Amber Love 13-MAR-2012 It took years, but I finally interviewed ANDE PARKS, writer of LONE RANGER, KATO, and GREEN HORNET comics published at Dynamite Comics among other graphic novels at ONI Press. We discussed his work, the upcoming Lone Ranger movie, his obsession with hats and his writing process. Plus, an important challenge is issued to listeners heading to the C2E2!

Episode 1203 – Interview: Ande Parks

We talk about the new volume that Parks is writing on the LONE RANGER, how it is as a jump-on point for new readers, the background of the Brett Matthews run, and teasing about the tragedies of Tonto’s past that we learn in the upcoming issue. Are there big changes? Will romance return to either Tonto or John? Is it “Brokeback!?!?!?!” Parks answers these and many other questions about our favorite old west characters. An important female character is coming up in the series when typically in the wild west the women were only barmaids/whores; even women from Tonto’s story will be revealed soon.

There is no Gotham City or Star City or any home for the Ranger and his sidekick. “It’s kind of a given, in the basic concept, that he [the Lone Ranger] roams from town to town looking for wrongs to right. I guess theoretically, they could settle down for a while but, I do think there’s something, especially in Tonto’s nature, that would make settling down difficult for him,” Parks said.

In the LONE RANGER, Parks has chosen to utilize a captioned omniscient narrative. He says it’s a literary trick which is not popular in comics at this time. He bucks the trends and makes process decisions based on what best expresses his message about the characters. Parks said, “In most issues, there will be some kind of counter balance like that, some narrative that fits or doesn’t quite fit the story, kind of overlaid to make the story a little richer.” These tricks in lettering are exposed like the choice in fonts and how to show that a mute character “talks” to other characters.

Parks wrote CAPOTE IN KANSAS with art by Chris Samnee. It’s a fictional account of when Capote began investigating the Clutter murders from 1959 which became Capote’s IN COLD BLOOD. In today’s interview, Parks said that he’s quite worried how his portrayal of Nancy Clutter would resonate with the family’s descendants. He said that in the Phillip Seymour Hoffman movie CAPOTE (2005), it was all about the man – Truman Capote and the killers – where the victims of the crime were insignificant. This made Parks uncomfortable and CAPOTE IN KANSAS is his way of rectifying the oversight.

My own special treat was that Ande inked my own Lone Ranger doodle a couple months ago.

TRIVIA:
* Did you know that Ande is named after his grandmother? A-N-D-E is actually Enda spelled backwards.

LINKS:

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/AndeParksWriter

Twitter – @andeparks

Ande’s commentary on LONE RANGER issues #1-3 at Bleeding Cool

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.