Exclusive: Mark Waid Talks The Flash TV Series, Affleck As Batman, And Daredevil Comic

Following up on yesterday's article with Mark Waid at the Motor City Comic Con, we also got some information on what he thinks of Ben Affleck as Batman in the Man of Steel sequel, the release of the CW's Flash trailer, as well as a little information on what's coming up in the Daredevil comic book series and his ventures at Thrillbent.com. During his time with DC Comics he co-wrote Kingdom Come with Alex Ross, had a lengthy run on The Flash, co-created the Flash character Impulse with Mike Wieringo, and even wrote for both the Justice League of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes. Waid's most recent work can be seen on Marvel titles like Hulk, Daredevil, and Original Sin #0. What's your thoughts on the new Flash trailer? Mark Waid: You know what? I liked it. I'm not keen on the whole "my mother was killed" retcon, because I don't understand why everyone has to have Batman's origin. But, that said, I really like the visuals of it. I like the look of it. I like that he seems to be having fun as a superhero. Because, again, if your superpower is that you can run really fast and make time stop, it would be a blast. I don't want to hear your problems. How you can have that problem and still be upset? "Oh my diamond shoes are too tight. Oh no!" So I think that's awesome, and I gotta say -- I admit I got chills when he said, "My name is Barry Allen, I'm the fastest man alive." That gave me chills. As a huge fan of Superman: Birthright, your "review" of Man of Steel was pretty dead on. Are you excited for the new film? Mark Waid: Eh, I hope that it's brighter? (laughs) What do you think about Ben Affleck as Batman? Mark Waid: I think he'll be fine. Look, I was around when -- I was literally working in the DC Offices -- when Michael Keaton was announced as Batman, and you would have thought that the world had ended at that point. Everyone was all like "This is the end of all comics", and it was fine. At this point I think the character is such a good character that I think you'd be hard-pressed. Even Clooney wasn't a bad Batman, he was just a better Bruce Wayne. He was actually not a great Batman, but he was a perfect Bruce Wayne. I personally think Val Kilmer was a great Bruce Wayne. Mark Waid: I totally agree. If you could write any comic book charact-- Mark Waid: Superman. Superman? Again? What about a character you haven't written for? Mark Waid: That's a hard one, because at this point there's not many that I have not done. I wouldn't mind taking a longer run with Batman at some point, because I've never really worked with that character aside from team books. Green Lantern might be fun. Iron Man might be fun. Okay, you know what? That's my answer. Iron Man. If there's one artist that you could work with, that you haven't had a chance to work with before, who would it be? Mark Waid: That's a good question. I've been really lucky there. I've never done anything long form with Adam Kubert. I've worked with Andy a lot, but I've never worked long form with Adam, and I love Adam's work. There's still time. We talk about it every once in a while, doing something together, so maybe we'll find that chance. Is there anything you can tell us about what may be coming up in Original Sin? Mark Waid: Actually, not so much. I gotta keep quiet about that. That's understandable. Anything you can tell us about what's coming up in the Daredevil comic? Anything you're excited about? Mark Waid: Yeah, I mean a lot of stuff actually. We have an Original Sin tie-in story that I'm doing with our colorist and sometimes penciller, Javier Rodriguez, that explains finally why it is Matt Murdock's family split when he was an infant. Why his mother left. From there, we're introducing the Purple Children. You'll see an interesting connection to Killgrave, the Purple Man. If you had a chance to read Daredevil 1.50, we planted a lot of Easter Eggs. With all the digital comic apps (Comixology, etc) how does your website (Thrillbent.com) differ from them? Mark Waid: First off, we're really responsive to what readers want. We don't have a whole lot of money in the thing, so that means that there's not a whole lot of big-money interests dictating what the platform looks like, or what the app looks like, or whatever. Again, that's not to take away from the Comixology guys, I think that they've done a great job. Because we're a smaller company, we're able to be a little more nimble and move more quickly. We're also a big, big believer in you being able to own what you buy. We're a big believe in DRM-free downloads. We're a big believer in having access to the material off-line, because if a server goes down, you shouldn't lose your comic collection. What do you think of the future of comics? Do you think it should all go digital, or there should always be brick and mortar comic shops? Mark Waid: I still want there to be brick and mortar comic shops, because I think that they're good custodians. They're the gatekeepers of comics. The upside to digital is the outreach, you don't have to live anywhere near a comic store and you can buy comics at two in the morning. The downside is that it's just like any other place on the internet, it's a morass of information. I don't even know where you would go to get started if you were on the web looking for comics. There's just so much out there. Whereas, at a good comic store, a good brick and mortar store, the first thing they'll ask you coming in the door is "What else do you like, what do you watch on TV, what movies do you like?", and they can help guide you towards a reading experience and I think that's invaluable.