Ray Fawkes is a name DC fans are familiar with. He’s been cowriting Justice League Dark with Jeff Lemire, and also working on the relaunch of Constantine in the DC Universe. But Fawkes has been working as both artist and writer for years, with books like One Soul and Mnemovore on his resume.

We sat down with him to chat about magic in the DCU and where Justice League Dark is going after the latest issue.

Gamma Squad: What was it like stepping into a cowriting role? How do you and Jeff Lemire split the tasks?

Ray Fawkes: Cowriting with Jeff is really smooth. Part of that is that Jeff and I know each other really well, and part of it is Jeff is the world’s most gracious dude to work with. We get together to talk about the plot and spitball, trying to entertain each other. Once we hammer that out, we split it along the lines of characters, because we feel some characters are more naturally voiced by one or the other. Then we make sure it dovetails into one unbroken story.

Gamma Squad: Justice League Dark ends with the team breaking from A.R.G.U.S. And going off on its own. What led you to make that break?

Fawkes: To be honest, there are very few members of that team who would be comfortable working for the government. I don’t see Frankenstein being comfortable working for A.R.G.U.S. They did the deal, they got the books, but they have no urge to work for the government. They won’t have the resources, but they won’t be beholden to the requirements of A.R.G.U.S.

Gamma Squad: In addition to your writing resume, you and Jeff are experienced artists as well. Do you find that experience helps when writing a book?

Fawkes: It helps, but it’s also a hinderance. It makes it much much easier for us to picture what’s possible, the kind of instructions and layouts you can have. But you don’t want to go in with assumptions, Mikel [Janin] often surprises me. He’s going to give us his own spin and it’s something I wouldn’t have thought of.