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http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=121228
I'm more of a Marvel guy but I'll be grabbing a copy of this the day it comes out.
DAN DIDIO ON INFINITE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL
by Matt Brady
The solicitations for DC’s offerings in October have hit, and Executive Editor of the DCU Dan DiDio is pulling a favorite back out, with the Infinite Halloween Special, an 80-page anthology style book, featuring Arkham’s “guests” trying to out-spook one another with their respective horror stories. As per the stricture, the special also features a ton of writers and artists, including some newbies by the names of Peter Johnson (TV's Supernatural), David Arquette (Scream), Cliff Dorfman (Entourage).
We spoke with DiDio about the special.
Newsarama: Another major holiday, another “Infinite” special, huh? This follows the same format of last year’s Infinite Holiday Special, right?
DD: Absolutely. We felt that, just like Christmas, Halloween was the perfect opportunity for us to do a little one-off that give us an opportunity to work with people who don’t normally get a chance to work with DC Comics on a regular basis. I’m a huge fan of the anthology format, so this is just a lot of fun for me.
NRAMA: But when you say, “anthology format” in today’s comics scene, I think a lot of people have a mental checklist of who that might be – comics creators that aren’t in the spotlight, or due to their speed can’t work on a monthly title. But looking at the lineup here,…David Arquette? Cliff Dorfman, Peter Johnson? How did you get those guys involved? I know that David is into comics, as he had that comic book tie-in to his recent horror movie, but the others?
DD: These are a lot of people that (Editor) Eddie Berganza has been talking to over the last couple of years who always have been interested in working with DC. Scheduled never worked out, and projects never lined up, so it was fun to be able to pull something like this together, because it gave everybody the opportunity to play with their favorite character, and not worry about how it fits into a particular story – just to have fun with a Halloween theme.
NRAMA: With creators coming in from outside of comics, how did they land on their respective characters and stories?
DD: A lot of the stories came from which characters they wanted to work with, and they built their story around that.
Basically, what Eddie did was that he had in his mind particular genres not only within the DCU, but also in horror fiction: werewolves, witches, ghosts, vampires. Eddie set out then to fill all those basic food groups in the course of this special. When they first pitched it to me, they had the types of stories down, and their list of who they wanted to write it.
NRAMA: And what about your story? Where did that come from?
DD: They approached me and asked if I wanted to be involved in a Blue Devil story. I like the character a lot, and it was fun to pull out the old issues to get the feel and tone of the character again, and Ian Churchill was dying to draw it. It was a fun collaboration.
NRAMA: And the solicitation mentions that it features the return of Resurrection Man – that’s being handled by Dan and Andy?
DD: Yup – they’re bringing him back into action. With a name like Resurrection Man, you can always expect him to come back. Let’s see, and the rest of the creators are…
Zombies: Steve Niles and Dean Ormston
Werewolves: Cliff Dorfman, David Arquette and Bernard Chang
Vampires: Peter Johnson
Young Frankenstein: Peter Tomasi and Peter Snejbjerg
Witches (Aquaman): Tony Bedard and Sebastian Fiumara
Demons: Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen
Ghosts: Marc Bernadin, Adam Freeman and Eric Battle
Monsters (Batzarro, Bizarro): Kal-El Bagdanov and Jon Bogdanov
Maniacs in Smallville: Steve Seagle
Death (“The Fastest Man Dead”: Mark Waid
Resurrection Man: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Tony Daniel
And beginnings and openings by Dan and Andy, with art by Trevor Hairsine.
NRAMA: What’s the hook these kinds of specials have for you?
DD: I just like these things – I love the larger format, and the chance to get a lot of different stories and a chance to see a lot of different characters. In this case, the range of talent that’s been brought in and the variety of people involved in it makes it more exciting.
I'm more of a Marvel guy but I'll be grabbing a copy of this the day it comes out.
