10 Random Questions - Raven Gregory

Raven Gregory is an executive editor and prolific writer for Zenescope. When he's not producing quality work over at Zenescope Entertainment, he makes for a great drinking buddy and a fashion risk taker (with his innovation, "shirt pants", due in stores sometime soon, I'm sure). He joins us for 10 RANDOM QUESTIONS here at SchwappOnline.com

1. What was your first pro comic book work and what do you think of it when you look back at it now?

THE GIFT #1. I think I was all over the place. Narration captions, internal caption, dialogue. I was all over the place trying to find my voice. It took awhile to clear away all the extra stuff but when I look at that book today I see all the stuff I should have left out.

2. If you could live anywhere without it impacting your career, what locale would you choose to move to?

San Diego. Love the smell of the ocean.

3. Who would you say is your biggest writing influence?

Peter David and Bendis. David is always evolving his style, but still maintains his own unique voice. And Bendis's dialogue is second to none. I'm very much the talking head writer, so I get that from him.

4. What's the biggest travel nightmare you've experienced?

Arriving in Florida for Mega Con and realizing that all my books were still in Phoenix because we got to security late and they held back the boxes.

5. Best party night you've had at a convention (feel free to change the names to protect the guilty)?

Wizard World Philly with Christian Beranek and Mike Bencick. Suffice to say by the end of the night, I was literally wearing a shirt as a pair of pants.

6. What's the biggest scam you've ever fallen for, know someone that fell for it, or had someone try to pull on you?

None. I've never fallen for any scam. (Editor's Note: Very lucky man!)

7. What's more difficult: trying to come up with a story from whole cloth or trying to come up with a new story that you weave as an extension of a classic (i.e. RTW)?

Both have their good and bad sides. A new story or concept has the advantage of occasionally spilling out on the page. Get the characters in a good place and the story writes itself. Where as with established material you have to make sure the story the publisher wants told is being told as well as finding the right voice and making sure that elements established in the original translate well into the new version without losing too much of what made the original great.

8. Best year of your life?

1984. No idea why.

9. What's been your biggest WOW moment working in comics, whether it is a personal achievement, meeting someone that you admired the work of, or something else?

Having Peter David say he liked my work. That meant a lot. And that we were both using a character that we were both familiar with beyond comics.

10. What job did you dream of having as a kid?

Marine Biologist.

And the plugs, sir?

This week:

Return To Wonderland #6

Grimm Fairy Tales #21 The Sorcerer's Apprentice

In Two Weeks:

Grimm Fairy Tales #23 & #24 - Snow White Rose Red

In Three Weeks:

Grimm Fairy Tales #25 & #26 - The Little Mermaid

In One Month:

Tales From Wonderland: Queen of Hearts

In Two Months:

Tales From Wonderland: The Mad Hatter

In Three Months:

Tales From Wonderland: Alice

In Summer 2008:

Beyond Wonderland #0 & #1

THE GIFT Maxi-Edition

Have your own random questions for Raven? You can chase him down for the answers in his forum over at Shots In The Dark.