D.G. CHICHESTER

The following is an e-mail interview with D.G. CHICHESTER, the well-known writer behind many of DAREDEVIL's pivotal storylines. Currently, he is deeply involved with Marvel's on-line CYBERCOMICS. This interview was conducted on August 29, 1998.

JOHN DALTON: What is your earliest comic book memory?

D.G. CHICHESTER: That will always be riding my bike along High Ridge Road, a fairly busy bit of traffic for a kid to navigate, to get my weekly "fix" of comics at a now hopelessly run down (but then somewhat enticing) convenience store named Cedar Corners. They had one or two squeaky spinner racks of the "Hey Kids, Comics!" variety, and I'd pick out an assortment (almost invariably DC's -- probably some unconscious attachment to the initials), take 'em to the counter, and wait as they slipped them into a shiny brown bag. Strapping that to the back of my bike, I'd ride home, and pore over my catch, which would then get stashed away into increasingly overburdened dressers converted into comic "libraries".

JOHN DALTON: What, in your early life, prepared you to write comics?

D.G. CHICHESTER: Being picked on by bullies in grade school, the kind who'd steal your lunch, make fun of your haircut, and push you down into the mud in front of the cute little girl that you had a crush on but never had the guts to say anything to her about. :) That at least prepares you for dealing with editors and the general lack of respect for writers in the comics industry. I don't look at writing comics as any different than writing any good story (aside from the peculiar language and mechanics of the medium). A good story in any medium has rhythms, pacing, distinct characters. If anything prepared me for comics, it was a diversity in the kind of things I enjoyed reading as a kid. . . . and not just comics. Fantastic fiction, bizarre non-fiction, all gelled together into a still-surviving interest in a wide range of subject matter that gives fuel to story ideas for all kinda comics.

JOHN DALTON: How did you get your first break in comics?

D.G. CHICHESTER: Long story made short: went mostly broke making my student film at NYU. Got a staff job at Marvel to try and overcome that debt. Realized the staff job paid so little it was driving me MORE into debt, forcing me to have to take on freelance writing work to make ends meet! (Something wrong with this formula, right?) I wish it was more exciting, but I literally just applied for a job, and got it. I made enough of an impression that I was then hired onto higher positions (gopher to assistant editor to editor), although not necessarily higher paying!

JOHN DALTON: You have worked on many diverse titles. What are you most proud of? D.G. CHICHESTER: Certainly several highpoints on the Daredevil run: #300, the climax of the "Fall of the Kingpin" story. Daredevil #380. "The Tree of Knowledge" story, which, while not as "well known" as the more commercial "Fall From Grace" is (to my mind) a better constructed story, with weightier themes. The Hellraiser/Nightbreed (very) limited series, "Jihad". And the "Elektra: Root of Evil" story, which stands out as a project that came together almost completely as I envisioned it would, a real rare bird there!

JOHN DALTON: You are well known for your run on Daredevil. What was your vision for the character?

D.G. CHICHESTER: There's a bad pun in asking about a writer's "vision" on a blind character, isin't there? Two things: the city of New York as a character that Daredevil was inextricably linked to. And the friction between the lawyer and the vigilante, something that seems to have been largely lost in the character of late.

JOHN DALTON: What would you like to do that you haven't had a chance to do in comics?

D.G. CHICHESTER: A creator owned project. Me being the creator and owning the darn thing. This is particularly frustrating, considering I started out working for Epic Comics, Marvel's creator owned division back when! While I've no beef doing work for hire work (unlike some, I go into those arrangements fairly open eyed to their pros and cons), there are some themes and approaches in storytelling that I now feel would be best served by some properties that I've created and want to maintain ownership over. We'll see how those pan out. . . . .

JOHN DALTON: What do you see changing in comics, for better or worse, as we enter the 21st Century?

D.G. CHICHESTER: God, I wish something would change! There was a time I could tell you what the "pulse" of the comics industry was. Now, I'm not so sure it even has a pulse. There are so many "professionals" (and unfortunately, many of them are ostensibly "in charge") just running scared, or trying to reclaim some kind of brass ring from the very artificial "boom period" of a few years ago. What needs to happen is a lot more risk taking, and some faith in new and original material. (Not unlike some of the fresh approaches that television has taken, with programming on syndicated channels, shows like Oz and Buffy, and La Femme Nikita: stylish, different, intelligent.) If comics don't finally wake up to their potential, and embrace that and "break out" of this rote sameness, I'm very pessimistic about their place in the ever expanding entertainment options out there. As the Internet makes for an increasingly popular and possible "self-publishing" model, I think you're going to see comic creators with savvy, and new talents, turning their attentions in that direction to deliver properties. That's no longer comics, of course; it's something new, with its own rhythms and problems and potential. But if it has the drive and the edge and an interested audience, it's a place where creative folk might find themselves deciding to spin their story serials instead of in a print medium that's sold itself far, far too short.

JOHN DALTON: What current projects are you excited about?

D.G. CHICHESTER: I'm having a blast doing the "Cybercomics" for Marvel Interactive, which are their online, multimedia comics available on the Internet. It combines my history with print comics, with a long standing interest in media development. I've also got a few of those creator owned things cooking, none of which I'm ready to talk about yet, but which have me very jazzed about their potential, both as comics and something beyond. . . . . .