Eric Powell talks about 'The Goon' movie
Eric Powell has been in the comics field since 1995, but his career really took off with debut of his signature character, The Goon, in 1999 in the pages of Dark Horse Comics. And his success is building: He won two Eisner awards this year and five since 2004. The series follows the meandering underworld adventures of the title character, a brawny palooka who clashes with mobsters and zombies in a world that looks like "Sin City" channeled by E.C. Segar's Popeye universe. Early work on an animated film adaptation is now underway with Blur Studios.
The Tennessee-based Powell talked with Hero Complex correspondent T.J. Kosinski about the film venture as well as the 10th anniversary of "The Goon."
TJK: When you started "The Goon" in 1999, did you have any aspirations to see your comic book come to life in the world of film?
EP: I think everybody dreams about that, but it’s not a rational dream. It’s one of those "Wouldn't it be great if?" kind of things, but to actually think that it would? No, I didn’t believe that. I had a hard time believing that I was even going to be successful at making the comic. My biggest ambition was: "If I can make a living off of this comic someday, that’s all I want." And as far as it's gotten, I couldn't be happier that I've been able to make a living off of it and it's become this independent success.
TJK: How did this whole project come about?
EP: There was some initial interest from Blur, the animation studio, and they kind of were looking for other people to be interested, then David Fincher came along, and they came together and approached us and I went out to L.A. for some meetings with [Dark Horse founder] Mike Richardson, and that went really well and I liked their view of the comic and what they wanted to do with it, in terms of content and things like that. They seemed to have this willingness or desire to really capture what the comic was. So that really drew me in, and they had a couple of great pieces of concept art that they showed me and I was like, "Yeah, I want to do this."
