ME: Is it me or is there definitvely a Phillipe Druillet influence in Medusa Chain? It is a quite daring and intense science fiction story, like european readers were then able to read in the famous Metal Hurlant magazine.
ERNIE: No. I just drew my own story my own
way. It was before I went on to computer work, so I did the colors
with Magic Markers. They made me sick for days.
-It seemed that Medusa Chain
could have easily given birth to sequels (commercial issues aside).
Was it in the back of your mind?
-Oh, sure. So was the daydream that
Steven Spielberg would make one of his masterpieces from it.
Unfortunately, by the time I'd finished
it, the tenuous love affair between me and DC had cooled.
-You were your own editor on
Medusa Chain, isn't it? It seems like quite a rare opportunity in the
US market, for one fo the 2 majors publisher, to be able not only to
do all of the work yourself (writing, pencilling, inking, lettering,
coloring) but to apparently have no limitations or censorship at all
on its content. Was it really the case or was there any kind of
editorial interference?
-I was given complete freedom. No
interference whatever. It was a great experience. A lovely daydream
with no interruption
-A kind of similar experience to
Medusa Chain (even if the stories are completly different) will be Ax
the graphic novel at Marvel in 1988. How would you compare those two
experiences?
-The Medusa Chain was a more linear,
movie-like storyline. Ax was almost free-association. Fact is--I was
never sure where the heck the story was going. I just wanted to make
sure that each society had its own colors and clothing, and that the
story would at least come together at the end--which was no end.
What the two had in common was that they were immediately
accepted--the first by DC, the second, by Marvel. Rarely have I ever
had such rapid go-aheads.
-If I'm not mistaken, there is
a major difference beetween Ax and Medusa Chain: you own the
copyright to Ax, but DC owns the ones to Medusa Chain, isn't it? Have
those graphic novels ever been published outside of the US (or have
you ever been approached for a foreign edition?)
-Marvel was generous in letting me have
the AX copyright. Or, realistically, maybe they felt it would go
nowhere. And it didn't. I have not been approached by any foreign
editions. If Medusa ever becomes a movie, I would make small money,
DC would get the large.
-Where Medusa Chain was a
rather explicit story, Ax is a kind of biblical story: it has the
power of a myth, like a fable. As so, it compels the reader to reread
the story, to connect elements. Yet, in the end, it still has enough
unexplained content so that the reader will have to make its own
interpretation, perhaps different from another reader's one. Was it
your intent and was is difficult to play with this game of
explain/don't explain, revealed/hidden content in your script? Was
there several versions of it?
-As I said--it was freeform. A daydream.
I loved it, but had no illusions as to its viability in any other
medium. One version. It stands alone
TO BE CONTINUED...
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