Last week we spoke with Michael Moreci about his RoboCop one-shot, ROBOCOP: HOMINEN EX MACHINA. (You can read that interview HERE). As mentioned last week, Boom! Studios is releasing five separate one-shots written by Moreci, Joe Harris, Frank Barbiere and Ed Brisson.
This week we spoke with Joe about his one-shot, ROBOCOP: TO LIVE AND DIE IN DETROIT, which features art by Piotr Kowalski, colors by Vladimir Popov and letters by Ed Dukeshire.
COMIC VINE: You're issue is the second one-shot from BOOM! Studios being released this month. Is this story taking place early in his 'career'?
JOE HARRIS: I suppose it is, yeah. It’s definitely exploring some themes that will reach an even bigger head in the movie while, I think, offering some prescience into what RoboCop is going to find himself up against later on with regard to private, corporate money and how that influences—or, let’s be honest, corrupts—public services intended for the public good.
CV: What's the focus of your story?
JH: RoboCop uncovers a human trafficking operation in Detroit, but investigating it proves difficult when connections to folks thought of as "friends" to the powers-that-be materialize. This isn’t going to stop RoboCop from taking the operation down with all the fire and brimstone you’d expect, but it does make things plenty messy, and in ways he’s not expecting.
CV: Is it easier to tell a self-contained one-shot or harder (because you have to include character set up)?
JH: I’m not sure it’s a question of easier or harder. I like telling longer, multi-part stories, and have always enjoyed telling short stories, in a variety of mediums, too. There’s something very satisfying and fun about telling a complete story in a single issue. It’s got its own, unique challenges as you suggest, too, but there’s a discipline involved that makes it extra satisfying if you do it right.
CV: Do you think we'd ever see any sort of RoboCop in our lifetimes?
JH: We’re killing people overseas with drones and preparing the next generation of solider to be automated, robotic, etc. while our military industrial complex spends and earns many, many billions of dollars—so yes, I do. Maybe not quite the same way, but this concept and franchise is timeless and I’d be surprised if there weren’t more innovations—both for good and ill—like this in our future.
CV: Is RoboCop enough to bring hope to this version of Detroit?
JH: I don’t know if he’s enough on his own, and he's as much an emblem of the problem of the treatment, perhaps on some levels, being worse than the disease. But he tries.
CV: Could you imagine if we someday had a RoboWriter working in comics?
JH: I hope not—but if it could happen, it will happen.
Be sure to check out Joe's ROBOCOP: TO LIVE OR DIE IN DETROIT one-shot on sale this week! Here's the rest of the preview:
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