Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, control, matt hawkins, think tank, top cow

Matt Hawkins, From Think Tank To Control

Published Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:00:34 -0500

Ryan Klingman talks to Top Cow President/COO Matt Hawkins about his current Top Cow mini-series Think Tank:

Matt Hawkins is not and has never been in the military, but if you picked up an issue of Think Tank you might guess the opposite. Debuting in August from Image and Top Cow, Think Tank is filled with what seems like sensitive militaristic information. It is also filled with witty, snarky writing and an intriguing plotline. This combination has made Matt Hawkin's comic a hit. I made my way over to Image's booth at NYCC to see if I could meet Matt and find out if anyone was leaking him info from our nation's military.

Ryan Klingman: Where did all the military information from the book come from? Do you work for the military?
Matt Hawkins: Uh, No I don't. My dad was an Officer in the Air Force for 25 years, he was an Engineer. I have a Physics Masters, so I went to Cal Tech and I know a lot of these guys.

RK: Cal Tech, that's where the main character went (to college) in the comic?
MH: A lot of that, yeah, it's my own personal knowledge.

RK: (You're) a smart guy then?
MH: I've been told that. (laughing) I'm not as smart as the character, I haven't been in the science field in about fifteen years, but I know a lot of guys. One of my friend's from high school works for a think tank and does a lot of this stuff and I've talked to him about it. I mean there's nothing I'm doing that's classified, a lot of that's available online, but it's pretty crazy stuff.

RK: What made you transition to comics then?
MH: You know when I graduated college in the early 90's it was the end of the Cold War and there were not a lot of science based jobs available and I sort of moved into banking work because I wanted to stay in Los Angeles because of a girl. I haven't seen that girl in nineteen years so that was a bad choice. I met the Image Comics founders in 92 and started working with them and I've worked with them ever since.

RK: What did you do previous before Think Tank?
MH: I did Lady Pendragon back in the late 90's, last eight or nine years I haven't done any writing. I was married, had two children, got divorced, was very busy.

RK: (Getting Divorced) That always gets you working again.
MH: Yeah, I'm really excited. I'm doing Think Tank, I'm doing Cyber Force. I'm doing a new book called Control that's sort of a eugenics storyline. It's about a biochemist in Georgetown. So, it's a lot of crazy stuff.

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