Micro Interview 5: Matt Hawkins

Writers come in all shapes and sizes. Matt Hawkins is the president/coo of Top Cow comics and is a writer who's written many noteworthy comics. He has created and written over 30 new franchises for Top Cow and Image including Think Tank, The Tithe, Necromancer, VICE, Lady Pendragon, Aphrodite IX, Tales of Honor as well as handling the company’s business affairs. Matt was gracious enough to agree to answer a few of my interview questions.

And.. 3, 2, 1... let's do this!

Q1. How many books (comics and/or graphic novels) did it take until you felt like you came into your own as a writer?

Matt: It took me about 10 years to feel like I came into my own as a writer. I had an inclination to overwrite and include too much narrative and dialogue and it took me a long time to trust the art to tell the story.

2. Can you share with us a few lines or a catchy phrase from a WIP or a recent release?

Matt: Here's an excerpt from Think Tank Creative Destruction #3.

Panel 1
Narrative: Ever stop and think about your life and realize you’re not where you want to be?

Panel 2
Narrative: Your dreams have slipped away to the banality of chasing a paycheck, the daily routine and trying to keep your relationship from a short half-life.

Panel 3
Narrative: Sex is still fun, but the raw energy of it abates with entropy just like everything else.

Panel 4
Narrative: Knowing how the brain works only enhances feelings of anxiety, stress, fear and guilt.

Narrative: Being smart is overrated.

Narrative: Ignorance should be a cherished commodity.

Narrative: Knowledge is a curse.

Q3. What's a writing tip you'd give an aspiring writer that you had to learn on your own the hard way that nobody had told you about early on but you wish they would have?

Matt: Don't write what you know that becomes boring very quickly. Write what you want to know, then the research and process is fun.

Most excellent! Thanks again to Matt Hawkins for being such a great sport and taking the time out of his busy schedule to do this interview. If you'd like to learn more about Matt and his projects, please head to his official creator bio at Image comics online by clicking HERE.

If you want to read more of Think Tank or any of Matt's other TopCow comics, you can find them HERE.

Be sure to scroll down to sample the free digital comics!

###

If you'd like to read any of my previous interviews, you can find them by following the links after the jump. Happy reading!

Micro Interview #1
Tonia Brown

Micro Interview #2
​Jonathan Maberry

Micro Interview #3
Shawn Chesser​

Micro Interview #4
Curtis M. Lawson​