If you’ve read comics with any regularity over the past several years, you‘ve probably seen Brian Wood’s work: Channel Zero, The Couriers, Jennie One, Couscous Express, Fight For Tomorrow and even, briefly, Marvel’s Generation X. Oh, and don’t forget his Eisner-nominated covers for Global Frequency.

But it’s Wood’s current project, Demo (AiT/Planet Lar), that’s drawing the most attention. Entertainment Weekly said the series’ “touching character sketches breathe with a sense of space and life rarely seen in books about mutants.” Variety described it as “scarier and much more human than mainstream comics usually dare to be.”

Wood pulled himself away from writing the final three issues of the series to answer a few questions about, well, Demo:

Q: Demo doesn't fit neatly into any traditional comics genres. It's a slice-of-life comic, but with superpowers. It's a comic about superpowers, but with no clear heroes and villains. That's not an easy concept to market in the current comics climate. How does reader response compare to your expectations, both in terms of sales and critical feedback?

A: Well, it’s interesting. Whatever people were expecting from Demo, I don’t think they got. Issue 1 was probably the closest Demo gets to anything like a "traditional" superpower book, so people were like, “OK, we get it, it’s like the X-Men, sorta.” The gag in the first few pages of that issue, that poke at the commonly used phrases in mutant books, most people took seriously.

Then when #2 came out, everyone went: "What the fuck? What's going on? Nothing! Well, something, but I don't know what." "This isn't a story." "I could have told this in six pages." "This sucks." "It's like Preacher." "What happens to this girl?" "I don't get it." And so on. Take your pick. That was a calculated move on my part -- I had actually written #2 first, but wanted to ease people into it with something a little more expected, Issue 1.

With #3 and onwards, the people that understood the book really started to like it, and everyone else drifted away, which is fine and good and makes sense. I still got, and still do get, static from people because they expected it to be something else. But for the most part that stopped. Now there are tons of hardcore Demo fans who are really smart, really got into it, and love it. And I love them back.

What a lot of people don't get is what a massive risk this book was for us to do. Seriously. I am not just talking financial risk, although that is considerable and much thanks to Planet Lar for taking that leap on a book that was almost impossible for me to properly describe ahead of time.

The creative risk was hefty as well. In an industry where 95 percent of the comics are totally safe, status quo books that sell to fans who want nothing but, Becky and I decided to take a year out of our lives and do something entirely different for us, different for the genre, intensely personal at times, and switch it up month after month. We have new characters, new settings, new vibes and, in a way, new art, month in and month out. We took a gamble people would respond, and they have. I honestly and truly wish more people in comics took risks like that, even if they fail. Without stuff like that, we die.

And the people who do take those risks now, they have my respect. I wish them all the success they can handle.

Our sales are healthy -- rising even. The response at conventions is huge, lots of people buying entire runs of the book. You know those are brand-new readers. I love that.

And for the most part the critical feedback has been excellent. Lots of grumblings and mutterings on Delphi message boards, but it’s hard to get too upset about that when Variety, Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Bay Guardian and even Wizard are praising the book up and down.

Comments from other creators have been nothing but positive as well.

Q: It seems as if a lot of readers and reviewers had a tough time figuring out what to make of Demo's format -- essentially that it's 12 short graphic novels (complete with behind-the-scenes "extras") tied together by a theme. Do more people seem to understand, and appreciate, the concept now that we're about halfway through the series?

A: Yeah, the people who are used to decades upon decades of monthly installments on a story have a hard time. But those readers would have a hard time with Demo anyway. Snagging new people on to Demo is almost laughably easy -- it doesn¹t matter which issue they start with. They can just pick whichever one looks coolest to them and enjoy a complete story.

I'm surprised more creators don't do this.

Q: You mention on your Live Journal that you're outlining the last three issues. Looking back, have you been able to accomplish what you set out to do from a creative standpoint?

A: Absolutely, and then some. Ten times over. This is my proudest work of my career, and of my entire creative life.

Q: Do you already know how that final issue ends?

A: Not yet, but it's just another single issue story, you know? Issue 12 is no more meaningful than #3 or #8, in terms of the series as a whole.

Q: Has the direction of the series -- or your approach to it -- changed since you started it?

A: A little bit. I always knew that if I ever came up with an idea for a story but couldn’t find a way to incorporate a "superpower" into it, I wouldn’t sweat it. These stories don’t all need powers in them, and there is no way I would force it. And this has happened a few times already -- #6 is a total supernatural/horror story, and #8 is more psychological than anything else. In #7, depending on how you look at it, could go either way.

It all still fits the vibe of the series, and all the stories are unmistakably Demo.

Q: Back in August, during Newsarama's Brian Wood Week, you said, "I'm taking huge strides forward in my concepts and writing." How do you think Demo compares to your previous work? In your opinion, is this your best work to date?

A: Most ambitious, most technical, most emotional. It’s also very different from anything I have done before, so it’s hard to compare. I think in terms of what I set out to do with Demo, and with all my books, it’s the most successful on all counts.

Q: There seems to be some hesitancy about whether Demo will be collected in a trade paperback. Has a decision been made yet one way or another, or is that something you will settle on after Issue 12 hits the stands?

A: Well, that decision is based on sales. We haven’t made that call, but the fact that sales are rising makes me, on a personal level, hopeful. But Planet Lar is a business like any other, and Demo is nearly 300 pages long. They'll have to make that call. We haven’t discussed it yet.

Q: Here's the dreaded final question: What's next for you after Demo?

A: A rest. And a few graphic novels. Doing a monthly comic can be a grind at times. I need a break!


* To read Wednesday's Q&A with Demo artist Becky Cloonan, go here.
* For information on our big Demo contest, with tons of prizes from AiT/Planet Lar and Digital Webbing, go here.
* For more Demo goodness this week, keep an eye on these participating blogs: Eat More People, The Johnny Bacardi Show, Near-Mint Heroes and Ringwood Ragefuck.