Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

Every day at lunch, I escape the day-job cubicle through my customized comics page at The Houston Chronicle--reading all the gags, drama, and funny pictures crammed into those bitty rectangles. 

I dreamed this kind of bounty as a kid--now I can read the comics, interact with other funny page lovers, and track down my favorite comic book writers. The world of comic strip storytelling has changed forever.

To find out how, I tracked down Woody Wilson, the man who has written the comic strip dramas, Rex Morgan, M.D. and Judge Parker, for the last 15 years. He's our special guest this week in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions.

In the spirit of Jack Nicholson's mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing. 

Jason Boog:
With the advent of the Internet, a number of fan sites like The Comics Curmudgeon have started analyzing your work. Do you read these web-based fans? How have these websites influenced your work?  

Woody Wilson:
Nothing beats interaction with your fans. Continue reading...

That's why we make our e-mail addresses available. We were the first to do that because I wanted that immediate feedback from readers.

As for the websites, no, I rarely read them because the people who generally make those comments are not our fan base.  Some of the stuff people write is simply stupid, uninformed and just plain mean, so I don't go there.

As for interaction, I answer every e-mail, unless it's totally idiotic. Our current syndication reaches a potential daily readership of 30 million with Rex Morgan, MD in 14 English speaking countries. The numbers on Judge Parker are about 15 million. Needless to say, I spend much of my time answering e-mails.

Jason Boog:

How is the business changing in the Internet age?
 
Woody Wilson:
The Internet has changed syndication in two ways.

First, it is much easier to communicate with collaborators. When I started working on my strips, Nick was still sending his scripts FedEx. Fax machines in 1982 were considered alchemy by the old hands. The first thing I did when I took over was buy everyone a fax machine.

Mobility was always the reason I got into this business; I like to travel. I have worked all over the world and simply sent in my scripts on deadline. As a former newspaper writer, I need that urgency, otherwise, I will go fly fishing, play golf, shoot skeet, work on my cabin, anything but sit at a computer and work.

With the advent of e-mail, my life became so much easier. Now, all our work is done exclusively by e-mail. And when I'm done, I go out to play.

Click here to read the Woody Wilson archive.

If the layout confuses you, check out the Five Easy Questions FAQ for more information.