PSU Magazine Winter 2004

them bound into one big book for all the members. Randy Stradley and Mike Richardson , founders of Dark Horse, were members of APA "along with several other people who have played intrinsic roles in my career," says Verheiden. "Basically a lot of us sort of grew up together. " Enrolling at PSU in the 1970s, Verheiden became a fixture at the Uni– versitys Center for the Moving lmage, a celebrated film department discon– tinued in the 1980s. He singles out one professor, Tom Taylor, as a mentor. "A lot of people came out of my class and work in Hollywood now. Tom was a great teacher who gave us great ideas," Verheiden says. "When I went to Portland State I took every film class they had. " But most of what Verheiden learned about script writing came from his years of doing it in Los Angeles, where, at first, he made ends meet by working in the Los Angeles Times advertising department. A rter frustrating years of freelance script writing for low-budget Holly– wood films, Verheiden was asked by Stradley and Richardson to write a comic book script. The result was The Ame1ican, about an anti-superhero who unmasks an elaborate government con– spiracy to create an unending line of superheros-including himself. Later Verheiden wrote the official licensed Alien comic serial for Dark Horse, and he went on to work on Predalor. In fact, Verheiden says he insisted on writing the Alien comic series once Richardson got the rights. "Back in those days movie adapta– tions or movie spin-offs were almost seen as loss leaders. Talented creators didn't want to have anything to do with them," says Verheiden. "I was extremely serious about the writing, and Dark Horse was serious about the an, and they turned out Lo be really good books and not just pieces of merchandising." Dark Horse Comics took a quantum leap in the 1990s with Verheiden'.s film treatments of two comics that jumped from inked pages to big screens in a single, simultaneous bound: The Mask, about an artifact that gives somewhat insane superpowers to whomever wears it, and Timecop , in which a police officer finds himself traveling through Lime to catch an evildoer who threatens to kill his family. "The Mask had been the number one movie release in early 1994, then the studio rere leased it (lacer that same year), and it was actually knocked out of the number one slot, which it had reached again, by Timecop," says Richardson. "So that year Dark Horse had projects at number one and num– ber two, and both movies were written by Mark." So how did Verheiden get involved with the Smallville TV series7 "I created a show called Timecop (for ABC) , which was based on the movie that I wrote. Two of the writers we hired for Timecop-this was their first TV job-were Al Gough and Miles Millar. Fast forward five years and they're tunning Smallvillc and they asked me to come on board." Smallville plays out between the awkward teenager Clark Kent and his future nemesis, the young, still-uncor– mpted Lex Luthor. "People understand Superman , he's such a mythic character," Verheiden says. The challenge, of course: "We already know the ending. " As Verheiden sees it, Clark is an alien who's being drawn to the light side, while Lex is a human who's being drawn to the dark side. Yet sometimes Lex ends up being the hero while Clark's moral compass veers south (especially when "red kryptonite" comes into the picture). "The yin-yang between these two characters, who are both pulled into directions they don't understand , is part of what makes it work," Verheiden says. "I have people come up to me and say, 'Don't let Lex go bad, he's trying so hard to be good."' In other words, Smallville becomes a chronicle of "every teen." A lthough he is neck-deep in televi– sion scripts, Verheiden also authors a Smallville comic book. The first edi– tion's storyline is based on a concept dreamed up by his 10-year-old son, Ben. It involves dinosaurs. Clark must fight a boy who has morphed into a dinosaur/monster after being covered by kryptonite and dinosaur DNA in an explosion. Verheiden says they thought about using this concept for the television show, but costumed monsters don't fit the series' plot, and that kind of thing can be expensive. In the magical world of comics, expense and fantastical creatures are no obstacle. "In a comic book you can have a guy on the first page blow up a line of 747s. All it costs is the ink and the imagination of the artist who is draw– ing it for you ," says Verheiden. "On television you are limited by budget. Not imagination, just budget." Verheiden'.s parents, who still live in Aloha, are a little surprised al how far he's gone in the world of pulp fiction. "They never made me feel bad about collecting comics," Verheiden says. "Pan of parenting is knowing when to allow your kids to follow their obsession." Next for Verheiden is w1iting the pilot and working as an executive pro– ducer on a new version of the televi– sion horror thriller Darh Shadows. The Warner Brothers project is being pro– duced by John (WesLWing, ER, Third Watch) Wells. When it does make it to the screen, don't expect a gore show. Verheiden hopes to make it scary and classy at the same time. D (Lisa Loving, a Portland Jreelance writer, is a regular contributor lo PSU Magazine.) WINTER 2004 PSU MAGAZl E 13