Q&A: Brian K. Vaughan

At IGN, writer Brian K. Vaughan talks about Runaways as a "subversive kids book," Y: The Last Man's 60-issue lifespan, and how reader reaction influences his writing (it doesn't):

... I have a big enough ego that I just don't care. In Y, a couple of issues ago, there was a two-part arc with a theatre troupe and Yorick wasn't in it too much. I think about 90% of readers really hated it. They were like, "What's the point?" and "Let's get back to the main story." And, uh, I don't care. This is something that I wanted to tell and these are characters we'll revisit and will have a larger importance to the story. So, no, for good or bad, I write stories that I want to read. And you know, it's great when people like it. Bad reviews make me eat Oreos and feel miserable, but no, it doesn't change my desire to tell the story exactly the way I set out to do it.

He also addresses his desire to create his own characters, instead of simply maintaining old properties:

We'd all be f----- if Stan Lee had come into comics and said, "Oh boy, I've got this Superman story I'm aching to tell." He didn't do that. He really came in and wanted to create new things and built this House of Ideas. I think we do need great creators like Bendis to nurture those characters and be the caretakers and keep them alive and vibrant for a new generation. I think companies also need guys who want to come in and keep stirring new stuff into the pot and that's certainly more my wheelhouse.