for DC Comics.
Superman Homepage writer Adam Dechanel interviewed Jack about his career, his work on the LSH comic book, and more.
The Superman Homepage would like to thank Jack for agreeing to do this interview, and for fitting it into his busy schedule.
Q: So give us a quick biog?
A: I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with my wife Giulia and my son Lucas. By day, I work as an user interface design & development manager for Canada Post Online's web team, after nearly a decade of strictly freelance writing. By night, I write, write and write, currently scripting issues of Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century and Scooby Doo for DC Comics. A few years back, I wrote Growing Up Enchanted for Too Hip Gotta Go Graphics, a title I co-created with artist Alex Serra, a former Russ Manning nominee. In 2003, Growing Up Enchanted received an Eisner nomination for "Best Title Aimed for a Younger Audience".
Q: Can you reveal anything about hints of Luthor in the 31st Century?
A: You're talking about that business card Xavier Ro dropped in the latest issue, right? Well, we know that a Luthor exists in the 31st century from an episode of the cartoon's first season. It hadn't been touched upon since that episode, really, so I thought I'd introduce some teasing backstory in this issue that I hope to follow up on in a later issue. Element Lad deserves a spotlight issue and as for Luthor - where there's Superman, can Luthor ever be that far behind? We'll see...
Q: Why did you choose Phantom Girl as the lead?
A: She's a great character that I didn't think had received a lot of "screen time" yet in either the cartoon or the comic book series. Her relationship with her mom was introduced in a first season episode and I saw an opportunity to expand on that and continue where that episode left off. "See Me" - isn't that something every kid asks of their parents at one time or another? I definitely saw some of that in their relationship and decided to explore it further.
Q: There were hints of traditional Legion history, do you know a lot about the Legion and Superman and are you planning to do more of that?
A: I've read every single story of the Legion of Super-Heroes - and that includes guest appearances in other books, etc. - since its inception. 50 years worth of stories... so I guess I do know a lot! Can't say the same about reading every Superman story, but yeah, I think I know Superman pretty well too. While I first try to tell a story that readers of all ages can enjoy, whether they are Legion fans/historians or not, I also try to include little nuggets of Legion lore that old-time fans will get a kick out of, as long as it works and makes sense. Issue 8 dealt with introducing a traditional Legion romance - Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl's first date. Having Starfinger as the villain was my little "shout-out" to a classic Legion story where Starfinger tried to ruin their wedding day. A neat nugget for Legion fans, but I don't think you needed to know that to enjoy the issue. This issue had Element Lad's backstory and that mysterious business card. My next script touches upon both Legion and Superman lore, as does many of my pitches.
Q: Do you get a say in the visuals accompanying your work?
A: I do in that I write full script, so I break down the story page by page and panel by panel. I try to be as descriptive as possible, but I also don't go overboard to allow artists some creative freedom to build off the script. Comics aren't a one-man show.
Q: How did this differ from your first Legion issue?
A: My first story, issue 8, was much lighter in tone. This one wasn't as humourous since it dealt with ghosts and death, a lot of death. And, it was a mystery with a couple of twists and turns that I hope readers didn't see coming.
Q: Do you watch the show and how do you feel about its demise?
A: I did watch the show and I feel horrible that it's over so soon. Two seasons - 26 episodes only - they barely scratched the surface.
Q: What future projects do you have in the pipeline?
A: Well, my first Scooby Doo story came out a couple of weeks back - issue 131. I also have another Scooby Doo script slated for June release - number 133. I've written another script for the Legion book, which stars a Superman villain. The schedule hasn't been set yet for when that will appear. Other than that, hopefully more Legion stories as well as a couple of proposals that I'm working on that's too early to talk about in detail yet.
This interview is Copyright © 2008 by Steven Younis. It is not to be reproduced in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.
Interviews
Introduction
The Superman Homepage has had the pleasure of interviewing various Superman Comic Book creative people about their work.
Question and Answer Interviews:
Interviews/Articles:
Krypton Club Interviews:
When “Lois & Clark” started production in 1993, there was an obvious relationship between the comic book people and the Hollywood people.
A trade paperback “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”, was published, with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher on the cover. It included reprints of comic book stories that were the inspiration for “Lois & Clark”, helping to define the characters. Comic's included are: The Story of the Century (Man of Steel miniseries #2), Tears for Titano (Superman Annual #1), Metropolis - 900 mi (in SUP #9), The Name Game (SUP #11), Lois Lane (in ACT #600), Headhunter (AOS #445), Homeless for the Holidays (AOS #462), The Limits of Power (AOS #466), and Survival (ACT #665).
A number of comic book writers and artists had roles as extras in the episode “I'm Looking Through You” (Season one, episode 4). Their presence was immortilized in the Sky Trading Card #34.
Craig Byrne, president of the online “Lois & Clark” fanclub The Krypton Club, carried out a series of interviews with comic book writers. The interviews are reprinted with permission of the Krypton Club.
Check the Television section of this website for some “Lois & Clark” Interviews conducted by The Krypton Club.
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