Interview: Wil Wheaton on Storytelling, Technology and the Internet (Part 3)
Previously on ComicMix, I brought you the first and second parts of my interview with writer, actor, publisher, tech guru and all-around nice guy Wil Wheaton. In the two previous installments, we discussed a variety of topics from writing and acting, to technology and comics.
In this third and final installment, we cover still more topics, including politics, what piece of tech Wheaton feels is the most important of the last ten years and to him, what makes a good story.
COMICMIX: Okay, Wil, as a writer and reader of comics, what makes a good story to you?
WIL WHEATON: Comics are a visual medium, so the artwork is extremely important to me. There are tremendously talented writers who occasionally get paired up with artists whose art I don’t like. And I won’t read those books.
There are artists and writers who collaborate together. Matt [Fraction] gives Casanova artist Gabriel Ba as much credit for Casanova being awesome as people give Matt for making Casanova awesome. Ed [Brubaker] does the same thing with Criminal. And I think that says a lot about the importance of a good team-up. I’m lucky.
I’ve gotten to work with some great artists when I’ve done manga for TokyoPop.I don’t know if the stories I’ve written would have the same emotional impact with the reader with different art. That really, really important combination of peanut butter and chocolate is really important to making comic books great.
A lot of it also has to do with pacing. When I write comic scripts I just write them as I would write a film script and I just know that instead of putting the camera on the dolly or whatever, that’s what I’m going to ask the artist to draw… what the reader is seeing, you know? So I think pacing is really important.
