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By Felicia Pride, Blackvoices.com
Method Man is a character. So it's only fitting that the rapper and actor has just released a comic book called, yes you guessed it, 'Method Man' (Grand Central Publishing, July 2008). Through a collaboration with writer David Atchinson and artist, Sanford Greene, the book is a wild ride featuring a weed-smoking private investigator, a religious sect of "murder priests" who are descendents of the Biblical Cain, paranormal creatures, and of course, Meth's native borough Staten Island.
Blackvoices.com chatted with Method Man's "stankin' ass" (his words, not ours) about his comic book, Nat Turner, and the need for a new superhero.
More than Words: "Method Man' dropped a couple of weeks ago. How's the experience been so far?
MM: You'd be surprised at how anal comic book fans are. If you mess up one detail, they call you on it instead of seeing the book as a whole. I'm not acting like I'm trying to be the next Alan Moore. I think I did a good job since it was my first comic book.
DMX Pictures
Rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, is seen in this undated mugshot provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Simmons was arrested Friday, May 9, 2008 -- the second time in a week -- after deputies raided DMX's north Phoenix home. He was indicted on felony drug possession and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. (AP Photo/Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)
AP
This Jan. 21, 2008 image made from a speed camera and provided Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by the Arizona Department of Public Safety shows rapper DMX driving his yellow 1966 Chevrolet at 100 mph in a 65 mph zone on a Scottsdale, Ariz. freeway. The Arizona Department of Public Safety announced DMX's arrest Wednesday, saying they took the rapper/actor, whose real name is Earl Simmons, into custody a day earlier at his north Phoenix home without incident. The identity of the woman in the passenger seat is not known. (AP Photo/Arizona Department of Public Safety)
AP
This undated booking photo provided Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by the Arizona Department of Public Safety shows rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons. DMX was arrested Tuesday, May 6, 2008 after speed-enforcement cameras captured him in his bright yellow 1966 Chevrolet going 114 mph on a suburban Phoenix freeway. (AP Photo/Arizona Department of Public Safety)
AP
This Jan. 21, 2008 image made from a speed camera and provided Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by the Arizona Department of Public Safety shows rapper DMX driving his yellow 1966 Chevrolet at 114 mph in a 65 mph zone on a Scottsdale, Ariz. freeway. The Arizona Department of Public Safety announced DMX's arrest Wednesday, saying they took the rapper/actor, whose real name is Earl Simmons, into custody a day earlier at his north Phoenix home without incident. The woman in the passenger seat is unidentified. (AP Photo/Arizona Department of Public Safety)
AP
This Jan. 21, 2008 image made from a speed camera and provided Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by the Arizona Department of Public Safety shows rapper DMX driving his yellow 1966 Chevrolet at 100 mph in a 65 mph zone on a Scottsdale, Ariz. freeway. The Arizona Department of Public Safety announced DMX's arrest Wednesday, saying they took the rapper/actor, whose real name is Earl Simmons, into custody a day earlier at his north Phoenix home without incident. (AP Photo/Arizona Department of Public Safety)
AP
Japan's electronics giant Sanyo unveils a new waterproof digital movie camera "xacti DMX-CA8", equipped with a 8.12 mega-pixel CMOS image sensor and a 6.3 - 31.7mm/F3.5 - 3.7 zoom lens on its waterproof body,which can be used at a depth of up to 1.5m of water, in Tokyo on April 18, 2008. The new waterproof Xacti will go on sale next month. AFP PHOTO / Yoshikazu TSUNO (Photo credit should read YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
DMX, R.L of The Group Next Jermaine with ASCAP, T-Low of The Group NEXT, Party host Michael Mauldin and R&B Singer Joi at Shop SCAD.The Mauldin Brand Fast Life VIP Power Mixer.Shop SCAD.Atlanta, Georgia United States.July 19, 2007.Photo by Rick Diamond/WireImage.com..To license this image (14549394), contact WireImage:.U.S. +1-212-686-8900 / U.K. +44-207-868-8940 / Australia +61-2-8262-9222 / Germany +49-40-320-05521 / Japan: +81-3-5464-7020.+1 212-686-8901 (fax).info@wireimage.com (e-mail).www.wireimage.com (web site)
WireImage.com
DMX, R.L of The Group Next Jermaine with ASCAP, T-Low of The Group NEXT, Party host Michael Mauldin and R&B Singer Joi at Shop SCAD.The Mauldin Brand Fast Life VIP Power Mixer.Shop SCAD.Atlanta, Georgia United States.July 19, 2007.Photo by Rick Diamond/WireImage.com..To license this image (14549388), contact WireImage:.U.S. +1-212-686-8900 / U.K. +44-207-868-8940 / Australia +61-2-8262-9222 / Germany +49-40-320-05521 / Japan: +81-3-5464-7020.+1 212-686-8901 (fax).info@wireimage.com (e-mail).www.wireimage.com (web site)
WireImage.com
MTW: How
did the collaboration process work with David Atchinson and Sanford Greene?MM: Check our cell phone bills. We got on the phone a lot. Sanford and I are both big comic book fans so we would talk shop. David and I worked more through email.
MTW: The book's concept is rather imaginative. How did you come up with the concept?
MM: I was always thinking that if I made my name into a book how I would flip it. The name 'Method Man' originally came from a group of people who call themselves method men. Sanford took my ideas dealing with the occult and paranormal, and all that and combined them, taped them together and made a decent book.
MTW: How much does the main character, private investigator Peerless Poe resemble the real Method Man?
MM: He's nothing like me. He smokes weed. He drinks and he reeks of marijuana.
MTW: Since we're talking about characters, how was the experience playing Cheese on The Wire?
Method Man: I thought it was cool. I got to know the characters and care about them. I was intrigued by the show. It's a shame it didn't get an Emmy especially as "the best show on television." Maybe America didn't just get it.
MTW: Is 'Method Man' going to be a series?
MM: I want to do more comic books, but not using Method Man or Wu-Tang references. Just so people don't get it twisted. A person picks up my comic book, and is like 'Oh God Method Man's doing a comic book, he must be shooting records out of his hands or using some futuristic, scientific DJ equipment to fight evil.' It's all that hoopla of trying to connect the music world with the comic book world.
MTW: But did you have any music to go with the book, like a soundtrack?
MM: It's funny. You know what kept playing in my head? '100 Miles and Runnin'' by N.W.A.
MTW: Are you working on any new music?
MM: Me and Redman are working on our next album as we speak. The 'Blackout! 2' album.
MTW: Earlier you mentioned you're a comic book fan. What are you reading now?
MM: Right now I'm reading a great book by Kyle Baker called 'Nat Turner.' The art is incredible. I didn't really know Nat Turner's back story like that. Now that I have a sense of who he actually was, it's crazy.
MTW: If you had one superpower, what would it be?
MM: I'm not that much of a geek. But if I had to choose, I might go with immortality. I know it gets lonely, but who cares. I'll live forever.
MTW: What kind of battles do you personally fight?
MM: There probably isn't any artist who hasn't fought with record labels. I also fight stereotypes that all thugs are idiots and don't read books. I could point you to a thousand incarcerated thugs who read all day. [They're] smarter than most people on the outside. Actually, that's the superpower I would have--smashing stereotypes.
1. Hi, I'm from Georgia, and unfortunately hard to write in English, that there is no pity in different languages versions of the site - interesting to read ...
wweddik at 11:32PM on Aug 13th 2008