Comixfan Forums - TAKING A RIDE IN THE JET-CAR WITH W.D. RICHTER

<A HREF="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/moonstone/2005/banzai/BANZAI0102.jpg" TARGET="_blank"><IMG SRC="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/moonstone/2005/banzai/BANZAI0102_T.jpg" WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="150" ALIGN="LEFT" hspace=10 ALT="Buckaroo Banzai Preview Art"></A>By Remy Minnick, Comixfan Staff Writer

This may be W.D. Richter's first forray into the comic book world but, even though you may not be familiar with his name, you will definitely be familiar with his work. For the past 30 years he has worked as a producer and a director in Hollywood but writing may be what he is best known for so far. His writing credits include the screen adaptation of Needfull Things, Big Trouble In Little China, and most recently Stealth. Now with the help of Moonstone, he is part of the creative team responsible for bringing back his directorial debut, Buckaroo Banzai.

Comixfan: It's been over 20 years since the release of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. What do you think it is about Buckaroo's Universe that keeps fans of the series wanting more?

W.D. Richter: Its good humor, Mac Rauch's bold inventiveness, and the welcoming arms it holds open to all who love it to become part of it via Team Banzai membership.

Comixfan: How did the new comic book mini-series come about and how did you get involved with the title?

Richter: Oh, God. A complex issue. The Short Version: nobody but Moonstone had the nerve to try it. Not sure what you mean about how did I get involved with "the title"? BB in general? Mac and I created together after he had the original idea. He wrote and I functioned as a developer's voice.

Comixfan: More specifically, how did you get involved with your work on the new comic? Was it part of the deal with Moonstone that you would be involved in the creative process for the comic book?

Richter: It was an understanding among Mac, Moonstone, and me that the more input we were willing to give the better the final result might be.

Comixfan: What made now the right time to bring Buckaroo Banzai back?

Richter: There really is no right time. It's show business. Sometimes the heavens align, usually they don't. Whenever they do, act!

Comixfan: Your writing credits include such films as Stealth, Invasion of The Body Snatchers and Big Trouble In Little China. Is it difficult to go from working within the realms of movies to writing a comic book?

<A HREF="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/moonstone/2005/banzai/BANZAI0116.jpg" TARGET="_blank"><IMG SRC="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/moonstone/2005/banzai/BANZAI0116_T.jpg" WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="150" ALIGN="RIGHT" hspace=10 ALT="Buckaroo Banzai Preview Art"></A>Richter: I didn't "write" the comic book. Joe Gentile at Moonstone adapted Mac's TV pilot script. I consulted with Joe after he wrote it and continue to see rough drawings and offer my thoughts.

Comixfan: There was a trailer going around the convention circuit a few years back of a computer animated Jet Car that, if I remember properly, was part of a pitch for a new TV show. Is this the same pilot or was this something completely different?

Richter: The same pilot, in the sense that the trailer was designed to show how a C.G.I. Jet Car could be an exciting element in the series. It was inserted in existing footage.

Comixfan: How has it been getting back into the world of Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers. Have the characters changed much since you last worked with them?

Richter: Not really changed in any sudden sense. Every time to revisit and rework material it evolves, for better or worse. Mac and I are always noodling, swapping articles, talking as he writes either a pilot or some BB novels.

Comixfan: I'm sure the question everyone wants to know the answer for, what will the new mini-series be about?

Richter: Potatoes. Dangerous potatoes.

Comixfan: Moonstone is also releasing a preview issue coming out in December, what can fans of the Hong Kong Cavaliers look forward to in the preview?

Richter: I really don't know what chunk of the story might be in that issue. Joe probably does.

Comixfan: How much time has passed since the end of the movie and where the comic books will be picking up?

Richter: Years. Missing years. Buckaroo dropped out of sight, and the Institute went on without him.

Comixfan: Do you have a favorite member of the Hong Kong Cavaliers? Who have you found the easiest to write? the most difficult?

<A HREF="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/moonstone/2005/banzai/BANZAI0101.jpg" TARGET="_blank"><IMG SRC="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/moonstone/2005/banzai/BANZAI0101_T.jpg" WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="150" ALIGN="LEFT" hspace=10 ALT="Buckaroo Banzai Preview Art"></A>Richter: Perfect Tommy amuses me the most because he walks a fine line between genius and idiot. Mac writes them. I throw in my two cents. Once even a dime!

Comixfan: What has the experience like been working with Joe Gentile adapting the work compared to your normal process with Earl Mac Rauch?

Richter: Well, Joe was adapting the existing script so his challenge was to transform it as unchanged as possible into a comic script. Not easy, but he wasn't required to create a lot of original material to do that. When Mac's working from scratch, even i it's from an outline I know and/or helped create, the fun is getting those pages to see what on Earth he's come up with...dialogue, quirks, textures, or entirely new plot twists. It's as though I'm the first fan to read the latest issue.

Comixfan: From the preview art it looks like we will be seeing the Lectroids and the Jet-Car. What else can fans of the movie expect to see within the pages of the new mini-series?

Richter: Other familiar stuff: guitars, six guns, Lizardo, the hovering presence of Hanoi Xan, stuff like that.

Comixfan: At the end of the movie, audience members were teased with a forthcoming sequel entitled Buckaroo Banzai Versus The World Crime League. With the DVD restoring many references to Hanoi Xan, leader of the World Crime League, that were removed from the movie is there any chance we might get to see the often asked for sequel in comic book form sometime in the near future?

Richter: If the first series sells, any thing's possible.

Comixfan: Has Earl Mac Rauch, Dr. Banzai or any of the the Honk Kong Cavaliers contributed any input for the new mini-series? What has their reaction been to the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai coming to the comic book medium?

<A HREF="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/moonstone/2005/banzai/BANZAI0103.jpg" TARGET="_blank"><IMG SRC="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/ind/moonstone/2005/banzai/BANZAI0103_T.jpg" WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="150" ALIGN="RIGHT" hspace=10 ALT="Buckaroo Banzai Preview Art"></A>Richter: Mac Rauch is BB's handpicked channeler through Reno, of course. BB likes what he's seen so far from what I hear, but the most excited is Perfect Tommy because he has a HUGE comic book collection and figures he'll get freebies of this one.

Comixfan: What has the experience been like working with artist Stephen Thompson?

Richter: Terrific. It's all new to me. I love the strange forms panels assume in the hands of guys like him. I never know what idea or image from the script will land in the foreground. It's a delightful surprise to see the way talented people reinterpret material.

Comixfan: Do you have any other projects coming up in comics or film?

Richter: I'm always writing. At the present, an original romantic comedy for Sony.