War Rocket Ajax #151: Jai Nitz Talks ‘Dream Thief’ And More!

War Rocket Ajax is back this week with an all-new episode, and this week, we're talking to Jai Nitz, writer of Dream Thief from Dark Horse Comics! You've probably seen Nitz's work all over the place from DC, Dynamite, and his self-published, Xeric-winning Paper Museum. We talk to him about his new book, his namesake in Scalped and the trials of putting your family members in a Batman comic -- and you can listen to the whole show right here at ComicsAlliance!War Rocket Ajax #151: Sporty Active Touching with Jai Nitz

(WARNING: Contains NSFW language)

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This week, Chris and Matt are freed from any lingering curses, but that doesn't mean it's all fun times. Chris in particular is back from another harrowing trip to South of the Border and their brand-new Reptile Lagoon, and no one returns from that the way they left.

When Jai joins us, the conversation turns to the trials and tribulations of writing friends into Batman:

In each issue of The Batman Strikes, I can show you where I named a character after somebody in my family or someone who played for the Indianapolis Colts. Almost down the line in every issue.

My family, they think that this, something like Batman Strikes, is Batman. It doesn't mean anything else to them, nevermind that it's the lowest-selling Batman title that DC's publishing at the time, nevermind that it's based on an animated series that they wouldn't even recognize or know anything about the designs from Jeff Matsuda, they know it's Batman. So the fact that I would include their names in this comic, man, they just could not believe it.

Then I ran into the traditional problem that comes from that. You invariably have someone going "Well why wasn't I in there?" And they don't mean it funny. You stop for a second like "Oh, well I'll get around to... no, I'm not ever going to name a character afer you. I write for a living, I'm trying to tell an interesting story, and your name's dumb." You stop every argument that you were about to make and just go "yeah, I'm not going to do that anymore." And I'll just pick phony names out, because my own family, as much as they love it, would be like "when am I gonna be famous?"

Show Notes:

Follow Jai Nitz on Twitter, and check out Dream Thief on May 15.

The Interrobang is a useful symbol (and the logo of the Fake AP Stylebook).

Ryan North's B to the F novelization review is amazing.

The SOTB Reptile Lagoon:

They never moved.

Chris's Rec: The Fogelnest Files

Matt's Rec: Skyfall

Comics Reviews:

Justice League #18: "I really ended up thinking this was a pretty decent issue. It's essentially a recruitment issue." "It feels like a lot of Avengers issues." "In terms of premise and in terms of the beats, it feels a lot like a Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League issue, too. Nobody sits around a table with trading cards."

The Private Eye #1: "It goes without saying that Marcos Martin draws the hell out of this thing." "If this were just a download of a Marcos Martin sketchbook, I'd still buy it. It's gorgeous."

Action Comics #18: "If they put one frame of Henry Cavill with a lion head into the Man of Steel trailer, then all of my misgivings would be gone." "The thematic thing that runs through all of Morrison's Superman work is something that so many people who write Superman don't do. Instead of creating problems for Superman to solve by punching them away, he creates problems for Superman to solve by inspiring other people."