Duane Swierczynski Talks The Black Hood

Former Birds of Prey and Bloodshot writer Duane Swierczynski is taking on a new challenge starting next month: he's helping Archie Comics to relaunch their Dark Circle (formerly Red Circle) line of superhero comics with The Black Hood.

With artist Michael Gaydos along for the ride, Swierczynski will bring the Black Hood to life with a serious dash of crime novel inspiration -- perhaps not surprising given that both Swierczynski himself and series editor Alex Segura have that in their backgrounds.

Swierczynski joined ComicBook.com for a chat about the series, the final order cutoff date for the first issue of which is Monday of next week. Read on, and if you like what you see, contact your retailer sooner than later.

You've told the story of how you came to be involved before – that you didn't necessarily want a superhero book so you pitched a "dark, f---ed-up" version" and Archie went for it. Any idea what motivated them to pursue a guy whose first instinct is "I don't really want a superhero book?"

Clearly, they're gluttons for punishment. Actually, [my editor] Alex Segura's instincts were right—he knew that I'd probably dig the pulp roots of the character, and might be able to have fun with a modern take. And he was right. My initial hesitancy was all about my (false) image of what Archie Comics might want from this comic. At that point, Dark Circle didn't exist as an imprint, and I couldn't see myself having too much fun with a guy in man-Spanx. But happily, I was wrong about all of that. Alex, Paul Kaminski and the gang have given us license to go super-dark. Like, Jim Thompson-dark.

In particular, what was your response to getting the call from Archie? Given the reputation, did you think it was an impossible fit, or did you already have a bit of a sense of what they were doing?

I knew Alex from his years at DC, and I trust him. And I knew that Archie had been pushing the boundaries in a lot of interesting ways. So it was less about Archie being the wrong fit; it was more about me being the right guy for the book. I never want to be in a position to fake something I'm not passionate about.

Turn back the clock five years. Would you have ever thought that you'd work for Valiant and Archie?

Hell, turn back the clock 25 years. I'm astounded I'm doing any of this at all.

In the months since you took this gig, there's been a lot of talk about police-involved violence. When stuff like that happens, does it inform your approach to writing a dark, violent book about a cop on the outside of the law?

It's always interesting when real life starts to resonate hard with the piece fiction I happen to be writing. (My novel-in-progress is about cops and race, actually, so it's been a very surreal year to be writing that particular novel.) But the genesis of my Black Hood pitch was a couple of true Philly crime stories, so I can't exactly complain when reality catches up with the plot. Most of all, I don't want people to view this comic as either pro-cop or anti-cop; I happen to be of the opinion that all lives matter. What interests me is the idea of taking a man who's trying to do some good, then force him into a position where the only way out is to do something crazy—like slip on a black hood and try to do something his badge won't allow.

If you're doing a gritty, crime-inflected superhero book, it's hard to do better than Michael Gaydos. How did he end up on the title?

I believe Alex has some incriminating photos of Gaydos somewhere.

Have you gotten to the point yet where you know what you're doing to play to his strengths or at this point are you still kind of feeling that out?

I think we're in a comfortable groove, though I have the easy part: putting words on a page. Michael's the one creating those detailed, elaborate panels.

How important is Philadelphia itself as a setting for this story?

I think a firm sense of place is important for any work of crime fiction, be it comics or prose. I'm a huge fan of Ed McBain, but it always bugged me he set his brilliant 87th Precinct novels in a fictional version of Manhattan. I want the real thing. So I wanted the Black Hood to be part of a world that I recognized. (I'm a Philly guy, born and raised.)

In making a book that's seemingly very crime novel-inspired, do you keep in the back of your head that you need to make this character accessible to shared universe stuff down the line, or are you just developing the book and letting that kind of stuff handle itself if and when it comes up?

I'd like to lie and say I'm thinking that far ahead, but no — I'm letting the story be the boss right now. If there are chances for shared universe stuff down the line, then sure. But it'll happen organically.

You'd said in previous interviews that Greg is the kind of person who used to be able to flash a smile and get himself out of trouble. How would you describe his approach to policing before and after his accident?

Before the accident, he was an effective, hard-working cop who colored inside the lines. After getting shot in the face, however, his judgement becomes skewed. He's hooked on painkillers and incredibly edgy. He starts making decisions the old Greg wouldn't have dared make. Does this make him a better or worse cop? Or maybe a little of both? We'll see in the first arc…

Do you have a long-term plan, or are you taking arcs as they come?

Definitely taking them as they come. My original pitch was to kill off Greg at the end of the first arc! Glad Alex and Paul talked me out of that one.

What would be your elevator pitch, to fans who have no familiarity with the property?

It's Rocky meets Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call Philadelphia! Ah, the classic elevator pitch. Of course the elevator pitch is the same for any noir crime story :

The bell dings.

The doors open.

You step inside.

Only—there's no car waiting for you.

Down you go.