Steve Niles

Presenting: a conversation with horror comics maestro Steve Niles (30 DAYS OF NIGHT, CRIMINAL MACABRE, SIMON DARK, FRANKENSTEIN ALIVE ALIVE, and so many more).

In which: we geek out over the Universal Monsters films and, along the way, discuss writing, comics, Bernie Wrightson, marriage turning points, horror, comedy, the challenge of werewolves, typical workdays, and, most importantly, Gil.

Steve's bio:

"Steve Niles is a writer, best known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society, Frankenstein Alive Alive, Monster & Madman and Batman: Gotham County Line. He is credited among other contemporary writers as bringing horror comics back to prominence. Steve got his start back in Washington DC through his own Arcane Comix, writing and publishing comics and anthologies since the mid-80's....

... Steve was raised in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, developing his interests in music, writing, and making amateur films. He worked in several comic book stores and played in the bands Gray Matter and Three during the heyday of the Washington harDCore punk scene, both of which released records on Dischord Records label.Steve resides outside of Los Angeles with his wife, Monica, two dogs, four cats, and the tortoises, Rico and Gil."

Chapters:

  • 00:00 Intro

  • 01:38: "Gil's doing fine..." + Pet discussion

  • 03:57: "This interview has contributed to a turning point in my marriage..."

  • 06:37: "Claude Rains is so good..."

  • 07:38: "My family would get so mad at me because I'd go through the entire thing with a highlighter..."

  • 09:11: "Most importantly, that's where I first saw NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD..."

  • 10:15: "... so Dracula throws a flower pot at him..."

  • 11:49: On Lugosi and DRACULA

  • 13:03: "I've always viewed it (CRIMINAL MACABRE) as almost majority comedy..."

  • 14:07: "Trying to sell comics, it's pretty tough these days..."

  • 15:00: "One of the reasons I was so drawn to the DC punk scene was because it was these kids who did everything themselves..."

  • 16:55: "It all started when I met Bernie Wrightson..."

  • 20:50: "I have riffed on FRANKENSTEIN so many times... but with Bernie, you can find stuff from the 60s – this is something he worked for his entire life..."

  • 22:17: "We became so close that I followed him to Austin..."

  • 23:52: On Monster Forge: "We decided to just together and get some stuff made..."

  • 25:50: "Do you remember a series I did for DC called SIMON DARK?"

  • 26:42: "When I was a little kid, I reached up... I was reading stuff I wasn't supposed to..."

  • 28:07: "When she gets bitten and changed, his reaction isn't like Claude Rains and he's going beat his son to death with a cane..."

  • 31:13: "... but the rest of the movie is so great..."

  • 32:22: "Now everything I write, I focus on one thing at a time, and I write the whole series..."

  • 33:41: "... and then I get the hell offline..."

  • 34:23: "A lot of hysterical conversation between us would result in stories..."

  • 35:19: Outro

Linkage:

  • You can connect with Steve at his website, steveniles.net, via Twitter – @steveniles, Instagram – @steve.niles.9, and on Facebook.

  • And you can be blown away by the work of Bernie Wrightson here.

Theme music, "Intersections," by Uziel Colón. All rights reserved.

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