'Luther isn't a hero. He isn't motivated by honor or justice, at best he is a regular guy. He went out that night, he followed that woman home, because he hoped to see something.... Some heroes are driven by justice. Others are driven by the headlines.'

Sally: 'Did you always consider this a comic book/graphic novel series?'

Mark: 'No. As a matter of fact, it was written as a screenplay. Dark Horse read it, and responded immediately. So we thought it was a real challenge to... take something that was commenting on the comic book world and actually translate it into comics and it strikes Eric and I highly ironic 'cos we're talking about why conventions of comic book storytelling don't work in the real world. It's meant to be a film; now we're translating it into a graphic novel.'

Sally: 'Who is your co-author? And what else has he written? And should I mention that he is your cousin?'

Mark: 'Yeah, of course he should. I mean, he's my first cousin. His dad and my mom are brother and sister, so we grew up together. I mean, I've been trading story ideas with him since we were coming out of the first "Nutty Professor".'

Eric: 'Uh-huh.'

Mark: 'To show you how old we are. But I always wondered I should say that because you know he has a career of his own as a writer. And you say "Well, he's my cousin"; it sounds like nepotism or I took him on because he's family. But not at all. I took him on because he's someone that I really respect in terms of bouncing ideas off of him and getting his feedback and'

Eric: 'We share a certain sensibility and growing up together we have the same sense of humour and lot of the same experiences and...'

Mark: 'He left out the adjective "twisted".'

Laughter.

Sally: 'How long did it take to research this project:? And did it lead you into some strange places or situations?'

Mark: 'I guess anything that you write you've been researching all your life so.... When you consciously begin thinking about this as an actual story to tell, we wound up getting into unusual situations scouting locations. 'Cos we went out and shot photographs for the artist who lives in another country for the Courthouse, Luthor's house, this place, that place....'

Sally: 'Who is doing the art work?'

Eric: 'His name is H M Baker and he did "Ghost" for Dark Horse. They gave us stacks of artwork to look at to choose an artist and he was one of our final choices. Two other people were in there in that mix, too. Some were busy, some were off on other projects and stuff. We ended up choosing Mr Baker. He actually lives in Amsterdam, I think it is. But his agent that we deal with, and we never deal with the artist, we deal with the agent, he is from Bosnia, Hertzogovinia. That's where he now lives 300 miles out of there after he fled the war with his family. But, it makes communication a bit difficult with our artist. And it's something that we're still running into.'

Sally: 'I understand you've also re-written the screenplay for "The Black Pearl". Will this be animated or live-action?'

Mark: 'We really thought about that, because working so much in animation lately, there are people that asked me "Can this be an animated film?" and I said, well, yeah, sure it could. But I think what makes it unique is it's meant to be in the real world. And, if it's an animated film, you have that suspension of disbelief anyway. It's .... We're bouncing around from real-life origins of what made me want to write this to... comic books back to animated films. I mean, I think the major thing that we want to get across is that the audience should watch this and say, "Yes, this could happen". You'd have to write backwards. Looking at the convention in comic books that putting on a mask and fighting crime would be a reasonable option for anybody is ludicrous. And, could we write a story where the audience would believe "Yes, this could happen". Not in this other... you know, Gotham City by way of "Clockwork Orange".... But right now, this morning, could somebody out be there sewing a costume, getting ready to go out and fight crime? Well, no. We've never seen anything like that, happily. This is why there can't be a Batman, even though we really want one.'

Sally: 'Any chance of it becoming a computer game?'

Mark: 'Absolutely! Richard Garriett was thrilled with the screenplay. He said, "Oh, this is a great game!" And we never thought of it that way. But, you know, we've sort of come around to the belief that if you tell a good story and there's an antagonist and a protagonist, you have conflict. And that's the basis of any good game.' (Note: Richard Garriett is the co-founder of Origin.)

Sally: 'When should "The Black Pearl" be out this time?'

Eric: 'Are we talking about the movie or the comic book? The comic book comes out September 18th, and who knows with the movie? I mean, we would love to be shooting by next fall and have it out in the spring. Who knows?'

Sally: 'Any other film projects or tv appearances....'

Mark: 'Well, I don't know. I'm reading a couple of things this weekend, but I haven't anything to announce other than keep your ears open. I'm not exactly the King of Cartoons, but I'm the Master of Arms of the Cashmere Sweater of Cartoons.'

Eric: 'He is the King of Cartoons.'