 COMICS |  | WIZARD Q&A: BRAD MELTZER | | The best-selling author kills the DC Universe in 'Last Will and Testament' and tells the truth about his latest novel, 'The Book of Lies' | | | By Andy Serwin | | Posted 8/08/2008 | |  | | |  So did you have any involvement in the planning stages of putting Final Crisis together?
METLZER: No. To Grant's credit, I think he's been planning this far longer than anyone realizes, and all the plans were made by the time I got there. [DC VP/Editorial] Dan [DiDio] said, "I'd love you to do something that would be around during that time period." But I realy wanted to try and figure out something normal as opposed to, "Let's just do a book because we're worried about the sales dumping down for one month and we need you to fill the gap." That is gonna give you a crappy fill-in one-shot. I said to him, "Let me try to come up with an idea that makes sense and that I'm passionate about and then we'll get an actual story as opposed to that fill-in one-shot." And the honest truth is I came back and said, "This is the only thing I wanna do." I said, "This is how I see it. This is what I care about I think can be something that really tells a bigger story about your characters." And Dan said to me, the only marching orders that I had were, "I'd love that whatever you do, think about where we've come from Identity Crisis and I'd love if you can help us find the bookend to that." And, again, that bookend is easy because it's the only story that I know how to write, which is that small emotional one. That's what I like to do, and you can see it in "Archer's Quest" or "Tornado's Path" or Identity Crisis. I like the little moments in between, and the little moments in between are nice little spaces that you can do stuff that other people sometimes just don't care about. And what I pitched him was, "I wanna do the last day of the DC Universe—the night before—where we see what everyone really wants to do," and he said, "Oh, that works great 'cause of this and this and this." And so I honestly, just through my own dumb luck, stumbled down the right flight of stairs.
How did it feel to come back and dip your toes back into the DCU after the layoff?
METLZER: You know, it's weird. Usually I come back and feel, like, "Oh, I'm so happy!" and then I use the great clichés of every comic book interview, like, "the best toys" and "I get to play in the toy shed." But there was something that was more sinister about this one. I was sitting around and saying, "What does Superman wanna do on the last day of his life?" "What does Batman wanna do on the last day of his life?" "What does Black Lightning wanna do on the last day of his life?" "What does Rocky Davis wanna do on the last day of his life?" and, you know, that isn't a children's birthday party. So instead of being this great, uplifting experience, it was something that was pretty somber. In fact, one of the things when we did Identity Crisis, we always said that one of the things we were most proud of is that Batman wasn't a d--k anymore. And to my own surprise, as the scene came out in this book, Batman has the most uplifting moment. So it really became this Alice in Wonderland for the characters where everything really did switch. Because I think that's what death does: It surprises you. It always surprises you. I wish I could be more complex or more profound than that, but it just surprises you.
You normally like to keep your prose work separate from the comic book work, but it sounds like you were working on The Book of Lies and Last Will and Testament at the same time. Was that the case, and how did that work out?
METLZER: I've always written the comics after the the second or third draft of the novel is done, during the editing period. I had finished The Book of Lies. I was fresh from two years of Superman research. Usually the comic and the novels are completely separate houses. In this one, I feel like there's connecting doors and maybe it's a little bit like a railroad apartment. The seams in both are staggeringly similar because—and maybe it's just where my life is right now and maybe it's just what I've been dealing with—but that issue of death, you know, when I lost my mom...it's just where I am right now and it's just what I have to deal with and I can't help it. I wish it were otherwise, of course.
What can you tell us about your new novel, The Book of Lies?
METLZER: I've been obsessed for a long time with just this idea of who killed Mitchell Siegel [father of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel]. In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was shot and killed in a robbery, and to this day, the murder weapon from that murder is lost. At the same time, the other murder that I was obsessed with was the murder of Cain and Abel, which was arguably one of the most famous murders in history. The Bible is silent about what the murder weapon was that Cain used to kill his brother, and the weapon for that is still lost to this day. So then I had this question: What do these two murders, one that gave us the world's greatest villain in Cain, and one that gave us the world's greatest hero in Superman, possibly have in common? And that's where The Book of Lies was born.
Last Will and Testament and The Book of Lies aren't the only things you've been cooking up; what can we talk about at this point in regards to Buffy? Can you give us any kind of teaser stuff on what characters or storylines you might be dealing with?
METLZER: Nope. Can't. Joss knows and he's really running it like a show runner. He knows who's on what script; when, where and how. He has the schedule on, I'm sure, the master wipe-off board in his head. But I'm toward the end and so I actually get some time. What I think is the most important thing right now about "Buffy" is—and this is what mattered to me—is whenever I watch any show, I like to believe that there is some grand treasure map that's being followed as opposed to, "Let's make this crap up as we go along." And I can tell you from the very first e-mail before the very first issue was out, I saw the treasure map. And it is breathtaking.
Craving more Final Crisis goodness? Click it here to check out our rundown of all the tie-ins to the big event! | | 
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