Minor Threats creators Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Heath Corson took center stage at Rose City Comic to talk about their paths from writing for Hollywood to writing for comics. Oswalt, best known for his work as a comedian and actor, along with Blum, the showrunner behind Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., launched Minor Threatswith Dark Horse in 2022 which has spun out into multiple limited series including Corson’s From the World of Minor Threats: The Brood. The Beat also had the opportunity to sit down with the creators after the panel and learn more about the behind the scenes development of Minor Threats.
Ally Raney, Dark Horse’s publicity manager, began the panel by introducing the guests and the Minor Threats universe. Blum gave a brief overview of the series and its continued growth before handing things off to Oswalt to talk about the inspirations behind the book. “You’re watching two writers get to write the comics that they always wanted to read… You know, a great love of something also points out the lack of aspects of it… that’s what we are exploring.”
Oswalt likened the worldbuilding of Minor Threatsto things like the cantina scene in Star Wars, answering broader questions about the life of supervillany. Blum supported Oswalt’s observation asking, “What happens to the loser villain that gets webbed to a telephone pole? You know, before Spider-Man goes to fight Doctor Doom or whoever is the big villain of that issue… Where does he go at night? Where does he grab a drink?” Oswalt continues to explain that the origin of the series came from a Batman pitch he was developing about how other villains might react to the antics of the Joker.
The guests also dove into the themes of the series such as how class is reflected in how the setting of the story is depicted. Blum said, “…It became a story a little bit about class, and who gets saved, and who doesn’t, and what neighborhoods get protected, and which don’t. This is why these people lean towards this life, because their only way out of this neighborhood is putting on a mask and robbing a jewelry store. So it really kind of influenced the writing of the book.”
The panelists then continued with discussing the newest entry in the Minor Threatsworld, The Cleaner, written by Gerry Duggan with art by Mark Torres. Raney asked the guests about where the idea came from and Blum responded, “That was Gerry Duggan, the writer’s pitch, but [it’s] what we’ve always looked for… And it was like, well, ‘that’s what this universe is.’ It’s about telling the superhero or supervillain stories that kind of fall through the cracks, the ones where like, ‘I’ve never thought about who cleans up the dead bodies of the supervillains or the mistakes of the superheroes.’ So what if there was a guy who does that? And what if he lies to his clients and it comes back to haunt him?” Raney then asked about how Blum and Oswalt decide who gets to write spinoffs in this world, “It’s us begging our heroes to come and do it,” said Blum.
Raney then asked Corson about the inspiration behind The Brood miniseries to which he replied, “… I was watching the Royal Tennenbaums, and it occurred to me that this is the continuing story of Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor, who had three kids and tried to put them in the world of supervillainy, and that sort of became The Brood.”
The panel then shifted to the dynamics in writing for television versus writing for comics to which Corson replied, “I think with television… You’re working for a showrunner, or if you are the showrunner… there is a big ship that you’re trying to steer. So, what’s cool about comics is, you could tell, hopefully, a smaller, more intimate story and drive the thing completely. It’s just you and your artist.” Blum added, “When you’re writing TV, it’s something very writer-driven, right? It’s your words, your plotting, this and that. And I feel like it’s really, comics is an artist’s medium. So even when we write scripts, comic scripts for our artists, a lot of times we’re just figuring out the visuals of how the page will look and what are the tent pole moments to tell the story in that scene and build to a cliffhanger page turn.”
The panelists then began talking about Corson’s newest title, Witness Point, described by Corson as a “Midwestern Noir.” This series is inspired by the real life account of a US Marshall who put all of his witness protection charges in the same area. Blum then began promoting his newest book with Tim Seely, The Big Shakedown. This new title tells the story of a private detective in LA 5 years after The Big One has destroyed the city.
The panel concluded with a Q and A portion. One attendee asked about how the writers connect with their characters with Oswalt responding, “I think a lot of times, when you connect with the characters first, they will guide you as far as settings and places, because it’s where they would go, where they would avoid, but, you know, Jordane was mentioning, like, it’s character driven, character driven is such a … confident driver into whatever world that you’re creating.” Another attendee asked about the panel’s thoughts on AI with Oswalt responding with, “It’s very exciting for uncreative people who want to be creative without putting in the work. It’s for people who want all the rewards and none of the responsibilities.” Blum added, “You speak to the power of comics, comics was one of the first industries that’s like, ‘Hell no. Keep that away.’” One of the last questions asked the panelists why they decided to go into comics and not continuing to pursue other forms of media, Blum responded, “I think it’s all of our first loves.” Corson added, “I had to go and do something else in order to get to do comics.”
Minor Threats has been a highlight for Dark Horse during Rose City Comic Con with multiple autograph opportunities as well as panels throughout the weekend. The universe has also continued to grow with creators such as Mark Waidjoining the latest anthology series, Villains and Vignettes, as well as Duggan’s The Cleaner coming this fall. For more coverage of Rose City Comic Con and Dark Horse news, stay tuned to The Beat.
