Talking with Tim

I think DC Comics should employ writer Tom Peyer a great deal more. So to see him take on Flash writing chores in the wake of Mark Waid’s departure was a step in the right direction for my money. This Wednesday, April 16, marks the release of Flash 239, the second issue in Peyer’s first arc. We got to discuss his take on this phase in Wally West’s life and also discuss some of Peyer’s other non-DC projects. And, with the return of the baseball season, plus Peyer’s and mine shared love of the game (and in his case, a fondness for the Yankees) we had to talk baseball, however how briefly. I regret I was not quick enough to ask the Yankee fan about the time then-Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch accidentally hit Keith Olbermann’s mom with an errant throw to first that flew into the stands.

Tim O’Shea: When you found out Waid was stepping down from the Flash, what was it mainly that attracted you to the assignment?

Tom Peyer: I’ve loved The Flash since I was a kid, so that’s all I needed right there. I also really enjoy writing characters people outside of comics have heard of. I hope you never have to explain R.E.B.E.L.S. ‘94 to your dental hygienist, because it’s a pain. So thanks, Flash, for being pretty well-known.

Also: the writers before me–particularly Mark Waid and Geoff Johns–made him such a fully-realized character. It’s impossible not to love Wally once you get to know him, and we know him very well.

O’Shea: Reading the solicitations for upcoming issues, the current storyline creates a rift between Jay and Wally. From your perspective how important is the Jay/Wally dynamics to the book?

Peyer: Jay is such a good character, I want to use him as often as I can. I love the idea that he and Wally are both named The Flash and they both patrol the same city. It’s like Starbucks. One on every corner. The dynamic: Wally knows a whole lot but Jay knows even more. While he’s nice and charming about it, Jay doesn’t hesitate to give unasked-for advice. Which isn’t always the best idea. But when you get old, you’ll do it, too.

O’Shea: More than superpowers, supervillains and the average overall spandex challenges, you seem interested in exploring the fears and hurdles of Wally West the parent–am I correct?

Peyer: Yeah. We’ve known him since he was a kid, and now he has kids of his own. His whole trip through life, all of that growth, really makes him human (what’s that, Spidey? Change the subject? No!). So I won’t walk away from that. You know how some new parents seem to experience every little thing as an emergency? Wally and Linda are like that. But they have a good reason. Their kids could super-speed into adulthood tomorrow. Or die of old age. At the beginning of my first story their stress level was already at nine. It’s going to be at ten for awhile.

Having said all of that, I plan on more solo Flash action than you might expect. The twins are still very important, but it won’t be quite the team book that had been envisioned.

O’Shea: What inspired the new character, Spin? Is it, perchance, Bill O’Reilly? And speaking of spin, how did you end up collaborating on Colbert’s Tek Jansen?

Peyer: Not O’Reilly so much; I was thinking more about the straight news segments that are simply there to scare us into staying tuned. Although in Flash #238 I poked a little fun at O’Reilly’s enemy Keith Olbermann, a TV news guy I actually sort of like.

I got into the Colbert project via my co-writer, John Layman, who had been invited to submit a pitch. He thought it would be fun to work together, and it certainly has been for me. He’s the funniest guy in the world. To look at, I mean. Not very witty, though.

Did you know John is a dedicated animal rights activist? Well, he isn’t. But I slipped that into his Wikipedia entry last year. I wrote that he ends all of his comics with “Have your pet spayed or neutered.” Someone eventually deleted that from his entry. Sadly.

O’Shea: Would you like to have a long run (pardon the pun) on Flash, or are you satisfied with doing an arc or two?

Peyer: I’d love to stick around for as long as they’ll have me. Everyone: buy two copies!

O’Shea: Each artist brings a unique vibe or talent to the character of Flash–from your perspective what does Freddie Williams II bring to the Flash with his approach?

Peyer: A lot more energy than I have. He’s a kinetic wonder. Just like The Flash. And he’s in that beautiful career phase in which every issue looks better than the previous. I love following artists when they’re growing (and I sometimes lose interest once they’ve arrived at the point they’re going to occupy forever).

O’Shea: This arc is an effort to comment on TV news–can you still find positive aspects of TV news or has it become a lost cause for you?

Peyer: TV news is the stupidest thing in the world. Bubble-headed, self-promoting, exploitative, manipulative, lazy, manic-depressive, racist. If there are any TV news people reading this: your job is important and you completely effed it up. My comics are more accurate. We don’t need you for anything.

Okay, I’m peeling the foil off my head now. But you asked.

O’Shea: I’ve always respected the work of editor Joan Hilty, how important is she to the creative process on Flash. As a former editor yourself, do you think you collaborate more effectively with editors (moreso) than other writers?

Peyer: I can’t speak to other writers, but I hope I do it well. When I was an assistant editor, I was going over a script with Jamie Delano, a better writer than I’ll ever be. I questioned some story point or other and he said something like, “as long as we can agree on what effect we want to achieve, there are a thousand ways to get there.” Perfect. Generally speaking, the writers who fought for every precious syllable had hacked it out in a single draft. Their defense of the work grew out of an insecurity. But the ones who really understood how to do it wanted to hear any suggestion that would make their stories better.

So I try not to be insecure. Which is good, because Joan is fussy. Which is also good. She thinks about the work very carefully and there’s always a lot of back-and-forth between us over scripts. And we always end up with a better book for it.

O’Shea: How did the gig editing O Holy Cow: The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto come about?

Peyer: For the uninitated, it was a book of verse, the contents of which we appropriated from the late Yankee legend/shortstop/broadcaster’s play-by-play. It started as a weekly column in the Village Voice, and that led to the book. The whole thing was my partner Hart Seely’s idea and it must have been a good one, because Harper just published a new, expanded edition.

O’Shea: As a Yankees fan, do you think Hank Steinbrenner’s mouth/attitude will ever approach the unique level of absurdity his father could reach at times/ How much do you miss Joe Torere?

Peyer: As anyone who follows the White House has learned, the boss’ son is always a worse boss than the boss. Hank is behaving fairly well right now. But as his years and prescriptions increase, he will find a way to run the Yankees into the ground. Maybe forever.

Tags: baseball, writing

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 9:55 pm and is filed under comics, sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.