Within recents months it has been established that the civilian code-named "Jen-Active" has had contact with numerous individuals at the LaJolla based Wildstorm Productions facility. It has also been established that both Wildstorm Productions and "Jen-Active" have covert agendas that undermine the sanctity and integrity of national security. As such, communications between the two entities is closely monitored. The following transmission between "JenActive" and "writer" Michael Heisler was intercepted and uploaded 06.03.99 at 07:40:10 EST.

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JA: What's with Rio? It looks like you're going to have back-up stories for a while AND he's not even doing the last two issues? I thought his strong points were speed and dependability.

MH: They are. But when he started working on his own "Exposed" project, DV8 stopped being the beneficiary of those strong points.

JA: Where and why was Pascal 'discovered'? It takes something special to make me long for the days of Kirby art...

MH: I believe Scott Dunbier met him at the San Diego Con last year. I've never actually talked to the guy. I understand that his style is not what DV8 readers are used to, but he's got a dynamic way of storytelling that I found kind of fun. Try to reserve judgment till you've seen all three of his stories.

JA: Who, in your mind, would be THE perfect DV8 penciller?

MH: I honestly can't say. There are plenty of people I'd like to work with, but I don't know that it would be appropriate to call any of them the "perfect" DV8 penciler. I know it sounds like I'm weaseling out of the question, but truthfully, I've never really thought about it.

JA: How are Trevor's pencils?

MH: I like them. Anyone who's only seen his DEATHBLOW pencils up till now will be a little surprised, I think.

JA: And, always a questions with WildStorm art-eests: How's his speed?

MH: Let's just say that he came on the book ahead of schedule and only has two issues to worry about. He's using up the time that he has. When he was on DEATHBLOW, he was penciling and inking an issue a month, so his reliability is not a question.

JA: Any idea why he hasn't had a shot at pencilling earlier?

MH: Because he's an awesome inker, and awesome inkers are hard to come by.

JA: Can we assume that the Deviants and I/O will split before the end of the series?

MH: Now, now, you know what happens when you assume...I can say that some of these characters will reach their ultimate fate in the DIVINE INTERVENTION event at the end of the summer.

JA: Speaking of DIVINE INTERVENTION, WS has had, shall we say, poor results with their other mega-crossovers. Is their any reason we should think that this one will work? Likewise, did it have any affect on your (or others) scripting?

MH: It's fairly small and self-contained compared to bloated masterpieces like Fire From Heaven, so I think it will be fine. As for how it affected my scripting, I just tried to stay out of its way. There are a few nods in its direction here and there for continuity's sake, but it's not like you'll have to read DI in order to understand. And DI readers most definitely will not have to read DV8.

JA: Will Threshold re-appear before the end? It wouldn't seem right without him making at least a cameo...

MH: No. The story in #'s 30-32 is almost exactly the same story that I would have told had the book not been canceled, with only a few minor changes. There was no room to bring Threshold in at the last minute. The Deviants' next confrontation with Threshold would have been the next major story arc, but...

JA: Okay then. What about his sister? Is Bliss going to start a split within the Deviants or is she up to something else?

MH: Uh...I guess "something else" is the answer here.

JA: How long before you can stop spewing a semi- company line and slam WS for their general lack of support for the book? October?

MH: Welllllll...like it or not, Wildstorm isn't in business to support failing books. They're not even in business to support successful books. They're in business to EXPLOIT profitable properties. Those Collected Editions and multiple covers and posters and on and on aren't there to support popular books, they're there to make an easy buck. In the end, beginning, and middle, comic publishing is a business, and Wildstorm has every right to treat it as such.

Don't get me wrong, I don't happen to think that Wildstorm is very well organized. They continue to construct schedules in such a way that makes no sense. I think it was in Intel several months ago when I predicted that WILDCATS would have a rough start, and as it turned out, they needed Carlos D'Anda to help with the pencils in only the third issue. They don't seem to be able to figure out how to get people to work, or how to schedule things to take people's work habits into account. And sure, they can point to the great sales of stuff like DANGER GIRL and BATTLE CHASERS and say that they must be doing something right; but neither of those books sells as well as X-MEN, and X-MEN is still out there every single month, and has been so for a very long time.

BUT having said all that -- I don't feel that DV8 was a victim of the Wildstorm way. The comic book market is still pretty lousy these days, and for a young title to maintain popularity is something of a crapshoot. I've read any number of fan comments that plead "DV8 would be popular if only you'd put (favorite artist) on the book!" Well, yeah, I'm sure it would, but Favorite Artist is busy making some other book popular. Sure, it might have been nice if Jason Pearson (for example) had come on as regular penciler back when I took over the writing, but if you were Jason Pearson (for example), what would you rather do? Jump onto already-declining DV8 in the middle of its run, or do your own thing? We took our best shot with the people that we had, and I think we turned out some good reads along the way.

Now, if you have some specific gripes about what Wildstorm should or should not have done, I'll be happy to address them... :)

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