I didn't want to write a 'black' book because black characters are a tough sell. Christopher Priest More Quotes by Christopher Priest More Quotes From Christopher Priest I quit comics in 1988 and trained as a bus driver. I used to drive those big Greyhound coaches out of New York Port Authority and down to Princeton, New Jersey. It was, hands down, the best job I ever had, and I profoundly regret having left it. I kept that job the entire time I was on staff at DC Comics in the '90s. Christopher Priest drive best regret time If you could access 90 percent of your brain, you'd be Charles Xavier. Christopher Priest your you percent brain We - America - have to move past the ideology, the tribalism, that grips this country. As ridiculous as this sounds, I believe 'Black Panther,' the film, could help us do that if it addresses issues of tribal polarization and, by extension, racism, xenophobia, and homophobia in an entertaining, non-preachy way. Christopher Priest black racism believe past If I could make Panther tough, mysterious, wily, and often at odds with his 'Avengers' comrades, that was a character I'd find interesting. Christopher Priest find mysterious tough character It made absolutely no sense to me why Panther would ever join a super-hero team; he's not a super-hero, and the record shows he did a whole lot of nothing most of the time. Christopher Priest nothing me team time Denys Cowan and Dwayne Turner's visions of Wakanda as an ersatz African Epcot Center opened my eyes to the unexploited possibilities; these men, both of whom are African American, together with writer Peter B. Gillis, created an African Asgard of sorts, and I just went, 'Oh, my.' Christopher Priest american eyes together men I think every writer is in search of the truth. We are trying to psychoanalyze ourselves. Christopher Priest search think truth trying The way that I process and make writing work is I'm really telling true stories; I'm just putting them in a cape and putting an 'S' on its chest. Christopher Priest true work writing way I think everybody wants to feel validated in some way, and when you're looking for leisure activities or if you're looking for escapism or things like that, you want to read about characters you can identify with. Christopher Priest looking feel think you Literally everything that could be done with the 'Justice League' has been done with the 'Justice League.' Christopher Priest been everything done justice 'Justice' actually means different things to different people. Christopher Priest things different justice people If the League were real, today, they'd most likely be sued by every person they ever saved. They'd be subpoenaed by every authority in every jurisdiction imaginable; hearings upon hearings. There'd be waves of accolades followed by tsunamis of boos from social media. Christopher Priest waves social-media media today Escapism has its place. I used to write 'Conan the Barbarian' for Marvel, which takes place in an environment completely removed from the real world. Christopher Priest place environment real world With all due respect to the other writers, I don't want to disparage any other writers; I don't want to have to invent a bigger villain than Deathstroke so Deathstroke can seem heroic fighting this bigger villain. I'd rather just have Deathstroke be who is, and he's kind of a bastard. Christopher Priest respect villain fighting want In comics, my experience has been mostly artists whose visual storytelling chops are either weak or they're more invested in rushing to a paycheck than in doing work they can be proud of. Christopher Priest doing experience proud work All people - white, black, whatever - are tribal in the sense that we relate to that which is familiar to us. Christopher Priest whatever black white people I was trained in storytelling by Jim Shooter, Stan Lee, and Larry Hama. Doesn't make me a genius, and there really isn't anything fancy about the stage direction in my scripts. Christopher Priest direction me stage genius Hollywood is, of course, loaded with egos, but it's amazing to see how, despite the egos, those collaborators pull together and focus on telling a story rather than butt heads and sabotage what is extremely hard work and investment just because their ego apparently demands it. Christopher Priest focus hard-work together work Writing 'Deathstroke' presents a number of challenges to me. As a Christian, as a minister, it's difficult for me to write a comic book that all but glorifies violence. So my take on 'Deathstroke' has been to not so much celebrate violence but to deal with the consequences of violence. Christopher Priest me celebrate violence challenges I think, personally, nothing comes from violence other than more violence. Christopher Priest more nothing think violence
