Mark Interviews 1990+

The Black Pearl

Did you always consider this a comic book / graphic novel series?

Mark:
No. As a matter of fact, it was written as a screenplay. Dark Horse read it and responded immediately. So we thought it was a real challenge to take something that was commenting on the comic book world and actually translate it into comics and it strikes Eric and I highly ironic because we're talking about why conventions of comic book storytelling don't work in the real world. It's meant to be a film; now we're translating it into a graphic novel.

Who is your co-author? And what else has he written? And should I mention that he is your cousin?

Mark:
Yeah, of course you should. I mean, he's my first cousin. His dad and my mom are brother and sister, so we grew up together. I mean, I've been trading story ideas with him since we were coming out of the first Nutty Professor.

Eric Johnson:
Uh-huh.

Mark:
To show you how old we are. But I always wondered whether I should say that because, you know, he has a career of his own as a writer. And you say, "Well, he's my cousin,'; it sounds like nepotism or that I took him on because he's family. But not at all. I took him on because he's someone that I really respect in terms of bouncing ideas off of him and getting his feedback and....

Eric Johnson:
We share a certain sensibility and, growing up together, we have the same sense of humor and lot of the same experiences and....

Mark:
He left out the adjective 'twisted'.

How long did it take to research this project? And did it lead you into some strange places or situations?

Mark:
I guess anything that you write you've been researching all your life, so... When you consciously begin thinking about this as an actual story to tell, we wound up getting into unusual situations scouting locations. Because we went out and shot photographs for the artist who lives in another country for the courthouse, Luther's house, this place, that place....

Who is doing the art work?

Eric Johnson:
His name is H.M.Baker and he did Ghost for Dark Horse. They gave us stacks of artwork to look at to choose an artist and he was one of our final choices. Two other people were in there in that mix, too. Some were busy, some were off on other projects and stuff. We ended up choosing Mr. Baker. He actually lives in Amsterdam. But his agent that we deal with, and we never deal with the artist, we deal with the agent, is from Bosnia, Hertzogovina. That's where he now lives, 300 miles out of there, after he fled the war with his family. But it makes communication a bit difficult with our artist. And it's something that we're still running into.

I understand you've also re-written the screenplay for The Black Pearl. Will this be animated or live-action?

Mark:
We really thought about that, because, working so much in animation lately, there are people that asked me, 'Can this be an animated film?' and I said, well, yeah, sure it could. But I think what makes it unique is it's meant to be in the real world. And, if it's an animated film, you have this suspension of disbelief anyway. We're bouncing around from real-life origins of what made me want to write this to.... comic books back to animated films. I mean, the major thing that we want to get across is that the audience should watch this and say, 'Yes, this could happen.' You'd have to write backwards. Looking at the convention in comic books that putting on a mask and fighting crime would be a reasonable option for anybody is ludicrous. And could we write a story where the audience would believe, 'Yes, this could happen.' Right now, this morning, could somebody be out there, sewing a costume, getting ready to go out and fight crime? Well, no. We've never seen anything like that, happily. This is why there can't be a Batman, even though we really want one.

Any chance of it becoming a computer game?

Mark:
Absolutely! Richard Garriett was thrilled with the screenplay. He said, 'Oh, this is a great game!' And we never thought of it that way. But, you know, we've sort of come around to the belief that if you tell a good story and there's an antagonist and a protagonist, you have conflict. And that's the base of any good game.

When should The Black Pearl be out this time?

Eric Johnson:
Are we talking about the movie or the comic book? The comic book comes out September 18th and who knows with the movie? I mean, we would love to be shooting by next fall and have it out in the spring. Who knows?

Any other film projects or TV appearances?

Mark:
Well, I don't know. I'm reading a couple of things this weekend, but I haven't anything to announce other than keep your ears open. I'm not exactly the King of Cartoons, but I'm the Master of Arms of the Cashmere Sweater of Cartoons.

Eric Johnson:
He is the King of Cartoons.

Dark Horse, 1997