You couldn't make it up to the Boston Comic Con? So you didn't see yesterday's panel on Darwyn Cooke? Good news! We had ears on the scene, and have a few choice tidbits to share for you, the fans.
He just finished a short story for IDW's new Rocketeer book.
Cooke's next big project, still in the planning stages is a digital ONLY creator owned comic. If you want it in print, he says you'll have to wait at least 5 years after the digital release. Cooke is very interested in what you can do with the digital form, which he says allows for way more innovatie storytelling opportunities than what you can get with a straight PDF. We're talking about pop up maps, character bios, branching storylines, and more. It will be a while before you see it, but this is where he's thinking of going.
The next Parker book is set for July of 2012. The original plan for Parker called for 4 books over 8 years, with a new book released every two years, but Cooke got ahead on the first two. He's back to shooting for one new book every two years. His contract is for 4 Parker books, but right now he thinks that there will be 5. But that might not be all. The cartoonist says, "He's gonna be part of my life for a long time. He's a character that I can see working on for the rest of my life."
There's another secret project that Cooke has coming up that will be the "biggest thing I've ever done at DC." This is from a man who did DC: The New Frontier.
Cooke said that his dream project would be to adapt The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand.
When asked to name his favorite of his own works, Cooke named his all time favorite as Selina's Big Score.
And finally, how does Darwyn Cooke kick back and wind down after a big project? He prints out Kirby pages that he's scanned, turned into blue line sketches, and then he inks them. There is a stack of Cooke inked Kirby pages in his house.
If that isn't enough to get a Darwyn Cooke fan excited, then I don't know what is. For a little more, why not revisit our conversation with Darwyn from 2009.
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I need more Parker by Cooke in my life. It is going to be a long year of waiting.
Secret DC project? This put the biggest grin on my face. Glad to see that Cooke ain’t done with the tights (I hope).
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@ericmci Fixed the errors. Sorry about that.
Lord I wish Darwyn would publish his Kirby pages I’d buy that without knowing how much that would cost.
It’s unfortunate, for me’ that he wants to adapt anything by Ayn Rand. I will have to think long and hard abot buying his books from now on. I wish creators of every stripe would leave the pulpit at home, and just bring us the energy.
@M927 There’s nothing political about Cooke wanting to do The Fountainhead. In fact in the discussion about wanting to do the book he had nothing good to say about her. He just loves the story and how it relates to his own ideas of artistic expression.
@conor I actually think Darwyn would be the perfect guy to adapt the Fountainhead. This needs to happen!
The Fountainhead was the one book of Rand’s I read and stopped 2/3 of the way through. The prose got in the way of the story for me so if I am gonna find out what happens this is gonna be the way. The focus of the novel on architecture should give Mr. Cooke to work with and us some pretty pictures to admire.
It’s hard to seperate Rand’s political objectivist philosophy from her stories for most.
The Fountainhead is one of my favorite books- for it’s story – and msg of acting on a personal code of integrity in your work while seeking actualization.
But Rand herself is a polarizing figure- and it is one of my biggest pet peeves is when Haliburton style d-bags use The Fountainhead as some kind of treatise for corporate greed having some kind of noble merit.
That being said- Cooke will be amazing at adapting this- I really hope it happens.
There is Darwyn Cooke and then there is everybody else.
Well if anyone could do it, he could. I apologize for speaking from a point of ignorance. Rand and her followers just provoke me in a negative fashion.
Hm…what could Darwyn do at DC bigger than New Frontier? If it’s some more DC/history work, awesome. Maybe a WW2 piece with Sgt. Rock, the original Losers, Haunted Tank, the whole lot.
@BC1 That would be an amazingly awesome book, but I don’t think to most readers it would qualify as something bigger than new Frontier. It would pretty much to have the DC big guns in it to qualify as an announcement that big. Something involving Batman, Super Man, Wonder Woman and the like. Although i really like your idea!
Just to put it in perspective for everyone who wasn’t there, I believe Cooke called Any Rand a “dipshit”, but said that the Fountainhead was fascinating to him.