Inteview: Ugly Americans Executive Producer Dan Powell

The following is a sponsored post from Comedy Central.

Dan Powell is an executive producer over at Ugly Americans. He's also spent time working on the Colbert Report, Important Things with Demetri Martin, and the Daily Show.  Plus, we are told he is no stranger to the comics landscape.  So we asked him some questions at New York Comic-Con.

iFanboy: Do they still have comic-cons in the apocalyptic world of Ugly Americans? How are they different?

Dan Powell: I imagine they are a lot more banal. It's probably hard to have horror and sci-fi comic books in a world where all of those things are commonplace. Comic books about zombies in the Ugly Americans universe are probably more like Ghost World. The Walking Dead would be a documentary.

iF: How important is geek culture to a show like Ugly Americans?

DP: Very important. Obviously we have to aim for as large an audience as possible, but we are constantly dropping in Easter Eggs to geek culture. We like to be as layered as possible, so you can catch new things on repeat viewings. And of course, the whole idea itself was inspired by comic book culture, specifically EC Comics and the work of Charles Burns, among others.

iF: Which comic book character would best fit in the world of Ugly Americans?

DP: Good question. It's hard to picture superheroes in the Ugly Americans world, because the whole concept is about normalizing the fantastical, and superheroes are fantastical by definition. You could picture The Thing walking down the streets of New York in Ugly Americans, but he would just be the guy who works at the deli, not anyone special. So I'm going to have to say "Archie".

iF: We've heard you're no stranger to comics and comic-con, so now you've got to prove your worth! What comics are you most excited about seeing at the New York Comic-Con?

DP: I'm disappointingly mainstream when it comes to comics. I grew up collecting Batman, so I'm always interested in seeing what new Batman titles are out. I especially appreciate the one-off graphic novels where they try to do something original with such an iconic character. Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum, for example. And speaking personally, Frank Miller's Batman titles were as influential as The Simpsons in pushing me towards a writing career.

iF: If you could have any writer in comics write an episode of Ugly Americans, who would it be?

DP: Well, if we got Mark Millar, we would probably get to make his episode into a movie, so that would be nice.

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