Broken Frontier

The conversation between Young Avengers creator Allan Heinberg and Broken Frontier’s Neil Figuracion continues.

Part 2 - In Between Days

Broken Frontier: Why did you leave the staff of The O.C.?

Allan Heinberg: My contract was up at the end of Season Two, and I had several of my own projects I was eager to start writing. But I loved my time on The O.C. and the people I worked with there enormously.

BF: What do you like better about writing for comics than writing for television, and vice versa?

AH: They're similar experiences actually. Both feature serialized stories with a strict format and strict deadlines. And both are extremely collaborative.

Obviously in comics you're not limited by location or casting or special effects budgets. But in TV you’re able to collaborate not just with your artists and editors, but with the other writers, the actors, the directors, the production team. So, writing comics is maybe a little lonelier than writing TV. But the TV schedule is far more stressful (and less forgiving) than that of comics.

BF: Describe the similarities and differences of the jobs of the Comics Editor and the Show Runner.

AH: Every show-runner and editor does his or her job differently, so it varies wildly from show to show and from book to book.

Show-runners generally supervise the story process, write and re-write scripts, deal with the studio and the network, the actors and directors, and supervise casting, editing, and post-production. It's absolutely the most chaotic, stressful job in television, and it requires extraordinary vision, communication, and leadership skills. And the show is usually that show-runner's vision. In my limited comics experience, the editor is responsible for helping the writer and artist achieve their visions, not the editor's. So, that's probably the most important distinction between the two jobs.

BF: How did you become friends with Geoff Johns, and what was it like to work with him on JLA?

AH: I featured a copy of JSA on-screen in a very early O.C. episode, and since Geoff is the most gracious man in comics, he called me out of the blue just to thank me. I was in the writers' room, and our assistant walked in and said, "Allan, there's a Geoff Johns for you on Line One" and I did not believe her. It was surreal. So, I stammered my way through the conversation, but we hit it off, got together for lunch that weekend, and he soon became one of my best friends in the world. Then Geoff introduced me to Jeph Loeb (whom I also love dearly), and the three of us started working together at their studio in Sherman Oaks.

Working with Geoff on JLA was truly one of the highlights of my writing life so far. Apart from writing with O.C.-creator Josh Schwartz, I've never co-written anything with anyone, and Geoff and I made a point of writing every word of that arc together. We have very different strengths as writers and learned a tremendous amount from each other. And I got to spend hours and hours geeking out over my all-time favorite characters with one of my all-time favorite people on the planet, so it was a complete and total pleasure. I'd do it again in a second.

BF: What do you feel you learned from him while working on JLA together? What might he have learned from you?

AH: Geoff has an unerring instinct for creating dynamic, compelling, kick-ass action sequences and jaw-dropping, memorable, "oh, my god" moments in all his comics. He knows on a gut level there are things you can do as a storyteller in comics that you cannot do in any other medium and he takes full advantage of them. Whereas I tend to focus on the characters' internal, emotional journeys, and let the plot evolve as an organic extension of them. So, Geoff and I actually make a pretty good team. Thanks to him, I spend a lot more time thinking about building those kick-ass, fanboy moments. And, according to Geoff, he now pays more attention to making sure his characters' superheroic journeys illuminate their emotional ones.

BF: Was it exciting, getting to play with the established characters like that?

AH: Absolutely. And a little terrifying, to be honest. My whole life, I've dreamed of having a chance to write an iconic character like Superman or Batman and -- there I was -- having written only one comic book in my entire life -- writing the entire Justice League of America with one of my favorite writers! It just doesn't get any better than that. And I'm very grateful to DC and our editors Mike Carlin and Michael Siglain for the opportunity and for their support.

End Part 2

Coming next: Part 3 - The Inevitable Questions About Gayness and Comics