Tag: Ben H. Winters

Smash Pages Q&A | The writers of Oni’s new Archie Comics line on Riverdale, reinvention + why these characters endure

Ben H. Winters, Corinna Bechko and Patrick Horvath talk about what it takes to reimagine some of comics’ most enduring characters.

This fall, Oni Press and Archie Comics will launch a new publishing partnership timed to the 85th anniversary of Archie’s first appearance, beginning with Ben H. Winters and Fábio Moon’s Archie #1, followed in October by Corinna Bechko and Kano’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch #1, and then in November by Patrick Horvath and Tyler Crook’s Archie in Hell #1.

Each title is taking a distinct approach to Riverdale, with Winters and Moon leaning into slice-of-life teenage drama, Bechko and Kano exploring a magical coming-of-age story, and Horvath and Crook bringing their horror sensibilities to a cursed version of Archie.

I chatted with the three writers of the new titles about tackling these characters, what has to stay the same and what they felt free to reinvent. In addition, we’re happy to share a first look at the character designs for Archie and Sabrina the Teenage Witch by Moon and Kano.

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Smash Pages Q&A | Ben H. Winters on ‘Benjamin’

The creator of TV’s ‘Tracker’ talks dead sci-fi authors, sunny noir and why comics let you do “any damn crazy-ass thing you want to.”

Ben H. Winters has built a career out of defying easy categorization. He’s the Philip K. Dick Award-winning novelist behind The Last Policeman trilogy and Underground Airlines, a TV writer whose credits include FX’s Legion and Apple TV’s Manhunt, and the creator of Tracker, currently one of the biggest hits on CBS. If that sounds like a lot, it is, yet somehow he’s also found time to dive headfirst into comics.

After contributing to Oni Press’s acclaimed revival of the EC Comics line, Winters has now made his miniseries debut with Benjamin, illustrated by the Leomacs. The book follows Benjamin J. Carp, brilliant, slightly self-destructive sci-fi author who died in 1982, as he wakes up inexplicably alive in 2025 Los Angeles, forced to investigate the impossible mystery of his own existence. It’s surreal, funny and deeply strange in the best possible way. The trade paperback collection of Benjamin is out now from Oni Press.

I got the chance to talk to Winters about how he came to comics, what makes Benjamin tick, and what it’s like to bounce between network television and deeply weird graphic novels. He also let slip some details about what’s coming next.

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