Entrevista: John Jackson Miller
Y he aquí, queridos lectores, nuestra séptima entrevista: en esta ocasión, tenemos aquí presente a John Jackson Miller, un autor y escritor de cómics independiente mejor conocido por su trabajo en la franquicia de Star Wars entre otros proyectos, sobretodo cómics. En la entrevista de hoy, John nos hablará acerca de su trabajo en Star Wars, una de las franquicias de ciencia ficción más famosas de la historia (y una de mis favoritas, personalmente, cuya reciente película tuvo un final tan emotivo cómo mencioné en su review), entre otros proyectos. Posiblemente encontrarán la entrevisto algo corta, con tan solo siete preguntas, pero han de entender que John tiene una agenda muy ocupada y estas siete preguntas son las únicas que puede responder con su horario, así que apreciemos el tiempo que nos ha dedicado para esta pequeña entrevista. He aquí la entrevista, cuál por supuesto, se encuentra en inglés:

1.      Tell us about yourself, John. When you was born and which were your inspirations to become a writer?

JOHN REPLIES >>> I was born in the dark days before the Internet, meaning I needed to entertain myself with comic books, cartoons, books, and movies — and my folks made sure I had access to a lot of that material. I started writing my own stories early on, photocopying comics I’d drawn and, later, publishing fanzines. After college I got a job editing the trade magazine for the comics industry, working alongside legendary Comics Buyer’s Guide editors Don and Maggie Thompson. The years that followed taught me both how to write, and also the ins and outs of the publishing world. Since 2007, I’ve been writing more or less full-time, and it’s been a privilege to be able to do so. I greatly appreciate the support of all my readers over the years!

2.        From all the comic books and novels you have written, either for Star Wars or other franchises, which is your favorite one?

JOHN REPLIES >>> Picking a favorite is pretty much an impossible question, as there’s different things I like for different reasons. Just to name a few, though, among prose novels, I was very satisfied with how Kenobi turned out — and also my most recent Star Trek release, The Enterprise War. And then there are the very-long-form works — my Knights of the Old Republic comics series and the Star Trek: Prey trilogy took me to a lot of different places and were interesting journeys.

I have a lot of favorites among shorter stories, too. I could say that I’m especially fond of “The Ride,” the novella I wrote for the Star Wars: Canto Bight anthology, which allowed me to dig deep into the life of a gambler — one who just happened to exist in the Star Wars setting. Every minute of that was fun to write, and I think it accomplished exactly what I wanted to. And “Murderer’s Row,” a short story I wrote for Planet of the Apes: Tales from the Forbidden Zone, was another story like that. I enjoyed writing every word.

3.       Long before the establishment of the new Star Wars canon, you were hired to write the comic book adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? I read on your website how you came to be hired to write it, but while writing it, how was the process of adapting the film into a comic book? 

JOHN REPLIES >>> It was complicated, because they were only starting to film when we got involved. I got to see production art long before there was any photography, so I needed to do a great deal of imagining to figure out what the moments connecting the big set pieces were going to look like. I think if you look at that book, as the story goes on it looks more and more like the movie; that’s because of how much we knew about at the time, since the movie itself was a work in progress. Ultimately I think we did a pretty good job with it.

4.       In regards to your career on Star Wars, you had the honor of writing A New Dawn, the first canonical SW novel in the new canon continuity. How you were hired to write it? Did you talked with Dave Filoni about the connections with Star Wars Rebels?

JOHN REPLIES >>> I had just released Kenobi and was looking for my next project when Del Rey’s editors told me they were interested in doing a novel that would focus on the heroes from the upcoming Rebels series. They had just done a lot of novels focusing on the villains, and my book would be a bit of a break from that. Once I was briefed in on the show I made proposals, which led to feedback from Filoni and the other producers – and after a conference call with Dave the book got fully underway.

I was two-thirds of the way through the book when I learned of its special place in the canon; I didn’t have to change much at all to make it feel like an introductory book, because I write that way anyway.

5.       An interesting character from A New Dawn which quickly became a fan-favorite was Rae Sloane, who later rose to become Grand Admiral in Chuck Wendig's Aftermath trilogy? How you conceived the character, any inspirations?

JOHN REPLIES >>> I had studied the changeover of the Soviet Union following the October Revolution — how all the institutions that had previously existed morphed into what came later. I realized there had to be a number of people in the Empire who were not themselves evil, but were true believers in the order that it brought. Rae Sloane came from that. I also wanted her to be relatively new at her job, so she could be learning about the Emperor’s minions and their shenanigans along with everyone else. I knew the character would survive the book and told Lucasfilm that she’d be a good character to recur in later works; that’s indeed what happened. I got to write her into a couple of short stories myself.

6.       An interesting project you were involved in last year was The Lion King: Wild Schemes and Catastrophes, an anthology graphic novel about Jon Favreau's 2019 remake of the 1994 beloved animated film. How you were hired to write it?

JOHN REPLIES >>> The connection there is interesting: I had worked for years with Freddye Miller, who had been one of my Star Wars editors at Dark Horse Comics. She began editing the Disney line of comics for the publisher, and had asked me to do another original graphic novel based on a live-action movie: that book wound up being Dumbo: Friends in High Places, which came out last year when that movie did. While that graphic novel connected in many ways with the movie, Lion King required fewer such ties, meaning I could more or less go where I wanted to. The result, thanks to the great work by our artists, is a fun collection of interconnected stories about Young Simba and the other animals. It’s a really nice book.

7.   What upcoming projects are you planning for the future?

JOHN REPLIES >>> I just finished a Star Trek: Discovery novel for CBS and Gallery Books – we haven’t announced the title, contents, or release date yet, but you can expect it this year. It’s a much different kind of novel from me, and I’m excited for people to read it. Beyond that, I am working on some other unannounced things — and, as always, I’m constantly adding historical information about the comic book business to my Comichron website. People can find out more about that at http://www.comichron.com, about my fiction at http://www.farawaypress.com, and can follow me on Twitter at @jjmfaraway.

John, we’re very grateful that you allowed us to interview you. You’re such a good comic book writer and author. We can’t wait to see what your next projects will be! Good luck!

Y bueno, he aquí la séptima entrevista que tenemos en El Recoveco del Geek. Entrevistar al Señor Miller fue, como todas las demás entrevistas, una experiencia agradable y marca la tercera vez que entrevistamos a un artista que trabajó en Star Wars. ¡Estén atentos, que más entrevistas se publicarán más adelante!