The Side of Good/The Side of Evil is a book of superheroes and super villains by some of your favorite authors, including Larry and me! It’s available for pre-order now here: https://amzn.com/1942990030 Now enjoy one of several interviews as our authors take you behind the scenes!
eSpec Books interviews Greg Schauer, co-editor of The Side of Good / The Side of Evil, a Superhero Flipbook anthology, https://tiny.cc/SoGSoE.
eSB: What drew you to this project?
GS: Danielle beat me over the head caveman style and forced me to edit a group of writers I have admired for many, many years. Actually, I have been a both a fan and comics retailer since I was a teenager. The nature of a good Superhero/Supervillian story is about the mythic fight between good and evil. Doing this as a flip book allows us to show that struggle from both sides. We have been lucky enough to attract a very talented pool of creators to this project. It will be a fun and exciting book.
eSB: What got you interested in superheroes/villains?
GS: To paraphrase Keith Laumer “Comics taught me how to read. Trust the Comics” I have always loved to read, but it was superhero comics that sent me to the dictionary more often than the books I was assigned in elementary school. What the young me took a long time to understand was that the stories I was reading were introducing me to many new concepts in science and philosophy and advanced my vocabulary at a very young age. Through them I was introduced to the modern mythologies Marvel and DC were creating at the time, worlds filled with Super Science, magic and a very firmly defined morality.
eSB: Who is your favorite superhero and why?
GS: Wow, so many favorites it is hard to choose. If pressed (I see that mallet, Dani) I would have to say ‘Mazing Man. Sigfried Horatio Hunch III is a man who believes he is a superhero and does what he can to help his friends and people in his neighborhood. The stories were told in a lighthearted whimsical style and yet told some of the most poignant stories about courage, bravery and selflessness I have ever read in a comic book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Mazing_Man
eSB: In your opinion, what characterizes a hero?
GS: A hero is someone who does their best to help their community. Whether that is placing themselves in danger or helping a neighbor in need.
eSB: In your opinion, what characterizes a villain?
GS: Anyone who intentional hurts other people by any means, Physically, Mentally, Emotionally or Financially.
eSB: What is your viewpoint on Sidekicks?
GS: Sidekicks help to keep a Hero sane and balanced.
eSB: What other comic or superhero-related work have you done in the past?
GS: John French and I edited a collection of Superhero stories, With Great Power published by DarkQuest Books.
eSB: Fiction or comics, which is your favorite medium and why?
GS: Hard to say, they both use vastly different techniques to tell a story. Comics, being a visual medium allows the story teller to focus on characterization in the dialogue while the art creates the mood and conveys the action. In fiction the writer needs to do it all through words. Comics can be a very surface medium if the storyteller relies exclusively on the art to tell the story sacrificing character motivations. Fiction allows the writer to delve into the inner being of a character but may sacrifice details of immediate surrounding. I love both for different types of stories.
eSB: Please tell us about your non-comic related work.
GS: My not so secret identity is as the proprietor of Between Books 2.0 in Claymont Delaware. I am also the editor of Stories in Between edited by myself, Jeanne Benzel and W.H. Horner, a collection put out in 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Between Books.
eSB: Please let us know where you can be found on social media.
GS: I can be found on Facebook under Greg Schauer and Between books.
eSB: Thank you for allowing this glimpse beneath your alter-ego. We’re looking forward to more super heroics and evil geniuses to come.
