KG: JLA/Avengers! Man, I have been waiting for this book since I was a kid and finally it’s happening! Also, I think the Ultimate line is a stroke of genius by Marvel. I can’t wait to see Ultimate Fantastic Four. I also really like Supreme Power. Great stuff!

NRAMA: Switching gears a little, let’s move over to movies, or movie, in particular. You met [Underworld director] Len Wiseman on the set of Stargate and hit it off - does he share your interests in comics?

KG: No. Surprisingly, Len is not a comic book geek. When we first met on Stargate we were talking about directors we liked. It wasn’t until we talked a little later that we went ape over genre. He likes comics, but not nearly as much as I do.

NRAMA: So what was the germ of Underworld between the two of you?

KG: The germ of the idea was simply to do a werewolf movie. Nothing more than that. But, we wanted to do something cool. In fact, I originally told him I wasn’t interested given what most people had done with the mythos over the years. However, after thinking about it for a little while I tore a page from my own life as an African-American and some interracial dating I’ve done over the years. I tried to examine how idiotic it was for two races who are essentially the same to be fighting over a stupid thing such as “appearance”. I wanted to hold up a mirror to racist society on both sides of the coin and say, “Both of you are stupid and both of you will destroy yourselves if you keep it up.” However, it wasn’t until Danny McBride came along that the idea began to take on more shape into what you’ll see on screen. He’s a prodigious talent and I think he’s destined to be the top writer in Hollywood real soon.

NRAMA: So how did your comics background influence the film?

KG: I’d have to say their sense of the fantastic. Being able to tell the best of stories using what most would think are simplistic and oft times silly concepts and telling them with a straight face. Think about it. Talking about child abuse using a “Jolly Green Giant” belted by gamma rays. Teenage angst as seen through the eyes of a guy who can climb walls. And talk of racism by people who are born with powers most would kill for. So, Underworld was conceived in a similar creative crucible where the silly was made serious for the sake of telling a more resonant story.

NRAMA: Spill out the story a little more – who’s who and what’s what?

KG: Basically, Selene is what we call a “Death Dealer”. Which is a lycan-hunting group of vampire warriors that have been in existence for hundreds of years. Given that they killed her family years ago when she was human, she has nothing but hatred and contempt in her heart for them.

As far as comic book parallels, comics are full of strong female characters and Selene is just that. There are no direct parallels that I can think of, but do I know probably the most determined fight of any super-heroine I had ever seen was when Supergirl was killed by the Anti-Monitor. She kicked his tail all up and down that planet and sacrificed herself to help save the universe. I like strong female characters.

NRAMA: So, while you were writing Selene as a strong female character, did you write yourself into the film as Raze, or did the guy you cast just not show up one day?

KG: No - Raze was me from the beginning. I wrote it because I make my living as an actor and a sometime stunt man, and wanted to show what I could do. Still, the part had to be whittled down a lot so as not to attract too much attention. The last thing we wanted was for another actor to take the role from me because he had a bigger name. Thank God it all worked out.

NRAMA: You’re pretty much characterized yourself as a Marvel zombie, and you’ve got a vampire hunting other undead creatures. How do you tackle a story like this while given your inspirations and influences, not make it Blade redux?

KG: Well, given my background in science that was easy. Eschew all mysticism and deal with the stories from the standpoint of a virus. Also, tell a different story that’s not driven by the action, but rather the character and the circumstances that surround it. There are always going to be similarities when you’re pulling from the same sources, namely the vampire mythos, but that’s okay. Just tell your own story.

NRAMA: I think either Joss Whedon himself spelled it out, or someone analyzed Buffy once, pointing out that the Scooby Gang was basically a super-hero team. In your view, is there a similar superhero skeleton underneath Underworld’s clothes?

KG: Not really. With these stories you can basically overlay any template or analogy you want and read into what ever you want. The only template I had was my real life dealing with racism and hatred from both sides and Romeo and Juliet.

NRAMA: Did Underworld face any particular challenges in getting made, or did its, albeit subtle, comic ties help it along in the current Hollywood scene?

IDW's Underworld, page 12KG: No, I remember Danny telling me some producer told him that if Underworld was already a comic book they’d have bought it in a heartbeat. Remember, other than Len’s foray into music videos, we were all first timers…unknowns. And who wants to take a chance on unknowns? Fortunately, Skip Williamson, a wonderful guy, saw the script. He shuffled it to his people at Lakeshore, Bic Tran, Stephanie Denton, and of course Gary Lucchesi and Tom Rosenberg and Clint Culpepper at Screen Gems.

But I think by now, everyone knows what comic book fans have known for years. These properties and what has been influenced by them, are marketable.

Aside from that, there were just the typical hurdles you have to endure in the filmmaking process. These range anywhere from producers wanting to change the look of the werewolves to figuring out how to cut the budget while still maintaining story integrity and retaining what’s cool. I can recall one conversation we had with one producer who didn’t want the werewolves to look much different than the vampires. He actually just wanted them to have longer hair and longer fingernails and larger fangs and muttonchops!

He basically wanted the werewolves to look like the Sabertooth from the X-Men. I couldn’t believe it. After that, I always carried a maquette of possibly the coolest werewolf I’d ever seen done by a fantastic sculptor named Jose Fernandez. We took this to every meeting we went on so from here on out producers knew we were talking about bipedal feral creatures and not the Wolf Man. It was this maquette we took to Patrick and he came up with his phenomenal design. Other than that it was a piece of cake!

NRAMA: You and Len are just two of some better known Hollywood-based comic book fans. Why do you think there’s such a concentration? Is it something along the lines of many creative people, who’re now in Hollywood as kids or teens, gravitated to comics and still have a soft spot for them, or is it more of comics are just good fodder for Hollywood, and they are, until now, a relatively untapped resource?

KG: I’d say all of the above. Getting into comics is still like getting into Area 51…maybe a little harder. But if you still have a creative streak in you what are you going to do to keep it going? Moviemaking and getting into video games are the only alternatives, and maybe writing sci-fi novels. As far as Hollywood’s affinity for them, it’s simple commerce. People within a certain demographic are engaged in this kind of activity, the film industry caters to that. It’s good business and in recent years it’s worked.

NRAMA: Do you ever find yourself surprised when you find out that someone else you know is a comics fan?

KG: Oh yeah. It’s almost like comic fandom is a fraternity or a secret brotherhood or something, but no one knows who the members are until you exhibit some bit of trivia known only by a few. When I did Planet Of The Apes, there was a make-up guy, Bart Mixon over at Cinovation which is Rick Baker’s shop, who was wearing this Fantastic Four t-shirt with Black Bolt on it. When I saw it I yelled, “Fantastic Four #46!” Which was the issue number the print was taken from. He smiled and dapped me up and we’ve been friends ever since.

Funny as it sounds, I think comic book guys have been able to come out of the closet now because there’s no longer a stigma about being a geek. When you find out some 6’5” football player reads Iron Man before the game or the popular campus student president reads Batman on a regular basis, your perception of what a geek is changes. But, still I find it fun when I run into someone who reads comics.

NRAMA: Given your perspective, why are we seeing so much interest in comics as a whole from Hollywood today? Are the people coming into power in studios now the generation that was strongly influenced by comics in the ‘70s and ‘80s?

KG: I think there are some filmmakers and studio execs who are bringing in their “fandom”, sure that can be part of it. However, I think the real reason is because comics, or more specifically comic book characters, like the old myths, are representatives of the human condition taken to the extreme and given a fantasy twist. That’s what I tried to do from the beginning with Underworld. Take the ugliness of racism and interracial hatred and tell the story using werewolves and vampires as an allegory. These things coupled with the fact that comic book movies are a great platform by which to showcase new and burgeoning CG special effects and you have a winning combination.

NRAMA: You’re on the inside, and have even had roles in direct comics adaptations Do you see comics movies as a trend that will die out eventually, or a new genre that is growing and becoming incorporated into the larger framework?

KG: I don’t know. Hollywood is a vastly creative industry, but it’s also an industry ruled by fear. Amidst all the recent comic book movie successes, all it would take is for one comic film to fail and producers will run scared. The fortunate thing is that there are certain producers out there who are savvy enough to understand what comics have been able to illustrate to audiences for years and convey what’s poignant about them to film.

I look at filmmakers like Bryan Singer who told the perfect story for the X-Men movie. Sam Raimi on Spider-Man who actually was able to bring Spider-Man to life. And of course we can’t forget what Richard Donner did with Superman. That’s still one of my all time favorites. Is this comics-to-movies era a trend? Probably. But as long as you get talented filmmakers like Ang Lee, Ralph Winter, Michael France and David S. Goyer working on these films, comics will be viewed as intelligent and mindblowing rather than juvenile fodder.

NRAMA: In your view, what are some untapped gems still out there in the comic industry that would make good movies?

KG: I think 100 Bullets would make a good film. I’d also like to see Captain America and Alias. I tell you what I’d really like to see, classic comic storylines made into feature length animated films. I mean on the level of Ghost In The Shell, Akira, Ninja Scroll, Wicked City or even The Iron Giant. Just imagine Crisis On Infinite Earths and Kingdom Come directed by Mamoru Oshii. Or the Kree/Skrull War, or the Galactus Trilogy done by Hiroyuki Kitakubo?

They’d be phenomenal.

NRAMA: So, all this said, are you looking to handle/produce a comic book adaptation of a known character, or are you more interested in building your own characters and properties, knowing that they were inspired by comics?

KG: I’d have to say both. Years ago I wrote a Black Panther script on spec. This is when Jon Jashni over at Giant Pictures was running the project, but as you know the film never went anywhere. I’d love to take a crack at something else soon. We’ll see what happens.

NRAMA: Moving off of films, you’ve recently founded Dark Storm Studios – what’s that all about?

KG: DarkStorm represents the culmination of the love, ideas and concepts I’ve had for comics and science fiction since childhood. I’m trying to create what others before me have done, what we all thought about doing as kids, which is create our own universe of characters through which we can tell the types of stories that excite us. I know there have been many comic book companies over the years that have started and died, but you know what? I’m doing this for me, for my love of comics. If it doesn’t make a dime, so be it. But I’ll still happy because I got to play in a sand box of my own making. And as a creator I create for myself first and hope others enjoy what I’m doing.

Right now, I’m at the re-write stage with a lot of my scripts. I have a military sci-fi I’m finishing now as well as two children’s action-adventures. Plus I’m working with two talented gentlemen Mike Kunkel and Scott Sava who created the Astonish Factory. They’ve created properties like Herobear and the Kid, and The Lab, both wonderful projects. We’re also working on a host of animated projects both computer generated and standard, as well as all-ages comic books. We’re having fun. Lord willing everything will turn out well.

NRAMA: So, wrapping up, have comics ruined you for life?

KG: Definitely. I’m hooked for life. Like I said before, you can use superheroes to explore a myriad of socio-political, race and religious allegories. For me as a writer, the story possibilities are endless. What else is more creative on a fantasy level than comics?