David B. Schwartz: Actually, I pitched eight stories, but this was the one everyone seemed to hook onto. I think this is one happens to have a lot of truly compelling elements to it: a good person falling on hard times; anger that he’s unable to control; and a need to come to terms with his regrets and lost dreams; among others. Those are all themes that are universal, things we all feel and experience. We all hope that we’ll be able to reconcile the loose ends in our lives before we kick the big bucket. But, now, put a seven day clock on it all, force the character to put his entire life in order in a one week span, and you’ve got the potential for some pretty intense drama; publishers really loved that.
Of course, I’ve still got those 7 other pitches laying around. Some feel dated now, but there are still a few I hope to dust off one day soon…
AA: What part of the story are you particularly proud of?
DBS: If I had to pick a scene, I’d say Cal’s death itself. I’m very happy with how his voice-over came out there. But, overall, the thing I’m most proud of is the character work throughout the series. It’s tough to introduce, and make the reader truly care about, a whole new cast of characters within only 96 pages, but hopefully we’ve been able to achieve that with MELTDOWN. And, hopefully, Cal’s ultimate demise truly does matter to the readers.
AA: In hindsight, what would you have done differently?
DBS: Great question, but which of the many hats I wore does it apply to? (grins)
One decision I still rethink a bit is the choice to go with the prestige format over the standard comic book format.
I absolutely love the way the issues look and feel. The prestige format, with the gloss coat, makes 'em just absolutely gorgeous, and lends an added sense of gravitas to the book. I also think that the story break at 48 pages, instead of the standard 22 or 24, was the perfect spot.
However, the $5.99 price point for a prestige book is a bit pricey, and I know it turned a lot of potential readers away.
So, ultimately we went with the better creative choice, instead of the better distribution numbers. I'm still not sure if that was the right decision to make, but, clearly, my creative hat won out on that one.
AA: Do you think you approach comic book writing in the same way? What do you think has changed for you since the start of writing this comic book?
DBS: I learned a tremendous amount working on this series.
One thing that stands out is to focus early on on a main point I want to convey in any given story. With MELTDOWN, I knew the story early on, but I didn't exactly know the ultimate message. I wasn't sure of exactly what I wanted to say with the book, what I wanted to readers to take away from Cal's tortured life. So, I went through a lot of experimentation before I finally hit on it, and captured it in his final, dying voice-over at the end. It all would've been a much faster and easier process if I had started with the message, and then built out from there.
AA: Do you have any plans on going back to the world you created in Meltdown? DBS: I'd really love to, and we've gotten a lot of e-mails from readers asking for a return to the MELTDOWN universe. The mini-series may have only been 96 pages, but it set up a lot of great characters that I’d be excited to explore further.
No specific plans yet, though. It would really depend on whether Image would be interested in publishing it (or, if they're not interested, whether another publisher would be willing to pick it up).
AA: What comic book plans do you have next?
DBS: I’ve been pitching a bunch of projects, and it looks like some of them may be coming together very soon. So, hopefully I’ll have something new to announce in the not-too-distant future.
In the meantime, I’m wrapping up work on writing a new live stage musical (quite a change from MELTDOWN, eh?), and getting ready to head out for signings of the MELTDOWN TPB!
