Boxers or Briefs is a feature where we get to interview people and ask them really important questions about pants. We also get to ask less important questions about their current projects and their experience in the industry. The Panteon recently had a chance to interview Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, a.k.a. DnA. Together, and sometimes separately, they have worked on a veritable smörgåsbord of titles that include the 2000AD book Judge Dredd, DC’s Aquaman, Batman, The Legion and Boom!’s expansion of the Warhammer 40K franchise. More recently they have worked on a follow up to the 2003 remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and have reinvigorated the Cosmic Marvel Universe with their current hits, Nova and the Annihilation Conquest mini-series. We were lucky enough to round the two of them up and were able to ask them some questions we thought they’d both have some thoughts on. Marvel was also kind enough to provide some snazzy new cover and interior artwork from Nova and Annihilation Conquest to enjoy as well.

Submit a request here if you think we should interview you, or make suggestions in the comments if you’ve got someone you think we should interview.

1. What’s your favorite weird thing you’ve been able to incorporate into the Marvel space books? Rocket Raccoon? Communist talking space-dog? Something else, or something we haven’t seen yet?

DnA: Cosmo’s pretty high up the list. Knowhere too. And we’ve got some weird (and sinister) stuff coming up, like the character of Harrow in Nova, a person we think you’re gonna love to hate. Also, in Guardians, it’s not so much Rocket and Cosmo, but the interplay between the two. Plus a talking tree. What’s not to like?

2. What are some of your influences, or just favorites, in terms of science fiction in general and Marvel’s cosmic/space books in particular?

Dan: I’m a major fan of classic SF - Jack Vance, Ray Bradbury, Robert A Heinlien, Frank Herbert, Julian May, and more recent stuff like Iain M. Banks and Richard Morgan. We both grew up loving Marvel’s Cosmic heroes, especially the Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel stories written and drawn by Jim Starlin. Plus, of course, we were weaned on 2000AD and Doctor Who.

Andy: I’ve got to agree with Dan: I’m a huge Frank Herbert fan, love Asimov, Clarke and Bradbury. Banks and Morgan rock and I’m a big fan of Orson Scott Card’s Ender series. Jim Starlin is a huge cosmic comic influence and so is Keith Giffen. Along with 2000AD I was also a big Metal Hurlant fan as well as Slow Death as they introduced me to the works of master sci-fi artists like Richard Corben, Moebius and Druillet.

3. How long have you guys been a writing team, and what’s your favorite collaborative project that you’ve worked on?

Dan: Twenty years. Or is it twenty one? There are plenty of things we both do independently (Andy inks, I write novels) but we started doing US comic work together, and we enjoy it so much, we’ve kept the partnership going.

Andy: There are a lot of things we’re proud of, such as our five year run on Legion of Super Heroes for DC (cosmic superheroes, funnily enough), but our current work on Nova/Conquest/Guardians is turning into our absolute fave. We love the Cosmic MU.

4. How did you settle on Ultron for the big bad of Annihilation: Conquest? Were there other contenders prior to that, and did you have any trouble freeing him up for the role?

DnA: He just seemed a really good fit AND a proper surprise. We didn’t have any trouble getting permission to use him, but when the time came there was a certain amount of careful stage managing to do, because the Mighty Avengers story he was tied into was slightly delayed.

5. Any characters you wanted to use for Annihilation: Conquest but were unable to?

DnA: Aunt May. She was our first choice for big bad. Actually, no one, really. At one time we were hoping to get the Vision and Jocasta in there, but they didn’t make the cut simply because there were enough players on the field already.

6. In addition to the space-faring stuff you guys do so well (Legion of Super-Heroes, Annihilation, Dan’s Warhammer 40K work), do you have any other favorite genres you hope to revisit?

DnA: We’ve enjoyed playing on Marvel Earth itself during Richard’s brief visit,so it would be nice to do something with some of Marvel’s Earth-based heroes sometime. Aside from that, horror. We had so much fun writing Texas Chainsaw Massacre for Wildstorm. Neither of us realised how much we liked horror and it was fun to go outside our ‘comfort zone’.

7. Sci-Fi’s got a long tradition of offing whole planets and civilizations, and you guys have inflicted your fair share of casualties in Annihilation, Warhammer 40K and Legion. Tell us about writing high-stakes sci-fi. Does it run the risk of being too cavalier with life and death or is it just good-time fun?

DnA: It does run that risk, but then if you do it right, the pay off can be huge. If you decimate the Earth, you have to put it back again afterwards. But you can do things to other worlds and civilisations (such as the poor Kree) and then explore the consequences of disasters and invasions without the reader saying to himself “well, this is all going to return to the status quo soon enough”. We try to write cosmic stories that have big, long-term consequences.

8. The two Annihilation projects put you smack dab in the middle of a collaborative crossover with many writers and artists. What are the pros and cons of working with such a large group? How do you keep the Big Picture coherent?

DnA: It’s great fun bouncing ideas between other creators. Keith Giffen, for example, is a wonderful collaborator and chock full of ideas. He led the way with the first Annihilation, and then contributed amazing stuff for Conquest. His lead of Star-Lord and his team has taken us directly into Guardians. How do we keep it coherent? Lots and lots and LOTS of notes and revisions and brainstorms. Biggest credit must go to editorial, though, Bill Rosemann and Tom Brevoort, for general umpiring and great feedback.

9. Any fictional war stories right now are liable to trigger speculation on parallels to the war in Iraq, but Annihilation doesn’t seem to be stirring readers up on that level. Did you deliberately avoid the situation? Has the war influenced the stories more subtly?

Andy: Even if a fictional war story doesn’t mirror or resemble a real-world event, it can still comment on it. We didn’t deliberately avoid it.

Dan: I’ve found my 40K war novels have been seen to have parallels with modern conflicts like Iraq. Oddly, a huge part of my readership is veteran or active servicemen, including many US and UK troops serving in Iraq. I get a lot of feedback from them, usually emails via my website, and that influences what I write, directly and indirectly. Some of that must be filtering through into Conquest.

Andy: Without being heavy handed, the Guardians series may have some echoes of real-world situations in it as it goes along. Not parodies or anything, because that would both suck and be inappropriate. But allegories, maybe.

10. Working in comics, for some, is the ultimate dream job. When did you guys decide it was what you wanted to do for a living?

Dan: Both read comics when we were kids. Because we were kids. But we also used to draw and write our own comics. We both ended up working at Marvel UK when we left college, simply because of that childhood enthusiasm (That’s where we met: I was a trainee editor, Andy was a young freelance artist).

Andy: Comics is one of those things you get into for the love of it. We decided we wanted to do it for a living when we found we could actually do it for a living.

11. There’s always been a fair amount of similarities drawn between Nova and the Green Lantern. What makes Richard Rider different from Hal Jordan, and in a knock down, drag out fight to end all fights, who wins?

DnA: In all fairness, it has to be accepted that GL and Nova are DC and Marvel exploring the same basic concept (young earthman recruited to be super space cop). But we think the tone and style is very different, and we’ve tried to keep Nova’s adventures very much his own. GL is, of course, a classic comic character, and we admire the great work being done on those books right now. The biggest difference is in the character of the hero. There’s just something appealing and approachable about Richard Rider. Honestly, in purely technical terms, GL would probably win - those rings are something, even though Rich is powered up to max. But Rich wouldn’t go down without a fight, and he’s the guy you’d most want as a friend.

12. Besides comics put out by friends and collaborators, what books are you guys enjoying these days?

Dan: Anything Bendis (love both Avengers), anything Ellis (Thunderbolts!). Ed Brubaker’s Cap and the Knauf’s Iron Man are both fantastic books. Nexus, of course. Joss Whedon’s X-Men run was brilliant.

Andy: Both Avengi (what is the plural of Avengers?) books , Nextwave (Fun with a capital FU!), Thunderbolts (Fun with a capital THU!), Cap (a perfect blueprint for a TV series!), Nexus (pure undiluted genius), Whedon & Cassaday’s X-Men and Geoff Jones’ Green Lantern stuff (I’m a sucker for cosmic super-cops!).

Dan: We pretty much said the same stuff. We might as well have answered that one DnA.

Andy: We spend too much time together. We should get out more, make new friends.

13. Guardians of the Galaxy is obviously the next thing on your plate. For those people who have been vacationing in the Negative Zone or just haven’t heard about the book, what’s it about, why that title, and will we see the return of Rom soon?

DnA: After Conquest, Star-Lord forms a team of heavy hitters to prevent the Galaxy suffering any more ‘annihilations’. Adam Warlock has become aware of some really big bad nastiness lurking in the wings, cosmic evil that is creeping into our universe because the structure of space-time has been damaged by the catastrophic Annihilation events. They chose the name because it describes what they’re doing. Continuity connections to the team originally using the name (in an alternate future, just so you’re clear) will be revealed, and they won’t be quite what you might expect. Rom would be great, but we think there’s a tiny copyright problem…

14. If you had the ability to choose anything for your next project, what would it be?

DnA: Both of us have always been fans of Doctor Strange but, hey, what are the chances of that?

15. What are your favorite kind of pants?

Dan: Cricket whites.

Andy: Soccer shorts.