Quotes by Mark Waid

Socrates should have written comics.

Right now, Ive got the weight of several worlds on my shoulders. My best friend is living in a cancer ward, and theres nothing I can do for him. The Serpents have hired the Jester to spark race riots with faked news stories, and I dont know how to smoke him out. My enemies are hiding all around, watching everything I do, and I cant find them. For the first time in months I find myself in the familiar, paralyzing grip of overwhelming depression.

We all want to live in a world where we can make a difference... Thats why Spider-Man fights the good fight. Or Captain Marvel. Or me. Or... There are a lot of us. And we dont all wear masks these days. Iron Man went public. So did Captain America. Others. Probably because its harder to keep secrets in an internet surveillance age. But I think some of it, too, is that the ethical paradox can wear you down. No one on the white-hat side has ever hidden his or her identity with less than noble intent: to make the fight about something bigger than us. To represent a greater justice, where the focus can be on right and wrong... and not on whether the bad guys will exact reprisal on those close to us. And sometimes you have to lie... because you can justify a lie if lives are riding on it. Even as you fight for, as the saying goes, truth and justice... even if youre a lawyer who has sworn to live by the truth... you willingly bear false witness.

New York City is a tinderbox. The Sons of the Serpent - a white supremacist group with a twisted history, deep pockets, and long reach - declared it a combat zone. As they have many times before, theyre unashamedly ginning bigotry and hatred into violence and bloodshed. But this time, theyve gotten smart about it. Instead of parading through the streets in hoods and robes... theyve gone undercover. Dozens upon dozens of them, hiding inside the New York justice system so they can control the law. Control the people. And as God is my witness, I will drive them out and strike them down... no matter what the cost.

Im a master of story. Almost a living fiction myself, so resilient am I! Spider-Man beats me down, I rise! Daredevil imprisons me, I escape! Thats because stories have power! He who controls the narrative controls the audience, and youre all the audience, every one of you. As they say, the worlds a stage...

The Sons of the Serpent - they want you angry. At the world. They need us all to feel like victims. And its an easy get, because times suck. Every day is a battle. We all feel like were on the wrong end of the wrecking ball. We feel at the mercy of forces beyond our control, and that makes us scared. And thats rocket fuel for S.O.B.s like the Serpents. They prey on us when were frightened. They tell us our enemies are the immigrants down the street, or the food stamp family next door. They encourage us to turn our fear into rage, and we fall for it because its empowering. Except its not. We dont become empowered. We become weaponized.

I know this is scary. Youre hungry and cold and you want to give up! But you cant turn on each other! Not now! Show me how brave you can be by pulling together! Do it for each other! Thats the trick! Because when you reach out--when you extend yourself for other people-- thats when youre without fear!

When most dullards hear the words the theater, they envision a twelve-screen multiplex where disaster porn entertains the culturally witless for 90 minutes at a time. Pfaugh. The word theater has grandeur. Power. Back to its ancient Grecian origins, it means the seeing place. A stage upon which actors and actresses use fiction to show us truths.

Mystic grimoirs, walking corpses... Im so far out of my wheelhouse that I might as well be on the moon.

Why cant Spider-sense warn you when youre about to get dumped?

By coincidence and not design, Everstar is written and drawn by an all-female creative team, and it makes me smile to think that there may be young female readers out there, future writers and artists, who get to see that comics doesnt have to be a boys club.

If youre ruling the world, you cant trust anybody. Because even those who profess to be working in your interest - those are also villains in and of their own right.

I think of it this way: When you hear that people have downloaded your comic, appreciate that thousands are eager to hear what you have to say. The poetry club down the hall may not have the same problem. Thats a good problem to have.