Rick Burchett and Mark Wheatley interviewed by Carrie Wood

Of all the characters in Archie’s new Dark Circle lineup, the Black Hood has easily gone through the most changes over the years. The original Hood was a man by the name of Matthew “Kip” Burland who made his debut in MLJ Comics’ Top-Notch Comics #9 in October of 1940. Burland had been trained by a hermit to battle evil; an ex-cop, he was framed for larceny and left for dead, and while he eventually cleared his name, he continued to fight crime throughout the Golden Age.

Burland’s nephew, Thomas, became the Hood in the 1970s revival under Archie’s Red Circle Comics line. This Hood could be seen riding a fancy motorcycle and was armed with custom Pepper-box pistols. He was featured in three issues of his own title in 1983 but most often was featured in The Mighty Crusaders and Archie’s Super Hero Comic Digest.

The Black Hood jumped to DC Comics in 1991 when the company began its Impact Comics imprint. Impact was only around from ’91 to ’93 and primarily featured old heroes licensed from Archie Comics, including the Comet and the Shield in addition to the Black Hood. Impact ended up ending due to poor sales, but of the comics in that line, The Black Hood was definitely a standout. This version of the Hood actually featured three different characters as the vigilante, and the titular hood itself was an executioner’s hood that would grant its wearer heightened strength and agility – but would force them to only use these abilities for good.

As The Black Hood celebrated its 75th anniversary and with a highly touted new version of the character launched in Spring 2015, Gemstone’s Carrie Wood spoke with artist Rick Burchett and writer Mark Wheatley about their involvement with Impact’s Black Hood series.

Scoop: Did you have any specific story objectives going in?
Rick Burchett (RB): We were to create stories that would be good jumping on points for new comic readers of all ages. Stories that weren’t bogged down by decades of continuity and would be complete in a single issue.
Mark Wheatley (MW): I was under orders from Mike Gold to shake things up and ignore everything that had ever been done with The Black Hood. The Impact line of comics was guaranteed three years to establish the stories, characters, and commercial viability. So my objective was to create a set of fascinating characters and a setting that had a deep back story. The plan was to lay the foundation of a major new line of comics. I was weaving a tapestry that would be able to still be paying off stories a decade after our launch.

Scoop: Do you think you were able to achieve these?
MW: With the help of Rick Burchett and the other artists, I think we managed a near 100% of our goals for the first year. I was very pleased and gratified that fan response was so strong, as well. The Black Hood was a hit, with sales growing constantly. I was very excited, anticipating the next two years of the series. The future looked bright for The Black Hood.
RB: I think so, at least in The Black Hood. Some of the rest of the books in the Impact line started that way, but then began to feature continued stories.

Scoop: The Black Hood you wrote for Impact different pretty significantly from the previous iterations of the character in Mighty Comics and Red Circle Comics. Why was that the case?
MW: Mike Gold was the mastermind behind Impact. He felt that the character names of the Mighty Crusaders were our major asset. He felt that the actual characters and their backstories were so messy, muddled and largely forgotten, we should concentrate on creating something essentially new. No one was lobbying for a return of these characters. We would have created entirely new characters, but Mike felt that we needed the name recognition factor. And since it also took the Archie company out of the superhero market, that played into the DC strategy.

Scoop: There were three different Hoods in this series. Did you have a favorite?
MW: Nate was absolutely my favorite. And my long-term plan was to have Nate becoming The Black Hood and then abandoning the hood, over and over again. As other people would wear the hood for a while and have their lives shaken up or ended, Nate would be drawn back into the world of crime and superheroes. We would follow Nate as he grew into a man, seeing him struggle to keep his own identity, to have a normal life, to connect with people and family – and then to be dragged back into the fray. That said, the opportunity to cast other people as The Black Hood allowed for the potential of some delightful and extreme characters to be superheroes, people you would not usually expect to see in that role. You know – I think your count is off. There were at least three Hoods in the regular Black Hood comics. But I think there were two, maybe three more in the annuals. We had short back-up stories of historical Black Hood characters. This was part of the deep back story I was developing for the series.
RB: Yeah, I liked Nate the best. I’m a sucker for traditional heroes – ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations and rise to the occasion. The first Hood in our series used the hood to serve an agenda, and Hit Coffee was an opportunist, using the hood to further personal gain.

Scoop: There were a lot of very colorful characters in the book besides the Hood himself. How did you go about designing the look of the book?
RB: I’m a big fan of the early Marvel books and one of the things I loved about them was the way Kirby and Ditko designed the characters. Not everyone looked like they had a lifetime membership to 24 Hour Fitness. Some of the bad guys were stout, some were lanky, many different body types. If you wield a power like Doctor Octopus, you don’t need defined musculature. The mechanical arms do all the work. The same with the Vulture. It’s probably better if the wings don’t have to lift a lot of muscle mass. Different types of figures give the strip visual variety.

Scoop: The Black Hood series seemed really reflective of societal fears at the time – The G-NE drugs, the ozone-afflicted villain, and so on. How were you able to integrate these issues into the book without seeming as though you were pandering to your audience?
MW: Pandering is exactly what I always avoid in my work. An audience is a moving target. If you aim at where they are, by the time your comic is in their hands six months later, they will have moved on. Pandering is usually wasted effort. I was writing The Black Hood based on my own interactions with the world. I was pulling from my own reactions and concerns with society. That’s what I always do.
RB: That was Mark’s doing, and I think he was just following in the footsteps of those writers who came before. When DC started the Silver Age, science was the underpinning for the characters and the stories. When Stan created the Marvel Universe, the touchstones were radioactivity and the spread of Communism. All of these things reflected the times in which the stories were written. Comics have always reflected their times. You could put together a pretty good look at America in the 20th century just by reading the comics.

Scoop: Was there any single stand-out moment or issue in the series for you?
MW: Most of the issues have moments I loved. Rick Burchett is an amazing storyteller. His ability to get the maximum visual impact from what I had written was a real joy for me. There is a three page sequence in one of the issues where the Hood is trying to climb out of a sewer that just blows me away. Issue 7 is probably my favorite, entire book. “Horton Wears The Hood” was inspired by two sources. First, it was my whimsical effort at telling a crime story in the style of a Doctor Seuss children’s book – and I think we managed that very well. Second, the founding of the city was based on my own family history. Weaving details of my first ancestors to arrive in the new world and how they settled on Virginia’s Eastern Shore was a sly nod to my roots.
RB: Actually, there are a couple. When Nate is in the tunnels under the city and they begin to flood. That turned out pretty good visually. The other was a quiet moment. Nate is in his room, feeling unsure of himself and he puts the Hood on and it gives him confidence. I started the sequence with the action in the panel tilted and, as he put on the Hood, the panels rotate to a visually more stable composition. I was trying to reach the reader’s subconscious by indicating that without the Hood, Nate’s emotions were uneasy. With the Hood, he was on firmer ground. I think that worked.

Scoop: When you started on this project, what was your initial thought on the character and on the Impact line as a whole?
MW: It was a fun experience. I got to work with some of the most talented people working in comics at that time. We had several group retreats and spent a good deal of time cross-pollenating ideas and plans. I remember thinking that it would be an opportunity to do some world building in the same collaborative way that the early Marvel Comics under Lee, Kirby, Ditko, Heck, etc. had done – to be a part of a group of talented creators all working for a common goal.
RB: I thought the Impact line was a great idea, something that was desperately needed in the industry. It was intended to be an entry point for new readers, a way to expand the audience. I was familiar with the MLJ heroes before this, and I always felt there was a charm to them and unlimited potential. It’s funny, but the one I gravitated to was the Black Hood. There were great possibilities to the character. When editor Mike Gold called to offer me the job and told me it would be The Black Hood, I was thrilled. Given a choice, it was the one I would’ve picked. What Mark did with the character was brilliant, not unlike the early Spider-Man. It was great fun. To this day Mark Wheatley is still the most creative person I’ve ever worked with. His influence helped me get better at what I did.

Scoop: Did those thoughts change once The Black Hood finished?
MW: Well, I did get that creative experience that I was looking for. But the market was in turmoil at the time. And in spite of Mike Gold’s best efforts to keep Impact on the rails, we were still hit with last minute changes and some astoundingly bad production problems. One of the issues was published without any of the caption boxes included – so the story made only partial sense and had little relation to the story I was actually telling, since the captions were explaining characters’ hidden motivations for their actions that were on view in the art. Also, with so many other comics being released at the time from all the publishers, the creative teams were being tempted away by big money and more assured opportunities. I was so fortunate that Rick Burchett stayed with the book as long as he did. And the other artists on the book were turning in amazing work. Ultimately, we had the rug pulled out from under us at the end of the first year. While it was acknowledged that my Black Hood was the standout commercial success of the line, for some odd reason, it was decided to throw out the baby with the bath water. The Black Hood was cancelled while at a very high and growing circulation, so they could mount a reboot of the entire line. So my three-year plan to pay off the stories and characters had only reached the end of their first act. In many ways we had only scratched the surface of the potential for that title. And the fans loved what we were doing. So, in the end, it was a somewhat frustrating experience.
RB: My thoughts on the Hood didn’t change. The Impact line, as a whole, seemed to lose its way and DC stopped promoting it. I’m not sure the reasons behind those changes, but it was a shame. Impact was a noble experiment and I wish it would’ve been more successful. Its failure doesn’t mirror the quality of the work that was done. There were some good comics produced in that short period of time.

Scoop: Now that Archie is redeveloping their Red Circle line as Dark Circle, and now that your material will be available in digital format, what would you tell new readers about your stories?
MW: I think Rick and I managed to create some great characters in The Black Hood. They have interesting lives and unexpected things happened to them. In some ways, it was a subversive book. We were creating an antivigilante story that featured a prime vigilante. We enjoyed poking at some of the accepted superhero tropes. I think it started as a reaction to the silly elements in other comics. But it actually led us into some serious and fascinating areas of story. Things that usually get passed by while creators and readers all race to the usual super conflicts and complications. I wish I had had a chance to do at least 36 issues of The Black Hood. But the 12 issues, annual, and short stories that we got done tell a cohesive story.
RB: Those stories were intended to engage the reader and entertain them. They were stories that were meant to be fun and filled with a sense of wonder. I’d just like readers to have a good time and for a few minutes forget that they’re looking at pixels on a screen and believe they’re watching the lives of real people unfold.

This interview originally appeared in the Overstreet Comic Book Marketplace Yearbook 2015-2016.