MIKE JOZIC: I haven't really seen you around the comic book industry much in the last little while. What have you been up to since Vertigo Pop: Tokyo (which I think is also the last time we 'spoke')?

SETH FISHER: I took a bit of time off after I finished VP: Tokyo to get married and reproduce. Also I do stuff that's not comics in my free time like teach a Manga class at an Art School, do my own art, posters, painting, whatever comes up.

JOZIC: The way you phrased that last answer makes me wonder, with so many things going on for you art-wise, do you view any one aspect of it and consider that your primary 'job'?

FISHER: You know, I have this sort of philosophy called "It's not my job" and I apply it to everything I do in life. Basically I view myself as on permanent vacation and everything is a side project. You know, when you get to be about mid-life you start to realize that if your not having fun with your life now, then you might never figure it out. So, to me, playing in the park in the grass is something I take as seriously as drawing a book or as doing an interview like this - which is to say that I take drawing a book very lightly, but at the same time give it my whole heart. It's a little hard to explain. Its gotta be fun or I cant do it for very long.

JOZIC: So, what drew you back into the fold? Was it an itch to do sequential work again, the opportunity to do Batman or something else?

FISHER: For the most part I let fate sort things out. It was just a timing thing. I wanted to make money and challenge myself a little bit. Batman came up and I was like...uh...ok. It was a good fit.

JOZIC: What's the process for you when you go into DC or Marvel and try to hook up with a new project? Do you go in with proposals or are you looking for interesting things that they have lying around that are without an artist?

FISHER: If I'm going to write my own story it has gotta have a fresh angle. I have presented my ideas to publishers many times, but usually they come back with a counter proposal written by a real writer. I like stuff that's a bit more out there.

I had this idea for a Doom Patrol comic called "Danny the Street: When We Were Chairs" where he would be a chair who hadn't grown up to become a street yet. If you don't know, Danny the Street is an actual street [introduced during Grant Morrison's run] that travels from city to city. In this story his whole family would be all these different chairs and each one, depending on the vintage, would sort of have a different personality. Like the plain furniture - stools and tables and stuff - would be like servants to the really nice antique furniture. And the big leather chair behind the desk would be the boss [while] the kitchen stool would do the cooking [and] the art-deco chairs would be rebellious but preppy youth.

Then this tragedy sort of thing would happen and this rival furniture gang would start getting rid of all the antique chairs - sort of like chair-racism combined with a kind Godfather sort of gang warfare. Then Danny the Chair would do something heroic and become the leader of all these inanimate objects and eventually he would become the leader of the whole street. Like his consciousness would eventually engulf the entire street.

The cool thing to me was that it would be all inanimate objects given personality by their design but no people in the comic - just different arrangements of furniture. I got the idea looking at this hot chair porn site.

That's, like, a super long explanation of the kind of thing that I think is really worth doing for me. It's like, if I'm going to spend the life energy to do a comic, I really would like it to be something as unique to myself as possible. I guess, I may have to get into self-publishing eventually.

JOZIC: Your Legends of the dark Knight story, 'Snow', ran for 5 issues. Did you have all the artwork finished before it was solicited or were you actively working on it as it was coming out?

FISHER: I had moved on to other stuff. 'Snow' has been finished for a couple of years.

JOZIC: I've also heard that, post LOTDK, you're working on another story with a marquee character. Can you divulge any info on that or is it a hush hush deal?

FISHER: I got this FF/Iron Man: Big in Japan book I'm working on now. It's really exciting work for me. It's so surreal, but in a storytelling way more than in an art way. I really feel like for the first time since Vertigo Pop: Tokyo I have come up with an angle that is really fresh.

JOZIC: In our very first interview you commented on how hellish it is to get the work out of you while doing comic book stuff…

FISHER: Ha ha. Yeah, I have slowed down a little bit [but] now it's a little better.

JOZIC: I know you try to approach every project a little differently. What sorts of challenges did you face while doing 'Snow'?

FISHER: Let me tell you a Legends of the Dark Knight ghost story.

Have you ever work up from a nice sleep and been paralysed for a few minutes? It goes away in maybe 15 seconds to a minute or so. In the west they call it sleep paralysis but in Japan its called "kanashibari" and it happens, they say, when a ghost is in the room with you. I had this happen to me maybe three times when I was living in Tokyo and working on the first two issues of LOTDK. Some other odd of stuff happened in this old house too - weird noises and stuff and the cats around the house were a little crazy. Later, people tell me this is part of Tokyo that was fire bombed during the war. I dunno if there is a connection. Gave me weird vibes sometimes, though.

So, one day I discovered in the corner of my room the word tasukete (save me) scratched into the wall, like with a sharp object. Tasukete is the word you would say when you need someone to rescue you, like if you were kidnapped or being murdered. I'm kinda slow I guess, because the first time I saw it I laughed. I figured someone had a black sense of humour but when I showed it to my Japanese friends they freaked out. Its like, imagine if found in the back of your closet the words "help me" scratched the wall with fingernails, and the house was really old and creepy to begin with.

So, a few months later, I am sleeping in the room with this cryptic message, and I heard this breathing near my ear and it, like, jolts me awake, but I have this sleep paralysis thing happen to me and I cant actually move to see what is making the noise. I can feel, like, these really uncomfortable sensations on my body. I can't describe it very well, but it felt like my organs were being poked at. There is this weight on my chest but I can't move my head to see what it is. I think to myself, a cat must have crawled in the window and is sitting on my chest. Kind of a strange explanation, but that's what I thought. I can move my eyes, but I am under this big down comforter that obstructs most of my vision. I try to move my body, but I can only wiggle. It really feels like I am being restrained by someone, rather than simply paralysed, but who can really tell the difference, I guess. I try as hard as I can to yell or jerk my body in some way but nothing works and I am really starting to wonder if I am going to come out of it. Like, who knows, maybe the ghosts really exist or maybe I just had a stroke or something. Really freaked me out.

So there is this really dramatic moment, when I lose all hope completely, and I say to myself, the only thing I can do is pray. Now, I'm not saying anything about God, one way or another, but the timing was pretty impressive because the moment I finished my "please god save me" thought, I was suddenly released. Of course the room was empty and all that. No cats or ghosts, just one hibbie jibbie Seth. It was good incentive to move out.

This new place I moved into was with my girlfriend - the two of us in a small 10ft x 10ft room with a big bed and a coffee table. I would sit on the floor and draw through the night. I made an eye mask for my girlfriend so that she could sleep with the lights on while I worked. I was so happy to be in a house that wasn't creepy that I didn't mind not having a computer, not having hardly any reference and having to sit on the floor to draw. Then we got married. That was cool too.

JOZIC: Did you ever look into the house's history at all or did you just put it behind you?

FISHER: I never did, like, a real investigation. Believe it or not, stuff like this happens to me fairly regularly, so it's not such a landmark. Just an interesting thing.

JOZIC: Did the weird experiences in the creepy Japanese house affect the work in any way tonally or visually? Did it put you in a funky headspace for a while?

FISHER: Creepy isn't quite the right word, more like old and weird. I don't think it affected the work really directly like that. If I had thought about it too much at the time I would never have been able to concentrate.

JOZIC: So, are you a believer in paranormal phenomena?

FISHER: Imagine that you were born 1000 years ago and someone showed you a lighter or gave you a couple of magnets to play with. You would be in awe. These objects are breaking all the known laws of physics for you. At this moment in 2005 we are more or less 1000 years before the discovery of some very fundamental scientific concepts that are hard to comprehend because we don't have a vocabulary for them yet. So, if you ask me, "do I believe in things that people say are impossible or unproved by science", then the answer is absolutely.

But it's not a matter of paranormal. Like the magnets, they are totally normal phenomena.

Let me give you an example. I dream almost every night, and often times I am unable to distinguish the dream from waking reality, try as I might. Sometimes I even get real simulated smells or sharp physical pain in my dreams - I have pretty vivid dreams. It's like a real mechanism to create reality is built inside of each of us, so why do we think that waking reality is created by a totally different mechanism? It's like saying that the water that you drink has no relation to water that you swim in.

I got a lot of stuff to say about this kind of thing...at a different time.

JOZIC: Were there any other challenges you encountered while doing 'Snow'? Maybe something of the less hyper-normal kind?

FISHER: Well, I told you one of the big ones. Did I mention my mid-life crisis? Did I mention my plan to move to India and start a new life from scratch? The day I had planned to leave I packed up everything to give away, but as fate would have it I lost my passport that day. By the time I got a new one made I had a different plan. [laughs]

Life is interesting, for sure.

So, yeah, there were a lot things that were going on in my life at that time, but you know, that personal tension gets translated into 'action' in the book, so maybe it's good for the readers.

JOZIC: Originally I thought that Gotham City wasn't going to provide you with the opportunity to do your highly detailed and ornate environments, but I was totally wrong about that. What did you draw on to create your vision of Gotham City and the other Bat locations, like the cave?

FISHER: Remember in the late 70's early 80' there was this drink called V8 Juice made out of tomatoes? They had this add campaign where people would hit themselves on the forehead and said, "I could have had a V8!" implying that they missed this really obvious answer to quenching their thirst. I try approach my art like this. I look for ideas that hit me on the forehead with a smack. It not quite as easy with Batman since there is so much history.

Like Batman is a pretty established character with a lot of fans with a lot of expectations of how things should be. At the same time my work ignores a lot of convention, so I was like, how am I going to be true to the character but also to my own impulses? I did my best, that's all I can really say. If I drew it again now it would look completely different I'm sure. But I think the book has some really killer moments.

One tricky thing for me was how to tell a Year One story. I mean, "year one" implies that this happened in the past, but when is that exactly? As soon as I put in real details, like the shape of a car or the look of people's clothes then a time frame emerges. But I really don't want to be stuck confined to a period piece where I have to find reference for every Chevy Nova and lava lamp so I struggled with that for a while. I think in the end I sort of created a unique era outside of space-time. Realistically, it's a bit all over the place, but you get the feel of about twenty years ago or so.

As for the Batcave, I had good time re-thinking the space. I chopped the stalagmites off and used them as tables and shelves. Seemed like a good idea. I usually have trouble drawing something if it doesn't have an element of unexpected-ness to it. I hope that was fresh. As far as Gotham goes I kind of picture Chicago, then let my imagination take over from there. The Manor was fun, too. I tried to imagine where I would want to live if I was Bruce and it came up a little Victorian. Anyway, a lot of the mood credit goes to Dave Stewart for his colours. He really finished it up nicely for me.

JOZIC: In the past you've worked closely with Chris Chuckery on colours. What did Dave Stewart bring to the project?

FISHER: Yeah. I previewed all the pages and made a few corrections. Dave really nailed this from the start, though. I love the way he uses his light sources and works inside the spaces I create. Dave and Chris are really really important collaborators for me.

JOZIC: What was your favourite part about working on the 'Snow' storyline?

FISHER: Issue #4 is just so full of action and so intense. It is just a perfect climax for a 5-issue series. I hope people dig it as much as I did. I think its very cinematic.

JOZIC: Now that you've had a taste, what other Batman characters or villains would you like to take a crack at?

FISHER: I dunno. I'd like to do Batman again. I like the style of the Riddler. Question marks are fun to draw.

JOZIC: While reading 'Snow' I noticed that you often have a bat flying alongside Batman throughout the story. Is it strictly a design element or does it serve some secret purpose for you?

FISHER: I'm just following convention here. Batman always has bats around him. I want to draw Iron Man with a bunch of flying Irons too. Maybe I will.

JOZIC: Speaking of the FF/Iron Man book, are you writing the story as well as drawing it?

FISHER: Zeb Wells is the writer. When I met Zeb in San Diego at the Con this year I was really surprised at how young and fiery he was. He was really vibrant and energetic. I'm so happy to be working with him. I wish we could just hang out and drink beers regularly. I think we'd be super good friends.

JOZIC: What format will this one be in - prestige format, mini-series, one-shot?

FISHER: It's a 4-issue mini with wraparound covers. The covers are really fresh. I put a lot of work into them. The book is a big step for me, actually. I have finally allowed my style to really evolve from page to page so, in addition to drawing crazy things, those things are drawn in different ways from page to page.

You know how movies and comics are trying to be very realistic? I sort of went the other way here and thought, "how can I make these characters more true to their fiction?" It taught me a lot about characters. I shouldn't really talk about it, because I will spoil the experience of reading it. I really enjoy [doing] this book though.

JOZIC: And how far along are you on that project?

FISHER: I'm in the middle of book #3 right now.

JOZIC: Has family life changed your perspective on the world at all and how you approach your art, or are you pretty much the same old Seth?

FISHER: The word family has this 'settled down' vibe to it that I wouldn't want to imply. Our house is wild. For me the family is a source of great weirdness. I try to tap in to that weirdness and channel it back at the world. It's actually a lot easier to make art now since my wife is looking out for my nutritional needs. Left to my own devices I tend to eat at the 7-11 exclusively, which can't be great for the body. I get a lot of ideas from watching my son develop. Some of my monsters in my FF book are based on him. He thinks he is a kaiju and tromps around enjoying his huge size compared to cats and insects.

JOZIC: I should also note that you're committed to doing a piece for The Fountain Art Project. Can you talk about that a little - how you got hooked up, what sort of a piece you will be doing, when we'll be seeing it (as of this writing I think they're a few weeks behind on posting the images to the website)?

FISHER: I finished that in June. Kind of unusual but I super enjoyed working on that piece since I got to colour it myself. We showed them at a private party at the San Diego Con [and] all of the pieces are very good. Director Darren Aranofsky and I are mutual fans of each other's work so I was really happy he asked me to do it. I read the movie script and drew what it made me think of. It's pretty hard to understand a movie just from the script so it was a challenge for sure.

Have you ever tried to read a movie script and grasp the plot? I can hardly keep track of the name on the page without the visuals. I think it will be some kind of promotion for the film. Maybe they will use it in the back of the Vertigo comic adaptation, too.

JOZIC: My last question for you is in regards to your two years of exclusivity with DC Comics. Unlike many other creators under contract you didn't renew when yours came due. I wondered how much of an impact those exclusive years with DC had on you and your work?

FISHER: Ah, The Exclusive Years! It was awesome! I adore the people at DC, [they] are really cool - well, most of them. [They are] really really warm and creative and have a fine attention to detail.

At the same time Marvel is really supporting me and pushing me to take risks and do work that I think is really relevant inside and outside of comics. Marvel is little more crazy, I think, at least at this junction in space-time. And a skin-tight fit for my deviate thoughts.

I told Joe Quesada and Paul Levitz a few years ago that I would like to be the guy who heals the rift between Marvel and DC, all they had to do was let me draw Spider-Man vs. Batman and I would take care of the rest. It's still an open offer, but maybe it should be the X-Men vs. the JLA. Might be more opportunity for humour in there.

Joe was like "Sure." I think he was serious. I can't remember Paul's exact words. Something funny, I think, but crude.