Word Balloon Podcast
Show Notes
On this episode of Word Balloon, we begin a two part conversation with Greg Rucka.
The new Queen & Country novel The Last Run is out today from Bantam Books, and this week Rucka will begin a multi city promotion tour. For full rundown of signings visit Rucka’s website.
We talk about the book and where the Queen & Country series goes after the novel, as Greg calls this latest story “The End of Queen & Country Volume 1.”
Greg also discusses his departure earlier this year from DC Comics, explaining why he left, and what projects are in the near and distant future. You’ll also hear his thoughts on the future of characters he’s created like Batwoman and Renee Montoya.
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Thanks John! Love Greg’s work and can’t wait to hear about what he has in development.
Great job as always Jon! Rucka’s awesome and it’s especially gratifying to finally know what he’s talking about when the talk turns to Queen and Country as I plowed through the comics and novels within the last few months. Can’t wait for part 2.
To all the a-holes who complain about late comics, please listen to Rucka talk about rushed comics! It will shut you up.
@AmirCat: Yeah, that part of the conversation was especially enlightening, I must say.
I’m halfway through THE LAST RUN. It’s really good so far. I need more Paul Crocker in my life.
About deadlines. I hear Rucka all the way. I work at a newspaper company. Dealines are king.
The difference though is that Marvel and DC apprently pay well. Newspapers don’t. So if they pay well, the expectations are gonna be high dealine-wise. I’m not saying Rucka is out of line for leaving due to tight deadlines, it was a decision. But, if they pay well, you can’t fault the boss to expect the product delivered by a predetermined and agreed upon date.
I don’t mean to say that Rucka was blaming DC for anything, he seems to have recognized that the job just wasn’t what he wanted at the time. I’m just sharing my own opinion on the matter, for what it’s worth.
I enjoyed Rucka’s comments regarding how certain characters are bigger than their creators, that was very enlightening to me.
Man, that last part about Batwoman not needing him was actually pretty sad, you don’t always think about how much these characters actually mean to their creators.
Folks, no hyperbole. THE LAST RUN is another great Q&C story
The Last Run is going in the amazon buy pile, but its going to have to wait until Nov 9 when the Doctor Who, Sherlock and Scott Pilgrim Blurays come out. No free shipping sucks.
Hey John! Check out the Canadian spy/crime series "Intelligence" (available streaming on netflix). I think it’s very much in your wheelhouse. Lots of Queen and Country-esqe politics along with organized crime and an interesting look at west coast Canadian crime scene and the Canadian intelligence aparatus. I think you’ll really enjoy it.
Great interview topics. Very much looking forward to this.
@Amircat: Your nasty comment is well-taken. But you should understand that there’s a huge difference between (for example) DC maybe pushing Detective back a few weeks so that Jock could finish out his story (which I think DC should have done)…and editorial pushing books back for months and months and months, offering up false deadlines repeatedly, only to break them, and eventually turning entire lines of books into scheduling clusterf***s that are chronologically WAY out of order. Personally I think Bat-editorial has erred no matter which way you look at it: they rush out books that don’t need to be rushed (Batman 700, RoBW 4, Jock’s last issue of Detective), but then have no problem delaying for months issues upon which the entire line hinges.
The debate about lateness and editorial guidelines isn’t as simple as "to rush…or to delay". There are a lot of other factors to consider on a case by case basis. Regardless, I wish editorial would have been more accomodating for Rucka in all regards.
Great interview!!