Cover by Martin Morazzo

By JOSHUA BERMONT, WMQ Comics contributor

In the two years since the conclusion of his AMC series “Halt and Catch Fire,” Christopher Cantwell has metamorphosed from a tragically underappreciated showrunner to an indie director (his film “The Parts You Lose” stars Aaron Paul and was released in March 2019) and comic scribe.

He began with the complex and controversial original concept “She Could Fly,” about a troubled teen who becomes fixated on a flying woman, for Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint. After that, he continued to pen fiercely innovative and darkly comedic series like “Everything” and “I Pledge Allegiance to the Mask” (also for Dark Horse), and “Doctor Doom” for Marvel.

WMQ Comics recently interviewed Cantwell about his comics background, recurring themes and influences.

WMQ: How did you make the initial transition last year from TV writer/showrunner to comics writer?

Cantwell: In early 2017, I connected with G. Willow Wilson, who was a fan of “Halt and Catch Fire” (and I her!). I had this one specific idea — which would evolve into “She Could Fly” — that I felt might best work as a comic book. I’d always loved the medium and was an ardent reader in middle school and then again in college. To my great surprise, Willow immediately put me in touch with Karen Berger. I pitched Karen “She Could Fly,” and we were pretty much off to the races. I was so excited. I was euphoric. Writing comics has been a dream come true. Follow your dreams, kids.

WMQ: How does it feel, having gone from penning your first comic to writing a top-tier Big Two character like Doom in just a year and a half?

Cantwell: Well, I will say that my experiences with Berger Books and Dark Horse have been nothing short of phenomenal. To be able to create my own unique and weird stories out of whole cloth, and collaborate with artists like Martin Morazzo and INJ Culbard has been incredibly fulfilling — one of the most fulfilling artistic experiences I’ve ever had. “She Could Fly” and “Everything” are really special books to me. They both have these wonderfully complex ensembles at the center of them that feel like family to me. Both books are pretty under the radar in the comic book world, but that doesn’t make them any less vivid and personal to me.

That said, it was Karen, the conduit of all comic book life, that introduced me over email to Wil Moss at Marvel. It was kind of a “nice to meet you” email we exchanged, and then months went by. I went on working on TV and film and writing my indie books. Then out of the blue, Wil wrote me and asked me if I wanted to write a 10-page story for “War Scrolls,” the anthology book that Marvel was going to put out as a compendium to the “War of the Realms” crossover. I said yes immediately without even knowing who the character was. Wil couldn’t tell me right away because he had to check on availability and things. I spent a few days wondering who it was. When I found out it was Doom, I freaked out.

I worked really hard on that story, which is called “A Rose for Victor.” I read probably 50 issues of Doom stories stretching back to the ’60s. The title and signature act of the story — a child giving a rose to Doom — is a reference to a child doing that very thing to Doom in a story decades ago. It was one of the first really humanizing moments for the character to me.

From there, a little while later, Tom Brevoort asked if I wanted to pitch on the upcoming Doctor Doom series. I obviously said yes and KILLED MYSELF putting that pitch together.

I love writing for Marvel so much. I was a Marvel kid, man, from “Secret Wars” on. The editing team has been fantastic and so encouraging. And working with Salva(dor Larroca) is such a privilege. Just a few months previous I’d read his entire “Darth Vader” run with my son, and we were both blown away by his work.

Cover by ACO

WMQ: “She Could Fly” was a brilliant portrayal of “intrusive thoughts,” which are rarely explored in fiction. Given this was your first comic book endeavor, how confident were you that readers would be able to identify with the character of Luna, instead of just dismissing her as “bad,” “crazy” or “unlikable?” Did you worry that in judging her, they’d be judging you as well, to some degree? As a creator, how hard is it for you to present such intimate parts of your psyche to your audience?

Cantwell: I frankly had no idea if they would identify with her. But it was a story I finally needed to get out. This was / is something I live with, and it really disrupted my life over a few severe episodes, from childhood through adulthood. But I’d always kept it private, even from mental health professionals. This was something I didn’t tell my parents about until I was 35, and now it has a fucking ISBN number. That’s pretty wild. But it felt liberating to tell the story. It made me feel less alone. And many people have reached out to me and thanked me for writing the story. Luna remains the character that the most readers have gotten really emotional about and viscerally connected to, out of any of my comic work. That means a lot to me. It’s still scary. I worried I was being indulgent. I still do. But the story is important to me, and I love Luna just as much as anyone. It’s helped me embrace aspects of myself.

WMQ: What are some of your earliest memories of comics, and how do you feel they’ve influenced you as a storyteller? What are some of your favorite moments in previous creators’ runs of “Doom” and “The Mask” (i.e., the ones you felt really defined these characters)?

Cantwell: On a camping trip to Tyler, Texas, my dad let me buy a comic on the way home in a convenience store. It was “Marvel Tales Featuring Spider-Man.” He fights Rahne. The cover is him punching Rahne. That great John Wayne roundhouse punch, which is funny to me, a little guy like Peter doing that move to werewolf. I read it one million times and still have it. I read a ton of Spider-Man after that. A lot of ’90s X-Men, every book. “Bone.” “Spawn.” The things that inspired me most, or at least worked their way into my writing, are darkness and detail. As someone with OCD, I definitely gravitated to the level of detail in comics: the characters’ backstories, their affiliations, abilities, previous conflicts, all of it. I had Marvel trading cards, too, so that was only reinforced. And then darkness. This was the early to mid-’90s. “Spawn” was out. And even DC was like, “Hey let’s kill Superman and break Batman’s back.” The Mask books were a rabbit hole of pure human darkness that left an indelible mark on me.

That level of disturbance, that kind of “don’t look away” storytelling, is usually present in everything I do. I think it’s truthful. I think it knocks your Starbucks cup out of your hand and goes, “You’re gonna die one day and maybe it’ll be fucking terrible and awful or you’re going to see something someday that will fuck you up for life and you’ll never be the same and that’s what it really means to be human.”

My favorite Doom story is “Triumph & Torment,” speaking of darkness. Much is made of Doom’s intellect, but that book is about his spirituality. Strange is the perfect foil. That book gives Doom a soul but does not compromise the character in the least.

WMQ: As a filmmaker and showrunner, what are some of your favorite on-screen adaptations of comic book properties? If you could bring any comic book to the screen, what would it be, and whom would you cast?

Cantwell: I loved “Watchmen.” It was a brilliant sequel to the graphic novel. Par excellence. Tim Burton’s “Batman” and “Batman Returns” are great cinema. The first and second Reeve “Superman” films are gorgeous and perfect.

I hope we get to make “She Could Fly” at AMC. I’m writing the pilot now. Other than my own work, I briefly manically wanted to put together a Tank Girl pitch and have Mackenzie Davis be in it, but then they announced it as a project already. But how good would that have been? It would’ve been amazing. I was briefly an intern at Marvel Studios in 2001 (Chris Yost was my boss, and Kevin Feige was 29), and I wanted to do Damage Control. The Mask as a horror movie would be cool. Get Jim Carrey again, but make it just terrifying.

You could do the most beautiful Silver Surfer film and make it truly cosmic. Like Terrence Malick-level gorgeous. I’d cast Sterling K. Brown. His emotional power and understatement would soar as the Surfer. I’d make it three and a half hours long.

WMQ: Overall, would you say you prefer writing comics to being behind the camera? Is one ultimately more rewarding than the other?

Cantwell: Comics are certainly less stressful. I love doing it so much. I would be fine just doing that. I directed a movie called “The Parts You Lose” and it was a small movie and it just emotionally wrung me out. I loved making “Halt.” There was nothing like that. There may never be. That show was lightning in a bottle.

I really would like to direct a movie that I write. I have one that I cherish with someone I love attached and a producer that is the best producer ever. I hope we get to make it. If I just make that one film, I could stop and not do it ever again.

Cover by Patric Reynolds

WMQ: There are heavy recurring themes of anti-establishment and suburban angst in your work, as well as a kind of seething rage with regard to the status quo. Where do you feel those themes come from? How much of your work stems from anger?

Cantwell: My wife would say too much. I have really tried to pull back on that, truthfully. Back in my twenties and in college, everything seemed to stem from that. I uncapped that in “The Mask” again, because it felt right for the story. But it’s draining and limiting. I’ve been able to parlay that I think into a kind of “what the fuck” type of storytelling that bucks norms but isn’t so negative. But I do hate the establishment. I hate the suburbs, even though now I live in them again. I hate the whitewashed façade of things, the consumer morphine drip, the micro-focus on food Instagrams and casual racism and “content.” Content is art that is consumed and regurgitated into meaningless images and sounds to be tossed onto the top of the cultural landfill. I don’t like things that let people think they’re smart without actually challenging them. I want to run over shit like that with a semi truck.

I guess a lot of that comes from my private mental struggles, feeling like I couldn’t share who I really am. Who knows. I like beautiful things, too. And sad things. If I can intertwine those two things, I feel like I’ve made something good and honest. We were able to hit that note in “Halt” consistently, and I’m so proud of that.

WMQ: “Halt and Catch Fire” featured numerous characters (Joe, Cameron, Gordon, Donna, Ryan) who felt their innovative genius was tragically unappreciated. Is that one of the elements that drew you to writing Victor Von Doom as a protagonist? Do you draw any specific parallels between Joe MacMillan and Victor, since you’ve said you’d like to see Lee Pace cast as Doom someday?

Cantwell: Yes. But Doom has no humility. The character is dangerously arch, and you have to be careful writing him for a media-savvy audience in 2020. There has to be just enough self-awareness and humor. There has to be humanity without making him needlessly gooey. The villainy can be amped now to pretty high levels, to remind people that he’s a bad person, in a real world that is increasingly run by very bad people. To me, Doom is both Dr. Frankenstein and the Monster. He is able to love, but he feels he is unable to be loved. Joe was that way. Joe believed he was the hero in Season 1. So does Doom. But Joe realized he wasn’t and spent the rest of the series trying to earn his way back from his misdeeds. Doom is too proud to ever do that.

How great would Lee be as Doom? God. What a gothic stage play of a movie that could be. But he has such a great and expressive face. It’d be sad to cover it and when it’s not covered have it be all fucked up and gross. But Lee would nail it. Lee should play Kang, too. Both Kang and Doom. And Toby Huss should be Galactus. Perfect.

Joshua Bermont is an editor and ghostwriter and writes weekly reviews for WMQ Comics. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaBermont.