Who are you & what do you do?

I’m Merrill Hagan. I’m a writer and a producer. I’ve been lucky enough to write for comic books, television, video games, websites, magazines and even one coloring book.

I wrote on “Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law” and “Stroker & Hoop” for [adult swim]. I’ve written issues of “Spider-Man,” “Ben 10: Alien Force” and “GI Joe.” And I have some fun new projects coming out. And if you have the Robot Chicken DVDs, you can see me prance around like an asshole.

I’m usually dorking around at @MerrillHagan or www.MerrillHagan.com if you want to know more.

Who influenced you creatively to get you to this point?

Elmore Leonard is a huge influence on all of my writing. Probably my favorite of his books is “Tishomingo Blues,” but “Freaky Deaky” is not far behind. I am very fascinated with characters who are trying to recapture former glory or who portray false confidence. I am pretty sure that Leonard is the first writer who made me think about those kinds of character traits, but to be honest, Jim Carrey’s comedy in the 90’s is almost always built on one of those two qualities. And you can see it a lot in the Coen Brothers work as well. Failures are a lot more interesting to me as people than successes. Steve Martin’s written work is also a huge influence in terms of character building.

Stylistically, Quentin Tarantino is a big influence, as well as Sam Raimi. In terms of comedy and cartoons, every animation professional is influenced by Looney Tunes, especially Chuck Jones. Charles Schulz is amazing at blending pathos and comedy. Ben Edlund (and his “offspring” Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer) are about the best comedy cartoon writers currently. The original writing team on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” changed my life completely.

As far as comic books go, Grant Morrison is always super interesting. His run on New X-Men is endlessly fascinating to me. Steve Englehart is a gigantic influence. I really love his run on “Detective Comics.” Walt Simonson and Brian Michael Bendis are great and anytime Dan Slott gets his hands on Spider-Man, you need to pay attention.

What books are in your pull-list?

I buy way too many monthlies! I have been getting almost everything Jonathan Hickman puts out, but “Secret Warriors” is probably my favorite of his books. I get “Amazing Spider-Man,” a bunch of Geoff Johns’ DC stuff (especially “The Flash”), and Grant Morrison’s “Batman and Robin.” “Ultimate Spider-Man” is probably the best it has ever been right now. And I feel bad for anyone not reading “Jonah Hex” or “The Walking Dead.” Plus, I always get “GI Joe: Origins” if for nothing else than to see Tom Feister’s beautiful covers. And anytime I see John Romita Jr draw anything, I buy it.

What would you change about your industry and why?

Every industry has its problems. Clearly, comics are not everywhere where we as fans would want them to be. And they are not always the most accessible item to get into. But on the other hand, I can’t tell you the number of people I know who would normally never read comics but they love “The Walking Dead” or “Scott Pilgrim.” Would X-Men and Batman sell more if they were on a spinner rack at 7-11 or front and center at Target? It is easy to believe that they would, but who knows?

I want to do a smaller indie book but I am not sure that distributing a 22 page book to stores with a D-list writer like myself will work anymore. I think the future for indies may be releasing free or incredibly discounted “monthlies” on the internet and then charging for the trade collection when it is printed. It is something I think about a lot.

I also think that a lot of the fun and goofy stuff we love about comics doesn’t happen enough and people try to go too dark because they have confused seriousness with importance.

Comics are an incredibly tough industry and most people are in it because they love it. It certainly isn’t for the money. And the fanbase is incredibly passionate. And there’s certainly a broader interest in work based off of comics. So how do we merge all that together to make people actually want to buy comics?

What is your dream gig?

I’ve been very fortunate in that I have had many of my dream gigs come true. I still can’t believe that I got to take part in “Harvey Birdman” and that I got to have amazing actors, like Gary Cole, Stephen Colbert and Paget Brewster, perform my work. I’ve gotten to write for a lot of my favorite comic characters. But when dream comes true, you just have to dream of the next thing and keep going.

My next goal is to take on an extended run on a series. I would love to get my hands on a Batman or Blue Beetle or The Runaways for at least 8 issues or so and just let it rip.

I also have a few original characters that I have created either by myself or with the amazing Aubrey Sitterson that I would love to write for. My dream would be to a full-time comic writer, but I think I am still a few years away from that happening.