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 KryptonSite
Interview With Smallville Magazine Editor Richard Matthews
November
2004 - Interview conducted by Craig Byrne (PlanetKrypton@aol.com)
The Official Smallville Magazine, published by Titan,
was launched in Summer 2004 with a special Yearbook issue. The
monthly magazine began in September 2004, with issue #2 currently
on newsstands everywhere.
The
magazine's editor, Richard Matthews, was kind enough
to take the time to speak with KryptonSite and talk about the
publication and the production of it. Enjoy!
KRYPTONSITE:
What other publications were you involved with before taking
on editorship of the Official Smallville Magazine for
Titan?
RICH
MATTHEWS: Here at Titan, before I took on Smallville,
I was the editor of the Official Hellboy Magazine in
the US and the UK, and I also [in the UK] have done Star
Wars comic and Batman Adventures, which are actually
comic reprints, but they're quite popular here. Before that,
I have had many different avenues that I've worked in; I used
to work at the English National Film Theatre and I did their
members' booklet, which is a very detailed breakdown and critical
description of all the films that were showing. Immediately
before that, my previous job was at the Daily Telegraph newspaper
working primarily on the website as an editor on one of the
Arts sections and Techology sections.
K-SITE:
How were you selected as the editor of the magazine?
RM:
There was an interview for a general editor and I applied for
it, because I knew that Titan did magazines that specialize
in an area that, sadly enough, I admit that I'm quite keen on.
[Laughs] So they laid out all their magazines and they
said, is there any show here that you think we don't cover that
we should? And I said well, I think you need a Smallville
magazine, not knowing that, in fact, the magazine that they
had coming up was Smallville.
K-SITE:
So you were a fan of the series?
RM:
I already watched it. I certainly didn't anticipate ending up
editing a magazine about it, which is probably a good way of
doing it. I did just watch the show but I didn't religiously
seek out doing the magazine. It was serendipitous, really. Like
everybody else, I had watched the show, and I was kind of skeptical
about it, actually. I didn't really like the idea of Lex Luthor
knowing Clark in Smallville, but I watched it because it had
Annette O'Toole in it, and Bo Duke from Dukes of Hazzard,
so that casting really paid off. I knew of John Glover as well,
although he wasn't a regular at that point. I've told Al and
Miles, that they just turned me around, basically, 'cause their
show is really good. So, they convinced me. And by the time
I got to - I think it was Insurgence, actually, with the Daily
Planet leap - I started to buy into it hook, line, and sinker,
and then after seeing Rosetta I was making geeky statements
like "This is my favorite show ever!"
K-SITE:
Have any of the interviews in the magazine surprised you with
how well they turned out?
RM: I've
been pleasantly surprised at how generous Tom has been with
his time, because he's extremely busy, and he is on set every
day, in virtually every scene, and yet, on two occasions now,
he's found time to sit down with us for long periods, first
with me and then with Paul Simpson, which is coming up in issue
#4, giving up a good half hour, 45 minutes, and being eloquent
and detailed, and just generally a mine of information. And
given the circumstances, that's really very pleasing. Coming
up we've got Margot Kidder, which was done just prior to Christopher
Reeve's death, so we may or may not have a quote from her on
that. We're asking her agent, but the interview itself was already
complete. It's actually now running in issue #5. It was meant
to be in issue #4, but the Christopher Reeve tribute has gone
into issue #4 in its place, because we felt it was more appropriate
to have that covered properly before we ran Margot, basically.
 K-SITE:
What is the most difficult part of producing the magazine?
RM:
The lead-in time. Because it's an official magazine, there is
an approval process that people involved with the show, like
Al and Miles, get to see the pages and give it feedback. Now
the problem with that is it means we are six to seven weeks
ahead all the time, so our news sections have to be tailored
to carry information that often refers to things that have just
aired. That only really became a problem when Christopher Reeve
died, because he died two weeks before issue #2 actually hits
newsstands, but it had already gone to press.
K-SITE:
How did things turn out with handling the Christopher Reeve
situation?
RM: The
actual result is that in issue #3, my editorial talks about
it, and then there's a proper obituary with a comment by Jeph
Loeb, and then in issue #4, you get the full six-page tribute
and also the news section carries tributes from the show and
DC people as well. So, issue #4 is kind of the Christopher Reeve
issue. With an exclusive chat with Tom as well!
K-SITE:
Because the two characters are so popular here at KryptonSite,
are there any possibilities that we might see covers featuring
Lionel Luthor or Chloe Sullivan?
RM:
It depends. You know we do the Diamond exclusive covers. Issue
#3's newsstand cover is Kristin, and the Diamond exclusive is
Michael and John [Glover]. And then for issue #4, because we've
got a really expansive and long interview with Tom, which is
Q and A, which we've not done with him before because he just
gave us so much, he is the newsstand cover. They did a shoot
with him where he's on a black background with a black t-shirt,
and we've chosen a photo where you can hardly see the background,
so its a head shot with great eye contact. That's the newsstand,
but that issue also carries our first monthly Allison Mack interview,
so the Diamond exclusive has a cover with her and Tom on it.
K-SITE:
Is it true that Ezra Small might be showing up as a feature
in the magazine?
RM:
At the moment the editorial process has begun on getting Ezra
into the magazine. The man who wrote the Ezra material for the
website has come on board very recently, and we hope Ezra will
appear in issue #5.
K-SITE:
Is there anyone at Smallville who you deal with that
has made things easier for you?
RM:
Jeph [Loeb] is a very cool guy, and he's been very helpful to
me. I've had the distinct pleasure of meeting everybody, virtually,
that works on the show in Los Angeles, and across the board
they're a fantastic bunch of people. And I know that sounds
creeping, but they were very open and very generous with their
time. They needn't have been; they could easily keep a journalist
at arms length. But on day to day business, it's always a pleasure
to receive a pithy e-mail from Jeph. Al and Miles are very cool
and very open to helping me with things, but their assistant,
Neil Sadhu has also been very helpful. Honestly, across the
board - I got to spend at least a couple of days in the writers'
room while they were breaking stories, and they didn't have
to do that. And at my end, Paul Simpson has been particularly
resourceful.
K-SITE:
Are there any more writer interviews coming up in the magazine?
RM:
Issue #5 has got Miles on directing "Memoria." Issue
#6 has got Jeph Loeb, a full interview. Issue #8 will have Steve
DeKnight in it, we hope. Issue #9 has Part One of a two-part
set of interviews which focus on the writers. There's gonna
be plenty of material. We're very focused on keeping a balance
between the stars of the show, the actors, the supporting actors,
and the behind-the-scenes team. The actors will say the writers
are key, and the writers will say the actors are key, so you've
gotta keep a nice balance.
You
can subscribe to Smallville Magazine by calling Express Mags
at 1-877-363-1310 or by visiting
http://www.expressmag.com/pages/products.asp?pr=1&id=2SMALL
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Interview
conducted by Craig Byrne
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