It's April 11 of 2015, and Marvel Studios/Netflix's Daredevil tv series is already out and ready to be watch! But, as many of you might know, Italy is one of the fewest country that don't have access to the Netflix portal...and that's sad: too much sad...and too much sadness will certanly kill you, like Freddie Mercury said once (or love was?). So, while we wait the arrival of the tv series based on Marvel's Man Without Fear to be aired and dubbed on some Italian streaming site, let's celebrate the coming of this newest Marvel tv serial by interviwing one of my favorite blogger ever: Christine Hanefalk, owner of The Other Murdock's Paper, a fan site blog based on Daredevil that every Daredevil Italian's fan need to know, if they consider themselves true hardcore DD fans!
Before to start, I would like to inform everyone's who reading, that this post is realesed in two version: one in English, and another one in Italian. Why? Because the English one is for Christine's fans and the Italian one for my fans...if they are some around. Ora state leggendo quella in Inglese, ma se non vi sentite a vostro agio con questa versione e ne volete una in Italiano, cliccate qui!
And that's it guys. Now, presetation's over: let's get started with Christine Hanefalk's interview!
Before to start, I would like to inform everyone's who reading, that this post is realesed in two version: one in English, and another one in Italian. Why? Because the English one is for Christine's fans and the Italian one for my fans...if they are some around. Ora state leggendo quella in Inglese, ma se non vi sentite a vostro agio con questa versione e ne volete una in Italiano, cliccate qui!
And that's it guys. Now, presetation's over: let's get started with Christine Hanefalk's interview!
Q.1: First of all Christine, thanks for accepting this interview: it's a real pleasure to have you here as a guest. And you know? You're much more than a guest: you're the first foreign blogger that this dumbass is interviewing! You are free do feel honored (or dishonored, as you wish). By the way, are you ready to get stalked? Yeah, I know: it's an awful joke, but please laugh just to make me happy.
I'm happy to do the interview and to be your first foreign guest!
Q.2: Is this the first time that a person form another country ask some questions about your blog? And how does it feel to be interviewed by someone for another country for your work on The Other Murdock's Paper?
Well, most people I come into contact with through the blog are from “another country,” relative to me. I live in Sweden, where I was born and raised, though I have lived in the United States in the past. The Other Murdock Papers gets visitors from all around the world and the audience is very diverse.
Q.4: Speaking of which: here it comes the mother of all the questions! The Other Murdock's Paper is a fan-blog based on the Marvel Comics' character Daredevil (in case the blog's name wasn't clear enough). Tell us, Christine: why Daredevil? What made you say: “Ok, I'm gonna read this guy's stories for the rest of my live”. And then: why run a blog?
Well, the fact that I fell head over heels in love with Daredevil was surprising to me too. I've never really been a big fan of anything before and never belonged to a community of fans. I grew up reading some comics, and always liked the idea of superheroes, but I as an adult, I'd watch superhero movies but not read the comics. I actually discovered Daredevil through the 2003 movie, as he's never been a well-known character in Sweden. The movie has some serious flaws, but I found the concept of the character interesting and decided to find out more about him. I then found Kuljit Mithra's ManWithoutFear.com and learned about this whole new world of comics. I started reading the comics, loved them, and had probably read everything Daredevil had ever appeared in within a few months of discovering the character. This was about ten years ago.
At first, I posted a lot of thought on the ManWithoutFear.com forum, but later realized that I liked writing about the character so much that I decided to set up my own website, a little over seven years ago. I've gotten to know so many other fans through the website, many of whom I've had the chance to meet in real life, and I'm really happy to have been able to reach out to other people who also love this character. I'm proud of myself for sticking with it for as long as I have.
Q.5: Are you alone, or there are some other people that helps you to write your article?
I'm the only person who writes regularly for the site. I've had occasional guest posts, and for a short while, I had a co-blogger named Aaron. He was one of my top commenters when I asked if he wanted to write posts for the site. Sadly, he passed away a couple of years ago.
Q.6: Following your work I have noticed that The Other Murdock's Paper isn't just a simple blog about Marvel's The Man Without Fear. Yeah, there are alsoreviews about latest issue and iconic stories of the character, but there are alsointrospective and scientific accuracy article about his powers, aboutcharacters' roster evolution, about thematic and meaning of the stories, his past lovers and some fucking hilarious posts about some goofy ad awkward Silver Age moments. Besides compliments that you really deserve not only for the effort, but also for the credibility of your speech, it's natural to ask: how long does it takes to write a post of yours? Are you paid for that, or it's just passion?
I am no paid, it's just a passion. And, writing for the blog is quite time-consuming. An average review of an issue takes about three hours to write, from when I first sit down until I press “publish.” That's not three hours of just writing, it also takes time to revise the post until it flows the way I want it to. I always try to post reviews the same day as the issue comes out, but I'm not always able to if I'm really busy.
Short posts take less time, obviously, but the really long essays often need several days before I'm done with them since I only have time to write in the evenings. Sometimes you just have to walk away from it and wait for inspiration to hit.
Q. 7: I imagine that fans and followers of TOMP (can I call it TOMP?) knows you as a blog writer. What do you do outside the blog? Study? Work? Fight Crime? Threaten Mark Waid to not leave the series? Answer “Fuck you, this is private!” is available.
I work full time, and have been for over a decade, since I graduated from college. And TOMP is fine, I refer to is as TOMP all the time (especially on Twitter where you only have 140 characters).
Q. 8: And you? Did you ever interviewed anyone? Maybe someone of the creator involved in the Daredevil series?
I've interviewed Antony Johnston, Chris Samnee, Peter Krause, and (briefly) Mark Waid. I've also talked to other fans on my podcast. That doesn't come out very often though, ha ha.
I'm happy to do the interview and to be your first foreign guest!
Q.2: Is this the first time that a person form another country ask some questions about your blog? And how does it feel to be interviewed by someone for another country for your work on The Other Murdock's Paper?
Well, most people I come into contact with through the blog are from “another country,” relative to me. I live in Sweden, where I was born and raised, though I have lived in the United States in the past. The Other Murdock Papers gets visitors from all around the world and the audience is very diverse.
Q.4: Speaking of which: here it comes the mother of all the questions! The Other Murdock's Paper is a fan-blog based on the Marvel Comics' character Daredevil (in case the blog's name wasn't clear enough). Tell us, Christine: why Daredevil? What made you say: “Ok, I'm gonna read this guy's stories for the rest of my live”. And then: why run a blog?
Well, the fact that I fell head over heels in love with Daredevil was surprising to me too. I've never really been a big fan of anything before and never belonged to a community of fans. I grew up reading some comics, and always liked the idea of superheroes, but I as an adult, I'd watch superhero movies but not read the comics. I actually discovered Daredevil through the 2003 movie, as he's never been a well-known character in Sweden. The movie has some serious flaws, but I found the concept of the character interesting and decided to find out more about him. I then found Kuljit Mithra's ManWithoutFear.com and learned about this whole new world of comics. I started reading the comics, loved them, and had probably read everything Daredevil had ever appeared in within a few months of discovering the character. This was about ten years ago.
At first, I posted a lot of thought on the ManWithoutFear.com forum, but later realized that I liked writing about the character so much that I decided to set up my own website, a little over seven years ago. I've gotten to know so many other fans through the website, many of whom I've had the chance to meet in real life, and I'm really happy to have been able to reach out to other people who also love this character. I'm proud of myself for sticking with it for as long as I have.
Q.5: Are you alone, or there are some other people that helps you to write your article?
I'm the only person who writes regularly for the site. I've had occasional guest posts, and for a short while, I had a co-blogger named Aaron. He was one of my top commenters when I asked if he wanted to write posts for the site. Sadly, he passed away a couple of years ago.
Q.6: Following your work I have noticed that The Other Murdock's Paper isn't just a simple blog about Marvel's The Man Without Fear. Yeah, there are alsoreviews about latest issue and iconic stories of the character, but there are alsointrospective and scientific accuracy article about his powers, aboutcharacters' roster evolution, about thematic and meaning of the stories, his past lovers and some fucking hilarious posts about some goofy ad awkward Silver Age moments. Besides compliments that you really deserve not only for the effort, but also for the credibility of your speech, it's natural to ask: how long does it takes to write a post of yours? Are you paid for that, or it's just passion?
I am no paid, it's just a passion. And, writing for the blog is quite time-consuming. An average review of an issue takes about three hours to write, from when I first sit down until I press “publish.” That's not three hours of just writing, it also takes time to revise the post until it flows the way I want it to. I always try to post reviews the same day as the issue comes out, but I'm not always able to if I'm really busy.
Short posts take less time, obviously, but the really long essays often need several days before I'm done with them since I only have time to write in the evenings. Sometimes you just have to walk away from it and wait for inspiration to hit.
Q. 7: I imagine that fans and followers of TOMP (can I call it TOMP?) knows you as a blog writer. What do you do outside the blog? Study? Work? Fight Crime? Threaten Mark Waid to not leave the series? Answer “Fuck you, this is private!” is available.
I work full time, and have been for over a decade, since I graduated from college. And TOMP is fine, I refer to is as TOMP all the time (especially on Twitter where you only have 140 characters).
Q. 8: And you? Did you ever interviewed anyone? Maybe someone of the creator involved in the Daredevil series?
I've interviewed Antony Johnston, Chris Samnee, Peter Krause, and (briefly) Mark Waid. I've also talked to other fans on my podcast. That doesn't come out very often though, ha ha.
Christine, with Chris Samnee (to her right) and Mark Waide (to her left)
Q. 9: What do you think about social medias like Facebook, Twitter and so on? Did they helped increasing you blog over the years, or also damaged you?
I like social media in general and feel very comfortable using platforms like Facebook and Twitter. I've never had a bad experience with social media, and I'm sure it's been helpful in exposing more people to the website.
Q. 10: Oh boys, this is one of my favorite questions. How is your relationship with the fans? There was an episode where you have been gratified by someone who is following you? And some bad incident where you have been insulted? Do you want to tell us some anecdote?
I've only had positive experiences with the people who read the blog. One thing that's been a bit strange though, is when I've had people ask if they could take a picture with me at conventions, ha ha. I don't mind it at all, but it's a little surprising.
Q. 11: Ok. Chit-chat's over. Let's get serious. Are you ready for some tough questions?
These weren't tough? ;)
Q. 12: Name, in your personal opinion, your Top 5 Best Daredevil's Stories and why.
Oh, wow. Hm, well my favorite single issue is probably Daredevil #191 (Roulette) byFrank Miller. As for other stories, it's easier to just give you favorite runs. Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli is obviously at the top of the list. It sums up perfectly what's so great about Daredevil. I also really like the middle portion of theBrian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev run, the first half of the Ed Brubaker/Michael Lark run and most of the Mark Waid/Paolo Rivera/Marcos Martín/Chris Samneerun (Volume 3 in particular).
Q. 13: Name, in your personal opinion, your Top 5 Worst Daredevil's Stories and why.
Daredevil: End of Days is easily the worst Daredevil story I've read. The art is gorgeous, but the plot is a complete mess. It just made me angry by the end. I also have problems with certain parts of Ann Nocenti's run since I think she paints a very arrogant picture of Matt Murdock. But I really don't want to focus on the negative.
Q. 13: Name, in your personal opinion, your Top 5 Worst Daredevil's Stories and why.
Daredevil: End of Days is easily the worst Daredevil story I've read. The art is gorgeous, but the plot is a complete mess. It just made me angry by the end. I also have problems with certain parts of Ann Nocenti's run since I think she paints a very arrogant picture of Matt Murdock. But I really don't want to focus on the negative.
Q. 14: As you know, even if the basics characterization of Daredevil remains the same over the year, every writer as his own vision of Matt Murdock and his world. In your personal opinion, who is the writer that was able to capture the essential of DD better than anyone else?
Hm, can I combine Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker and Mark Waid into one person? I mean, Frank Miller did new and exciting things with Daredevil, and really fleshed out the character and helped define him. Bendis (and I will forgive him for End of Days) combined a lot of real-world aspects with the right amount of charm, and I like the way he writes the interactions between Matt and Foggy. Brubaker's stories were very sad, but I think he had a very good handle on Daredevil. Waid's stories have been brighter, but I also think he's been good at portraying the darker sides of Matt Murdock as well, and has also written his senses very well. That's something that will always be important to me.
Fun Fact:
In Daredevil #31 dated 2013, Christine made a brief cameo appearance inside the story: she was one of the jurors that were talking with DD, as you can see in the image up here. She learned that from Chris Samnee, when she met him and Mark Waid at Baltimore Comic Con of the same year. I have to admit: i'm jealous.
In Daredevil #31 dated 2013, Christine made a brief cameo appearance inside the story: she was one of the jurors that were talking with DD, as you can see in the image up here. She learned that from Chris Samnee, when she met him and Mark Waid at Baltimore Comic Con of the same year. I have to admit: i'm jealous.
Q. 15: Besides Matt Murdock's red alter-ego, which are your favorite and unfavorite supporting characters and villains?
I really like Foggy, of course. I also really like Ben Urich. I actually wish that Daredevil had a bigger supporting cast since I think supporting characters are very important. The Kingpin is a really good villain for Daredevil though I think it's good that he's been given a time out for a while. There can be too much of a good thing.
Q. 16: Another tough question. Marvel's Daredevil aired on Netfilx: how much are you excited for that? How much, from 0 to April where the fuck are you? Any hopes? Any thoughts?
It took me a while to real start getting excited since I didn't want to invest emotionally and then be disappointed. From what I've seen so far, though, I'm very excited about it. I've taken April 10 off from work and will watch it in one sitting.
Q. 17. Oh, this one is really silly: Ben Affleck's Daredevil. What do you think? Can you give us your opinion, or you're still busy to get drunk and hoping to forget it?
Well, I'm grateful for it because that's how I first learned about the character. The director's cut is actually an okay movie, despite some flaws, but I'm glad it was enough to at least make me interested in the character and want to learn more. It took reading the comics to realize just how much better the movie could have been since the comics are generally much more interesting. There are definitely things I like about the movie, but certain scenes – such as the flaming double D's in the subway, the playground scene with Elektra, and other bits like that – are bad enough that I wouldn't want to show it to people who don't know the character. Now that we're getting used to superhero movies being of a much higher quality, we expect more.
Q: 18: This is a general question about comics and the way that unite people. I'm from Italy and you are form Sweden, and we're talking about the same thing: Daredevil. A superhero and comic book character that we really love. Do you agree when I say, that passion like this, really destroy barriers and things like nations, different languages and culture became relative? Like it doesn't really matter if we're Sith or Jedi, Kree or Skurlls, but the important is: to have the same list of favorite heroes, and difference will disappear. Do you agree with that?
Absolutely. As I mentioned before, I'm Swedish, and I've been in touch with Daredevil fans from around the world. We live in an age where it's possible for people to communicate on social media and through the Internet generally and form communities around interests in a way that's never been possible before. That's very exciting.
And that was Christine Hanefalk's interview. I want to say that I really, really, really, really, really, really have to thank Christine to accepted my interview request and gave me the opportunity to ask her some questions about her work on The Other Murdock's Paper. Truly enjoyed that and I hope that was the some for her! What can be added more? Her contact of course! Beside the main site, you can easly find her also on Facebook and Twitter: as I said at the beginning of the post, if you consider yourselves true DD fans, you have to follow her.
- Symo
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