William Katt and Chris Folino interview pt 3

superhero: Well, let’s talk about SPARKS. What do you have to say to people who haven’t been exposed to it? What is it?

WK: SPARKS is kind of the underbelly. It’s like walking down the dark valley of your life and picking up rocks to see what’s under them.

superhero: So what’s it about?

WK: Chris?

CF: SPARKS is a superhero noir story.


WK: It’s set in 1938.

CF: Bill said it’s CASABLANCA meets LOST because there’s a twist to it. Honestly it’s taking the superhero myth a bit and twisting it a bit. Going up against Batman. Here’s a guy who starts off just like Batman but doesn’t have the success of it at all. At all. Everything goes terribly wrong for this guy. And it just gets worse and worse. What it comes down to is taking an everyday guy who wants to make a difference and just has horrible luck. We don’t find out what his powers are until the sixth book. We want you to get onto the ride. It’s going to be dark. It’s dark. Every book, as it gets deeper and deeper into it…it’s a very hellish world. As dark as Batman’s world is, there are still some lines you just never cross. They do that obviously because they want to keep the franchise going. But the one thing we’ve talked about is we want to tell the story and do the best you can and we’ll finish it. That’s what we’ll do. Because right now in our lives, and we’ve talked about this, and what was really, really important to us is that…if you can do something you truly love and put it all into that then you can have something that you can leave behind that you’re really proud of. With SPARKS it’s an incredible opportunity. Bill’s been really supportive. We basically came up with the idea together with me writing it. It’s been absolutely invigorating. This story, it’s your good old fashioned film noir but it goes a little deeper and a little darker. It’s been fun to discover where you’re going to go with it. It’s your baby. _blank">SPARKS is very personal. It’s a very personal sense of just what can we do to try to write the darkest comic book that we possibly can and try to touch some cord in people’s lives. It’s the opposite of THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO because we had the suit and everything kind of worked itself out. It didn’t happen that way with SPARKS. SOARKS is a lot of tragedy. It’s kind of like that poor TV show, with the family, on FOX, Matthew Fox was on it…

superhero: PART OF FIVE?

CF: Yeah. But there’s redemption at the end.

WK: Who are we talking about?

superhero: He’s on LOST.

WK: Oh!

CF: No, the whole show is…everybody gets cancer…

superhero: It was like LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE of the 90’s. Everyone died, everyone got sick…

CF: But there’s a purpose for everything. That’s the one thing trying to tie everything back together. So you pick up book six and it’s like…hopefully you can evoke that emotion from somebody. JM (JM Ringuet, the artist) brought the world to life. We joke around that you could literally take out the words in the panels and that people would be able to provide their own insight to the story. It’s just…I talk too much…

WK: That’s what you should be doing!

superhero: How did you find the artist?

WK: I didn’t really have anything to do with finding JM. That was actually you (Chris). We looked around at a lot of different artists.

CF: We were doing MYTHOLOGY WARS.

WK: Yeah, were doing MYTHOLOGY WARS. We started MYTHOLOGY WARS months ahead of this. It was a long time with nothing but complications with different artists.

CF: We basically found him because Derek McCaw had interviewed him because he had done colors on a WARHAMMER comic book. It was funny because we were looking for a colorist on MYTHOLOGY WARS and we got a hold of JM on a message board. He wrote back, “You know I can draw, too.” I looked at his website.There’s a couple of things on his website that were real gritty and dark. You should go check it out. He’s a French guy living in China. It was just like, “Man, you know what? That’ll totally work out.”

WK: He has a really interesting style that I haven’t seen before. When I saw it I said, “Oh, man. That’s cool!” It was unique and it’s hard to find someone that’s unique in this world. Everybody aspires to draw like Top Cow, the artists there, but this is different.

superhero: It is pretty dark. Is that where you would say your tastes lie as far as comics or entertainment in general?

WK: It’s an aspect of it. I’ve said I’m a great fan of DMZ so I like going there. I love the gritty side. I love to see that. What was cool about JM is that his artwork is very expressive…it’s his skew on life. It’s an interpretation of life. It’s not Top Cow, it’s not DC. It’s different.

superhero: So that’s where your tastes go?

WK: One of them. I’m an actor. I’ve done some pretty dark pieces as an actor and I’ve written some dark pieces and I’ve done some very fun, fanciful light comedy as an actor. So I’m all over the board. This is where we took Sparks because that’s where the storylines were going. So the form had to follow the function. That was the storyline.

CF: And JM has done a great job. He’s got unique colors and it just makes me write darker and darker as we go into it. It’s not just to be dark. It’s just to tell a good story. Really, at the end of the day, can you do a hardboiled detective story? Can you do that? Can you make it make sense? Even with the superhero thing? It’s been a fun challenge. It really has. It’s been an amazing opportunity that you just don’t get again in life. That’s the way I look at it.

WK: You know I always love…one of my favorite rides at Disneyland was Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. This is very much like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The look of it. It has that kind of off skew everything is kind of melting feel. That’s what this book is.

superhero: So as far as Catastrophic Comics goes, I mean Chris is the writer. There’s another writer working on THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO?

WK: He’s one of the writers. I’m always in on everything.

superhero: One of your credits is Executive Producer so you’re the head man?

WK: Just on SPARKS.

CF: (Pointing to Mr. Katt.) MYTHOLOGY WARS, main writer. THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, main writer.

superhero: Anything else that you’d like people to know about SPARKS, THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, or MYTHOLOGY WARS before we wrap this up?

CF: We always joke that the main thing that we want to do is just not suck. He (Katt) told us one time he wanted us to be the Pixar of the comic book industry. We’ve got a ways to go to get there but at least we have a direction. We’re going to try to release stuff that has the highest quality.

WK: The fans out there are helping us to achieve a large part of what we want to achieve. We couldn’t do it without the fans.

superhero: Well, that’s it.

Hope you enjoyed the read. I know I certainly enjoyed my time with Mr. Folino and Mr. Katt. I can honestly say that these are two of the nicest people I’ve met in comics and I’d like to thank them for their time. I’d also like to thank Derek McCaw for introducing me to Christopher Folino and getting me to the point where I could conduct this interview. Thank you Mr. McCaw.

Before I sign off I do have to send off an extra special thank you to William Katt. At the end of the interview he was nice enough to sign the base of my GREATEST AMERICAN HERO maquette and that made me a very happy camper. Thanks Mr. Katt. You are a prince.

Be sure to get your hands on SPARKS and check out THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO when it debuts in the near future. Add them both to your pull list right away!

William Katt and Chris Folino interview pt 2

Hey folks, it’s superhero here.

OK, out there in comic land: below is my Part Two interview with the heads of Catastrophic Comics, William Katt and
Christopher Folino.

You may know Mr. Katt from,
among many other things, the ‘80’s hit TV super-hero comedy THE
GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. Mr. Folino is no slouch, however, as he’s the
writer and director and producer of the indie film
GAMERS.

Together these two have combined to form a
comic company known as Catastrophic Comics. Catastrophic Comics has
been responsible for the terrifically dark super-hero comic known as
SPARKS and will be teaming with Arcana Studios to revitalize THE
GREATEST AMERICAN HERO in the pages of a six issue mini-series comic soon.

Let’s dive back into the
interview.

superhero: How did you end up wanting to
create a comic book company? How did you get into comics?

WK: I always loved comics
when I was a kid growing up. Every Saturday, some friends and I would
race down to the local drugstore. When they used to have newsstands at
drugstores. Five and dimes. We’d sit on the floor all Saturday morning
and read comic books. I never lost my love of that and I’ve been a
storyteller my whole life. Since I was fourteen. I had dinner with my
mom last night and she pulls out an old notebook of mine. All these
stories that I’d written. Poems and stories and songs…I’ve been writing
all my life. I never stopped that. I wrote in college in writing class.
I was a music major and an English minor. I always told stories. I’ve
written ten screenplays and several plays. A few of them have been
lucky enough to get made. Comic books was just another medium. I came
up with a story originally for MYTHOLOGY WARS. Which was a book we’ve
done. I thought it would make a great animated feature. I talked to
Chris about it. He thought that I was wrong. That it sucked. But he
said maybe we could turn it into something else. So we talked about a
comic book, an outline for a comic book. That’s when we launched off
into that.

superhero: Do either of you currently read comics?

WK: Oh, yeah, I’m a huge fan of DMZ.


CF: It was kind of cool we had
Eric Powell who was right next to us (at Comic-Con) from THE GOON. I
don’t know how many trades of his I have. Brubaker, I think I’ve read
everything by Brubaker. It’s too much money spent on comic books. Too
much money spent. It’ll be real fascinating to see THE WATCHMEN.

superhero: Why is your company called Catastrophic Comics?

Why go with pamphlets instead of graphic novels?

CF: Catastrophic Comics, it was really
funny, because Derek (Derek McCaw, their publicity and marketing guy)
and I were having fun with his (William Katt’s) last name and I’ve
never seen Bill Katt look so disgusted. We were trying to add his last
name to, you know, Catastrophic with a “K” as well as some other
things.

WK: Catatonic
(chuckles).

CF: We just talked,
Catastrophic makes sense. Just the normal spelling. Because if we fail
at least we put it in our name. We got a wonderful logo designed.


WK: Love our logo design. It’s
the atom bomb. We went through four or five different graphic artist to
come up with that. We were just knocked out by that.

superhero: So why go with pamphlets as opposed to graphic
novels?

CF: The thing with SPARKS that we wanted to
do was…it was kind of an interesting move. MYTHOLOGY WARS, Bill really
wanted it to be perfect when it comes out. We wanted to have the right
artist for it.

WK:
It’s been a challenge.

CF: A
real challenge. So SPARKS, JM Ringuet, who’s doing all of the
illustration. It’s amazing. He’s on time, he set the bar for
everything. Now it’s a real dark story and we just figured we might as
well release that one. It’s going to be a little one but we want to get
the credibility of the fact that we’re able to release the book. We’re
going to be doing something original and we’re going to be doing good
stuff. We’re not going to back down from stuff that’s dark. If we just
came out straight with THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO they would be looking
at us and saying we’re cashing in. Which is not even the case because
we had the plans for MYTHOLOGY WARS to come out first. We’re looking at
Sparks and saying, “OK, this is hard business.” You pay for the artwork
and you pay for the printing. You look at
things…

WK:: There’s very little
profit margin, if any.

CF: Yeah,
it’s really interesting about Comic-Con, too, because we found at
GenCon we had an item which you could sell for twenty bucks and you
make your money back like that! But when you have a three dollar an
issue book it’s kind of insane because you have to do it for the
fanbase. You have to build up the fanbase. You have to. THE GREATEST
AMERICAN HERO will definitely be another single issue thing. It just
has to be. Maybe with MYTHOLOGY WARS, especially since we’re an
independent company, we’ll look at that. Maybe building on four issues
and making it into a graphic novel. But the whole plan was, what Bill
wanted was to get the respect of the whole industry. We’re trying.
We’re trying to make sure that everything that we do, THE GREATEST
AMERICAN HERO, SPARKS, MYTHOLOGY WARS, has our stamp of approval.


WK: One of things that I
noticed and that was mentioned among a lot of friends of mine at
Comic-Con…Comic-Con is, in my estimation, in my humble estimations…I
don’t know it’s just my subjective opinion…it’s kind of lost its focus.
It’s not about the fans anymore. It’s about a marketing strategy for
the studios. I think that the fans are being led down a path that’s not
in their best interest. It’s not about the fans anymore at Comic-Con.
Now it is a little bit at some of the other places. Dragon Con is a
fabulous con. It’s in Atlantic City. For me it’s the best con in the
country. Chiller is a great fan convention. There’s a number of them.
Comic-Con has changed. We’re not going after the big films and whatnot.
We’re just trying to establish some credibility with fans. We’re trying
to create a groundswell and know that the fans can come and read our
books and know that they’re going to be there every month. That the
stories are going to be compelling. That the artwork’s going to be
good.

superhero: So what is SPARKS?

CF: One last thing we haven’t talked about
with THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. We also have the rights for animation.
So we’re going to be doing six four minute animated shorts. We’re going
to do like lost episodes of season one and season two. We have the
original cast doing the voices and go into production in about two
weeks. That’s something that we’re hoping to deliver on. You know,
because it’s Stephen J. Cannell, it’s Bill’s former boss, so we have to
impress him on every single front. Their friendship’s at steak.


WK:
It’s kind of a litmus test for Steve too because we want to make sure
as he’s making the feature film that there’s still a large fanbase out
there that’s going to be receptive to re-launch this.

superhero: What is it that you think the comics can offer
that a film or TV show can’t?

WK: I think it’s more personal. It’s one on
one. You know what it is? It’s creating the mythology, creating the
myth. So that it will precede anything that you see later on in film or
on television.

CF: THE GREATEST
AMERICAN HERO, too, some stuff holds up some stuff doesn’t. Obviously
the flying part, the stunts will work better. But the kids (his
students), with all due respect, it’s a little freaky. The guys who
wrote the original series are looking over it to make sure that
everything in the comic book will remain faithful. But the one thing
that’s going to be nice is that we’ll be able to go into storylines
that are bigger with bigger explosions, too. Honestly, even if you got
the rights to do a TV show it’d be a very big production to
do.
Stay tuned for part 3

Interview with William Katt and Chris Folino pt 1

Hey folks, it’s superhero again. OK, out
there in comic land: below is my Part One of a Two-Part interview with
the heads of Catastrophic Comics, William Katt and Christopher
Folino.

You may know Mr. Katt from, among many other
things, the ‘80’s hit TV super-hero comedy THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO.
Mr. Folino is no slouch, however, as he’s the writer and director and
producer of the indie film GAMERS.

Together these
two have combined to form a comic company known as Catastrophic Comics.
Catastrophic Comics has been responsible for the terrifically dark
super-hero comic known as SPARKS and will be teaming with Arcana
Studios to revitalize THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO in the pages of a six
issue mini-series comic soon.

It’s a long but
fascinating interview so let’s get to it. We pretty much started out by
talking about THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO…

Christopher Folino (CF): So one of things
that happened was…

superhero: With GREATEST AMERICAN HERO?

CF: With GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. Was that when we
sat down to talk about, when Bill was forming Catastrophic Comics, the
main title we were going to push was MYTHOLOGY WARS and SPARKS was
going to be the second title but we kind of flip flopped those. Then we
talked about, well, what about GREATEST AMERICAN HERO? What do you
think about GREATEST AMERICAN HERO? So we talked about it for about a
month and a half and we said OK, I’ll tell you what, let’s make the
phone call and find out about it. We missed getting GREATEST AMERICAN
HERO by three weeks! Arcana Studios already had the rights to it. So
what ended up happening, our director of marketing is Derek McCaw, and
he was at Wondercon and he ran into Sean O’Reilly from Arcana and they
had already submitted a script and some artwork to Cannell (Stephen J.
Cannell, creator of the show and 80’s TV mega-producer) and it got
rejected and they said to Derek, “Hey, it’d be interesting to get Bill
Katt involved in the comic book.” So we had a meeting with Arcana, went
50/50, it went really well, we really liked them a lot, and we teamed
up with them. Bill got on board and wrote about 80% of the script for
GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. It went through without any changes whatsoever.
Sean helped touch up some stuff,
too.

William Katt (WK): I think
what happened is that they realized that it could have been problematic
and with a lot of challenges without us. But with me involved, you
know, I had Stephen Cannell’s ear. I went right to Steve, was able to
sit down with him, I got a meeting.

superhero: So you were able to just get a meeting?

WK: Yeah, I’ve been friends with Steven for
a long time. I called Bob Culp and got him on board, Connie Selleca on
board, to come down and help with the announcement down at Comic-Con.
We were able to tape Steve doing an announcement. You know, giving an
introduction of the comic book to the audience who are our fanbase. So
I think Sean realized that this was the way to
go.

CF: It’s a good partnership,
too, because Sean’s got a specialty in PR and marketing which is really
his forte and he can bring the big guns. Which he has. Which is
amazing. Because of this he’s got a reunion show. I’m sorry--t’s not a
reunion show. It’s just a get together with everybody from the show set
for the 7th of September. It’s going to be for a couple of hours and
it’s going to be over at S.A.G. (The Screen Actor’s Guild) and they’re
going to show clips and just talk about the show.

superhero: This is for broadcast?

CF: We’re negotiating that right now with
TVLand. We’re going back and forth with TVLand about
it.

WK: Yeah, and we’re thinking
we’ll release a DVD with the graphic novel as well. With stuff that
they haven’t seen before. You know, we’re going to have Rod Holcum, the
original director who was so instrumental in lending the whole tone to
the show. We’re hoping to get Reuben Cannon there who’s back east but
who originally cast the show. I know Connie’s going to be there, I’ll
be there, Bob will be there, we’ll see if we can get some other cast
members there. Dennis Madalone, our stunt coordinator, will be there.
He’s got some fun stuff.

CF:
He was a hit over at
Comic-Con.

WK: Big
hit.

CF: They’re tight, they’re
really, really good friends. They both talk about wearing the suit.
Because he had to wear the suit, too. It’s really funny how they were
both first presented the suit. It’s a real fun
story.

superhero: So you remain friends with everyone from the
original show?

WK: I have.

superhero: That’s how you were able to get them on
board?

WK: Right.

superhero: There were no hesitations from anyone?

WK: Well, I came with a big stick, you
know? (Laughter) I came bearing money, so…(more laughter). No, no, I
didn’t offer them money or anything. Yeah, just, these are really nice
people, you know? Bob Culp has been a distant but a good friend for
many, many years and Connie is just…I don’t think there’s any greater
person out there in the world. She’s just so
genuinely…

CF: Or
hotter…

WK:..good. Yeah, she’s
gorgeous, too.

superhero: Well, yeah, there’s that.

WK: Yeah! Yeah, there is that. (Laughter)


CF: John Tesh
is…

WK: Yeah, John Tesh is a
lucky guy.

superhero: So let me ask, I have a list of questions that
some of the other guys submitted and since you started off with THE
GREATEST AMERICAN HERO…basically, you got the rights through Arcana
Studios? Someone else had the rights and then you teamed up?

CF: That’s correct.


WK: Arcana had the rights, they
realized they were having problems with the Cannell organization so
they called Catastrophic ‘cause they knew that we had a company and
they said let’s have a meeting and see if we can work something out.
And it worked very well. That’s the way it happened.

superhero: So would you say that when you got involved that’s
when the machine started running because it had gotten
rejected?

CF: I think that realistically the original
story wasn’t as solid as what we presented. They took it from an
approach where Ralph is teaching his son how to fly. That sort of
thing. It’s just that, honestly, that sort of thing would be
re-inventing a whole new thing to THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. What you
have to do with a franchise that’s that beloved is you’ve gotta bring
it into modern times, and it’s gotta be solid, and you gotta do some
tweaks. Really, we start off with the pilot episode. Really beef up the
villains. And we did a great job with modernizing things, some of the
characters…

WK: The language is slightly
different. The jokes are just as fun. We take Gabriel’s Army, which are
the bad guys, and we make them kind of the modern day Lex Luthors. So
we’re going to see them again.

superhero: That’s great. So essentially it’s kind of a
reboot? Starting from the beginning?

CF: It is. It’s going to be very faithful
to the pilot, the first two, but then what’s going to happen is all the
stories are going to kind of break free of that.


WK: At Cannell’s request.
Steve’s request is that we re-tell the pilot. Tell the origin, tell how
Ralph acquired the suit, how Bill Maxwell and him met, and explain the
relation ship with Connie, the counselor. Or “the skirt” as Bob Culp
likes to call her. Then he said you’re free to go tell some other
stories. Of which we have several. In fact, Bob Culp has got an old
undone script from one of the shows because he wrote two or three of
them. And he came to us while we were going about it and said, “You
know I have an old script that was never done that might be
appropriate.” So we’re taking a look at that. I have a couple of ideas
I want to do. There are some wonderful writers out there who were great
fans of the show who have also come forward and said, “Gee, we’d like
to pitch a premise.” So, we have some great opportunities out there.

superhero: So you’re thinking about going past the six-issue
mini series?

CF: Yeah, a lot of what’s going to happen
is…well, we got rid of his son. Because even in the series they
didn’t…

WK: Yeah, we got rid of
his son.

CF: It didn’t make any
sense. Things had to be updated. They just had to. But the fun thing
about it is they are THE ODD COUPLE.


WK: It was THE ODD COUPLE!
Stephen always would tell us the story, the fact that he was writing
THE ODD COUPLE. It wasn’t about a super-hero. It was about this
ordinary guy who gets this suit that creates problems in his life,
y’know? Bob Culp used to talk about the show as an Arthur and Merlin
scenario. Where Arthur gets the sword and Merlin is his Yoda. It’s the
one who pushes him to do all these great things.

superhero: One of the things I noticed, when I watched the
pilot…Gabriel’s Army…was that controversial at all? When it first came
out? Because today…a religious army saying the phrase, “Jesus loves
you”?

WK: I don’t think so. We’ve handled it a
little bit differently. We’ve made them a heck of a lot more
intelligent and more sinister. They’re sharp.


CF: We took out the
Vice-President. Also, too, his partner (Bill Maxwell’s partner is
killed in the opening minutes of the pilot.) That was really
interesting talking to Bob Culp, because he asked us about the pilot
the other day, well, originally they wanted his partner black because
they wanted Bill Cosby to be in it but Bill Cosby just didn’t work out
in the end. But when you watch the pilot it makes absolutely no sense
because he’s infiltrating Gabriel’s Army (a white power group)…


WK: Because everybody else is
white…

CF: And everybody’s just
like, Ho-Kay. One of the things is that when you watch it (the series)
there’s really no recurring bad guy. Y’know, there’s really not. That
was always the one thing when you watched the show…OK, well we’ve got
to beef some people up here. Because the thing is we do need to
establish some things here. Especially if we want to do this for a long
time with the series. We need to make sure that Ralph has some menaces
and really kind of make it so the stakes need to be a little bit
higher. They just have to. You know, too, what I think will be fun too
is that when you bring it into the modern world…it was always
interesting watching the show…he would get on a bus and people would
look at him and how weird he was. A lot of people would get off the
bus. Now you pretty much live in a day and age where people would
probably be a little more accepting of him in his jammies.


WK: The fun thing about it is
it’s fun to discover it along the way, too.

superhero: Regarding villains, because it’s set in the modern
day, will Ralph be dealing with terrorism, repercussions of 9-11,
super-villains? How fantastic and how grounded do you want it to
be?

WK: I don’t know if we…it’s
always fun to stay grounded. Ralph is the everyman. There’s always
going to be problems. He definitely wants to be a regular guy and he
has this F.B.I. gentleman that creates a problem for him. And, of
course, Bill Maxwell is still a Phillip Marlowe wannabe. He’s still
living in the post-cold war world.


CF: It’s really fun because, by
nature, we’re a little bit darker.


WK: Real dark! MYTHOLOGY WARS is
very dark.

CF: We had the whole
terrorist talk about it. But we need to sort of balance it out because
it might be too much. We’re not saying no but the thing is we need to
establish the kind of same world that the show lived in and make sure
that we have to be a little bit more mature.


WK: Mature but a PG. PG-13.
Stephen has made it very clear: he wants to keep it PG/PG-13 at the
most.

superhero: It’s interesting, because having watched the pilot
and a couple of episodes, when they first get the suit Bill starts
fantasizing about going into Russia, we’re going to take out their
missile systems, we’re going into the Kremlin…is there any of that sort
of thing? If you got a super-suit wouldn’t you want to go fight
terrorism?

CF: The wonderful thing about the
characters was that Ralph, if he was left of his own accord, he’d be
helping out the whales. And Greenpeace. Bill Maxwell wants to bring it
a little bit harder. You have to update Maxwell too. You have to ask
yourself is he F.B.I.? Is he Homeland Security? Those are all
interesting things because what does he have access to? But one of the
wonderful things that the series did to keep things in check, in all
honesty, is, it was one of the most genius things they did…every F.B.I.
agent every 3-6 months has to take a lie detector test. It’s a
fascinating thing because they ask you if anything has changed in your
life. And Bill is just…

WK:
(chuckles)

CF:
Yeah, yeah! It’s an interesting line of how you have to keep certain
things away. It’s fun because it really accounts for a lot of the human
elements. Like one of the great things that they do too is the story
about how when Ralph is getting promoted to Vice-Principal, and Pam is
going to open up her own law practice and Maxwell is getting demoted!


WK: My favorite episode is
called “The Plague”. You know, where they’re trying to save this
military installation and they’re afraid that a virus has been
unleashed and it’s the black plague and so they fantasize that they’re
having the symptoms. And it’s funny!

superhero: When I was looking at the ashcan I noticed that in
a scene with Bill in the diner he’s looking at the TV with the
President on it and it’s a liberal president. Why did you guys decide
not to go with George W. Bush? You would think that would be Bill’s
fantasyland.

WK: It’s wishful thinking! It’s wishful
thinking!

CF: It plays better.

superhero: You didn’t want to explore that at all?

CF: I think honestly any hard-core
Republican, honest to god, would be hard pressed to look you in the eye
and say that George W. Bush has done a great job.

superhero: Oh, I’ve met a couple.

CF: It plays better into the process that
goes on with Bill.

WK: Ralph is
a man of the people and I think the comic book should be a book for the
people. We’re not trying to impose our political beliefs on anyone.
That’s just the way we called it.

superhero: How does it feel to be writing the character? Did
you have any say in the original series?

WK: Oh, Bob and I re-wrote…there wasn’t a
scene that Bob and I didn’t have our hands in. We didn’t change the
intent or direction of the scene. The phrases would be approached
differently.

CF: The wonderful thing
about the show is…there were twenty-two episodes in the second
season…they would basically get the scripts and they would sit there
and they would talk to each other before a scene would start and there
was just kind of a dialog which would make it much, much better and
funnier.

WK: With the same
impact. With the same entry point and the same exit point and covering
the same territory but changing it to be either a little bit funnier,
heightened a bit. I remember at times Bob and I sitting around saying,
“We wouldn’t be funny. There wouldn’t be a joke at this point.”


CF: They tried to play it
straight as much as they could, too.

superhero: So would you say it’s kind of natural to you
writing the characters? Was there a lot of improv on the
set?

WK: You know, what happens when you live in
a character you go there, you start thinking like that character. You
crawl into his skin and live in his body and his mind and soul so to
speak. I’ve stepped out of that for a long time. But the more we do it
the easier it is to slip back into that skin. But it’s going to be
slightly different because I have a different perspective on life.
We’re probably going to imbibe it with a little bit more irony because
naturally there’s more…the older you get you realize how much irony
there is in life.

superhero: So was there ever a point in your career where you
felt, sort of like William Shatner did about STAR TREK? Where this (THE
GREATEST AMERICAN HERO) affected my career too much? Were you typecast
by it?

WK: No, no. I maybe felt that for a few
years but I’ve never stopped working. Now it’s just a great joy to
revisit those characters and spend time with my friends.


CF: But at the time, during the
show, you were worried that if you used the jammies too much it could
hurt you as a real actor.

WK:
I was worried a little bit. You’ve got to realize it was a different
era. You didn’t have the Ed Nortons, and the Robert Downey Jrs, and the
Nicholas Cages doing these fantasy epics.


CF: You had George Reeve…and
that guy’s career went to hell.


WK: It was a different time, you
know? You’ve got to realize as an actor I had done a lot of A-list
films. I had been doing a lot of Broadway. I came from a play with
Diane Wiest off-Broadway with the cast of the Guthrie Theatre. We were
off-Broadway. I was doing BONJOUR, LA, BONJOUR, a Michel Tremblay play.
With Diane Wiest. Fabulous actress. And I went right to do THE GREATEST
AMERICAN HERO. I was worried about the fact, wearing that costume at
the time. Because no one was doing it! There wasn’t Nicholas Cage, you
know, doing GHOST RIDER. So it was a different time. But that changed.
That changed and now it’s acceptable.

superhero: On the flipside how does it feel to be an icon?
Because all the people who were kids at my age know who you are. I mean
they know THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. When we were talking earlier you
said you were nervous about the hall (at Comic-Con) being empty when
you and Connie Selleca showed up.

WK: I was very nervous. Connie turned to me
and she said, “What if nobody comes to see our panel discussion at
Comic-Con?” I said, “I’m worried too, Connie.” We walked in and it was
standing room only. It was unbelievable.

superhero: Do you get a sense of how powerful it is to fans
over the years?

WK: It’s been a great surprise.

superhero: Well, that’s great because there were a lot of
fans, like me, as soon as the DVD came out, as soon as the maquette
came out, I was there.

CF: I’m with you, man. It was one of my
favorite shows as a kid. When I got him on GAMERS (Folino’s
independently financed feature film) I was star struck, y’know? It was
awesome. It’s funny because we talked about Comic-Con and I was, like,
no it’s gonna be cool. Don’t worry about it. That show, not just that
it was in the top ten when it came out but the song too. So many people
know about it. The wonderful thing is that it was so hard to find a
re-run of that show and the DVDs only came out a couple of years ago
but it still stayed in your mind. It still had a special place. Whereas
you watch “The A-Team”, well, that just doesn’t hold
up.

WK: It’ll be interesting to
see…who is it? Singleton is directing the re-make.

superhero: So no plans for getting THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO
to the big screen?

WK: I know Steve is making a film. He’s
definitely going to make a feature film. But we won’t be starring in it
or anything. He’ll make it with a new cast. I read a very good script.
Chris read the script. It’s a very good script.

superhero: Did the script provide any guidance for your
series?

CF: No, we had the outline laid out
beforehand and had the script already written. The direction they are
going…

WK: It’s different. It’s
skewing younger. That’s something that Steve wanted to do. I think he
has long term plans with it. It’s different and similar at the same
time. It’s like what they did with STAR TREK. It’s a different
franchise but no less viable.

superhero: Well, how did you two meet? You met on the set of
GAMERS?

WK: Yeah.


CF: We did an indie film. Shot
on 35mm. Did it in six days. Basically we cast John Heard, Beverly
D’Angelo, Kelly LeBrock and what happened was…we didn’t have enough
money to even rehearse with any of these guys. We met on the first day
of shooting. It was just funny. We were late and he was so cool about
waiting. He was so laid back. You’re such a better writer when you have
real actors and you’re such a better comic book writer when you have a
real artist. It’s amazing when you see what real actors can do. Up
until that point we didn’t have the opportunity to work with real
S.A.G. talent. It was absolutely fascinating. So we tricked him to go
down to GenCon with us and while he was signing the movie for free he
looked at me and goes, “You so owe me.” That began two and a half years
of meeting twice a week working out ideas for a comic book. That’s
really how it happened. It’s been awesome. He’s tough. He’s really
tough.

WK:
Who me?

CF: Oh, yeah. It was
like going to boot camp. It was great, though. It was really cool.
Because you’re sitting there with somebody who’s written four
screenplays that have gotten made. Someone who’s been on several hit
shows. It’s been nice. Nice to have a mentor who’s your friend and who
you respect too. It’s been a really good blessing.


WK: He gives me far too much
credit.

superhero: And thus ends Part One of this interview. Be sure
to tune in next Monday for Part Two as Mr. Katt and Mr. Folino talk
more about new Catastrophic Comics to look out for like the noir super
hero tale, SPARKS, the epic MYTHOLOGY WARS, and the comic book
adaptation of THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. We’ll see ya then!

The Greatest American Hero issue #2 is available now!

We have The Greatest American Hero issue #2 for sale! It will be personally signed to you from William Katt! The exciting next installment is a must have for all fans! Follow the link or copy and paste. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110370236435 We will be expanding our store very soon so be sure to favorite us so we can update you. Thank you. ~ Marci (and William)

GAH collectors comic for sale on Ebay!

Issue 2 is on it's way and will be listed fro sale on Ebay! But for the time being, if you missed out in issue #1 (Red Variant) Is being re listed so you don't miss out on how it all began!
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/catastrophic_comics2_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_

Chat with William Katt

The chat with William Katt session went well as the Facebook Comic Con launched it's gala premier!
It was a nice intimate chat with the fans in the discussion boards. we had three sessions and everyone had a great time!
This week is very special. It is not only the week The Greatest American Hero premiered on television (March 18th 1981) but it is also the release of the Greatest American Hero comic book issue #2!
Issue #2 will be sold on Ebay this week so be sure to view our Ebay blog for for latest news!
http://myworld.ebay.com/catastrophic_comics2

William Katt also has a face book page which he checks in and answers your questions!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70989044761&ref=mf

Feel free to join! It's a lot of fun! for those of you who will be getting the comic tomorrow or on our Ebay site be sure to check back or with your local dealer for future issues!
Thank you.

THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO COMIC BOOK! Issue #2

The Greatest American Hero issue 2 is going to be released on the shows anniversary air date, March 18th!

To purchase, check with your local dealer or check our Ebay page where William Katt will sign it personally to you!
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/catastrophic_comics2_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ

William Katt is set to be at Adventure Con in June!

William Katt will be at Tennessee's largest pop culture and collectors show! It will be held at the Knoxville Convention Center! Be sure to get an autographed photo and talk about the Greatest American Hero comic book! Issue #2 is to hit the stands this month! Issue #1 Red Variant is for sale on Ebay-http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/catastrophic_comics2_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ

William also has a Facebook Group that I am the administrator for. You are welcome to join the group if you are a Facebook member at:

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1379777333#/group.php?gid=43810818087&ref=mf

The Greatest american Hero Comic book #1!

The Greatest American Hero comic book, issue 1 RED Variant, is now on Ebay!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=110361185023
Issue #2 will be out this week! Check with your local dealer! Don't miss out on how it all began!

William Katt at Starfest in April!

William Katt-Ralph Hinkley on the Greatest American Hero-will be at the Starfest in Denver Colorado. (www.starland.com) There will be a professional photo sitting. You can have your photo session print signed by purchasing an autograph session ticket (not included). Be sure to stop at his table and chat about the Greatest American Hero comic book.
Issue 2 hist the stands March 11th!!!

Happy Anniversary Greatest American Hero!

It all began March 18th, 1981.
One school teacher, one lawyer, one federal agent, an alien spaceship and one "Magic Pair of Jammies" It was a show unlike no other. A show that stole our hearts and imaginations of fans everywhere. It was a show that taught us we could run around the house donning a towel as a cape, crashing into walls and it was OK because we could still get the bad guy.

That show is The Greatest American Hero!
Starring-
William Katt as Ralph Hinkley,
a school teacher who received a super suit from Green guys from outer space! A suit that will only work on Ralph! A suit that when worn, gives Ralph Super powers along with an instruction book on how to use the suit!


Robert Culp as the federal agent Bill Maxwell, assigned
to help and guide Ralph to use the suit to save the world!

Connie Sellecca-A Beautiful Lawyer, girlfriend to Ralph (and good third string utility backup! ;-))

The show was indeed one of a kind. What could add to the appeal of a show like this? Ralph loses the instruction book and has no idea how to use the suit.

After three years, much to our dismay, the show was canceled. Over the years something wonderful happened. The show lived on in our hearts. Then came conventions and DVD's and an incredible resurgence of the show began, and with that, at the San Diego Comic Con, a reunion of all cast was brought together to announce the release of The Greatest American Hero comic book!
With Stephen Cannell's blessing, William Katt has taken the helm to continue the adventures
of Pam, Ralph and Bill.
It was a show that we watched as kids we can now share with our kids.
The Greatest American Hero continues...

Join us at our Facebook comic con. It is a virtual convention at which William Katt will be attending. This is my Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43810818087&ref=mf
Look up and join the Facebook comic con. We will have a group table where you can have the opportunity to ask William Katt questions.

Issue 2 to be released on March 11th. So check with your comic book dealer to prchase.
and so you don't miss out on how it al began the Collectors issue #1 of the Greatest American Hero comic book, PERSONALLY SIGNED TO YOU from William Katt, is at our ebay page!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=110356729681&Category=64