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 10.16.98 at 11:36:33 EST.

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JA: Okay, NOW that the sale of Wildstorm is offical, I have a couple of questions about how it could affect the status quo. First off, Jim indicated that he would be looking a certain books and deciding if it wouldn't be better off just cancelling them than tranferring them to DC. Is there any indication that DV8 might be one of those books?

MH: No, just the opposite. When Jim called me to let me know that the sale was imminent, he told me that one of the direct benefits was that DV8 was being "rescued". DC publishes quite a few books that don't sell as well as DV8; their pockets are much deeper than WildStorm's were, and therefore their cutoff point for cancellation is considerably lower.

Also, I'm not 100% positive about this, but I believe that DV8 will now have the opportunity to reach the mass market outlets that DC has access to. This is something that Image still doesn't have, and if it turns out to be the case, then DV8's sales will go up immediately, just by default.

JA: Kewlness. Okay, now unless I'm mistaken, both you and Rio are "freelancing" for WS rather than being staff employees. Are you woried that when DEC 31st rolls around that Jim (or DC) might be contemplating a change in the creative team?

MH: No, not at all. That's not to say that such a change will never be made. But it won't be as a result of the sale. Just yesterday I turned in a five-page short story for DV8 #27, shipping in April 1999, so my future on the book is assured at least that far, I'd think.

JA: Have you ever done work for DC and from what you know (or might have heard) what do you think are the major differences between the two companies?

MH:I've done some lettering work here and there for DC (though not for several years now). They've got a well-deserved rep as the most professionally run operation in comics. WildStorm did not. :) That's the biggest difference I can think of. Apart from that, you probably won't see much difference in WildStorm's product, other than the fact that they'll be hitting their shipping dates with a bit more regularity. Jim recently said that he'd always had a hard time pressuring artists to meet their deadlines, because he knew that he had his own problems in that area. When I was Editor in Chief, it frustrated me that he never learned to live with that double standard, because it gave our artists license to commit murder. But now that's changed, in every way measurable. DC's very conscientious about formulating a publishing plan and sticking to it; WildStorm will very quickly go from having a serious timeliness problem to being very responsible. That's good for fans, I think -- it's ALL good for fans, I think. You really won't see much, if any, difference. There aren't any creators who've left WildStorm as a result of this deal, and there aren't any books that have been discontinued as a result of this deal. All the stuff that you've been looking forward to will still happen.

As for what I personally see as different...it occasionally feels strange to remember that I left NYC deliberately in 1992 in order to join the outrageous independent entity that eventually came to be known as WildStorm, only to seemingly overnight find myself writing a monthly title for one of those big mainstream New York companies, without even shifting gears. But the truth is that, as a result of its success, WildStorm became mainstream all on its own a few years ago anyway. What I'm doing right now is considerably less strange than being handed the editorial reins of Fantastic Four without working for Marvel. I still feel that WildStorm is "independent", inasmuch as it's still the same people I've been working with almost exclusively for the last six years, regardless of whose name is on the indicia.

And, of course, given the amount of money that I spend every week on DC's books, it would be nice to end up on their comp list...

JA: [giggles] You know, you aren't the first WS employee who's mentioned the DC comp list as a kewl perk! And do you really think the editors at DC have what it takes to get people like Charest and Mads to get their books out on time? I mean, WS is blessed with some very talented artists but they are REALLY slow - or is it more than just the pencillers?

MH: No, see, the problem isn't with the rate at which the work is done -- the problem is with the date the finished work is promised for. An example: let's say that it's decided that the one-shot crossover WILDC.A.T.S/JUGHEAD, to be drawn by Travis Charest, is announced for February. Now, if Travis doesn't start drawing that until January, there's going to be trouble. Even if he starts drawing it in November, there could be trouble. But if WildStorm waits until he's already drawn the whole thing before announcing it, then there is no problem at all. Common sense would seem to dictate the way to go, but for one reason or another, WildStorm has never been either willing or able to do this. However, DC does it all the time. Obviously things get a little more complex when you're talking about a monthly book drawn by someone who can't draw a book on a monthly basis. But it's still just a matter of working in the appropriate lead time, and scheduling it when it makes sense to do so.

It would not surprise me to see DC ask that the Cliffhanger books go bi-monthly, or even less frequent than that. I kind of expect WILDCATS to go bi-monthly as well, but not without a rough start -- personally, I wouldn't have scheduled the first issue for January. I used to edit Travis on WILDCATS -- I know how this goes. : )

The flip side of all this, of course, is that if your artist simply cannot produce the pages in a timely manner, then maybe it's a little foolish for you to expect him or her to be drawing an ongoing title. But that's an entirely different subject.

JA: Okay, enough about DC, lets talk about the latest ish. I know that DV8 #23 (The Threshold story) was originally gonna be a Gen13 Bootleg. I'm curious how the story would have been changed or what you were planning on doing differently to make it a "Gen13 story".

MH: Not much. If it had seen print in BOOTLEG, obviously there wouldn't have been that final scene with Colby and Frostbite. But I wouldn't have changed anything else -- Gen13 wouldn't have appeared anywhere other than perhaps in one of Thresh's nightmares. That's the reason why BOOTLEG editor Jonathan Peterson asked me to move the story to DV8 in the first place. My whole point of view was that Threshold wasn't really part of the cast of DV8 anymore so much as he was a supporting character in the Gen-Active universe, and that appearing in BOOTLEG would have helped to establish him as such. But c'est la vie.

JA: Glad to see that Ivana is back too. I don't suppose you'd like to share any of the "upgrades" Ivana had done to herself while she was being re-built, would you?

MH: No.

JA: Ah maaaaaaan! =( Oh well, I tried. And speaking of Ivana's return, do you think I.O. lost some of it's "sinister" nature (and, thus, DV8 and Gen13 lost a villian of the Nth degree) when Craven died? Black Arts was supposed to put the fear back into it but doesn't seem to have done the trick. Is Ivana the woman to take I.O. back to it's sinister roots?

MH: Yes and yes. That's the biggest external reason that we brought Ivana back into I.O. The kinder, gentler I.O. as run by Santini just wasn't getting the job done.

JA: Agreed! Okay, one last question, and I'm gonna make it a Halloweeny one (is that even a word?)...what kind of candy do you give away to trick-or-treaters?

MH: What makes you think I stay home on Halloween?

JA: Ummm, I don't know. Maybe 'cause I can't picture you in a Power Rangers outfit going door-to-door for Snickers and Jolly Ranchers...

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