Behind the Panels | Interview with ‘The Horseman’ Writer Chuck Dixon
Legendary writer behind Horseman sits down with the Soskas
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Jen & Sylvia Soska
1 – What inspired you & Joe to create the Horseman?
Well, Joe Bennett and I were working on Alphacore and communicating back and forth a lot. In one of those messages, Joe said, “You know what the Rippaverse needs? A badass non-powered crimefighter like Batman or the Punisher.” It didn’t take much to prod me, and I started thinking on it that day.
2 – Horse’s fighting style is unique & Joe is fantastic at making it jump off of the page. What is the secret to giving abilities to non-super street-level guys?
They have to be bad-ass, hyper-trained studs like the guys who make the cut to be in special forces programs like the Seals or Rangers or Delta Force. I mean, those guys’ idea of a vacation is to run Iron Man competitions in Patagonia!
3 – Why call him ‘the Horseman’?
That’s revealed in the story!
4 – When you read ‘The Horseman,’ there’s a feeling that this character has been living and existing as this for quite some time. How much world-building goes into character development to create such a feeling?
I never begin a story at the beginning. Generally, I throw my character in the deep end from page one and allow the reader to “discover” them through their actions. In that way, there’s a feeling that this guy had a yesterday before page one and many tomorrows after the last page.
5 – How do you weave comedy in your writing so well?
It’s more like, WHY do I do it? I really can’t help myself. I see a lot of humor (as opposed to comedy) in life, and I think there should be a few laughs even in the darkest of stories. Just as your stories need heart to draw your reader in to care about the events and characters, a few moments of uncontrived humor help make things more nuanced and bring out the personalities.
6 – The villains are colorful & larger than life – where did they come from? How important are villains to a story?
The villains ARE the story! Without them, there’s no conflict. So, they have to be unique and, to my mind, numerous. I look at the movie Die Hard as a model for how to build a cast of bad guys. In addition to Hans Gruber, you have this squad of bastards who all get enough development to make them memorable before McClain takes them down. So, that’s the challenge: making each baddie unique and objects for our hatred.
7 – How did you decide to create The Horseman’s secret identity and world?
The established Rippaverse is my basic playground. But I wanted Hector Caballero to be an outsider. He emigrates to Florespark when things get too hot for him in his native Chicago.
I wanted him to be driven to take on a vigilante persona by personal tragedy but one that still very much resonates in his current life. There are survivors of the cataclysmic events that make Hector take on the Horseman guise. He feels responsible toward them and, in his questionable judgment, thinks the best way forward is to become a masked crimefighter and keep any proceeds that happen to be lying around. Bad money after good, as he sees it.
Hector is very much middle-class and practical in that way. No lofty goals; just keeping home and hearth together, doing what he does best. He has to be somewhat naïve to believe that his life choice isn’t going to cause him more problems than he solves. But I think that makes him all the more relatable.
8 – If you were to describe the Horseman to a comic fan, what would you say?
He’s a Dollar Store version of Batman and a better-adjusted version of The Punisher.
9 – What kind of adventures can you see Horse going on after this series if there were to be more?
I want his origin to be ongoing. There won’t be a status quo. There’s always a chance that he’ll be forced out of business by the law or killed by one of the many enemies he’s making. I’m nearly done with the script for The Horseman #2, which takes Hector’s life in a very different direction.
10 – I’m fortunate enough to have a behind-the-scenes look at your upcoming books at the Rippaverse. Without giving anything away, what can you say about these books that readers can look forward to?
Eric has tasked me with filling in some of the history of the Rippaverse. He gave me a skeleton outline of events that occurred in this world a few decades back, then let me go wild. The result is a 200+ page epic detailing the wild events that helped to form the world of Isom and the rest. This will be huge for Rippa fans, and I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And the art I’ve seen is JAWDROPPING!
Also, Joe and I have created a new character who will be a major player in events past and future. But this time, it was me telling Joe, “You know what the Rippaverse needs?”
