Nathan Turner, roving reporter for “In Search Of Heroes” asked Robert Venditti a few heroes questions. He is the author of the comic book “The Surrogates” soon to be movie.
Nathan Turner, roving reporter for the “In Search Of Heroes Program” interviewed Robert Venditti, author of the comic book “The Surrogates” (a soon to be released as a major motion picture) and Top Shelf Productions executive, at the 2009 San Diego Comic Convention. Nathan asked Robert a number of questions about heroes and heroism. His answers were thoughtful and inspirational.
Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames will be starring in the motion picture adaptation of his comic book “The Surrogates” that will be released September 25, 2009. He lives currently in Atlanta, where he works for graphic novel publisher Top Shelf Productions by day and writes comics by night.
Further projects include the political/medical thriller “The Homeland Directive” due from Top Shelf in 2010 and a graphic novel adaptation of the best-selling novel “The lightning Thief” for Hyperion.
Nathan Turner: Hello. We are at Comic-Con talking with Robert Venditti. Robert go ahead and tell everybody what it is that you.
Robert Venditti: I am the writer of the book called “The Surrogates” which is a sci-fi detective story that came out about two years ago and now it’s being adapted into a feature film. It’ll be out September 25,2009.
Nathan Turner: Wonderful. Tell us a little bit about why you started doing this. How did this become your passion?
Robert Venditti: I always wanted to be a writer. I didn’t grow up reading comics or anything like that. I didn’t start reading them until about 2000, but I always wanted to be a writer. I wrote short stories when I was kid. I went to college and grad school for creative writing. I was doing a lot of prose fiction and things like that.
When I discovered comics in 2000, I was immediately taken by the complexity of the medium and it’s ability to tell stories about characters and things like that. So I was always wanting to be, when I was real little, an artist, but not being real good at it. I saw this as a way to sort of get as close as I could to that original ambition.
I turned to writing as a way to describe in words what I couldn’t draw with my hands. I could write the words and an artist could interpret them and draw them. So it would be as close as I was ever going to get to that original ambition.
Nathan Turner: We have a couple of questions for you, in keeping with the spirit of Comic-Con. What do you believe a Hero is?
Robert Venditti: I would say a Hero is someone who acts selflessly without their own interests at heart; just does what they believe is right at no benefit to them to help others.
Nathan Turner: Do you have any personal Heroes?
Robert Venditti: Growing up, when I was a kid I played a lot of basketball, so Dr.J. was always pretty much an idol of mine because he was a really good player. But, also he was a quality individual. I wasn’t looking for someone who was the flashiest or whatever but someone who was a class act. Those were the kind of individuals that always appealed to me.
Nathan Turner: Why do you believe that Heroism is important in the modern era for posterity for our children and such?
Robert Venditti: Going back to the idea of selflessness; I think if we all started acting in our interest, I think society as a whole would break down at that point. A lot of what we are all about is doing for each other and helping each other and things like that. I really think in some ways the idea of selflessness is what keeps us going forward.
Robert Venditti: You know, if you get to the point where you are doing everything for yourself, I don’t think you can function in an environment like that. I think that’s something that’s actually ingrained in us. I am one of the people that believes that humans are inherently good, not inherently evil. I think it’s a part of us and we’re going to have to let it out.
Nathan Turner: Do you believe that in today’s society there are Heroes that go unnoticed?
Robert Venditti: Yes, absolutely. I’ve always sort of really looked up to blue collar type people, who are really overlooked, like farmers, mechanics or people like that who are able to create and do these things that most people can’t do anymore.
Robert Venditti: There was a time when everyone could fix their car or grow their own food or whatever, but people don’t really do that anymore. There are people who have that sort of knowledge to really create things and do things of substance that we all need to survive, but we really don’t appreciate it. It’s just a given that when the car breaks down someone is going to fix it for us. I always have a lot of respect and admiration for people like that.
Nathan Turner: Wonderful We’ve been talking with Robert Venditti. Thank you Robert.
Robert Venditti: Thank you