Interview With Matt Hawkins (Top Cow Productions) about Tales of Honor
By: Eva Jarkiewicz
Date: March, 2014
Recently I was able to steal a few minutes of time from the insane schedule of Matt Hawkins, President/COO of Top Cow Productions to discuss his newest book, Tales of Honor.
First thing you need to know is Matt obviously enjoys what he is doing. How else can you explain his work load. Not only is he writing Aphrodite IX and Think Tank, but now he is also writing the adaptation of David Weber’s Tales of Honor books and has yet another new book, Wildfire, coming out in June. Did I mention he is also involved in reviewing the Talent Hunt submissions? This is on top of his duties as President of Top Cow Productions and being an actively involved father of two boys. And if that weren’t enough to keep a normal human being insanely busy, he is doing all this while planning his upcoming wedding. One has to wonder if he has a time machine or a clone stashed some place to help juggle that schedule.
MetalLifeEva: This is the first adaptation you have done, why now and why this property?
Matt: They asked me! I was linked together with Evergreen through my video game agent and friend Rich Leibowitz. They brought me in and asked me if I’d be interested in doing an adaptation of the novels in comic form as part of a multi-media strategy. I don’t normally do work-for-hire stuff I prefer my creator-owned projects, but went to meet with them out of courtesy and curiosity. I met with another Rich, Richard Browne who heads up their video game development and general biz dev. He walked me through what they wanted and I said no thanks. Heh. He gave me the first novel and asked me to read it and let me know if that changed my mind. Took it home over the weekend and read the thing in 2 days. LOVED IT! Signed up that Monday to do the job.
MetalLifeEva: Can you share how this opportunity came about?
Matt: Yikes! Answered this one in the above long rant, sorry =p
MetalLifeEva: Had you read David Weber’s series previously?
Matt: I had never heard of him as an author or read any of his work. He fell into a gray area of sci-fi for me by launching his series right after I left college. My golden years of sci-fi reading were college and before. Once I got into the work force, I stopped reading for a few years and focused on putting in the 16 hour days, plus I was reading a lot of comics.
MetalLifeEva: Besides David Weber’s depiction of Honor Harrington, did you draw upon your knowledge of any other strong females when depicting Honor?
Matt: I’ve written Lady Pendragon, Necromancer and Aphrodite IX before doing this one, plus published 15 years worth of Witchblade books so have some experience with strong female leads. For Honor, she reminds me a lot of my sister Kerri who went to Annapolis.
MetalLifeEva: What is the current plan for the number of issues for Tales of Honor?
Matt: The first arc On Basilisk Station is 5 issues. We’re going to be switching artists with the 2nd arc so we’re considering doing that as another 5 issue series called Honor of the Queen. Hasn’t been determined yet, the plan is to keep it going either as a continuing or a series of mini-series. I’m leaning towards the latter.
MetalLifeEva: How would you rate the experience adapting another author’s story to this medium versus crafting your own story, whether within an existing world or one you had to develop as part of the story?
Matt: It’s HARD! He wrote these characters for 20 years so trying to fill those shoes was daunting. Fortunately, had a lot of support from him and the people at Evergreen Studios who hired me for the gig. Writing my own thing is easier cause I get to just make shit up!
MetalLifeEva: If there was one thing you would tell an existing fan of Tales of Honor when it comes to your adaptation, what would it be? What about for somebody that has never picked up one of David Weber’s books?
Matt: For the existing fans I’d say that there will most likely be a design or depiction of one of the characters that wasn’t how you saw it in your head. Keep in mind that the definitive versions of these stories already exist in the novels. These aren’t meant to replace the novels they’re meant to be an introduction for people who haven’t heard of it before.
MetalLifeEva: If there is anything else you would like to add please feel free.
Matt: Just a big thanks to you Eva for your continued support of Marc Silvestri and my work, we appreciate it. Top Cow <3 you!
MetalLifeEva: Thank you Matt. It is easy to be supportive of talented people that are producing quality stories and art, especially when they are also nice people. I will admit that getting to know the people at Top Cow has been a pleasure and an honor. I’m looking forward to their continued success and more interesting/engaging stories.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to answer these questions for our readers.
Related stories:
Preview: Tales of Honor #1 – Introducing New Fans to the Honorverse
Tales of Honor: Comic to Introduce New Fans to “Honorverse”
TalesOfHonor-01-Preview Book
Honor Harrington website: http://tales-of-honor.com/honor-harrington
