Book World Live

Ridley's densely packed action-thriller plot zooms along in tandem with his jabs at the racism and xenophobia that underscored the myth of Camelot. He literalizes the era's ideological conflicts as costumed brawls; the story culminates in a series of enormous fight scenes and a touch of nuclear terror, all set into motion when the New American goes after a serial killer who has attacked a bus full of Freedom Riders.-- Review: Apocalypse Then, Now and Always ( March 18, 2007).

John Ridley, author of "The American Way" will be online to field questions and comments about his graphic novel.

John Ridley is a writer whose work includes films "Three Kings" and "Undercover Brother" and the television series "Third Watch." He is a regular commentator for NPR.

Join Book World Live each Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET for a discussion based on a story or review in each Sunday's Book World section.

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John Ridley: Hey, it's Ridley. Welcome to all, and thanks to the WP for having me.

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Philadelphia, Pa.: How did you come up with Southern Cross?

John Ridley: Well, somebody had to be the real bad bad guy in the story, and as the heros were meant to be icons of parts of America, the concept of Southern Cross was easy to come by. The thing was, and early on in the story, I really wanted him to be heroic, not just a sniveling racist. That really played into how other characters saw him. A good man who had a real, real bad streak.

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Arlington, Va.: As an author, how does writing for a graphic novel differ from a text-only novel in how you conceive outline and choose what details to reveal in text vs. in images?

John Ridley: Writing Graphic Novels is much, much harder than one might think. Only 22 pages an issue, and the point of a GN is to be visually graphic. Most of the dialouge is reduced to a few lines. You've really gotta pick your spots for expose, plan very well and have a GREAT editor. Ben Abernathy at WildStorm, who I've worked with three times now really, really helped shape the book in the outline phase. That said, the book changed greatly once I stared writing. ALSO, Georges Jeanty the artist was a great ally in helping me plot each individual book from a layout stand point.

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Clifton, Va.: I'm a bit new to the graphic novel genre, but just cut my teeth on "Watchmen." Where does your work fit into the spectrum between "Watchmen" and "Archie?"

John Ridley: LOL. Good question. Well, defintely more toward watchmen than Archie, but I think we've got more of Archie's "hopefulness" in the end than Watchmen. I'd actually, on a scale, put it more toward a limited series in the mid-eighties called the Question - an update of an older comic character. Great series. Highly suggest you give it a look if possible.

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Arlington, Va: Not terribly savvy about the genre, but loved "Three Kings." Whatcha you got workin' in the screenplay world -- anything we should watch for? Many thanks.

John Ridley: Riot now I'm working on a script for a film about the LA riots to be directed by Spike Lee. Hopefully, we'll start shooting by the summer.

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Washington, D.C.: Wow. "Three Kings" is one of my favorite, favorite movies.

I was reading on Wikipedia that you wrote the script in 7 days, but then it was basically ripped off by David O. Russell. It's such a fabulous script -- really insightful commentary on the post-Gulf War era. So, who is responsible for it? You or Russell?

John Ridley: David definitely DID NOT rip off the script. Once the studio buys it, the own it. Very different from publishing where the original author owns the copyright as opposed to, say, the publishing house. There were people before David I worked on the script with, and some who worked to shape the film later. Movie making, generally, is very collaberative. As much ego is in Hollywood, as much as people love to take credit for everything, everyone involved - writers, directors, producers, studio execs... Have imput. I'm sure if each of us had our own way, the movie would still be different yet.

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washington, DC: With all the success you've had with movies, novels and television, it doesn't seem like comics would interest you so much. Yet other successful novelists and screenwriters are also writing comics. What gives?

John Ridley: There is a lot of freedom in writing comics. No limitations on budget, what you write gets published (not always the case in the movie or TV business) and people in the comic world really, really appreciate imagination. Plus, as in publishing, the writer becomes the sales point. People want to read Brian Vaughn or Ed Brubaker or Alan Moore. So, instead of it being about Brad Pitt, it's all about you and the work. The can be very attractive for a writer. Plus, a lot of us grew up "geeks," so now we can get our geek on.

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Anonymous: Ever think about making an animated series or feature from

any of your graphic novels? Your stuff could really translate

on screen.

John Ridley: Thank you. Well, The American Way is my first original graphic novel project meaning I own the characters. People ask if I did it just to make a movie out of it. No, I really did it 'cause I love comics. I love walking into my local shop and seeing it on the shelf. That being said, I would love the chance to take it to another visual level as a feature. But as this thing would cost oh $80 to $100 million, that's going to be a long, tough road to travel

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Anonymous: Do you have a daily writing schedule? What's been the most

efficient way to keep the muse going? Thank you for your

time.

John Ridley: You know, I used to write absolutely the first thing in the morning. Start, get it out of the way, spend your day doing what you have to do but then THINKING about your work, and finish the night back on the keypad.

USED TO DO THAT.

Now, it's getting the kids to school in the morning, taking meetings, doing production business, and I usually don't really start writing anymore until past 10pm. So 10 - 3am I write. If I really, REALLY gotta get something done I go to Vegas for a few days, lock myself in a room and write until I'm do. Works wonders.

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Columbus Ohio: Mr. Ridley, thanks for this discussion today! I have to admit I din't know your work when I bought the trade paper of New American recently. I picked it up because it just looked like a good read. The day after I finished it, I read news articles about your controversial Esquire piece. That was a heck of a way to be introduced to your writing and your politics!

I just wanted to thank you for a compelling read. Glad to see comics written politically without being ham-handed.

Also, I saw you referenced Watchmen and The Question, but were you influenced at all by DC's New Frontier?

John Ridley: Not the New Frontier. I was already into American Way when it came out. I'm sorry to say I read the first volume, didn't finish the second yet, and I spent all this money on an Absolute version and I STILL haven't read it all. The one thing I didn't like about what I'd read so far, and the thing I wanted to do very differently in American Way - there's like one black guy in all of New Frontier and he ends up dead. Well, there's a black boxer, too and he gets his A&& kicked in the ring. That made me a little sad, a story set in that era that is so devoid of one of the most important issues of the time - race relations.

Thanks for reading the other pieces. You can see more of my writing at JRidley.com

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new York via Rockville: Mr. Ridley-

You are, or were a stand-up too, correct? Do you still peform

and how does it compare to all of the other things you are

working on?

John Ridley: Wow, can't believe people even know that. Yeah, I used to do stand up. I look at that the way a lot of actors look back on their soft core porn days. It was actually fun while I was doing it, and it was a great foundation going into TV writing. The thing I think for a lot of stand ups is you start out wanting that immediate audience reaction. Then, ironically, you get to the point the audience and trying to please them sorta gets in your way. You're more interested in saying what you want to say than just getting a laugh. That's what I like about, say, writing the The American Way, or novels. I can say what I want, and people can decide later if its worth their time.

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Northern Virginia: Hey! Did you write "Barbershop," the Showtime series? What

was inspiration?

John Ridley: I did. Well, the idea was to base the series on the movie but take the whole thing in an elevated direction. Sorta like with MASH the movie and the TV series. I think the series was very sharp and very smart, but what we had working against us was the film franchies. By the time we did the series Beauty Shop - basically the third barbershop - was out and had flopped and really set up the audience for kinda lowbrow humor. We just didn't get the sampling we'd hoped for. That said, I do think the series itself shined.

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John Ridley: Thanks for your questions. For more, come visit at JRidley.com

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