Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • Is The Monthly Comic Dead?

      Matthew McLean
      January 11, 2005
      The Panel
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Marvel at the Streets of Wonder

      Matthew McLean
      March 27, 2016
      Big Two, Marvel Comics
    Recent
    • 4.5

      DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      January 22, 2021
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • 3.5

      Review: 'Trashed' Provides a Clear Look at a Filthy Problem

      Matthew McLean
      November 25, 2015
      Indie, Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 5.0

      Uncanny X-Force #3

      Matthew McLean
      December 17, 2010
      Reviews
    Recent
    • 4.5

      DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      January 22, 2021
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Geoffrey Wessel: There Hasn't Been a Good Policy-Based Argument Against Cobra

      Matthew McLean
      December 9, 2013
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • The Essential Black Panther Part One

      Matthew McLean
      July 30, 2012
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Star Trek Equinox: The Night Of Time

      Matthew McLean
      April 30, 2014
      Kickstarter Spotlight, News
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • Review: 'Apollo' is Great with Facts, Less Great with Mythologizing

      Matthew McLean
      June 25, 2018
      Books, Reviews
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: If I win Powerball, I will buy Amazing Fantasy 15
  • DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Interviews

Steven Grant: Hitting On Target with 2 Guns

Matthew McLean
August 16, 2007
Interviews

Steven Grant has been writing comics since the late 1970s. To try to briefly summarize his diverse career is not feasible. But you have to respect a bio that includes: “co-renovated The Hardy Boys for a 125+ novel run in the ’80s. Wrote bestselling comics biography of Pope John Paul II, created long-running feature Whisper for Capital/First.” Clearly that just scratches the surface, go here for full details. Many folks know Grant thanks to his column, Permanent Damage, for CBR. SBC’s Matthew McLean reached out to Grant recently to discuss his current BOOM! miniseries, 2 Guns, described as: “In the vein of Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job, Two Guns is a pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between.” SBC Features Editor Tim O’Shea assisted in the interview.

Matthew McLean (MM): While it’s understood that the story started out as a screenplay, where did the idea for 2 Guns come from?

Steven Grant (SG): Probably from tales of police agent provocateurs infiltrating and manipulating domestic “liberation movements” when I was a kid. The FBI had whole secret programs dedicated to this, undercover cops were a big thing in metropolitan police departments, and for all I know all those conditions still apply. But somewhere along the line I was amused at the concept of entire gangs composed of undercover cops from different agencies all waiting for the opportunity to bust each other. Eventually I whittled the idea down to 2 Guns. I’d been nursing the basic concept for a long time, but came up with and produced 2 Guns pretty quickly.

MM: What do you think attracted BOOM! to the 2 Guns concept?

SG: Mainly that it’s a funny concept, I think. Also, Ross (Richie, Boom Co-founder) has been actively canvassing comics writers for unproduced screenplays they may have written, with the idea of turning them into comics. 2 Guns, which he’d read when I wrote it a couple of years ago, caught him off guard because it really was written as professionally as possible, and the screenplay really moved. And it’s just whammy after whammy, things that hit you out of the blue but they’re built on what you already know. What you think you know keeps turning out to be something else. I know the story kept knocking Ross for a loop when he read it, and while I’d never considered turning 2 Guns into a comic, Ross and Andy asked me to pitch some stuff to them but it turned out what they really wanted was to pitch 2 Guns to me. So I said okay.

MM: You seem to be skewing towards crime stories rather than super- hero stuff lately. Any particular reason?

SG: I’ve always skewed toward crime stories, it’s just so damn hard finding anyone in comics willing to pay you to write them. I have bills to pay too.

Not that I mind writing superheroes in the least, but crime stories fit my personal worldview better and fit better into the world I know. A long time ago on a San Diego panel, someone asked me why I didn’t take Whisper to Marvel instead of first, and, practical considerations like ownership and whether anyone at Marvel even wanted me at Marvel aside, I pointed out that the Marvel Universe is a place where massive doses of radiation make you a better person. That’s not any kind of world I’m intimately familiar with.

Beyond that, superheroes are people who have to win. Whatever personal problems get heaped on them, they’re innately winners. But losers are much more fun to write, and crime stories are ultimately all about losers. In crime stories something is fundamentally wrong at the core of the universe.

That’s something I can understand.

MM: The industry as a whole seems to be trending towards noir or crime stories? As a professional, do you try to stay on top of these trends or just go your own way? If it’s the former, how do you go about doing that?

SG: I don’t know if I’d say the industry is swerving that way. The industry blows with the wind. Most people don’t do noir or crime, they just do “grim’n’gritty,” which pretty much always meant superheroes and evisceration. Very few people in comics seem to be capable of doing a genuine crime story, and most of them think noir is a matter of getting the lighting right. But noir isn’t a mood, it’s a condition, where, as I said, there’s something fundamentally wrong at the core of the universe. Any story with a hero who struts out at the end righteous and triumphant, and who has essentially restored the moral order of the universe, which is the basic setup of the superhero story, isn’t noir.

MM: There’s some over the top action in 2 Guns. For example, In the latest 2 Guns a couple of CIA agents (tailing a thief) walk into a DEA office and end up killing several feds. Why did you choose to go this route rather than having the agents pick up the thief outside on the street?

SG: It’s a comedy. You can push things a little more over the top in a comedy.

It’s also a story consideration; in a screenplay you have to keep pushing the action along, and if you can figure out a way to push the action which doesn’t involve people sitting around for an extra scene, you should. But I wanted to play it a little over the top. As far as over the top goes, you ain’t seeing nothing yet…

Tim O’Shea (TOS): While this is a crime noir tale, you’re a writer known for injecting wit into your work. How important is wit to the stories you construct?

SG: I am? Huh.

I don’t know that I go out of my way to inject wit into any stories. I’m just perverse, and it leaks out.

TOS: You recently attended SDCC, where you did multiple signings at the Boom! Studios booth–when you get to hear one on one feedback in person about your work, does that reinvigorate your passion for the work? Any unique fan feedback regarding 2 Guns that you would like to share?

SG: Not really. It’s always very pleasant chatting with the readers, and I appreciate their interest in my work, but Ernest Hemingway once told a reporter that if you pay attention to the good things people say about your work you have to pay attention to the bad things too, and I pretty much believe that. I don’t know if I have a passion so much as an obsession, and it’s not with the work so much as with the stories, which I realize is a pretty fine distinction. There are always stories I want to tell, and given my druthers I’d rather tell stories no one else would have come up with, like TWO GUNS, but I don’t always get that opportunity. But my obsession keeps me going, and I’d keep going even if I never got a single scrap of feedback from anyone.

TOS: Is there any chance Boom! will be publishing more of Whisper down the road?

SG: Wish I could say more, but the only answer I’ve got right now is… not sure.

TOS: Mark Waid is the new EIC of Boom–wit
h a partial goal of fostering new talent at the studio. For a seasoned veteran like yourself, do you think there’s storytelling lessons you can garner from Waid’s experience?

SG: I already learned never to invent anything called “The Speed Force,” isn’t that enough? Sure, I’m always learning things from other writers. Mark’s a pretty smart guy, and I’d have to be a pretty dumb guy not to learn from him. No one has yet told me what editor-in-chief even means in a structure like Boom’s, though.

TOS: Have you seen your books benefit from the audience you build through your CBR column?

SG: Nothing noticeable. It’s funny, I can use the column to generate mad dashes for other people’s books, but not mine. Maybe eventually I’ll figure out why. I wouldn’t mind getting rich off something one of these days.

Be sure to visit Matthew McLean’s website here.

Matthew McLeanSteven Grant

Share On:
Tweet
Devil’s Panties: Jennie Breeden’s Auto-Bio Brain Candy
Countdown Breakdown #37

About The Author

<a href="http://comicsbulletin.com/byline/matthew-mclean/" rel="tag">Matthew McLean</a>
Matthew McLean

Matthew McLean is a writer on Comics Bulletin

Related Posts

  • Interview: A Chat with Steven Grant

    Jason Sacks
    May 7, 2015
  • Singles Going Steady 8/12/2014: Everything Old Is New Again

    Ariel Carmona Jr., Christine Manzione, Eva Ceja, Jordan Glazer, Lance Paul, Luke Anderson, Norrin Powell, Ryan Scott
    August 12, 2014

Latest Interviews

  • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

    Daniel Gehen
    June 8, 2020
  • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

    Mike Nickells
    March 4, 2020
  • Simon Roy

    Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

    Mike Nickells
    January 29, 2020
  • Interview: V.E. Schwab on revisiting Red London in The Steel Prince

    Stephen Cook
    March 13, 2019
  • Interview: David Foster Wallace and Hellblazer, words on Wyrd with writer Curt Pires

    Stephen Cook
    February 27, 2019
  • “The Night Has Teeth” An Interview with Sarah deLaine, Artist of Image Comics’ “Little Girls”

    Jason Sacks
    February 26, 2019
  • Interview: Caitlin Kittredge talks the future of Witchblade

    Daniel Gehen
    February 12, 2019
  • Interview: Andy Nakatani and the Future of Weekly Shonen Jump

    Daniel Gehen
    December 19, 2018
  • INTERVIEW: Todd Matthy talks robots, princesses, and bridging the divide with storytelling

    Stephen Cook
    September 13, 2018
  • INTERVIEW: Gallaher & Ellis discuss THE ONLY LIVING GIRL

    Daniel Gehen, Thea Srinivasan
    September 7, 2018
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders