Nighthunter interview
How were you introduced to comics?
I’ve been a fan of superheroes all my life. When I was a kid I watched Superman: The animated series, Batman: The animated series, Teen Titans, Smallville, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. I’ve seen all DC and Marvel superhero movies…sometimes I wish that wasn’t the case though lol. I noticed in the synopsis of the episode of Smallville in which the Justice League debuted that the speedster wasn’t casted as Flash but as Impulse, watching comments on videos of youtube I saw one saying that there were actually 4 Flashes. I googled it and found out it was actually true, reading about the story of the Flash lead me to the Teen Titans, which lead me to Nightwing, which lead me to the 4 Robins stories and so on and so on.
I fell in love with the characters.
What was the first comic you ever read?
JLA/Avengers by Kurt Busiek and George Perez, funny thing is that I actually started with the fourth issue of the miniseries before reading the rest; I went for the first time to the comic store that had just opened near my house and saw the amazing cover of Superman holding Thor’s hammer and Captain America’s shield by George Perez, how could I say no?
I was so excited that I didn’t even see the small “4 out of 4” on the cover until after I finished reading it. After noticing it I went back to the store and bought the rest of them, it had a lot of things that I really didn’t understand or know about at the time and that was both really intimidating and encouraging at the same time. I was introduced to many of the coolest characters of both DC and Marvel, characters that have such a rich story and that I’ve come to love by now in many cases.
You say you have come to love many of the characters, who are your favorites of both companies and which company is your favorite one?
Anyone who has talked to me for at least 5 minutes knows that I’m a major DC fan, there is something so encouraging and legendary of the characters, I love the A-listers, B-listers, C-listers, etc. In fact I can’t think of a single character that I wouldn’t at least like to give him or her a chance at writing, although of course there are characters I love more than others.
I love Batman, I love Dick Grayson, I love Superman, I love Wonder Woman, Green Lantern Corps (Especially Kyle), Flash (Wally), Aquaman, Atom, Martian Manhunter, Teen Titans, Outsiders, Justice Society, Jonah Hex, Doctor Fate, Young Justice, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel….what was I saying?
That being said there is a big misunderstanding that many people have of me; they believe that since I’m such a big DC fan that I hate Marvel. That couldn’t be farer from the truth as I love many of the characters there. I love Nick Fury, I love both of the Captain Americas, especially Bucky, I love Ironman, I love Thor, Hank Pym, Hercules, the Fantastic Four, Moon Knight, Daredevil, Nova, Silver Surfer, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Avengers, X-men, etc.
Now I admit that I don’t like most of the fan-favorites of Marvel like Spider-man, Hulk, Deadpool and Punisher, then again maybe I just haven’t given them the proper chance. I hated Superman but Morrison, Johns, Waid, Jurgens, etc. changed my mind with their runs on the character. Same went for Aquaman before I read David’s run; Jonah Hex before I gave a look to Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray’s amazing current ongoing (which everyone should be reading!), Fantastic Four before Jonathan Hickman’s run started and Hank Pym before Dan Slott’s Mighty Avengers and so on.
Would you like to work in comics one day?
I don’t think any rpger here would even consider rejecting that offer; I would love to work with the DC and Marvel characters either in comics or in other media in any format. I would also love to do creator owned work. Simply put I love to write.
If you could only work in one series for DC and another one for Marvel during your entire career which ones would you choose and why?
Now that’s like telling a little boy “We are going on a long journey and you can only bring one toy with you. Here’s a bag with all of your favorite toys, pick one.” Now one can choose the favorite toy, the one that he sees himself playing the most time with, the newest one, the weirdest one, there are so many possibilities and really it’s just cruel to make the little boy choose lol.
For DC, and I’m sure many people will be surprised by this choice because when everyone thinks of writing for DC they think of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I choose the Brave and the bold comic, my reasoning is that while I can only pick one title with this I can bring the complete toy bag with me. What I love about the brave and the bold is that you can have the entire DCU at your reach, I would so exploit that. I’ve even thought of 50 pair ups for my Brave and the bold fan-fics here on the site (Which I haven’t forgotten about, I’m just having writers block with the current one, wish more people read it btw)
For Marvel…If I could I would bring back Astonishing tales and make it an anthology book with rotating marvel characters, but since there is no title right now on the market, the fact that Secret Warriors is soon coming to an end and the fact that he is my third favorite character. I would love to write a Nick Fury ongoing series, have a cool idea that would keep him on familiar territory which also has never been seen before.
Who is your favorite writer and why?
Grant Morrison. His runs are truly brilliant stuff, he has an ability to pull ideas that would look stupid and as bad fan-fiction by most writers but he somehow pulls that over. Look at the synopsis of his new movie to see what I’m talking about. I feel more intelligent and clever just by reading him in interviews. I don’t know what the f@ck he is smoking but I want some of that lol.
Kidding kids, say no to drugs. :P
Favorite comic character?
Bruce Wayne, almost tied by Dick Grayson.
Besides Nighthunter have you created any other rpg characters?
Nighthunter is actually my both my first and second character created if that makes sense. I created Nighthunter then killed him in a battle with Andferne (Andy you watching this? Look I’m on the internet!) and created a new character that became the second Nighthunter.
The original one was then retconned to never have died and later developed into Chaos Agent.
I’ve also created characters that have never appeared in the Vine universe or have had very brief not memorable appearances. Those are Shadow Sorcerer, Phantom Crusader and Stranger of the Abyss.
Mr. Hamilton was a character so influential to the stories of both Nighthunter and Chaos Agent that I thought deserved his own bio which was something I really ended proud of, shame he’ll forever live in the shadow of Alfred due to his look, no character should have to be on the shadow of such a cool character.
For the rpg “The book of life” which I simply loved and wished we could have finished I created a Victorian era Nighthunter, I loved the process so much that I’m creating many Nighthunters through various ages, I’ve created at least 12 now that I hope to write fan-fics for whenever I get the chance.
Follow up: Is there any specific process when creating new characters?
I pick one of my favorite characters, use it as a look and check through his or her gallery in order to find inspiration. Later I try to find the core of the character and summarize it to a single phrase and create the entire character based on that phrase.
For example when creating Nighthunter I summarized what in my opinion makes Batman so cool. “The ultimate human” and then built the complete concept around it, that’s why there are so many similarities and differences between the two. When creating a street level character I think it’s impossible to not even subtly incorporate something of Batman in him or her.
Have you written in fan-fics or rpgs any character that didn’t belong to you?
Yes, all of them from DC. The first time was when I did a fan-fic known as “6 heroes, 1 killer” which was about a reality show which featured 7 heroes from DC that no one cares about like Resurrection Man, Nightdragon, Talon, the Veteran, Antaeus, Triumph and someone who for some reason I don’t remember right now where they were in an unabated island and one of them was a killer that was murdering each one of them one by one. Never finished it.
I’ve written Superman in two occasions. One in a story I wrote named “Superman: The rise and fall of the man of steel” which I got blocked writing it and eventually left the idea completely. Plan to return to it one day, the other one was a Christmas story known as “For the man who gave everything.” Which people seemed to like. He is also in an upcoming installment of my brave and the bold fan-fics where I want to team him up with the Global Guardians. No idea when that is coming though.
Batman is my favorite character, I have a strong idea for a fan-fic featuring him and his supporting cast named as “The fall of Gotham”. No idea when I’ll start working on that but I’m anxious because the antagonist is a character I’ve always loved and that I feel he has an amazing potential unexplored. I already wrote him in another Christmas story named “Spirits of Gotham”. He will be one of my pair-ups of the brave and the bold along Saint Walker.
I have a story that I haven’t posted featuring Wonder Woman which is also a Christmas story and plans for another one known as “The contest of the gods”. She is also in an upcoming brave and the bold with Triumph.
In the brave and the bold I’ve written Enemy Ace, Alan Scott, Nix Uotan, Pariah, Atom, Mento, Animal Man, Congorilla, Blue Jay, Captain Atom, Antaeus, Atlas, Amazing man and aquaman. The next one features Green Arrow & the protector.
I’m not sure if it counts since he is in the public domain but I’ve also written Sherlock Holmes.
Has any of those characters been easier and/or harder to write for you?
I’m kinda struggling with Green Arrow, I mean its all about balancing his arrogance and headstrong attitude because if you go too strong with it he becomes just a big jerk where it loses the ability to be found funny and likable by the reader, something that I think also applies to Quicksilver btw, and if you go too little, well it ain’t Ollie.
I’ve been surprised with how easy it has been me to write Superman, I guess it is because with Superman you simply have to think “What is the right thing to do”. That’s why I find it stupid when people say that Superman isn’t relatable, don’t we all want to do the right thing even if we don’t do it?
As is writing Sherlock Holmes wasn’t difficult enough I had to write him tied and blinded in a chair and actually make that cool.
Follow up: Which character has been your favorite one to write and why?
Wonder Woman and Sherlock Holmes.
Wonder Woman because she is such an awesome character lol, I mean you can write either her in super heroine stories or also base yourself in the old myths. I think that is why I love Diana so much (besides the fact that she is a complete badass). She is an amalgam and the bridge between the classical greek heroes and the superheroes of this age, she is also the greatest heroine the world has ever known.
Sherlock Holmes because he is my favorite literary character, I’m a major fan of the character and the adventures of him both by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the other writers that have tried him, then again considering some of them are Neil Gaiman and Stephen King that ain’t much of a surprise, also loved him being portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. And I love House who is a living tribute to the coolness of Holmes
When I wrote Holmes, the problem with being such a big fan of a character that hasn’t had any bad run is that you have to live up to an amazing standard, while it was intimidating it was also encouraging. I would love to write more Holmes, I even have a story for a Holmes/Sweeney Todd fan-fic. Anyone want to see that?
Do you still like to rpg?
I love to rpg and I love to do fan-fics
Follow up: What is the difference between the two?
Fan-fic writing is like working for a creator owned work. I can work my own schedules with a fan-fic, there is no rush and no need to play catch-up and I have complete control over the story. Creatively wise that is amazing.
RPG writing is like working in a comic that ties into a crossover. You can do your own thing but you have to put the main story first and work with the others, I love to work with other people because when done right it can bring the story to new places and new standards. In real life and in writing I’m a people person, I love to work with others.
I love both and plan to do both but Rpging is my first love.
What brought you to the rpging world?
I had never heard of what rpging was, so when I saw threads about it I checked a few stories and loved the idea. Tried to enter the world in a couple of occasions and god did I suck back then, thankfully I don’t anymore….at least I hope that I don’t anymore.
Do you think the rpging world has changed from back when you started? If so how?
Posts got larger LMFAO. Yeah that’s pretty much it. Nah, I’m kidding. I’ve read the posts of the days of the likes of Mighty Magneto, Methos, Lady Tieso, Donnieman, Fourpower, etc. and it was great but I think that the best thing that happened to the rpg world was during the birth of the second era.
Suddenly and out of nowhere dozens of new and incredible rpgers started to emerge all across the place and suddenly it wasn’t only Vine Villains and Hellfire club, in a matter of weeks we also saw the birth of the League of Shadows, Zero Squad, LEV, WAL, Mobb Deep, Veritas Inc, ICE Dragons, Wolf Pack,etc.
RPGers like Andferne, Kurrent, Sha, Nova, Morte Rapida, Hunter, among others were the leading forces of a new era of rpging that raised the bar an incredible way, after that however the older class conformed by guys like Gambler, Final Arrow and Darkchild to name a few stood firm and basically told us “Screw you, we are still the best there is” and counterattacked by improving their game, the rivalry and collaboration between the two generations made both improve dramatically.
The people of my generation where out there like the teens that want to prove that they can sit in the grown-ups table and the first generation wanted to prove to us that they still could play with the youngsters and that they were just too good to retire. I make it sound like a war but I see it more as a healthy rivalry. I remember when I sent a pm to Sovereign Son (while he was still Last Arrow) and asked if I could include him in my bio as the teacher of the new nighthunter and how he replied that it would be an honor, I was completely as “Really? YOU would be honored to collaborate with ME?” It was like receiving a call saying “Hey Christopher Nolan says he wants to know if you would want to co-direct with him”.
Right now the rpg world is a little slower in my opinion and most of the people from my era and the era before have stopped rpging or really decreased their participation rate (me included) but we have a brave and amazing new generation of rpgers.
Follow up: Do you think that the new rpgers can surpass the old ones?
I think they are already doing it. Debuting writers do their first posts on the standard of a regular rpger or even a great one. The new generation were better when they debuted than most of us when we did back in the day, I know that they were better than me. Talon, Quality, Michael the Fly, Slight, Cly, Cellphone Girl, War Killer, Cat Burglar, Animal Kid, Eclipse and others are names I’m sure you’ll be hearing more and more about.
Who is the next big rpger in your opinion?
Nighthunter! I’ll be in the hall of fame one day; I promise that I’ll be there by class 254, hopefully a little bit sooner lol, nah seriously? If I had to pick only one, and let me just say that I’m sure that more than half of that list will be seen as the greatest rpgers one day if they keep up the good work I would say Eclipse.
He is for them what Andy and Kurrent were for us and what Mighty Magneto and Gambler were for the previous generation. He is the natural leader; he is too cool to be seen as any less than one of the best rpgers. For a long time the rpg world has been searching for the new hero leader now that both Andy and Kurrent barely rpg anymore, if they don’t return soon that place will fall in Eclipse.
He has the Robin look after all, he is the leader that his generation needed, just wait and you’ll see.
What advice would you give to new/future rpgers?
Hang out with the cool kids who actually are awesome. Everyone saw me hanging out with Andferne, Kurrent, Gambler, Darkchild, Sha, Nova, Sovereign Son, Risky, MR, Kiara, Lstpaladin, Hawk, etc. and fooled everyone into thinking that I was actually as good as them. Here is a little secret, I’m not.
Final question- What is the hardest thing for you as a writer?
To be able to write lol. Between school, friends, parties, etc. I don’t have that much free time and many of what I have also goes to another one of my hobbies like watching movies, reading comics, reading book, playing videogames, etc. I have too many stories I want to tell and not too much time to write them down, writers block is also a b!tch.
Thanks for the interview
Thanks for the opportunity
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