Bob,

You wrote THE SECOND LIFE OF DOCTOR MIRAGE back in 1993-1994 for Valiant. In my opinion, it is perhaps the most complex comic book series I have ever read. At its core is a well-crafted love story that heavily drives the actions and emotions of the two lead characters -- a husband and wife team -- as they attempt to overcome a major threat of supernatural means.
The series also showcases one of the Valiant Universe's major villains, Master Darque, and that famous Laytonian humor, which is always a highlight.
I encourage every Bob Layton fan to seek out this 13-issue series, or even a single issue to get the flavor of the story and characters.

To the questions...

1. The main characters of the story are Doctor Hwen Mirage, a parapsychologist, and his gorgeous wife Carmen Ruiz, an electronics engineer and practitioner of the martial arts. Interestingly, Hwen is Asian, while Carmen is Brazilian.

Question: First of all what was the inspiration behind TSLODM itself, and how did you choose the nationalities of the lead characters? Oh, by the way, what nationality is Master Darque?

Hard to tell by looking.

1.  Mike, I must confess that the inspiration for Doctor Mirage came from several sources. Most notably, the old 'Thin Man' movies. I really enjoyed those as a kid and always fancied of adapting something of a similar genre' to the comics medium.

The story behind the creation of Doctor Mirage: the series, is a far more complex issue. Originally, publisher Steve Massarsky had asked me to create a new premise for the Gold Key property--Doctor Spector--which we had the rights to license for use from Western Publishing. In reviewing the Dr. Spector material, it seemed to me to be a really hard fit for the Valiant Universe.

After several still-born attempts, I recommended to Steve that we simply create a brand-new property that we could own outright,  since I would have to revamp Spector so heavily that it would no longer resemble the original premise. Once he acquiesced, I began developing the premise that eventually became "The Second Life of Doctor Mirage".

I thought it would be a fun take to include diverse ethnic backgrounds with the two main characters. At the same time, I wanted to avoid the usual stereotypes. There had been few Asian male leads in comics prior to Doctor Mirage (Well, Rai was one, but he was a Valiant book too!). I forget where the inspiration came from Carmen being South American, but the idea of a hot-blooded Latin woman paired up with a passive Asian man  tickled me.

As far as Master Darque goes, I have NO idea what his ethnic background is. I always imagined him as being Ukrainian or some other Eastern Block native.

2. Another interesting dynamic of Hwen and Carmen are their non-traditional comic book roles -- the guy is the wimp and the gal is the brilliant and aggressive butt-kicker.

Personally, I thought the switcheroo was well executed, making them both more believable and realistic as people.

Question: How did you conceive these roles?

2. Just as you said, I wanted to do the old "switcheroo," and avoid the damsel in distress scenarios. I knew from the start that Hwen would be the one with super-powers. So, my thinking was to create a strong female lead to counter his super-natural abilities. Also, since the process that turns him into a ghost-like figure renders him unable to get physically involved  in the action, I knew that she would have to fill that role.

3. Your 13-issue run featured the same art team of penciler Bernard Chang and inker Ken Branch, who provided both the covers and interior artwork. In these days of creative-team musical chairs, I find it hard to believe that Chang and Branch stayed with the book that long! This is NOT a put-down, quite the opposite: I think their effort is commendable in both the quality of the work and their stick-with-it-ness.

Question: Were there any problems keeping them on the book? And why did you select them for the project? Finally, why did you simply stick with writing the issues, rather than be the writer and inker?
Note: you did ink the cover to issue 11, which was a CHAOS EFFECT crossover cover, and, as I recall, you inked ALL the Chaos Effect covers.

Question: Finally, TSLODM ran for 18 issues, but you left the title after 13, why was that?

3.  Bernard Chang, since the day I met him at the San Diego Con and hired him for Valiant, was always my penciler of choice for Dr. Mirage.

 "The Doctor," as he was affectionately known as in Knob Row, was one of the most naturally gifted artists that I had worked with in my long career. Plus, his style had that element of whimsy, which I think was really necessary when you have a series that has its tongue planted firmly in cheek.   I also believe that consistency is a very important part of building and sustaining an audience, so I did everything in my power to keep the same team on the book as long as I could. In fact, when Bernard got overwhelmed by deadlines at one particular stage, I actually set that month's story in the snows of the Colorado mountains and inside a abandoned silver mine in order to simplify the backgrounds and to buy him time to catch up. I know that's probably a bit of a cheat, but as Editor-In-Chief, I did whatever I had to in order to keep the company running smoothly. Managing a publishing house while  trying to hold down a monthly comic at the same time was a daunting task.

I chose to limit my contributions to the series to 'writer only'-- simply because of time constraints. After all, as I said previously, I was running the whole damn company, so my time was at a premium. Had I had the opportunity, I would have loved to have inked the book, as well.   But  since Ken Branch did such a great job, it really did need me as the inker to be successful as a series.

Once Bernard made the decision to move on to the new Visitor series, I felt that I had laid the groundwork for the next team and it was time for me to move on to other projects in the Valiant Universe, as well.

4. During his first all-out battle with Master Darque, Hwen lost the solidity of his body, making him a ghost of sorts. Hwen was clad in a light-blue and black skier's outfit, complete with white ski boots. What a seemingly bizarre ‘superhero’ costume!

Question: What other outfits did you consider for Hwen?

I actually LIKE the ski suit, by the way.

4. I didn't consider other costumes. As I stated in previous interviews, I'm not a big believer of super-hero costumes, unless they serve a specific function-- ala Iron Man.

I recall discussing the look of Doctor Mirage with some of the fellows in Knob Row. I believe it was Cliff Van Meter, one of our production guys, who suggested that I look at neoprene ski outfits. Cliff said that many of them resembled super-hero costumes with their flashy graphic designs. So, we  got our hands on a catalog and, sure enough, there was a ski suit  that was perfect for Hwen Mirage. After that, it was simply a matter of arranging the details of the story to get him into it. The ultimate goal was to give the series the look of being a standard super-hero outing, without the cliche' costumes, headquarters, etc.

5. The backdrop of TSLODM deals in the supernatural. In comics, elements of the supernatural are fairly common, but seldom are aspects of religion. Well, I suppose for some folks the supernatural IS a religion!

Question: Why do you think religion, for the most part, is avoided in comics?

5.  That's a difficult question, Mike. I'm not sure I have a cut-and-dried answer for that. I know that we're very cognoscente that our audience represents a diverse cross-section of religious beliefs and upbringing. I also know, as a businessman, that its probably not a good idea to offend or alienate large groups of people by portraying a religion in a negative light. That being said, comics are also a fantasy medium. Religion, regardless of your personal stand on it, is part of reality, and therefore has a tendency to muck up the fantasy elements of comic entertainment.

Not to say that you can't really terrific stories about religion.

    In the War Wabbit swipe for this month, Allen Del Caro combines two of your covers -- IRON MAN 131 and ZOOM SUIT 4 -- into one image