Ian Healy has brought us a number of cool superhero novels in his Just Cause universe. He's coming out with a new one in april, JACKRABBIT. I interviewed him about the book.
Tell us - what is 'Jackrabbit' about?
Jackrabbit is a tale about how the fate of the entire world rests on the shoulders of a couple of seventeen-year-old kids and how they respond to an unimaginable threat. When a nonhuman god and his minions from beyond the realm of human imagination invades both the dimension known as Gods' Home and the Earth, it violates the most basic, sacred laws of the deities. It falls to the only two gods who still have the ability to summon Heralds, the God of Rabbits and the Goddess of Bluebirds, to select their Heralds and send them off to save the world. If they fail, it means the end of not only the Earth, but of the domain of human gods as well.
To readers of what comics will it appeal?
Jackrabbit certainly has some very cosmic qualities to it that would appeal to readers of Thor or the New Gods. On the other hand, the lop-eared hero himself is very grounded and almost self-aware that he's a character in a story. For people who like the goofy fun of the Amazing Spider-Man, or Blue Beetle, Jackrabbit will seem familiar and comforting to them.
Where can we find the book?
Jackrabbit will be on sale at all online retailers in both ebook and print formats on April 1, 2014. Before then, you can sign up for the Goodreads Giveaway for a chance to win one of three signed ARCs https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/81665-jackrabbit or you can preorder the ebook editions from Kobo http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/jackrabbit and Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/406990
How do you think superheroes work out in prose, and why did you decide to take a stab at it?
I think superheroes work just fine in prose, because the stories have to be about real, believable characters. Just because they happen to have superpowers doesn't mean the stories have to lack in other aspects of reality. I strive to make my superhero tales about people first and foremost, and their powers are just special effects or tools. Most of my stories could be re-edited to happen entirely without any kind of powers and still work.
I've wanted to write superheroes since I was a kid. Now, at least, I have an idea of what I'm doing.
Who is your favourite comic book hero, and who's your favourite creator?
I think my favorite hero of all time has to be The Question (DC), who wasn't defined by his lack of powers so much as he was by his insatiable curiosity. A close second would be the Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (Ted Kord version) partnership. Those guys had the best friendship I've ever seen in comics, and the sheer wackiness of the situations they got into never failed to bring a smile to my face.
My favorite creator is Alan Moore, because with Watchmen, he showed me that comic books could be about far more than just heroes punching bad guys. He made me want to write stories that were as powerful as his.
What is it about superheroes that appeals to people so much and why are there so many comic book movies now?
Superheroes are the contemporary equivalents of the legendary heroes of old like Hercules, John Henry, Paul Bunyan, and Wild Bill Hickock. Humans always dream of characters far more powerful than we are. It gives us something to strive toward.
The main reason there are so many comic book movies now is because the first few made mad money. Studios only care about the bottom line. If Christopher Nolan's Batman movies had tanked, or the Avengers had tanked, I promise you there would be virtually no superheroes on the big screen now. Eventually the wave will crest, like it did in the '90s with the Joel Schumacher Batman films, and then superheroes will be absent for awhile (Until somebody of influence picks up a copy of Just Cause and realizes that it would be a phenomenal movie!).
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