1. I’ve never had the chance to talk to a real comic book writer, excluding my roommate Dave Woodward who is finishing up his first book at the moment; he’s 21-years-old and has been illustrating for a 10. When did you startdoing your own artwork and decide to become a comic illustrator?

I should clear up that I’m actually a writer rather than an illustrator–I suspect my life would be much easier if I could draw. Any time you go to comic conventions, there’s always a fan asking the pros, “how do I break in to the industry?” There are always two components to the answer: 1.) it’s different for everybody, and 2.) it’s much harder for writers. That’s because editors can look at artwork and tell right away if they want to hire you, but they’re not going to sit there and read through scripts. There are also legal reasons for them not to read aspiring writers’ work, namely, that if they publish anything vaguely similar, they stand the risk of being sued.

But, to answer your question, I wrote my first comic script when I was in college–I think that script holds up pretty well, and I hope to do something with it someday, but I have (I should hope) done some better stuff since then. I started writing reviews for a comic book web site around the time I got my first regular job, then moved on to doing interviews and convention coverage for Comic Book Resources, one of the biggest and best sites for comics news. I kept up with creative work, though, as well, and did a short story for a Hurricane Katrina benefit anthology and another for Top Shelf’s web comix site. I’m doing a straight-to-digital series called “Hell, Nebraska” right now with artist Anna Wieszczyk, and we’re also doing a book for Archaia tentatively called “Interesting Drug,” which I’m hoping will see print next year.

2. I’m not surfing the internet or watching television 24/7, so I guess my question here is: how did you find out about MTV’s contest with Stan Lee to write the new comic The Seekers? What were the credentials you had to have (if any), and what exactly were you asked to create?

This was announced at the San Diego Comic-Con, sort of the industry’s big dance. There were no requirements to enter, but we were given the skeleton of a treatment and told to flesh out the details, write a ten-page sample script. The premise is that there’s an alien race charged with monitoring planets for interstellar weapons potential, and when a world is about to reach that stage of civilization, these beings decide whether the planet must die for the sake of the universe. Earth has just reached that stage. We were also given an archaeologist character, a newswoman, and an enigmatic member of this alien race called The Gatherer. Beyond that, we could tweak these characters to our own ends.

3. How do you feel about the competition between 20 other writers? Do you ever find yourself reading your component’s scripts just to know who you’re up against?

I’ve read a few of the others’ scripts and done a bit of internet stalking to see how they’re managing the contest. But you know, I can’t do anything about them, so I don’t worry about it too much. I’ve got a job or three, a family, etc., plus managing my own bid to work with Stan, so I don’t have a lot of time to worry about the competition.

4. Do you think you will be partying it up in the Jersey Shore with Stan at your side once you win?

Stan can party. We know this.

5. After creating your own work with comic books, creating characters and their own universe, do you ever find yourself having an alter ego such as Peter Parker’s Spider-Man? Such as having a real job in a cubicle setting as opposed to writing and illustrating.

Some people think I have a secret identity. In the past I’ve been confused for Sean Fanning (founder of Napster) and the fake reviewer Sony invented to give “Knight’s Tale” four stars. Today, in fact, I found out there’s a Michael Manning doing erotic comics; Michael is my middle name, so it’s a plausible alias. But, no. I’ve been fortunate that about 90% of my real jobs–current one included–have been awesome. Different things are required for writing comics, writing about comics for CBR, and promoting academic titles for University of Michigan Press, but I’m the same guy at each. No need for a secret identity.

6. What comics/writers are you currently reading, and who have been your favorites thus far?

Comics I’m reading now–well, DC Comics just rebooted their entire line, so I’ve spent this month mostly reading new stuff. The new Action Comics is great–Superman as agitator! Animal Man, too, and Journey Into Mystery and Ultimate Spider-Man from Marvel. Grant Morrison, who is doing Action and Batman Inc., is probably my favorite writer who’s regularly doing comics just now, though Kieron Gillen, who does Journey Into Mystery and also writes Uncanny X-Men, is great for something entirely different. I just read Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes (that is the correct spelling), which is a graphic novel by Bryan Talbot and his wife Mary that’s not out til February, that was really interesting–Mary’s father was a James Joyce scholar, and the book contrasts Mary’s childhood with that of Joyce’s daughter. So, yeah, I like the superhero stuff, I like the indie and literary stuff, bit of everything.

7. Lastly, what do you consider to be the best comic book store in Ann Arbor?

Best comic shop in Ann Arbor would have to be Vault of Midnight–big, awesome store, great people.