161 comments on “It’s been ages since I did an “Ask Me Anything” thread”

  1. Hi Pete,

    I’ve recently been reading the New frontier books, am a little sad I’ve nearly finished all the ones published. Do you plan to write any new ones or anything Star Trek related in the post Destiny/Typhon Pact world?

    Thanks
    Dave

  2. 1. What is your opinion on Series 8 of Doctor Who ?

    2. When will the new Sir Apropos novel be released? Will it continue directly from Tong Lasing? I’m so looking forward to it.

    1. 1) I think it’s been incredibly strong. Peter Capaldi is doing a great job as the Doctor and Jenna Coleman has been way less irritating. And I loved Missy.

      2) Next year, and yes, it will continue from “Tong Lashing.”

  3. Why did you put Arrowette and Wonder Girl in Young Justice? It was your idea or it was editorial mandate?

    1. My idea. I was having trouble writing about a cast of young boys. Because I had three daughters at the time, I was more comfortable with writing about the boys from a girl’s POV. So I advocated for adding the girls and I think it worked out fine.

      PAD

      2. From the October 21, 2003 WHAT’CHA WANNA KNOW? thread:

        Mark Torres: Have you or would you write characters or stories that you hate?

        Peter: I’ve done it. Lobo. The Punisher. I find ways to make them work for me.

  5. Hi PD,
    I will always remember you for your work on Hulk.
    Once upon a time I wrote in a letter about 2 crazy Asian tourists. Some lady with some group thought they too stero-typical and complained. The letter I wrote in was largely a response to hers.

    My letter never made it to print, but there was some comment from one of your interviews that made me think there was more to the story internally with Marvel and I couldn’t help but wonder if my response letter was any part of that…

    My best – hope to see you at a con in the SE sometime.

    1. There wasn’t more to the story other than that I based those two guys on a couple of guys who followed me around at a convention and kept taking pictures with me. I thought it was hilarious and so I wrote them into the book.

      PAD

  6. Can you describe your workspace? I mean do you write on a laptop or desktop computer, how is your writing table and such. Is there anything in this matter that you wish you have known earlier? And thanks for being so open

    1. It’s a desk in the living room. There’s a computer and printer and various toys on it. But it’s temporary; my real workspace is downstairs and looks like the Batcave.

      PAD

      1. Temporary … because something’s wrong with the PADCave? Or just because you felt like a change of pace?

  7. Hi! I realize I have no real question (except “why can’t you write all the things?”) but I wanted to tell you that “Self has no time for this” has become my motto when I see a comments battle about petty things. It helps me a lot, really.

  9. In your last issue of Incredible Hulk (#467, if memory serves), how much of this story would have happened if you had stayed on the book?

    1. All of it. #467 was everything I had planned through issue #500, at which point I was going to leave the title of my own volition. But I didn’t have the opportunity.

      PAD

  10. Hi Peter, i’ve wondered for a long time; do you think the gray Hulk could work and be accepted by audiences in live action film? I’de love to know your thoughts on this topic as well as perhaps some brief thoughts on what you think of the Hulk’s film interpretations so far. (If you have the time)

    Cheers

    1. I think the audience will accept anything if the story and FX are good. As for the interpretations, here was the problem with the first two films. In any film, the hero should have a goal that the audience is rooting for him to accomplish. In the two HULK films, Banner had one goal: get rid of the Hulk. Which he had to fail at. So you spend four hours effectively watching your hero fail to accomplish his goal. That’s why he worked so well in AVENGERS. He had one goal: “Hulk: Smash.” Which he did.

      PAD

      1. Agreed about audiences accepting anything if it’s good enough. The suits all too often give audiences too little credit. The Marvel/Disney movies are doing it right.

        As a certain by-now-famous tweet says (paraphasing from memory):

        DC/Warner is all like, “Wonder Woman is too complex for moviegoers to understand,” and Marvel/Disney is all like, “Here’s a raccoon with a machine gun.”

        Heck, even many children’s cartoon series since at least the 90s have had ongoing story arcs of considerable complexity, such as Gargoyles and more recently Avatar: the Last Airbender (Movie? What movie? There was no movie!) and The Legend of Korra.

      2. One of many things that bothered me about the HULK movies is that, with George II’s policies about nuclear testing (he wanted to start it again), they could’ve easily used the comic book origin of Banner getting caught in the blast of a gamma bomb test instead of whatever the hëll it was they did. But instead they went with whatever the hëll it was they did.

  13. Hi , we know you are a religious person , but as a writer i think you have agnostic side..supergirl and fallen angel are my proofs..what do you think?

  14. 1) What are your thoughts on digital comics and their future
    2) Have you written or plan to in the future, write digital exclusive comics
    3) Any chance on Sachs & Violens going digital

  15. Have you ever thought about writing a Doctor Who audio for Big Finish or novel for BBC books?

    Thanks

    1. I’ve thought about it. I have written a short story that appeared in a BBC collection called “Qualities of Leadership” that you can still find for ridiculous amounts of money. Kathleen has a story in it too.

      PAD

      1. I’ve got this one. I would love you to write for Big Finish. It’s very easy to get in contact with them. *wink, wink*. 🙂

  18. I can’t imagine your YJ without the girls.

    Question: I’m seriously out-of-touch these days (nearest comic shop more than twenty miles away) – to the best of my knowledge, Fallen Angel is not being published these days, is it?

    If i’m right, can you ever see reviving it again?

  19. About the only thing I’m curious about that either hasn’t been answered elsewhere and that isn’t any of my dámņëd business is this: I would love to sit down with you at some point (online of course) and pick your brain about all the different super-villains you created while working at DC (Young Justice, Aquaman, Supergirl) as to how they came to be and what sort of plans, if any, you had for them. It’s for a project that I started but currently have backburnered, but it’s also something that would take more time than just a quickie answer, and you and I would have to work out a time where such a conversation would fit into both of our schedules. So until that happens, I got nothin’.

  20. There’s a question that will be at the end of this, so hang with me.

    My wife and I were talking this morning about the current Disney renaissance fueled by Bob Iger. I explained to her how Mike Eisner had taken over at a pretty low point in the 80s and done well turning things around, but slipped into micromanager mode in the 90s driving off Jeff Katzenberg and others resulting in the idea of Toy Story sequels without Pixar when he was shown the door and Iger, who few people even knew existed came in with low expectations, but fixed all Disney’s known problems by being the anti-Eisner, that is, buy Pixar and leave them alone. Buy Marvel to shore up the young boy market and leave them alone. Buy Lucasfilm for the same and leave them alone. Business people thought the Marvel deal was crazy expensive, but after Avengers, it basically paid for itself.

    Iger is retiring soon. At some point in the future (near or distant) someone with less faith in the people running the various parts will come in and the cycle will begin again. That said, how long do you think we have in this current Disney Golden Age?

    1. I don’t necessarily accept your proposition. There’s no reason to assume that someone who effectively doesn’t know what he (or she) is doing is going to take over and try to run roughshod over Marvel and Lucas. Maybe I’m being naive, but I hope this goes on for long after I’m gone.

      PAD

  21. Marvel are really kicking it with the movies recently, obviously, whereas DC are doing a great job on TV with Flash and Arrow.

    DC’s movies have been very lacklustre though. What do you think DC are doing wrong in the movies and what should they do to get it right?

    1. Not all of the DC movies. The last three Batman movies were pretty good. Mostly it’s Superman. I think the problem stems from the character himself. He’s not a person; he’s a god on Earth. It’s hard to relate to a god. Wonder Woman could have the same problem. The Marvel characters are very human; even Thor is a guy with girl and family issues. That’s why Flash and Arrow work so well: they are human beings, first and foremost. DC needs to produce movies that connect the characters to the audience and ground them in human concerns.

      PAD

      1. Very good points.

        For me, I find the almost total lack of any humour in the films make them too ponderous and a slog to watch. I can understand that in Batman, but even in the first two 70#s Superman movies, there was some humour that helped us connect to it. When they do try humour, they go too far, a la Green Lantern.

        Marvel get the balance between humour and drama perfectly right, I just wish DC could do the same.

    2. We can watch Arrow just fine on Apple’s portable devices, but not the other one for some reason. Nor could we watch episodes of the 1990 series of the same character starring John Wesley Shipp.

      And then I remembered: the iPhone and iPad don’t support Flash.

      1. GROAN!

        Two decades and I’d have thought your puns would have gotten better from days on GEnie’s SFRT boards–at least when replying to a writer good enough to get paid to write puns. 😉

        Then again I can’t believe my long-winded rants that my favorite childhood superhero, The Flash, of the Silver Age, Barry Allen, wasn’t dead but that he turned into a being of pure energy at the end of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS would become canon–much less that he would return and end up starring in the most-watch tv show on tv network (at least for The CW network, THE FLASH was the most-watched pilot)–and one of the best-rated pilot by tv critics in general.

        — Ken from Chicago (who thought he was quick but has to be much kwicker to keep up with Barry)

  22. Given the rebooted Star Trek films, do you now see greater possibilities for you to possibly write more TOS novels (in addition to New Frontier), since so much of the new timeline has not been established, and is therefore, wide open for new stories, characters and premises?

    You’ve said that writing speedsters makes you nervous because they’re unbeatable, and that you could handle Bart Allen because he was easily distracted. But after he was shot by Deathstroke and became Kid Flash, he became a lot more focused. Did this affect your writing him for the episodes of the Young Justice TV show you’ve scripted, since you wrote them pre-New 52, or did you just assume that that version of Bart was the more distracted, pre-Deathstroke Bart?

    You based Kaz from Wolverine: Election Day on Duane “Dog” Chapman from Dog: The Bounty Hunter. What is your opinion of Chapman? Do you have any negative or positive feelings about him, and if so, how did they translate into Kaz?

  23. Hello, I apologize if you have answered this before. My daughters and I only recently discovered your work. Who is your favorite Disney character?

  24. Three questions:

    1. Do you still have the Italian The Atlantis Chronicles collected graphic novel (Volume 1, IIRC)?

    2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much pleasure did you derive from writing Chapter 15 of Star Trek TNG: Before Dishonor, and in particular, the top ½ of Page 186 in the mass market paperback version thereof?

    3. Did Keith R. A. DeCandido ever forgive you for missing that golden opportunity during the climactic scene of Star Trek New Frontier: Gods Above?

      1. 2. ComaLite is referring to when the Enterprise-D crew are recounting the events of Vendetta to T’Lana, Leybenzon and Kadohata, and you used the opportunity to have Seven of Nine lay waste to Richard Arnold’s idiotic interpretation of Q’s dialogue from “Q Who?” about the Borg not having gender to mean that there were no female Borg, by having her call it “ridiculous” and “absurd”, and questioning how would ever come up with such an idea.

      3. Luigi Novi is right on #2. Geordi referred to “self-proclaimed experts” who claimed that there was no such thing as a female Borg. Seven remarked how ridiculous that was. Geordi says, “Go argue with self-proclaimed experts.”

        That sequence practically screamed, Oh, snap!! to anyone who was at all familiar with your history with Richard Arnold. In fact, I’m pretty sure I said precisely that, aloud, when I got to that. 😉

        As for #3, DeCandidao (aka KRAD back in our days on GEnie’s SFRT and Comics RT, when you were known as PAD) has since his fanfic days become quite the published author himself, and, like you, was given a portion of the Trek universe to write novels about. In his case, he’s the primary Klingon author, focusing on the I.K.S. Gorkon and its crew, featuring characters who had appeared on the TV series.

        In your New Frontier storyline culminating in Gods Above, the climax (IIRC — I no longer have the actual novel on-hand) had Soleta with the Egyptian god Thoth down on the homeworld of the Beings, they who inspired many of the gods of many worlds (this being a sequel to the classic TOS episode “Who Mourns for Adonis?”). The Excalubur crew had figured out how to effectively combat the Beings, using their own weapons against them, the one thing that could actually kill them.

        The missed once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity was this: while the carnage was going on, some unnamed Being reacting to it might have remarked in Soleta’s hearing, “Th-this is like the Klingons all over again!” Soleta then turns to Thoth and says, “Wait— you mean— when the Klingons brag that they killed their own gods, they’re telling the truth!?”

        (Thoth would never answer, because as you originally wrote, right then another panicked Being makes the remark that they’re dying, “but we can’t die, can we!?” and Thoth answers that yes, when their own weapons are turned against them and they’re cut off from their power source, they can indeed die, and he is himself killed almost immediately after saying that.)

        So that’s why I asked if KRAD ever forgave you. 😉

      4. I find it faintly adorable that someone would painstakingly explain to P.DAVID2 who that young upstart KEITH.D is, now that Keith has been dubbed the “second coming of Peter David.” 🙂

        -STAR (not to be confused with STARR, though Arne’s a nice guy)

  26. A few questions:

    Now that Star Wars is back with Marvel, are you looking do you have any plans/ambitions for it?

    What former Marvel licensed property do you most wish Marvel would relicense? (I’ve always been partial to Rom and Shogun Warriors myself.)

    It’s been five years. Per rule 6 (http://www.peterdavid.net/category/potato-moon/page/13),when are you and Ariel going to write the final chapter of “Potato Moon?” 🙂

    Thanx!

      1. 1). Not yet. 🙂
        2). Doc Savage vs. Conan vs. Micronauts vs. Rom vs. Shogun Warriors vs. GI Joe.
        3). [steeples fingers] Excellent …

  27. Your version of Jamie Madrox/Multiple Man is one of my characters. Was he considered for the All New X-Factor, and do you ever see Jamie getting off the farm?

    Thanks!

  28. So excited to hear there’s another Apropos novel on the way. Years after the fact, it’s still my favorite book of all time! As for my question, do you think you’ll ever pursue making the collection available on e-readers?

  29. So DC asks you to write Justice League and you’re giving complete freedom in the line up (up to and including ‘graduating’ someone, like giving the Batman mantle to Ðìçk Grayson). Who would you include, and why?

  31. As an inveterate Cypher fan, I have a few questions about the omniliguial New Mutant.

    Do you think Doug had to go through some sort of formal bureaucratic process to get himself declared no longer dead? I imagine the Marvel Universe has had to institute something akin to that… for the X-Men/Avengers if no one else, but don’t think it’s ever been addressed.

    Also, in your opinion has he been back to see his parents since his return, since they didn’t even know he was a mutant when he died?

    Oh, and finally, any chance of a Rahne/Doug scene before ANXF comes to an end? They were dating when he died, and since his return, not one single scene I can recall.

    All the best!

    1. 1) I’ve always wanted to explore that: the paperwork that has to be filled out when you come back from the dead. Maybe I will some day.

      2) No.

      3) None.

      PAD

      1. I thank you for your time, and for All New X-Factor, amongst other things you’ve written.

        Wishing you continued success and happiness!

  32. So finally explained Lorna and Magneto’s origin… but you left out Zaladane in that origin. Was this intentional? An oversight? Something you didn’t want to deal with?

    What is Zaladane’s origin?

  33. I have the Apropos books in hardcover is there any chance the 4th book will also be available in Hardcover or is it going to be print on demand?

  34. As an avid/rabid Gamer, I’m curious: Are their any particular superhero-based games (board/card games — like SUPER MUNCHKIN, SENTINELS OF THE MULTIVERSE, HEROES WANTED, MUTANT MEEPLES; roleplaying games, like CHAMPIONS or any Marvel- or DC-based ones) or videogames (current or former systems) that you’ve really loved or really hated? And are there any superhero games (any format) you’d want to see made?

      1. Well if you and yours are ever by the North Carolina/South Carolina border and want to learn/play, just let me know!

  35. Peter, LOVING the Phantom comic, but I keep hearing him with Billy Zane’s voice…

    One of the things I love about your work is when you take on an established property and you explain supposed plot holes or tie together loose ends in totally logical (and yeah, sometimes humorous) way. Is there any dangling plotliine or plot hole from other past Marvel stories you’ve always wanted to try your hand at untangling?

    1. I hope my question is not too late to be answered…

      How were you able to get around your Marvel-exclusive contract to write a Phantom book? Does “exclusive” really mean “no DC”, or is your contract/employment no longer exclusive?

      1. I asked Marvel’s permission and they said yes. They do that sometimes for the occasional title, especially if it’s for a smaller publisher.

        PAD

  36. Reading the reprints of your BID columns, you’ve mentioned several times needing to ask Gaiman for a favor and dreading what he’ll ask you for in return. Has he ever asked you to return any of these favors, have they been as bad as you feared, and can you share any of them with us?

  38. Greetings. I hope you are doing well.

    What’s your review of INTERSTELLAR?

    Was it particularly gut-wrenching to watch as a father of a daughter close to the age featured in the movie? (I’m sure none of your kids ever got mad at you for having to spend time away from them for work.)

    — Ken from Chicago

    P.S. With all the buzz over INTERSTELLAR, have you had a chance to see the other movie that came out, the one that actually beat in in box office receipts, BIG HERO 6? It’s kinda Marvel’s first (CGI) animated movie (that was theatrically released).

  39. 1) Has it ever occured to you that it might be fun to see Richard Anderson play Coulson’s father on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D?”

    2) Now that you’re friends with James Monroe Iglehart. the genie from “Aladdin,” what else did you wish for besides getting to see the show?

  40. According to Screen Rant, there “over 40 DC and Marvel branded films scheduled to hit cinemas the next six years, with a few more still unannounced.” Do you think this will lead to over-saturation of the market, or do you think the current trend of superheros, 3-4 a year, can last?

    1. Of course it will oversaturate the market. It always does. Look how “Spider-Man” over saturated the market, and in relatively a short period of time.

      PAD

  41. Thanks for answering all these questions. Here are mine.

    1) How has Marvel changed from when you first started working there? Are there elements you miss from the early days? Does it still feel like the same company you started working for back in the 80s? If not, what do you miss?

    2) Do you think Marvel and DC will ever get out of the big event story cycle? It seems to be less and less effective as they go along. Sales might be there but the stories are often weak and without any real narrative pull to them. I just wonder if there has ever been any talk of easing back from that type of story.

    3) Marvel seems to have gotten bored with many of their key characters. Characters like Thor, Spider-Man, Captain America (twice!) have been replaced by alternate versions and the main character sidelined for a time. Does this mean the writers are bored with the characters they are writing, they believe the fans are bored with them or a combination of the two?

    1. 1) The personnel. No one who was an editor when I first started working there is still there. They’ve either moved to DC, retired, got fired or died.

      2) No. Sales are now so tied into big event stories that I don’t think it will ever change.

      3) They’re not bored. Characters have been replaced by new identities for decades. It’s just a way of finding new stories to tell. The status quo will eventually be reset; it always is.

      PAD

  43. Dear Peter, what song do you consider the absolute best song ever written for a musical ? (for me, it’s “You Never Walk Alone” from “Carousel”, a true classic).

  45. How much toys/mementos of the comics you’ve worked on do you have? Any particular favorites (I’d imagine a Hulk and Spidey 2099 thingie would be pretty up there)?

    1. Some stuff. Aquaman and Spidey 2099 action figures. A LOT of Hulk figures. I especially like the one from “Hulk: The End.” And my foot high SM 2099 maquette.

      PAD

  46. Mr. David,

    I have no question in mind that hasn’t been answered. I just wanted to thank you for doing this. I hope your recovery continues and your health continues to improve if you’re not yet to full recovery.

    Best wishes.

  47. Peter,

    continued good health to you !

    In your mind, right now, How is Jamie & Layla doing? I miss them terribly…

    You have any thing really fun on the horizon that I will buy ?

    Bill

  48. Not sure why my question was skipped so asking again.

    Any chance the 4th Apropos book will be released in Hardcover? or is it e book PoD only?

  49. Given the recent mid-term election results, what are your predictions for the next two years of American politics?

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