Chuck Dixon needs no introduction. He’s written lengthy runs on Batman, Punisher, Robin, Nightwing, G.I. Joe, and more. He’s had his Levon Cade novel adapted into a live-action film starring Jason Statham in A Working Man. He’s done adaptations of The Simpsons, The Hobbit, and Wheel of Time.
Chuck spoke with Fandom Pulse about his recently released novel Guns of Mars set in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom, the upcoming Supergirl film, Netflix’s purchase of Warner Bros., and more.
Fandom Pulse (FP): You just released a new book, Guns of Mars, what is it about?
Chuck Dixon: It’s set on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars series, set a thousand years after the last book.
Kal Keddiq is a thark on the run from his own tribe. A nameless bounty hunter is pursuing over the dying planet. But Kal’s not going back to face Warhoon justice without a fight. Think of the Mars series retold as an Italian western.
FP: What made you want to tell a story set on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom?
Chuck: I ate those books up as a kid. I spent a summer reading the entire Mars series and Lord of the Rings. After each Tolkien book I’d take a break and read a few of the John Carters before digging back into Middle-earth.
The idea for Guns of Mars occurred to me years ago, always in the back of my head. I finally had to write it just to get it out of my system. And it was intimidating. Burroughs was one hell of a writer and I wanted to try and match his skill at writing action and that wonderful sense of discovery that was such a feature of his work.
FP: How connected is this book to Burroughs’ Barsoom series?
Chuck: John Carter, Dejah Thoris, Tars Tarkas and the rest are long gone. The dying plant that ERB presented is now a millennium further along the doom spiral. There’s really very little to connect this to the series other than the setting, place names, flora and fauna.
FP: Do you have plans to do more stories set on Barsoom?
Chuck: I think this is it. A one-off.
FP: Do you have any thoughts on Netflix purchasing Warner Bros.?
Chuck: I’m not so sure it’s the End Of Cinema that so many are predicting.
Buying WB gives Netflix something it does not have, a theatrical distribution system. Releasing movies to theaters is still important as the weekly releases get far more attention than the current streaming drop.
Netflix can spend 200 million on a feature or mini and it drops without a sound. But millions remain aware of what’s coming to their local multiplex.
Amazon does better at promoting their streaming content because they have that Amazon muscle. Netflix lacked that outreach to the general public, but they have it now.
And fears of them turning Warners woke are silly because WB is already woke. And Netflix produced both woke and non-woke content. My big concern is that they will produce the tired same-same brand of content that pollutes so much of Netflix’s selections.
FP: What do you make of the new tagline for the Supergirl movie? Truth. Justice. Whatever.?
