Today we are talking to writer Joe Brusha about his new seven-issue comic book series, Neverland. Joe Brusha, together with founding partner Ralph Tedesco, heads Zenescope Entertainment, which publishes a number of comic books and graphic novels, including the Grimm Fairy Tales series.

IFP: Tell us a bit about your newest title, Neverland.

JB: Basically like all of our Grimm Fairy Tales series it’s a dark re-imagining of Peter Pan and everything has been turned around. Peter Pan is the bad guy and Hook has been reinvented as the hero. Tinker Bell is still with Pan, but she’s not truly evil and kind of a wild card in the story.

IFP: What was the development process for Neverland like?

JB: I had an idea for the series that only touched on the basic elements of the original story. So once I had that outlined I went back and read the Barrie’s book and tried to incorporate as many of the characters and locations as possible.

IFP: Neverland is a spin-off from your Fairy Tales series. Why the interest children’s tales?

JB: It’s a lot of fun re-inventing classic characters and updating them for an older audience. I really like developing new mythologies and story lines that are vastly different but still have some familiarity to stories we heard as kids.

IFP: Why Neverland in particular? What made you decide to do a new take on Peter Pan?

JB: Honestly, I was never a big fan of Peter Pan himself. I always found myself siding with Hook and hoping he would win. I don’t know why I felt that way. I think I kind of felt sorry for Hook. He was just a guy doing his job who had this obsessed crocodile following him all around trying to get another bite.

IFP:  You’d think Hook would be the bad guy. Why did you switch the roles around?

JB: Again I think it was just feeling sympathy for Hook and siding with him over Peter Pan in the original story and Disney version. One thing I should mention is the “Hook” in my version of Neverland is a pretty big departure from the original. His name isn’t even Hook in my story.

IFP: What was collaborating with illustrator Vic Durichio like? Had you worked together before?

JB: Vic has done some work for us before and he’s been great. We’re still in the middle of the Neverland series but so far it’s been a lot of fun working with him.

IFP: Are there any books aside from J. M. Barrie’s book that influences the look and feel of Neverland? How about movies, music, paintings?

JB: There are tons of stuff that influenced Neverland and anything I try to do creatively. I think I’ve read the Lord of the Rings trilogy about eight times, starting way back when I was ten, so that has a huge influence on my work, as well as Star Wars and just about every horror movie that’s been made over the last 30 years. As a writer, I’m always looking for influences to help with the creative process.

IFP: Are there other literary classics you are planning to adapt?

JB: We have an Oz series planned for 2011. I’m sure we’ll continue to mine that filed until we feel we’ve exhausted ideas or beat it to death.

IFP: You also publish The Chronicles of Dr. Herbert West. Can we expect to see more Lovecraftian stuff in the future?

JB: I would like to. I’m a huge fan of Lovecraft. But there are no immediate plans right now.

IFP: Can you tell us a bit about Zenezcope and how it was created?

JB: My partner and I, Ralph Tedesco, we’re aspiring screenwriters who couldn’t get anyone to look at our scripts. I had been a huge comic book fan growing up and we saw publishing comics as an outlet for all these stories we wanted to tell.

IFP:  How do you market your titles? Conventions? Advertising?

JB: We do a lot guerrilla marketing because we just don’t have the budget to buy ads. And we do try to hit the major cons to spread the word about our products.

IFP:  If someone is interested in writing comic books, what would your advice be to them?

JB: Write. Almost everyone wants to write something but most people just talk about it. Get your stories down on paper and you’ll immediate you separate yourself from the masses. And writing is the only way you’ll get better. Try to partner with an artist who can bring your story to life because going to a publisher and trying to get them to pick up your story just from the script is pretty near impossible.

IFP:  What other projects are you working on?

JB: Right now it’s pretty much Neverland and Grimm Fairy Tales. They’re taking up most of my time.

IFP:  If you could be a Lovecraftian character or monster who would you be and why?

JB: Definitely not Herbert West because he’s nuts. Most of his monsters just seem so other worldly and bizarre. If I had to be a monster I think I would want to be Godzilla.

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