After the Cape: Volume 1
After the Cape creator talks about the new sequel and what’s coming next
By Owen K. Craig
Howard Wong is the writer of After The Cape (available in trade paperback) as well as the sequel After The Cape 2 (issues 1 and 2 in stores now). I interviewed him during store signing at Paradise Comics.
MONDO: How do you feel about After The Cape’s success?
Howard Wong: Well, shocked and surprised to be honest with you. It was a first book by a complete nobody, it was a story I wanted to tell about this take on a superhero and I was really happy that people enjoyed it and supported it. There was a great fan response and we really appreciated that. Hopefully we can repeat that success and the same delivery of great storytelling and character development in the second series.
MONDO: How did the sequel come about?
HW: After we got the first series done and the trade was put together, Jim (Valentino) asked for a second series. So we started working on that it became the consequences of all the actions that happened in the first series. You see what happened six months after the fact with Ethan’s life where he’s basically been stuck in a rut and he’s still in the same place we left him in the first series. You see how Ellen (Ethan’s wife) and the kids, Ethan’s ex-hero team and all the criminals he was involved with have moved on as well. The story focuses on the fact that Ethan wants to put his life back together, and in trying to do so he affects everyone else. His actions create ripples for everyone — negative ripples.
In all its black and white goodness
MONDO: Is the sequel part of the first story you wanted to tell, but didn’t have room?
HW: It was a story that germinated from the first series. The first series, like any of the series that come from Shadowline, is a standalone. So the first three issue-series is a standalone story. You don’t necessarily have to read it to get to the second series. So, in that sense it is a part of it but it’s also not.
MONDO: Did the follow-up story come easily to you?
HW: Parts of it were, but other parts were a struggle. I wanted Ethan to really get back into the scheme of things. I wanted to get into Ellen and the kids and I really wanted to show a great scene where we see Ethan and Ellen really talk about it all, which is in the second series and I’m really happy about it. In the first series we really concentrate on how Ethan thinks about things, how he does things and why he does things but in the second series we actually see other people’s motives and a large part of it was developing Ellen’s character which I really enjoyed. So it was difficult in the sense that I had to play more with the voices of these other characters more. As a writer I’m still struggling with and I hope I’m getting better as I go along.
MONDO: Other than Ethan and Ellen which other characters are you bringing back?
HW: Everybody, actually. Everybody comes back. All (Ethan’s) ex-superhero teammates come back (the United Heroes), The Triads come back, the Russian Mob comes back — everybody.
MONDO: What were your goals in part 2?
HW: I would say I really wanted to concentrate on character development. Since the first story was set up in the world Ethan lives in and the economy that people have with each other in the second series I wanted to show how the characters really play out with each other such as why Ellen put up all those years with Ethan’s drinking and his inability to get out of the habit. All these things play out in the second series. As well, we wanted to show that when someone has an addiction it doesn’t just affect them, it affects everybody who is a part of his life: his family, his friends, his co-workers and so on. In this second series we show that. There’s no way of closing the door on someone in your life who has an addiction problem. This is a story that really touches on that.
In stores now.
MONDO: Lastly, just for fun, what would be a dream character for you to write?
HW: To be really frank, anybody who would be crazy enough to give me somebody to write, I would do it in a heartbeat. I mean, you’re playing in somebody else’s sandbox, so it’s an interesting thing to see how you can play with it and what you can do with it and at the same time keep with the faith of the character. For example, I was fortunate enough to be asked to write a short story for the Grunts trade. It’s coming our January, I think, from Arcana. The characters were created by Keith Giffen and Shannon Denton. There were a lot of small hurdles, a lot of things I didn’t think I’d be dealing with while writing someone else’s character. But at the end of the day I was really happy with it and I’d love to do it again.
And, as a special bonus for you, our beloved readers, Howard Wong has offered up a list of his Top 10 DCU characters as an epilogue to our series of Top 10 DCU character lists.
Howard Wong’s Top 10 DCU Characters
10. Aquaman (Arthur Curry)
9. Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley)
8. Scarecrow (Jonathan Crane)
7. Mr. Freeze (Victor Fries)
6. Catwoman (Selina Kyle)
5. Harley Quinn (Harleen Quinzel)
4. (Kingdom Come) Red Robin
3. (Kingdom Come) Green Lantern
2. Joker
1. Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Visit Howard Wong’s Comicspace page, www.comicspace.com/howardwong.
