Bruce Costa: How did this project come to be?
Bernie Wrightson: I had a very vague idea for a Batman story. I ran it past [writer] Ron [Marz] to see if he could give it any structure. It was an okay idea; it involved vampires and stuff. Ron immediately said, "Batman with monsters? How about Batman with Aliens?" Within a few minutes I realized that it was a great idea.
Costa: So tell me what this "Bats & Bugs" thing is all about!
Ron Marz: You know, that's kind of the synopsis right there: "Bats & Bugs." They're two icon characters; they really controlled the story. I'm pleased with the way the story came out, and I don't usually say that about my own stuff. It was just like winding up toy soldiers and letting them go at each other. They're such strong archetypes. We had Batman, we had Aliens, we threw some cannon fodder in there, had some Mayan ruins, we stirred the pot and it kind of cooked itself up.
Wrightson: It's such an obvious pairing. One of my first questions was, "Isn't somebody doing that already?" I mean, geez, Batman versus Aliens -- it's such a natural thing!
Marz: They're both characters bred out of the shadows and the darkness. It's a completely natural pairing.
Wrightson: It seems a lot more natural to me than [the pairing of Aliens with] Superman. My problem with comic-book characters [becomes clear with] Superman versus anybody. You know who's gonna win! Batman (even though he is a comic-book character and he is gonna come back next month good as new), he's a real guy. You put him up against something really ruthless and murderous, you've got the suspense going for you. The guy is human.
Marz: We did want to keep the story limited to a certain number of Aliens. Obviously if you sent Batman up against an army of these things, you've got a 13-page story and Batman's dead on page 3. [laughter]
Costa: Ron, what was on your mind as you wrote a Batman story, if I could isolate the character briefly?
Marz: To me he's the guy on the top of the food chain. He's the best character in comics, the most fully realized character, and right now, probably the top cash character what with the movies and toys and all that stuff. In dealing with such a recognizable icon I had some trepidation, admittedly. Some tremendous writers have put their stamp on him --- Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Denny O'Neil. I was a little concerned about coming in and doing my Batman. I wanted him to hold up to the rest of them.
[Batman is] a difficult character to get a handle on. I had to think for quite a while how the story was going to work -- whether we would be in Batman's head with a first-person narrative. When I'm doing a single character I tend to write the book in a first-person narrative because it makes the character more accessible. But I eventually went 180 degrees away from that for this because I don't think you should ever be in Batman's head. He should always be a step away. He should always be aloof and scary and spooky. He's not necessarily a guy that you'd want to have over for dinner. So he's fairly taciturn through this, keeping a lot of things to himself. It's the reader's job to figure out things just as Batman figures them out through the story.
Costa: What concerns did you have about weaving an Aliens yarn? Was it tough to write a story about creatures that are so familiar to the audience?
Marz: Everybody knows what's coming. I mean, the book is called Batman/Aliens. But we wanted to play it so that the suspense would be heightened each time you come around the corner or each time you hear something in the woods. We approached this as a haunted-house story, which is very much what the first Alien movie is. The trappings are different because we're in Mayan ruins, but this is basically a haunted-house story where you don't know what's around the corner and something may well jump out at you.
Wrightson: I think Ron did a very good job of building the suspense through the first two thirds of the first book by showing a lot of the aftermath of what the Aliens do. We had the facehuggers and the guys being cocooned and the chestbursters and all, so you've already got a good idea of what's going to happen when you meet up with one of these guys. 99.9% of the readership, unless they've been living in a cave, knows the Aliens' life cycles. They've seen the movie. But it's not what you say, it's how you say it.
Marz: The main concern was just doing stuff with the Aliens that Fox was going to let us do. I mean we had the Aliens bible...
Wrightson: Although we did break some rules...
Marz: Yeah, I think the first rule was that Aliens must never come to earth, so we kind of threw that out the window...
Wrightson:... disregard rule one, you know...
Marz:... and then proceeded to do two or three other things that were sacred no-nos...
Costa: Can you think of what they are?
Marz: Oh, yes, but I'm not going to tell you.
Costa: Oh, come on!
Marz: It would be revealing too much. But I will say that it flies in the face of everything we've been talking about...
Wrightson: But there will be some surprises in the second book.
Marz: We ended up doing some stuff that you're really not supposed to do. We were a little concerned about it. But the folks up at Fox said, "Oh, this is cool!" There was no hesitation on their part, so we're very appreciative of their cooperation in letting us break the rules.
Wrightson: I have to take a second to mention Bob [Schreck]'s part in all of this. In addition to handling all these contractual issues, he's really been one of the best editors I've ever worked with.
Marz: Oh, absolutely.
Costa: You know, every single time that I conduct an interview with creators who work with Bob Schreck, they make it a point to mention his contribution.
Wrightson: He's been really helpful. I asked Archie Goodwin one time what makes him such a good editor, and he said, "I think it's because I sit back and let everybody do whatever the hell they want to." Bob's got some of that quality, too. He hands you the ball and really lets you run with it. He really, really lets the leash out. He's made a few suggestions along the line, and they've been good suggestions, good points. They've improved what we're doing.
When we first ran Batman/Aliens by him Bob thought it was a really good idea. It was actually his idea to do Dark Horse Presents Aliens as a warm up. You'll find that a lot of what goes on in those two 6-page stories plays a very important role in the Batman/Aliens story. Ron structured the story so that it works on its own as a 12-pager, but... all the characters show up in there and it really does set up the whole Batman/Aliens adventure. It's kind of like the director's cut of Aliens where they put the added footage in. It makes it richer.
Marz: I'm hoping that after Batman/Aliens comes out some folks will go back to the prequel and check it out. It will give them some reasons to smile, I think. I have to assume that there are probably some people that aren't aware of those stories because DHP might not be a book that they look at regularly.
Costa: In fact, the first issue of Bernie's Swamp Thing I ever read was the one with Batman in it!
Wrightson: No kidding! That guy has been following me for years...
Costa: If I'm not mistaken, you did define the long, pointy Batman, didn't you?
Wrightson: DC was always really good about letting the artist run with their character. At Marvel you get a lot of grief if you depart from the established look and try some artistic license. But in the late '60s/early '70s Neal Adams was redefining Batman. I guess the sales figures reflected that the readers liked what Neal was doing -- very exciting, very dark. I think Neal actually started that. He made a few minor adjustments to Batman's look. Using that as a springboard, I just kind of went off and did my own thing. DC let me get away with a lot of stuff.
Costa: Yes. The first page on this project, where Batman is swooping down while holding his cape, shows how you continue to come up with a new way to present the character. You'd think Batman's been done to death, then Bernie Wrightson comes up with an image like this...
Wrightson: Well, it's impractical as hell. The long ears and the 30-foot-long cape...
Costa: But you were the first person, in my memory anyway, to prove that if an impractical concept is cool enough it can broaden the reader's suspension of disbelief. I so well remember that scene from Swamp Thing #7 where Batman, while following a dog, straddles an alley as his cape is blowing up between his legs and in front of his face. He evidently used his Bat X-ray vision to see through it and see the dog... but it was such a cool panel!
In Batman/Aliens, of course, as his cape always flies away from him at the right time... I mean, what article of clothing would you be less likely to wear in a humid, confined, 95-degree jungle?
Wrightson: [Laughter]
Marz: [laughing] That was something we talked about! The rest of the commandos are running around in short-sleeved shirts and peeling their clothes off. Bernie and I decided, hey, Batman just doesn't sweat -- 'cause he's Batman!
Costa: Bernie, how do the Aliens shake out in your pantheon of monsters?
Wrightson: I'm not quite sure what you mean.
Costa: Well, you're kind of the monster guy -- the Ray Harryhausen of comics, if you will. In preparing for this interview I realized, geez, you've got a chance to interpret something Giger made!
Wrightson: [The Alien] is one of the best movie monsters, in my opinion, if not the best, ever created.
Costa: Wow.
Wrightson: And that's just from the standpoint of sheer originality. From the standpoint of a guy in a suit, it's at least on a par with The Creature From The Black Lagoon, in that you know it's a guy in a suit, but it's still convincing as hell.
As far as drawing these buggers I had no idea, until I actually sat down and tried to draw one of these guys, just how complex and convoluted they are.
Costa: [laughing] I can't imagine.
Wrightson: The hardest part of this whole thing has been drawing these Aliens! It's a very specific design. There are a lot of little tubes and ridges and curves and things that are very, very precise, and if you don't follow it exactly, it doesn't look right. I mean, I like to draw comics at a fever pitch when I'm doing layouts and just go panel to panel. I'm not making comics here, I'm doing a movie. I mean, these things are real to me. But every time I've run into an Alien I've had to stop, get out the reference material, and make sure I'm getting them right.
Marz: But I think that it's a really organic design and Bernie's stuff is really organic. Other artists have been less successful at depicting the Aliens because they've approached them in a technical way. Bernie's Aliens live and breathe. That's what makes this thing such a treat.