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SPINDLE: Writing is typically considered a solitary endeavor, but comic books are often a collaborative effort between the writer(s), artist(s) and editor(s). How much does your sense of control vary from project to project, collaborator to collaborator?
Brandon: I've been lucky enough that for whatever reason, I'm able to keep my control (for lack of a better word) in most situations... when I have ideas that are not script-specific they tend not to be superfluous, I guess... and my collaborators have almost always embraced them. I get absurdly passionate about certain elements that other writers would never think about... design, color, etc...
The great thing is that so far even the people who employ me to write for their existing properties have allowed and encouraged me to bring more to the table than just the writing... I guess the luxury (or curse) of being offered the job when you're clearly the odd duck, so to speak... is that your editors know your process is different... it's why they called you in the first place.
SPINDLE: What's your ideal setup?
Brandon:The ideal is hard to nail down as it varies on any project and with any collaborator. I'm working now with some amazing talent who have their own careers and aren't interested in "breaking in"... they're really only drawing comics for me. So my goals on those books are very different... if they only do one book this year, I'm worried about what their ideal is... I'm trying to create the perfect collaboration to bring out their best work.
 SPINDLE: In NYC Mech: Let's Electrify and Beta Love (both co-written with Miles Gunter and illustrated by Andy MacDonald), you present a city completely populated by robots -- visually, at least -- but instead of sci-fi, you deliver a straight-up urban crime drama, and introduce one of the more compelling female leads in comics, Nika. What's her story?
Brandon: Nika is in many ways a reaction to a lot of the front-loading writers do with character design... they wear their extremely predictable ideals (or nefarious intentions) on their sleeves, and we wanted a character who was hard to classify along those lines. In my life, I've met people who were hated, but I've never met anyone who's defined themselves as evil... but in fiction, you can't throw a rock without finding someone wringing their hands together. We wanted a character who might reflect (to a degree, at least) the moral ambiguity inherent in just about anyone I've ever met.
SPINDLE: In The Cross Bronx (co-created with artist Michael Avon Oeming), you added a supernatural angle to the urban crime drama, with Detective Rafael Aponte forced to reexamine his beliefs when confronted with an avenging angel. What do you believe in?
Brandon: I'm fairly passive on religion... I think the modern state of religion, those for and against it, is very political... there's a party line to toe and people tend to line up their beliefs appropriately. I wasn't raised into any religion, but the public faces of atheism have their own equally condescending and judgmental horse in that race. I didn't grow up with the kind of background that leads to either of those extremes, so I'm mostly the passive observer. In general, I'm a lot more interested in ideas than I am in policy or rallying... and while I wasn't raised with religion, I'm not averse to it, either, as an abstract.
SPINDLE: Your work has featured a diverse cast of characters while avoiding easy stereotypes, especially relative to what most people are used to from comic books. Why is it seemingly so rare in comics to have a minority lead, or predominantly minority cast?
Brandon: I think like anything it boils down to the horrible state of sociopolitical awareness in this country... most of the more popular ethnic characters reek of patronizing life-lessons to the audience, even if they're ostensibly created with good intentions. For my own part, I'm just trying to create compelling characters.
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