Josh Dysart AMA on Reddit 18 August @ 10am PST

[Phoenix8008]

Joshua Dysart is scheduled to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on http://www.Reddit.com/r/comicbooks - starting today at 10am PST. Similar to the chats done recently with Jim Shooter, anyone can sign up free for Reddit and be able to participate in conversing with Josh today. I'm not sure how long it's scheduled to go on for, so if you're interested, you've got about 90 mins to join up on Reddit. Sorry for the late notice.

[Sven the Returned]

Joshua Dysart is scheduled to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on http://www.Reddit.com/r/comicbooks - starting today at 10am PST. Similar to the chats done recently with Jim Shooter, anyone can sign up free for Reddit and be able to participate in conversing with Josh today. I'm not sure how long it's scheduled to go on for, so if you're interested, you've got about 90 mins to join up on Reddit. Sorry for the late notice.

PST is what US timezone?

[Psiot X]

Joshua Dysart is scheduled to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on http://www.Reddit.com/r/comicbooks - starting today at 10am PST. Similar to the chats done recently with Jim Shooter, anyone can sign up free for Reddit and be able to participate in conversing with Josh today. I'm not sure how long it's scheduled to go on for, so if you're interested, you've got about 90 mins to join up on Reddit. Sorry for the late notice.

PST is what US timezone?

PST - Pacific Standard Time.

[Nairbe]

Pacific Standard Time (West Coast).

[Psiot X]

Pacific Standard Time (West Coast).

When things like this happen. I always wish I had the time in seconds just to see how close I beat the buzzer by...

[Phoenix8008]

It should be starting about 45 mins from now. When there's a direct link to it, I'll post it here. I think Josh will be creating the first post on /r/comicbooks himself at the appointed time.

[Psiot X]

It should be starting about 45 mins from now. When there's a direct link to it, I'll post it here. I think Josh will be creating the first post on /r/comicbooks himself at the appointed time.

And thanks for posting this Pheonix8008.

[Phoenix8008]

Here's the link to the AMA!

https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/com ... harbinger/

[Elveen]

Pacific Standard Time (West Coast).

The West Side is the best side!

[Psiot X]

If you can't see Josh Dysart's replies, look at the comment section of his profile. Here is a direct link to help those struggling with the issue: https://www.reddit.com/user/JoshuaDysart/comments/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jaden_sai]

–]DeathChasesMe 2 points 19 minutes ago

Mr. Dysart, I have a hundred questions to ask you. I live in Korea though and can't stay up -too- late though so I'm going to post them all here (Though in different posts). Hopefully I don't irritate you with the flood! Take your time in answering any that you'd care too.

A while back you said that you had a story you wanted to tell about Peter after Harbinger but were unable too because 'Valiant had other plans'. Will we ever see this story? If not can you tell us what it might have been?

[–]JoshuaDysart 2 points 7 minutes ago

Thanks for staying up late!

I think you might be talking about the fact that I was slated to do the return of the Harbinger book, which is now being written by Rafer.

Ultimately two things derailed that book.

I had just returned from Iraq and was overwhelmed by material that I needed to get out which was slowing down my productivity (though this really wasn't an issue, since we see now how long it took for the new book to hit).

Editorial and I were not seeing eye to eye on the future direction of the book. Personally, I think we were seeing eye-to-eye, and they just weren't trusting me on it, but that's how it goes. We ended totally amicably, obviously, and in all fairness, it's probably best that someone else took over instead of branding me as the only guy to ever write that book.

I don't think you'll ever get to see the end of my Peter story, his arc of redemption, because it's not my story to tell anymore. And it wouldn't be fair to the current creative team. It's theirs now. I'm sure they'll do a bang-up job.

But I won't lie. Spending all of those years building up the Peter story with the intention of turning him into a good, likable character who had found his way, only to have the story yanked out from under me right as we were in the final stretch, so that all I got to tell was "disaffected *SQUEE* Peter" stories. It did change my relationship with the publisher a great deal. I still love Valiant, but I've been decreasing my workload for them ever since. I'll be back in the fold eventually, but that's the one event that really made me think how much better it is to do your own thing than to work for someone else.

This...

He does say he will be back in the fold eventually...

[Baramos]

I wonder if he wanted to kill off Peter and they wouldn't let him? It's too bad they didn't let him bring the character in for landing, as a reader I would've been on board for whatever he had planned!

[Baramos]

A lot of his replies are starting to show up but it's a slow process apparently. Some of his newer ones are still just on his profile page.

[TheeBaldMoose]

If you can't see Josh Dysart's replies, look at the comment section of his profile. Here is a direct link to help those struggling with the issue: https://www.reddit.com/user/JoshuaDysart/comments/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like all his answers are closed down too.

[Psiot X]

Dysart's profile page has just disappeared (gone 404) as if deleted... What is going on over there? Can't see his answers at all right now. (Me is dying)

–]DeathChasesMe 2 points 19 minutes ago

Mr. Dysart, I have a hundred questions to ask you. I live in Korea though and can't stay up -too- late though so I'm going to post them all here (Though in different posts). Hopefully I don't irritate you with the flood! Take your time in answering any that you'd care too.

A while back you said that you had a story you wanted to tell about Peter after Harbinger but were unable too because 'Valiant had other plans'. Will we ever see this story? If not can you tell us what it might have been?

[–]JoshuaDysart 2 points 7 minutes ago

Thanks for staying up late!

I think you might be talking about the fact that I was slated to do the return of the Harbinger book, which is now being written by Rafer.

Ultimately two things derailed that book.

I had just returned from Iraq and was overwhelmed by material that I needed to get out which was slowing down my productivity (though this really wasn't an issue, since we see now how long it took for the new book to hit).

Editorial and I were not seeing eye to eye on the future direction of the book. Personally, I think we were seeing eye-to-eye, and they just weren't trusting me on it, but that's how it goes. We ended totally amicably, obviously, and in all fairness, it's probably best that someone else took over instead of branding me as the only guy to ever write that book.

I don't think you'll ever get to see the end of my Peter story, his arc of redemption, because it's not my story to tell anymore. And it wouldn't be fair to the current creative team. It's theirs now. I'm sure they'll do a bang-up job.

But I won't lie. Spending all of those years building up the Peter story with the intention of turning him into a good, likable character who had found his way, only to have the story yanked out from under me right as we were in the final stretch, so that all I got to tell was "disaffected *SQUEE* Peter" stories. It did change my relationship with the publisher a great deal. I still love Valiant, but I've been decreasing my workload for them ever since. I'll be back in the fold eventually, but that's the one event that really made me think how much better it is to do your own thing than to work for someone else.

This...

He does say he will be back in the fold eventually...

Ouch. My favorite Valiant writer...

[Baramos]

If you can't see Josh Dysart's replies, look at the comment section of his profile. Here is a direct link to help those struggling with the issue: https://www.reddit.com/user/JoshuaDysart/comments/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like all his answers are closed down too.

Yeah, I wish I hadn't navigated away from it! I could have copy-pasted some of them in here for people.

They are slowly showing up in the thread, fortunately.

EDIT: I've asked about three or four questions, he's answered at least one so I'm certainly satisfied! I did ask him about the "three born activated psiots" so maybe we'll finally get a little more elucidation on that (if he can do it without giving away something about Generation Zero).

I have to go to work so you guys keep asking some good questions!

[Psiot X]

I think we need to talk Josh Dysart back into visiting these forums again for a while.

[TheeBaldMoose]

I agree, it's been just about an hour, and I haven't seen an update. Just as well, it looks like his page is still down

[Phoenix8008]

Greetings Mr. Dysart. I'm a huge fan of your work for Valiant. Harbinger is my favorite series from them so far. Can you give us any hints as to what your next project at Valiant might be?

The next thing will be something that fully and completely wraps up the last thing!
Also, I've turned in a fun little one shot for a character I've not really written for in the past. Not sure when that will see the light of day. Because it's a one-shot, it's more light and open and built to let the artist dance. So hopefully it'll be a gorgeous little comic book that you can stare at a lot.

Very glad to hear that you'll be continuing the story of the psiots on one side or the other of the hero/villain line. I was kind of hoping that you might be involved in the upcoming Psi-Lords that VEI teased in the FCBD book. Whatever your next project for Valiant is, I await it eagerly. I hold up your Harbinger run to folks as an example of some of the best comic book writing in recent years.

Thank you! Well, I hope that whatever I end up doing in the future for Valiant can compete with that Harbinger run. There was an energy there because it was one of the early books. One of the reasons for the break is that when I come back, I can come back with that same kind of energy for something else in their universe.

[Baramos]

He may have answered it before, but he answered it again, in any case:

Hello Mr. Dysart!

I'm not sure if you can clarify this as it may also play into a book Mr. Van Lente is working on (Generation Zero), but it was stated in Harbinger that there were three Psiots born activated. At this juncture we know of Peter and Darpan. Was Harada supposed to be the third, and he was just deceptive about the fact that he was activated at Hiroshima? Or did you always intend to reveal the third at a later point in time?

This is a question that gets asked a lot on Valiant forums so if you can clarify it without giving anything away that would be great!

Harada has tried to pimp himself as one of the three, but as you've indicated, he's lying.

A third has not yet been revealed.

I also asked him about the main themes of Imperium:

The final line of Imperium is "The war, from the beginning, has been lost."

Is it because Harada, with all his powers, is simply not strong enough to go against all the governments of the world? Or is it something deeper? He seems to be fighting against human nature itself. And he's also fighting against his own nature.

Civilizations have been built on war crimes and crimes against humanity (such as experimenting on the pregnant woman), but he wants to build a utopia. Is it possible for one to exist when its pillars are built on things of that nature? Or has his willingness to compromise to such a degree doomed it to failure from the beginning?

My friend. You are the perfect Imperium reader.

Let's approach your last paragraph fist. That is one of the central tenants behind Imperium. I don't know the answer. Imperium is about the inherent tangled knot of progress and violence. How one does not seem to exist without the other. Imperium is me wrestling, to some degree, with this idea.

Now, your question about the last line at the end of the book.

Yes, all of the above. You answered it perfectly. All of those things have conspired against Harada, and not the least of his enemies has been himself.

He's really a great writer to create such thought-provoking comics.

[Psiot X]

While he will likely never see it over here, I would like to thank him for taking so much time through the day to chat with Valiant fans and answer questions. It was an awesome thing to do.

[Phoenix8008]

Barring any changes, we also have an AMA for Fred Van Lente scheduled for Thursday, August 25th, at r/Comicbooks.

[jmatt]

Great stuff, thanks for posting it.