Creator Interview: Larry Hama



Larry Hama

One of the first interviews I did for Vengeance Unbound was with Larry Hama back in 2003.  Hama is best-known, of course, for his fantastic work on G.I. Joe in the 1980s and Wolverine in the 1990s, but he also holds a nice spot in Ghost Rider history as well.  The solo Blaze series by Hama and Henry Martinez was a damn weird series that only lasted 12 issues, cut down before its time by a collapsing marketplace, and it remains one of my favorite takes on ol' Johnny and the Quentin Carnival.

Looking back at it now, I wasn't that great an interviewer back in 2003 and I was trying way too hard to be funny and/or "cool" with the questions.  So, if Hama comes off as a bit defensive (and even annoyed, I think) with his answers, I think the blame falls on me for the way I was doing things back then. 

In yet another exclusive Vengeance Unbound interview, former BLAZE writer Larry Hama has stepped up to the plate! Read on for info on carnival freaks, Canuckleheads, and supreme weirdness in general.

1) In 1994, Howard Mackie's second Ghost Rider title, Spirits of Vengeance, was cancelled with it's 23rd issue. To some people's surprise, when the announcement came that a Blaze series would be starting a few months later, your name and not Mackie's was attached. What made you want to pen the adventures of Johnny Blaze and his circus folk? 

 

It was the only job being offered to me at the time. I always had a hard time getting writing work at Marvel. I was always the last person considered for a book, and I was never offered a book that was considered "hot" or even making a cent in royalties at the time of the offering. I was absolutely the last person they asked to write GI JOE, and only because they had asked everyone else and they had turned it down. I didn't know anything about the character and had not read any of the Ghost Rider material and had to do a lot of homework. Of course, I hadn't read any of the Wolverine material either.

 

2) Floating eyeballs, vampire bikers, werewolves that live in haunted mesas, Icebox Bob...I think I can safely say that Blaze was an incredibly weird book. What inspired all this weirdness...lots of research, or were you secretly writing the series from an insane asylum?

 

I thought weirdness was the whole point of the series. First off, I'm not a writer. I'm a penciler with a word processor. I think of the stories as a series of pictures first, with a strong idea of who the characters are. Writerly writers seem to work from the plot outwards. I try to think of gonzo fun images and really jumping action with characters I like or think are cool, and the plot is only there to glue the scenes together.

 

3) Not really a question, more of a comment: when I picked up Blaze # 1 upon its release, I couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief when you changed John back to his normal look and ditched the Deathlok/Cable look. Did readers really hate that cyborg-Blaze design as much as I did?

 

I dunno. I just didn't like that sci-fi look myself.

 

4) The part that totally took me off guard was the lack of any appearances by the Ghost Rider (save for a one-page cameo in the first issue). In a book about a character from the Ghost Rider mythos, did you feel Blaze had it in him to stand on his own without any help from his previous partner?

 

I didn't know all that much about Ghost Rider, and besides, I was doing a book about a character named Blaze.

 

5) Blaze was cancelled after issue # 12, cut down in its infancy. Why do you think the book never caught on with the majority of readers?

 

I don't remember ever quitting a book. If they put me on a character, I stayed on until the book was cancelled or they fired me.

 

6) Following that line of thought: had the book stuck around longer, what would you have done with the series? 

 

Got more into some of the other characters in the carnival. Carnies are a great setting for continuing drama. Check out "Carnivale" on HBO.

 

7) After the book's cancellation, the writer on Ghost Rider (Ivan Velez, Jr.) brought Blaze into his supporting cast and proceeded to completely ignore everything done in your series concerning John's carnival and two children. Did you follow the character at all after your series was cancelled?

 

I never read any comics in any series after I stopped writing them. I don't generally read comics. Mostly, I look at the pictures, because that's what I'm interested in. If the art and the storytelling aren't any good, I'm not interested at all.

 

8) Who's more grizzled and hardcore: John Blaze, shotgun firing circus owner, or Wolverine, dirty stinkin' mutie? 

 

Not a fair question. I wrote the ol' Canucklehead book for so long that I could naturally turn on his mindset. Blaze, I felt was little more cold, not given to fits of sentimentality and also not capable of true berserker rage. I saw Logan more as Robert DeNiro in the era when he did Raging Bull, and I saw Blaze more as Clint Eastwood when he was doing the spaghetti westerns for Sergio Leone.

 

9) Moving forward to the present, do you have any upcoming projects that we should be on the lookout for?

A few projects are covered by security docs. Been doing some animation stuff, and a bunch of video games. Also TV and feature development. Can't really talk about most of if.

 

10) Thanks for taking the time to participate in this interview, Larry! Do you have any closing comments for the readers?

I had a great time writing comics. I was very lucky that I was able to make a living just making
up fun stuff.

 

Loads of thanks to the ultra-cool Mr. Hama for doing this interview, and I'll definitely be on the lookout for his name in the credits of future television and movie projects!